WISCONSIN STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



l y\ fN ^HE above Society held its 

 annual winter meeting in the 

 State House at Madison, Feb. 

 I to 4. The attendance was 

 fair and the exhibits of fine quality. 

 The apple crop of the State being quite 

 light the past season, the display was 

 not large, being only 95 plates. One of 

 the features of the exhibit was a potato 

 show, in which there were 204 plates 

 and baskets, 158 of which were from 

 the Riverdale Seed Farm, Grand Rapids, 

 Wis., and included a collection of 70 

 plates of one year old seedlings, the first 

 ever shown. The same parties also 

 made an exhibit of 87 varieties of beans 

 in glass bottles, showing the results of 

 several wonderful crosses and hybridiza- 

 tions. Visitors and delegates were pre- 

 sent from Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. 

 Mr. Stickney, the largest currant 

 grower in the State, said that he had 

 eight acres of Fays, but had dug them 

 all up but one acre. They required 

 very high culture and too much petting. 

 He considered Long Bunch Holland 

 and Prince Albert the two best for 

 profit. White Grape the best white 

 currant, and he recommended it highly 

 for home use. Wilder quite promising. 

 North Star is a strong thrifty grower, but 

 thought it only little superior to Red 

 Dutch. 



Mr. Harding, reporting for trial sta- 

 tion under his charge, said that varieties 

 of apples top worked on Whitney are 

 blighting quite badly. Virginia is con- 

 sidered the best stock for top working 

 the tenderer varieties upon. 



O. M. Lard, of Minnesota, read a 

 paper on " The Plum as a Fruit for the 

 People of the North- West." Mr. Lard 

 is a plum specialist, and the sample jars 

 of canned plums he had with him 

 showed that he was quite successful in 



growing them. He named De Soto, 

 RoUingstone and Cheney as the three 

 best American plums ; would set 8 x 16 

 ft., mixing different kinds, so that they 

 would cross fertilize. After thirty years 

 experience, he is convinced that too 

 much good culture cannot be given. 

 Barn-yard manure and ashes are the best 

 fertilizers. 



Mr. Ferris, of Iowa, recommended 

 grafting plums upon the Sand cherry, 

 saying that they would bear much 

 quicker and would produce abundantly. 

 Geo. J. Kellogg said the Miner was 

 of no value unless other varieties were 

 planted with it. 



Clarence Wedge, of Minnesota, said 

 that he planted Hawkeye with the Miner, 

 and they fruited all right. 



A. L. Hatch opened a discussion on 

 the most economical method to restore 

 exhausted fertility to worn out orchard 

 lands. He thought that a liberal supply 

 of barn-yard manure and wood ashes 

 was the best thing to apply. L. H. 

 Read spoke of the increasing use of 

 Cow peas in orchards through the States 

 of Illinois and Missouri, and also be- 

 lieved that they were adapted to more 

 northern States, especially upon sandy 

 soils. There has been a constant asser- 

 tion by many that they were not adapted 

 to the north, but we are finding out 

 that this is false. Having tested them 

 in a small way in central Wisconsin the 

 past year, are convinced they are the 

 greatest crop for green manuring that 

 we can grow. 



Mr. Stickney said that he had tested 

 several varieties of the Cow pea, and 

 they made a good growth, but required 

 the entire season. He wanted some- 

 thing that he could use, say the last of 

 June, after taking off an early crop, that 

 would then make a growth sufficient to 



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