September, 1917 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
7 
wild raspberries are so plentiful 
that bee men make quite a little 
from the raspberry honey, yet we 
find that it pays to have some 
right in the garden. The time 
mken to cultivate is less than the 
time it would take to go to and 
from the wild patch, and there is 
better and much more convenient 
picking at home. In fact, it some- 
times means the difference be- 
tween berries and no berries. We 
find that a small fruit patch 
means a big difference to the 
table the year around. 
George G. Curtis. 
A Trifle Discouraged. 
Your letter reminding me that 
my subscription to Wisconsin 
Horticulture has expired, re- 
ceived, and you may as well drop 
my name for the present. I have 
come to the conclusion that it is 
only wasting time trying to raise 
fruit here. I had Hibernal, 
Duchess, and Dudley winter 
killed last year. I think the 
heaving of the ground has a bad 
effect. I have seen pine stumps 
4 feet across heaved up and split 
in two by frost. There is no sub- 
soil drainage here. I am in the 
wrong place. 
A. M. 
This is from central Wisconsin 
and certainly sounds rather dis- 
couraging, but the writer is of the 
opinion that the trouble lies in 
poor location of this particular 
orchard. The last short sen- 
tence, “there is no subsoil drain- 
age here,” seems to tell the whole 
story. Probably also a lack of 
air drainage. Fruit trees need 
both soil and air drainage and 
both of these are usually lacking 
on the new farms of northern 
Wisconsin. 
Garden Notes at Sitka, Alaska, 
Station. 
By J. P. Anderson, Horticultur- 
ist. 
Apples. 
Several varieties of apples ma- 
tured fruit the past season. The 
best of these were the Yellow 
Transparent and Liveland Rasp- 
berry. Trees of these varieties 
bore quite good crops, as did also 
the Whitney crab. Apples grown 
here the past season reached about 
normal size, but were more point- 
ed and angular than the same 
sorts grown in a warmer climate. 
A variety which has been labeled 
Sylvan Sweet bore good apples, 
but they were not sweet. Other 
varieties that matured a few 
apples are Duchess, Hyslop, Kes- 
wick (Keswick’s Codlin), Peer- 
less, Tetofski, and two unidenti- 
fied sorts, one of which was a 
crab and the other similar to the 
Wealthy, perhaps being that va- 
riety. The Patten (Patten’s 
Greening) set a good crop of fruit 
but did not mature before freez- 
ing weather. The quality of the 
fruit was good, but some sorts, 
especially the Yellow Transpar- 
ent, showed some tendency to 
crack. 
From the seed obtained in 1914, 
by crossing the native crab with 
cultivated varieties, only a few 
plants Avere secured. The work 
of crossing Avas continued this 
past season. 
Currants. 
Currants did not do their best 
this year, owing to the blos- 
soms being attacked by a fungus. 
The crop Avas fairly good, Iioav- 
ever, especially of the red sorts. 
Some varieties set out in the 
spring of 1914 produced a fair 
amount of fruit, but others bore 
little. The Perfection seems to 
be by all odds the best red currant 
so far tried. Many of the berries 
were more than half an inch in di- 
ameter, with an extreme of nine- 
sixteenths inch. This variety is 
also productive. White Grape 
(Imperial White) seems to be su- 
perior to the other Avhite varie- 
ties grown, while Lee (Lee’s Pro- 
lific) has not yet been surpassed 
by other black sorts. Red cur- 
rants added to the collection the 
past season were Holland (Long 
Bunch Holland) and Moore Ruby. 
Three varieties of black currants 
Avere also added — Naples (Black 
Naples), Black Victoria, and 
Wales (Prince of Wales). 
Gooseberries. 
The Champion again proved to 
be the best all-round variety. The 
Whitesmith seems to be the best 
of the English sorts. Some of the 
English varieties are badly af- 
fected with mildeAV, Avhile others 
suffer but little. The varieties 
set out in 1914 have not yet dem- 
onstrated their value, but Pearl 
seems verjr promising. 
Raspberries. 
As usual the Cuthbert bore a 
heavy crop of excellent fruit of 
large size. A number of other 
varieties at the station have not 
had a fair chance to demonstrate 
their comparative value the past 
tAvo years. One \ T ariety of the 
European species ( Rubus idoeus), 
called the Orange, bears fruit of 
the very highest quality, but 
seems unable to properly main- 
tain itself. Golden (Golden 
Queen) and St. Regis Avere added 
to the collection during the past 
season. 
