WISCONSIN STATE HORTICUITURAL SOCIETY. 



plow under, and as the field pea did not 

 do well late in the season, he intended 

 to plant some strong growing varieties 

 of beans as an experiment this year. 



Mr. Toole, of Baraboo, read a paper 

 on " Horticulture in our Schools," which 

 was followed with a discussion upon the 

 subject, showing that many were in 

 favor of teaching the primary principles 

 of horticulture in our public schools. 



Prof. L. H. Bailey said, "I do not 

 believe we can teach agriculture and 

 horticulture in the public schools any 

 more than we can teach medicine or 

 any other profession. But he believed in 

 teaching the child to study nature. 

 The ultimate object of education should 

 be the student rather than his farming. 

 There are two things in agricultural 

 education, theories and practice ; but 

 we find that those who claim to be 

 opposed to theories, are the ones most 

 full of theories. To educate the boys 

 on the farm, first have a good farm, and 

 to make a good farm you must first 

 reach the farmer. The one crop farm 

 makes a one crop farmer, a grass farmer 

 makes a grass man. Diversified farm- 

 ing developes the man in many ways." 



[This idea was hardly in accord with 

 the belief of many of his hearers, that 

 the only men who succeed in life are 

 those who concentrate their efforts along 

 some special line or lines. — L. H. R.] 



Pres. L. G. Kellogg in his annual 

 address said that the planting of the 

 trial station at Wansan was one of the 

 best things the Society had ever done, 

 and recommended the establishing of 

 several more in different parts of the 

 State. 



I'he election of officers resulted in re- 

 electing all of the old officers excepting 

 the Vice-President. Pres., L. G. Kel- 

 logg, Ripon ; Vice-Pres , Franklin John- 

 son, Baraboo ; Sec, A. J. Phillips, West 



Salem ; Treas., R. J. Coe, Ft. Atkin- 

 son ; Cor. -Sec, W. J. Moyle, Madison. 

 Prof Bailey spoke upon " Fruit Buds." 

 He said pruning to shape is a matter of 

 individual taste. Heavy pruning of the 

 top of a plant always tends to a growth 

 of wood. Winter pruning in the North- 

 West permits the freezing and drying 

 out of the sap of the tree. Heading in 

 of strong growth tends to lateral and 

 dormant buds, also tends to develop 

 fruit bearing. Checking giowth so long 

 as the plant remains strong and healthy 

 tends to fruitfulness. Pruning, however, 

 is a secondary means for bringing fruit 

 into bearing. Natural methods should 

 first be used. If the tree is growing too 

 rapidly, check its growth by withhold- 

 ing plant food from it, either by growing 

 some crop about it that will tend to 

 exhaust the fertility of the soil, or seed 

 down to grass. When fruit bearing has 

 once been reached, they should be kept 

 bearing the same, as we keep a laying 

 hen laying. A continuous amount of 

 pruning every year should be given 

 rather than a heavier pruning once in 

 two or three years, as a severe pruning 

 tends to upset the growth of a tree. 

 Heavy bearing has the same effect as 

 heavy pruning, it upsets the equilibrium. 

 If they did not get in the habit of over- 

 bearing, they would bear every year. If 

 we are to make a tree bear ever}' year, 

 we must supply a greater food supply, 

 or we must remove a part of the fruit. 

 Removing the fruit affects chiefly the 

 spur upon which it is. The same spur, 

 however, does not as a rule bear every 

 year, one spur bearing one year, and 

 another the next. It would seem, there- 

 fore, that the removing of all fruits from 

 some of the spurs would tend to better 

 results in making them bearing spurs 

 the next year. 



It seems that it might be best to 

 make a part of the trees bear their crop 

 191 



