STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 205 



Mr. Smith. That would be a fair price for two year old trees^ 



Mr. Tuttle. If a man gets a good tree, it is really cheap if it costs 

 him half a dollar to a dollar; if he gets a tree that won't live, it is 

 dear at any price. I can afford to grow Russian trees cheaper than I 

 can natives, cheaper than I can grow the Wealthy, for the reason that 

 a tree that will grow right along is worth more than a poor one and 

 we can afford to pay more for it. 



Mr. Smith. But as a general proposition if a man asks fifty cents 

 apiece for his trees, you would set him down as a humbug, wouldn't 

 you? 



Mr. Tuttle. Yes, I would; and a man that buys his trees for five 

 cents apiece and sells them for a dollar and a half is a thief. [Laugh- 

 ter and applause.] 



People that set out these small trees don't realize and think at that 

 time that the roots of those trees i-equire a large amount of good soil 

 in order to make them grow-. A tree that will bear six barrels of 

 apples must have plenty of room for its roots to extend. I have seen 

 an orchard raised on what was called pine land in the East. The 

 owner was told that he couldn't raise an orchard there; but he said he 

 would have a good orchard b}^ planting the seed. He had the ground 

 prepared the same as you would to set an elm tree, taking a great deal 

 of pains, and setting out a large orchard. The result was that some 

 thirty years after that he raised hundreds of barrels of apples on that 

 sandj' land. 



Now, in planting apples on our prairies we need to dig down at least 

 two feet where the roots will have to extend; you then come to a hard- 

 pan; if you dig it out and set the trees they will grow; but you must 

 know what the roots have got to feed upon and give them a chance. 



One thing more. Setting trees in the fall of the year, apple-trees, 

 elms or anything else, is usually a failure. We have had elms set in 

 the fall, and three out of four died the next season. Why? Because 

 the dirt that was put around the roots was loose, so much so that the 

 frost came down and froze them and they became just as dry as if they 

 were burned. If you set a tree in the fall of the year wet the roots 

 thoroughly; if you keep them wet until the spring frost is out it will 

 live; if you do not, it will certainly die. 



Mr. Harris. Mr. President, Prof. A. B. Seymour is present, and 

 has prepared a lecture upon Grape Rot, Pear Blight, Diseases of Straw- 

 berries, etc., and may not have time to give it in full this evening, as 

 he desires to return to Madison by the evening train which leaves at 8 



