WISCONSIN STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Ill 



ANNUAL MEETING, 1897, 

 WISCONSIN STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



PROF. S. B. GREEN, DELEGATE. 



Your delegate was able to be present at the meeting- of the Wis- 

 consin Horticultural Society for two days only. The meetings were 

 well attended and interesting. The papers read were up-to-date, 

 practical and short. One of the most important actions of the soci- 

 ety was the discussion of the San Jose scale, which it was plainly 

 shown threatens great damage to our fruit and ornamental trees 

 and shrubs. Specimens of branches infested with this pest were 

 in evidence in a box covered with a glass and were examined with 

 much interest. The society will actively support the passage of 

 bills by congress and the state legislature for the suppression of 

 this insect. 



In a discussion of the subject of mulching, the general opinion 

 seemed to prevail that a dust blanket is the best mulch for j'oung 

 fruit trees. 



In the discussion on Russian apples, 5^our delegate spoke on the 

 ten most promising Russian apples for Minnesota. He was followed 

 b)'^ that veteran in Russian apples, A. G. Tuttle, of Baraboo, who is 

 now more enthusiastic than ever in endorsing the Russian apple. 

 He urged the planting of the Lowland Raspberry as the best earl}' 

 apple and said it was of wonderful hardiness and earliness. He was 

 followed bj' Prof. F. H. Taylor, of Lincoln, Neb., who has twice vis- 

 ited Russia and who spoke on "Russian Fruits as Seen in Russia." 

 He said there were no apples grown as far north as St. Petersburg 

 and that Moscow was on the extreme northern edge of commercial 

 apple growing. He emphasized especially the localization of pom- 

 ology iu Russia and that there was very little well defined knowl- 

 edge of Russian fruits. " Every little province has its own varieties 

 and the same variety often masks under different names. Russian 

 pomology is in almost hopeless confusion, and in America," he, 

 said, "we know more about the Russian fruits than the Russians 

 themselves." He thought the Russians as liable to get good varie- 

 ties from us as we from them. Mr. Taj'lor did not belittle the value 

 of Russian fruits for the extreme north but thought that many 

 kinds had been recommended on too short trial. There can be no 

 question but what the north-western states of the Mississippi val- 

 ley need these Russian fruits badly. Mr. Taylor thought we should 

 pay more attention to the cultivation of the cherry, which grows 

 abundantly in sections so severel}' cold and dry that the apple fails 

 entirely. 



In the evening Professor Taylor discussed the development of the 

 beet root sugar industry in America. He said that in Russia the 

 manufacturers paid $3.75 per ton for the beets, and he thinks the cost 

 of raising them there nearly as expensive as here. At Grand Island, 

 Neb., the sugar factory, which pa3's $5.00 per ton for beets, was run 

 for 110 days in 1896. The law that gave a bount}^ of one cent per 

 pound bonus has been knocked out, but they still think they can 



