State Convention-—Success vs. Failure. 
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growing. I believe we came to very nearly the same conclusion, 
and that is the reason there was no special variety recommended; 
hut those Mr. Plumb spoke of I can heartily endorse as far as my 
experience goes. I won’t go any further; and we came to the con¬ 
clusion to let every man that wants to plant an orchard, visit his 
nearest neighbor that has one, and see what varieties have done the 
best with him, and do likewise. 
Mr. Bingham: I would like to ask Mr. Plumb one question with 
regard to sheltering orchards; whether he’considers it essential to 
plant forest-trees, or any kind of trees, on the west and north side 
of an orchard, that will shelter it somewhat from the severe winds. 
I will give an instance of an orchard in the southwest part of the 
State, in Grant county, one of the most flourishing orchards in the 
county, situated oil the north slope of the hill, on the open prairie, 
where there was no timber at all, sloping toward the north. At 
the time the man planted his orchard, he planted a double row of 
white willow, which has grown very rapidly, and made a great 
wind-break. His orchard is very thrifty. I would like to have Mr. 
Plumb’s opinion whether that wind-break has anything to do with 
the thriftiness of his orchard. 
Mr. Plumb: My conclusion is that, with a healthy tree, they re¬ 
quire no such protection, because those orchards that I have stated 
as remarkable cases, have no such protection. I can give you a 
good description of over two hundred orchards that t have visited 
within the last twenty years, bearing on this point, and I wish to 
speak very moderately; and the testimony accumulates, not only in 
our own State, but in Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri. I said to an 
old friend of mine, u plant your trees on the coldest spot you have 
got;” he wouldn’t believe it. Now, he says, “you are right.” Or¬ 
dinary trees require no protection, except from violent winds to 
save their fruit. Let me remark, on this very point of protection, 
we need protection as much from the sun as from an} r other source. 
You go into your old orchards and you find the southwest side 
deadened. It has been produced by the warming up of the south¬ 
west side, by the sunshine, from one to three o’clock, which is the 
warmest part of the day. That portion of the tree is warmed up, 
and the sap starts, and, on a sudden freezing, the bark bursts and 
cracks the wood. That process, repeated from day-to-day for two 
weeks, destroys that side of the tree. Farmers say, “what is the 
