STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 399 



REPORT OF DELEGATES TO WISCONSIN. 



To the Secretanj of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society : 



The undersigned would respectfully report that we accepted the 

 appointment as delegates to attend the annual meetings of the Wis- 

 consin State Horticultural and Agricultural Societies, held at Madison, 

 Feb. 1, to 5th, 1886, and availed ourselves of the privileges afibrded by 

 attending the same. 



The meetings of both societies were held in rooms of the capitol 

 building, were well attended by representative men from different 

 sections of the state and conducted in a manner that was both interest- 

 ing and profitable to all who were so fortunate as to be present. We 

 being horticulturists, of course the horticultural meeting received the 

 most of our attention. 



The program of the first day, made the business for Monday 

 evening miscellaneous and informal, and the time was largely taken 

 up in greeting the members as they arrived, unpacking and arrang- 

 ing articles for exhibition. 



The business of Tuesday was opened with the report of the Secretary, 

 in which he spoke of the advisability of establishing horticultural 

 •experimental stations for the purpose of originating new varieties of 

 fruits adapted to general cultivation in the state, getting thorough 

 tests of their value and hardiness under different conditions before 

 recommending them for extensive planting, and also for conducting 

 investigation of the various insects and fungoid enemies that are 

 becoming so damaging to orchards and gardens, to ascertain more 

 practical remedies, these stations to be under the supervision of com- 

 petent men selected by the society. 



Following this came reports from the members of the committee of 

 observation. The general tenor of these reports was that the winter 

 of 1884-5 was most damaging to orchard and nursery trees, including 

 most of those varieties that had been called iron-clad, that was ever 

 experienced in Wisconsin. Mr. J. C. Plum, of Milton, read an elaborate 

 paper favoring the division of the state into fruit districts, the division 

 lines to conform to the peculiar geological and climatic characteristics 

 pertaining to the various sections of the state. He also advocated 

 the issuing of fruit lists showing the most suitable kinds for growing 

 in the several districts. The matter of dividing a state into districts, 

 maping them out and recording in each section, the character of the 

 soil and formations with relative advantages they possess, the prox- 

 imity to bodies of water or timber, and elevation, is a good one as it 



