6 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
September, 1917 
Some Very Good Ideas From 
Northern Wisconsin. 
Of course the bulk of your field 
is southern Wisconsin, but your 
greatest future is northern AVis- 
consin. Articles from men like 
Vaughn, of Grand Rapids, and 
Marsh, of Antigo, are practical, 
to the point, and of great local ap- 
plication. I wish we might have 
something from each as to each 
variety of small fruits tried out, 
the conditions, the resrrlts and the 
conclusions. It would help us all 
a lot. My own experience dates 
back to the time when about five 
years ago someone foolishly gave 
you a dollar bill and my name. 
I got the habit, and commenced 
to read and to observe. I find 
that I have not only to read 
of the other fellows’ failures, 
but I have to go and try it 
out myself before I really know 
it, and then my neighbors repeat 
the performance, with the differ- 
ence that I have preceded them 
a year or two, and they are saved 
some of their mistakes, and have 
the way more definitely pointed 
out. 
Two years ago I asked the man- 
urial value of old, well rotted 
saw dust. Prof. Woll answered, 
showing that it was worth about 
the price of straw, and then 
slipped up by adding the cost of 
hauling to the value as shown by 
analysis. I have hauled a lot of 
it this winter, to use as mulching 
around small fruits, and shall 
plow under a little, and in another 
year or two I should have a defi- 
nite and final answer. I am haul- 
ing out a lot of unleached manure 
for the apple trees and have a 
great thick mat around some of 
the trees. The drifts are so deep 
that we cannot reach all the trees, 
so we will have some check plots, 
whether we want it or not. 
I find that in this section tvhere 
the average farmer tries to culti- 
vate his small trees he is almost 
sure to bark his trees, or to injure 
them in some way. My own trees 
are on a steep side hill, and after 
an unfortunate experience with 
gullying I decided to keep the 
trees in sod strips. That stopped 
the washing of the hill side, and 
stopped the barking of the trees, 
if I was close enough to talk to 
the teamster, and to threaten 
fines, but it also almost stopped 
the growth of the trees. This 
year I am mulching the sod strips, 
but think that the problem is one 
step nearer solution. If the old 
saw dust pile works out as Prof. 
Woll indicated, then the rest is 
easy. 
I have noticed a tendency to 
recommend the Snyder black- 
berry in preference to the Ancient 
Briton. My experience leads me 
to think that the Ancient Briton 
is much the better. With me, on 
a bit of stiff soil, it is hardier, 
stands abuse better, is a better 
yielder, although not so early, 
and is much easier to lay down. 
My newer plantings will be of the 
Ancient Briton. I have none of 
the Eldorado, but a neighbor has 
quite a planting of them. He has 
neglected them badly, and they 
have winterkiled each year and he 
has no fruit that I know of. An- 
cient Briton is hardy enough so 
that some years it lives through 
without protection. I believe 
that on a steep north hillside it 
would get along without laying 
down. 
Of the red raspberries, I have 
two varieties, the King and 
Brandywine. I do not know 
which is which, but one variety 
is much hardier than the other, 
and I am taking new selections 
accordingly. I think that the 
King is the moi'e hardy of the 
two. The weaker variety has a 
wider, more rank growth, and the 
new canes are brighter, more yel- 
low color. In this section the 
A striking picture. The first thing that strikes you is the woodhouse, next 
is the schoolhouse and third is the outhouse. Why not reverse the order, or, 
perhaps, better still put the woodhouse back of the schoolhouse. 
