TOfWORKING THK APPLE. 147 



TOPWORKING THE APPLE. 



A. J. 1-IIlLIl'S, WEST SALKM, WIS. 

 Mr. Presideut. Ladies and Gentlemen: When first asked by your 

 secretary to present a paper on this important subject, my first 

 thoujxht was to politely decline, as I had talked of it so much at your 

 meetitiLil^s that it would only be a repetition of what I had before said, 

 but when I took into con.^itleration the man}- inquiries I am con- 

 stantly receiving', both from Minnesota and Wisconsin, on this 

 branch of horticulture and the great importance I place on it in my 

 own or any other orchard in a trying climate, I concluded to accept 

 the invitation, and the result is I am here, and if I can create any 

 new interest or throw any new light on it so that Northwestern 

 horticulture may be advanced, then I am well paid for coming. At 

 the outset I will say that what I ofifer in this line will be largely the 

 results in my own orchard, as I have more of this work there than I 

 have seen in any other orchard in the state, experimental or other- 

 wise; and, further, I shall have to be guarded in nn' remarks and not 

 give an exaggerated account of it, as during the past j-ear two of 

 j'our members, Mr. F. G. Gould and Mr. C. \V. Sampson, visited 

 my place; Prof. Goff of Wisconsin, also visited the orchard and gave 

 an account of what he saw in your magazine last fall. I will briefly 

 outline the subject and then will try and answer any questions on it. 

 We are drilled to be brief at our institutes for lack of time, and 

 twenty to twenty-five minutes is about all a fruit man can have. 



Mr. Wyman Elliot: I want to interrupt you to ask a ques- 

 tion. Why can't you have more than twenty-live minutes. 



Mr. Philii)s: Well, the rank and file of the people do not care for 

 horticulture, and our programs are all printed, and all we can get 

 in our institutes on horticulture must be limited to that time. I 

 told the people in one place if they would appoint the second even- 

 ing for horticulture they could have the whole management of the 

 meeting. Well, we held the meeting, and Mr. Coe was there with 

 me, and they kept him on the floor for over an hour answering ques- 

 tions, and I spoke to them awhile, and we had a two hours meeting. 

 Three weeks after that, they held a meeting to re-organize the societj', 

 and they asked me to come down and talk to them. I did so, and wlien 

 on the lloor I said: "Ladies end gentlemen, I do not know just what 

 to saj"; I was here three weeks ago and told all I knew. If I could re- 

 member what I said to you then, I might say something tonight that 

 would interest j'ou." The president rose and said: "Mr. Philips, you 

 need not stop on that account, because that doesn't make any dilTer- 

 ence. I was there and I don't remember a word you said." (Great 

 laughter). Now, if you do not remember what I say about topwork- 

 ing, you will not be much the wiser I have been grafting and bud- 

 ding and talking it for over twenty j-ears, and I do not know anj- one 

 in the state that is doing as much of it as I am. You tell people to 

 topwork, and they say it is too much work. Mr. Wilcox, of La Crosse 

 was the first one at our meetings to advocate it; that )fOod old man 

 urged it years ago, and we only laughed at liim, but after a while 

 we had to come to it. 



