ANNUAL ADDRESS. 
431 
was to report upon the destruction of our forests, its injurious 
effects, etc., upon the climate, upon the people, and the duty of 
the state in regard to the matter. I scarce need add that one 
of those commissioners was appointed as the law directed by 
this society, or that a more able,*4nd interesting report was 
never made to ou,r legislature. I wish now to urge upon you 
the necessity of a horticultural exploration of the state. Its 
necessity at first sight, I must confess, does not seem very ap¬ 
parent, nor does such a proposition seem to present any suffi¬ 
cient compensating advantages. But when we come to con¬ 
sider that very little is known of our indigenous fruits,—I mean 
in their great varieties,—that probably still less is known of 
the character of their habits, and that it is now, as it ever has 
been even in the old geological • ages of the earth, the habit 
with certain plants as well as with animals to locate themselves 
only in certain peculiar localities, the importance of finding 
out the character of these plants as well as the character of 
their localities if we wish to cultivate fruits, becomes mani¬ 
fest. I shall perhaps be better understood, if I say that it-is 
stated on good authority, that we have over a hundred differ¬ 
ent varieties of indigenous plums in Wisconsin,—that some are 
red and some are yellow, but those in one locaijty are three 
times the size of those in another locality, while one is of a 
good quality and the other not good. Now, this is about all 
we know of them at the present time, and but few people in 
Wisconsin probably know so much as this about their plums. 
Add to this, that the plum is a very desirable fruit, that it is 
almost impossible to grow the tame plum with us, and then 
the importance of the exploration I ask for is in a measure ap¬ 
parent And let me add, as with the plum, so with the rasp¬ 
berry, blackberry and other fruits. In all countries are found 
localities where particular varieties of the same fruit grpw 
best This is a fact sufficiently familiar to us all. Do we 
know anything positive of the existence of these localities in 
this state? Yery little. With the great desire on the part of 
our people to grow fruit, is it not desirable to ascertain whether 
they exist at all ? How is this to be done ? By the blind 
