62 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
First, as to tree, it is only sec- 
ond hardy. 
Second, blights badly. 
Third, is not productive enough. 
Fourth, as to fruit, quality only 
fair. 
Fifth, lack showiness. 
So you may gather from this 
that I am not much of a friend of 
the Pewaukee for this locality. 
A. L. Hatch, deceased, wrote as 
follows : It is of very poor qual- 
inty at its best and since it has 
the habit of falling from the tree 
before maturity it is seldom at its 
best. I've grown it along with 
Utter, Haas, Wealthy, Newell, 
Fameuse and many others and the 
Pewaukee is inferior to all of them 
and I would not plant it. 
If these opinions, are sound, 
there would seem to be no good 
reason for retaining the Pewaukee 
on our fruit list. 
Advantages and Disadvantages of 
Fruit Growing in Michigan. 
F. Kern. 
This topic might be spread over 
a great deal of paper, but out of 
respect for you and for those who 
stay awake while you read this, I 
will be brief. 
Soil, in all the fruit sections I 
have visited in this state, is what 
Wisconsin farmers would call 
SAND. It looks in some districts 
like mighty poor sand, and in 
some districts there can be no mis- 
take about it. Where the soil is 
fertile, it is very easily farmed, 
and for that reason is, as a rule, 
better cultivated than are Wiscon- 
sin orchards. (I do not refer to 
FARM ORCHARDS.) 
Many of the growers are spe- 
cialists, having made it a business 
and a study for years past, and 
contrary to your belief and mine 
until 1916, there is some mighty 
good fruit grown in Michigan, 
and, with a soil that can be tilled 
with the least possible effort and a 
productive soil, and, with a cli- 
mate that Door and Bayfield coun- 
ties have boasted of so long and 
so loudly, FROST PROOF “where 
the moisl atmosphere crossing 
from water to water” etc., there 
are some advantages in growing 
fruit in Michigan. I have never 
seen a district where a greater va- 
riety of fruit can be grown than 
up in the Grand Traverse Region, 
and I would enjoy telling you of 
this district if time and your pa- 
tience would permit, but I must 
shorten this story to fit conditions, 
so will pass any reference to this 
district. 
Another of the great advantages 
of fruit growing in Michigan is, 
its markets, and the vast terri- 
tory in which we can market with 
the excellent transportation cerv- 
ices. Michigan is one of the great- 
est manufacturing states in the 
Union today, though few know or 
believe that, to illustrate : 
While Michigan stands, fifth in 
the production of potatoes in the 
U. S. this season, the state does 
not produce enough potatoes to 
supply the home state consump- 
tion. I mention this to give you 
an idea of the demand for Michi- 
gan products of all kinds, and, 
were it not for the haphazard 
method of marketing, the fruit 
grown in this state, I would make 
the statement that no other state 
in the union has anything on Mich- 
igan, but the marketing system is 
as far from perfect as any market- 
ing system in any state in the U. S. 
and this is one of the greatest dis- 
advantages it has, and I question 
very much whether we will ever 
jret a satisfactory marketing sys- 
January, 1919 
McKAY NURSERY 
COMPANY 
MADISON, WISCONSIN 
Nursery Stock of 
Quality 
for Particular Buyers 
Have all the standard varieties 
as well as the newer sorts. Can 
supply you with everything in 
Fruit Trees, Small Fruits, 
Vines and Ornamentals. 
Let us suggest what to plant 
both in Orchard and in the 
decoration of your grounds. 
Prices and our new Catalog 
sent promptly upon receipt of 
your list of wants. 
Nurseries at 
Waterloo, Wis. 
. 
tem in this state as long as the 
commission man sends out his 
buyer or solicitor, or both, to tan- 
talize the growers with a few 
shekels of gold and blinds his vis- 
ion to any better plan than to sell 
outright or to consign to his 
house. The district from St. Jo 
to the Straits is patroled from the 
last of May until the last apples 
are shipped in the fall by this 
army of representatives of Com- 
mission Houses, who seem to pre- 
fer to pay cash for their produce 
to the individual, or the man rep- 
resenting the individuals, rather 
than tie to any organization. Per- 
sonally, I have no complaint to of- 
fer, for I sold every straight car 
of fruit I had this season, amount- 
ing to nearly 150 cars, all f. o. b. 
Traverse City, for cash, and only 
had one car out of the lot turned 
down and that was by a Minne- 
apolis firm. 
