21S8 NORTH AMKRICAN STATES 



beinil unciMumon. The drains^e is charad eristic of 

 ^ orvl v^-u.., boinj: poorly dovolopoa. so that thoro arc 

 mn, n^ us n.arsl.os and suudl laU.-s. Tho so,l proscnts 



variations in charartor, hx.t is mostly vory hMtiU>. 



W.nl.ns to Whitson ami Hakor, the moan annual 

 tomiH-raturo of tho state is .13.;r varyins from ts foi 

 he s..utliwe.st oorner to 3'.)° for tho northoastern part 

 Aoeeorains to tl>e seasons, the n.eaii tem,.cMaturo is :^ 

 follows: \Vinter, 17^^-. sprms. l'^^ ^'""'"^-'■, t., , tall, 4 

 -S^nithorn ^Viseons,n has a sumn.or t.anporaturo s nnil 

 to that of central Franeo, southern C.ermany aiul the 

 Daiubo Vallev, while northern W iseonsm is about as 

 warm in summer as Lon.lon or Berlin. -;-"«; 

 tennierature of the state, however, resembles that ot 

 Sen ana ecntral Russia. The length of time from 



STATUTE .•VLCS 



-■ -s^'^^::c^:t^::in^sr^^^^j::r^i^r -' 



frost to frost varies widely, ranging from IT.-) f,o 75 

 davs Thus the length of tlie frostless period at lieloit 

 ^A Miuiison is lus long a-s in the higher hills of Ceorgia 

 or the Valley of Virginia. It is worthy of note that the 

 mowing sei^son at both Bayfield an, 1 Sturgeon Bay is 

 h,nger than that at North Vakima, Wi.shmgton and 

 Hamilton, Montana, a.i.l e<|ual to that at Montrose, 

 while the .sea«)n at Milwaukee and Maxhson is about 

 the same as at llochester. New York. , 



Wisconsin has an average year y rainfall of 28 to Ai 

 inches, about one-half of which is m May, June, July 

 and August, an<l 70 per cent April to September. 



Anv survey of horticulture in Wisconsin must inchide 

 an outline at leiLst of its history for the drvlopment or 

 rather the evolution of horticulture in Wis.^nsin con- 

 stitutes on«t of the most interesting chapters in the 

 annals of American horticulture. 



In the middle western states, orchards and gardens 

 gimply movi-A westwarrl from their original homes along 

 the Atlantic coaat and are now merely rephc;is of the 



NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



parent orchards aii.l gardens. The Baldwin apple and 

 the Flemish Beautv pear, standards in Massachusetts 

 •md New York, are likewi.se standards in Ohio, Indiana 

 'ami Michigan. Horticulture in these states has been 

 and is now merely an extension of horticulture in the 

 "eastern states. In" Wisconsin and the upi)er Mississippi 

 Vallev, it has been an evolution. ■ ■,■ , 



The first gardens in Wisconsin, planted by civilized 

 people wore at Cireeu Bav and on Madahne Island, one 

 „f the 'Apostle grou]). At these places the Jesait mis- 

 sionaries or their followers planted gardens, not alone 

 of vegetables but seeds of the ajiple and cherry Along 

 the shores of Madalinc Island may still bo found thickets 

 of cherry, offspring of the seedling trees planted by the 

 missionaries. . . ,.,„,„ 



Real horticulture dates from the coming ot settlers 

 from the eastern states, 1S30 to 1840, who brought 

 eastern varieties of apples, such as Mdwin Greening 

 Bellflower, King and others. These did not long 

 persist on the black alluvial soils first preempt;ed 

 by the early settlers; long winters, often with 

 but little snow, soon wiped out most ot tfie 

 earlv planted orchards until it came to be gener- 

 ally" believed that tree-fruits could not be grown 

 in "Wisconsin. The rougher broken sections ot 

 the state were settled later, and here orchards 

 planted in 184.'5 to 18.55 still stand. 



The introduction of the Russian 

 varieties was the cause of another 

 set-back, at least delaying the de- 

 velopment of commercial horticul- 

 ture in Wisconsin for a generation. 

 The Russian apples all proved 

 hardy enough but also proved 

 generally worthless. Something of 

 value resulted, as there have been 

 saved as standard sorts Duchess, 

 Astrachan, Longfield, Yellow Traiis- 

 parent and a few others, but the 

 loss was greater than the gain. 



During these two periods, how- 

 ever, there were many earnest men 

 who were not content to wait but, 

 by planting seeds, picking up strays 

 from fence-comers, testing, discard- 

 ing, created, as a result of fifty 

 years' effort, a new race of fruits 

 belonging to the state and a part of 

 it. The inhabitants of the upper 

 Mississippi Valley owe almost all 

 their horticulture to the tireless, 

 painstaking efforts of these pioneers. 

 The following fruits, all recog- 

 nized as standards in Wisconsin and 

 Minnesota and many of them 

 adopted bv other fruit sections, were 

 all originated in Wiscmsin: Apples-Gem Newell, 

 PluT^ ader, McMahan, Northwestern Greening, 

 Wndsor, NlUwaukee, Pewaukee, Wolf River. Crabs- 

 Mor Gibb. Plums-DeSoto, Springer. Grapes-Janes- 

 vi e B ackerries-Ancient Briton, Stcme. Raspberries 

 -Loudon Strawberries- Jessie From Minnesota 

 Wisconsin growers have the Wealthy; from Iowa, the 

 Patten Greening; and from Maine, «»■ Dudley app^s^ 

 The period of evolution occupied fully htty years 

 fro n the forties to the nineties and wa.s almost wholly 

 confined to amateur lines, the home orchard an<l garden 

 In the past ten year.s the business of ^"J'nf f^'^V"^ 

 market hius developed very rapid y. While "190;-^ 

 (iO-acre apple orchard was the largest in the state, 

 orchards of 75 to 100 acres are not now ^'jo"— ^^^^ 

 The principal orchard sections of the state Mnipr se 

 parts of Bayfield, Door, Chippewa, ^^ ^upaca, Sauk 

 llTchland, and Crawford counties m j^W'ti "" ^ '^^ 

 counties south of Door bordering on Lake Michigan. 



counties south OI uoor ummiinji «■■ ""• — - ,- , f- , 

 sZe of the best apple lands in the state are to be found 



