January, 1919 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
63 
A LARGE STOCK OP 
Apple, Cherry and Plum Trees, Grape Vines, 
Blackberry, Raspberry and 
Strawberry Plants 
Both Everbearing - and common varieties. 
And a general line of ORNAMENTAL TREES, SHRUI1S and ROSES. 
All stock clean and thrifty, the best that can be grown in Wisconsin. 
GREAT NORTHERN NURSERY CO. 
Write for catalog and prices Baraboo, Wis. 
HARDY OLD FASHIONED PLANTS 
OUR SPECIALTY 
The best varieties for Wisconsin conditions, carefully grown and 
carefully packed. Write for prices 
WILLIAM TOOLE & SON 
C- 
Hardy Plant and Pansy Farm 
Baraboo, Wis. 
WISCONSIN FAVORED 
FRUIT DISTRICT 
The Kickapoo Valley 
Our Specialty: Planting and Developing orchards for non-residents 
A few choice tracts for sale. If interested, write us. 
KICKAPOO DEVELOPMENT COMPANY 
GAYS MILLS, WISCONSIN 
But the state is behind the 
times, years behind the times, ami 
that is the sole reason why Mich- 
igan fruits are quoted lower in tin* 
markets than any others at the 
same season of the year. They 
sell cheap, or consign and get less, 
and because the price is invari- 
ably low, they take little interest 
in their grading or packing, be- 
lieving they will get only about so 
much anyway and thinking there 
is no reason for putting- up a good 
pack when any old pack will 
bring the same price. Do not 
understand that this is the condi- 
tion in all districts, nor that this 
is the disposition of all the grow- 
ers in every district, for I believe 
that in this district during the 
past season the members of this 
organization did put up the finest 
pack of the finest cherries I have 
ever seen. They could not be im- 
proved upon very much, and when 
I tell you that they were put up 
with a guarantee to net 25 pounds 
to the crate, and that on nearly 
fifty thousand crates there was 
not a claim for shortage' filed, you 
will see that so far we were honest 
in this district. In a few others 
that I have visited, they are im- 
proving their pack, but there is 
enough fruit at all these points so 
that the local buyer is a factor, 
and naturally, he tries to disturb 
organization, and fools are not all 
dead yet. Organizations are not 
organizations, in a true sense of 
the word, and this is one of the se- 
rious disadvantages of fruit grow- 
ing in Michigan. 
Now, if I were present, I should 
like to talk a few minutes about 
production of fruit and the future 
of the fruit business in Michigan, 
and in Wisconsin especially, and 
Illinois and New York should he 
included. 
There has been so much said 
about overproduction of fruit in 
the United States, that, for the 
last four years, the plantings of 
tree fruits have been reduced an- 
nually until practically nothing 
has been planted except to fill in, 
and in the commercial districts of 
the northwest you would be 
astounded at the reduction in 
acreage. In the Rogue River Val- 
ley ten years ago there were 25,- 
000 acres of tree fruits growing. 
Today there are less than 12,000 
acres, and a great deal of that will 
sooner or later be dug out because 
of pear blight, or because they 
cannot grow fruit at a profit, and 
no new orchards are being planted 
there. At Salem, Oregon, the 
sweet cherry was once the wonder 
of the west, and it is now scarcely 
grown commercially. 
At Hood River, the “Home of 
the Big Red Apple,” the acre- 
age today is less than half what it 
was ten years ago, and there are 
no new plantings. At Yakima 
the situation is the same, only 
more striking, and at Grand Junc- 
tion the same. At Spokane there 
is a Development Company that 
has an acreage of about 7,000 
