108 ANNUAL REPORT 



orchards and nurseries near the beautiful city of Baraboo. Mr. 

 Tuttle's place is the headquarters for Eussian apples in the 

 Northwest, he having been the first to get a start in those hardy 

 varieties, through the Hon. C. M. Clay, when he was United 

 States consul at St. Petersburg, Eussia. Mr. Tuttle has about 

 one hundred varieties, two trees of each set in orchard, of which 

 about fifty have fruited. A few of them he considers very fine, 

 and thinks that after further trial we may reasonably hope to be 

 able to select from them a half dozen or more varieties that will 

 prove of great value for planting in trying localities. The trees 

 of most of the varieties exhibit marks of great hardiness and 

 adaptability for this climate, and it may be well for us to keep a 

 watch of their conduct in the future. 



We had a good time, and our thanks are due to President 

 Smith and the old war horses of the Horticultural Society for 

 making our stay in Madison so pleasant; also to President Fratt 

 and Secretary Babbitt of the Agricultural Society, and Profs. 

 Henry and Trelease, of the State University, for their many 

 courtesies shown us. 



DISCUSSION OF REPORTS. 



President Smith. You have heard the reports read; are there 

 any remarks to be made upon them "? They will be received and 

 published with our proceedings unless otherwise ordered. 



Mr. Harris. I would like to state that the snow was pretty 

 deep at the time we were at Mr. Tuttle's place and it was rather 

 difficult getting around in his orchard. Mr. Tuttle is not a very 

 tall man but he managed to break the snow down pretty well. 

 We examined his trees and I must say that the majority of them 

 do look remarkably well. He took a hatchet with him but 

 showed good will towards us. Whenever there was any variety 

 that he wanted to find out if it had been injured why down came 

 a tree. He was cutting them so savagely that we almost felt 

 like asking him to forbear, and we were satisfied to take a few 

 specimens. The trees that he cut we generally found sound in 

 the heart. I found one which I examined more carefully after 

 getting home which I thought showed marks of injury; I thought 

 by the apjDearance, by the winter before or blight. — I think it 

 was the blight. I have no doubt there are many varieties valu- 

 able to plant in trying situations, but I think there is scarcely 

 any variety we can find that comes from Eussia that will be per- 



