HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 343 



of the terrible disaster that had come upon several countries of the 

 old world as a result of the ruthless destruction of their forests, 

 and also mentioned some instances in our own country when dire 

 disaster had followed rapidly the cutting of the timber. He stated 

 that in Prussia the annual income from the forests amounted to 

 $7,500,000, all being under control of the government. He stated 

 that in New York the Grand Army planted trees on the graves of 

 their comrades instead of strewing flowers on Decoration Day. I 

 would recommend that the entire paper be procured and printed 

 in our reports. In the discussion of the paper, a Mr. Gordon said 

 that tree murder was the crime of the public against his neighbor, 

 society and the universe; said the cutting of the white oaks had 

 damaged his place more than $2,000, and he would give $100 each 

 to have them replaced. President Smith stated that one Wiscon- 

 sin man had set 700,000 trees. 



In the evening an interesting paper on Cemeteries was read, in 

 which attention was called to the almost universal 6hiftlessness 

 that characterizes our country cemeteries. One valuable sugges- 

 tion in it was that no mound should be made over a grave, but that 

 the surface should be level. A general and indiscriminate plant- 

 ing of trees was thought objectionable. The paper called out 

 some discussion. One man said that our respect for and venera- 

 tion of the dead, as shown by monuments, was purely Pagan. 

 Another said the Pagans built monuments to their dead because 

 they were human. I am of the opinion that our respect for the 

 dead springs from the universal belief in the immortality of man. 

 To the horticulturist and landscape gardener was given all the 

 credit for the few beautiful cemeteries to be seen. 



APPLES — 150 VARIETIES. 



For several years their apple list for general planting has been 

 Oldenburg, Talman Sweet, Wealthy, Fameuse, Wolf River, Mc- 

 Mahon's White and Yellow Transparent, with a more extended list 

 for favorable localities. The display of fruit on their tables was 

 the finest and largest I have ever seen. It will not be of interest 

 to our society to mention the long list grown in localities unlike 

 any within our state. Still the methods by which these grand 

 results have been achieved may be instructive. I will mention two 

 instances. Mr. H. Gibson and Mr. Springer, of Fremont, Wau- 

 paca county, exhibited fifty varieties of seedling apples and left forty 

 other varieties at home. Their oldest trees are now 40 years old. 

 Their seeds came from 45 degrees and 5 minutes north latitude in 

 Canada, from grafted varieties north of Lake Champlain. The 

 Wolf River is the largest of their list and is supposed to be from 

 the Alexander, grown either in New York or Michigan. There 

 are some long keeping varieties in their list. Among the grafted 

 sorts in their exhibit were Willow Twig, Golden Russet, Fameuse, 

 Talman Sweet, Walbridge, St. Lawrence, Haas, and others. Their 

 best seedlings are Crocker and Jenney. 



That old pioneer, Geo. P. Peffer, exhibited about 75 varieties 



