REPORTS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES. Swindling Tree-Peddlers.-The committee appointed on the subject of protection against swindling tree-peddlers, made the following report, which was adopted: Your committee, to whom was referred th matter of itinerent tree-pedlers, would respectfully report, That in view of the fact that there is at the present time a number of persons governed solely by mercenery motives, travelling over the State soliciting orders for the sale of fruit trees, vines and shrubs, and imposing upon the people, by selling them poor and worthless stocks of various kinds, procured from places and at prices, where they can obtain them at the lowest possible rates and selling them at high and fictitious values; and which are not only true to name, but any variety that a person may want, by simply placing upon the article the label with desired name; thereby producing confusion in the nomenclature and causing distrust in the minds of the community, and strengthening the impression that “Fruit cannot be grown in Wisconsin,' we would recommend as a partial remedy for this great and growing evil, that the nursery men of this State, publish a full and complete list of the articles they have for sale, with a price for each appended to the same; and that they employ none as agents to travel or solicit for them, but persons of known integrity and uprightness of character; first furnishing them with a certificate of authority as agents, which certifi cate must be endorsed by the President or Secretary of this Society; and to guard said officers from imposition each nurseryman is hereby required to furnish said officers with a list of such agents so employed by him. We recommend, also, that this Society request the several newspapers and eriodicals of this State, that they publish this report, in order to guard the people from impositions as set forth. JANUARY 22, 1867. FRANK S. LAWRENCE, Committee. Statistics of Wisconsin Fruits.-Your committee to whom was refered the procuring of statistics as to the number of bushels of apples raised in the State of Wisconsin and the value thereof would report, that on examination of returns from the several counties as made by the several town asssessors in the month of June last, and as compiled by the Secretary of State it appears that there was raised in the state in the year 1865, 272,452 bushels of apples, valued at $386,363. These returns only include thirty-seven counties, leaving some sixteen counties which made no reports. It also appears that in the same counties there was 114,001 pounds of grapes raised, valued at $28,144, also 27,942 gallons of wine made valued at $48,625. January 22d, 1867. F. S. LAWRENCE. ESSAYS. THE CAUSES OF INJURY AND THE MEANS FOR PROTECTION OF ORCHARDS. PRIZE ESSAY BY A. G. TUTTLE, OF BARABOO. Whatever may be true of other portions of our country, in Wisconsin no very tempting fruits grow spontaneously. Well directed, perserving efforts are necessary for their production. Situated beyond the ameliorating influence of the ocean, or lakes, we are exposed to the sub-arctic blasts of winter, and the dry winds of summer as they sweep over the plains, or sparsely wooded regions beyond us. To form some estimate of the modifying influence of large bodies of water lying in the direction from whence comes our greatest cold, we need only to turn our attention to that portion of Michigan, lying opposite, and even farther north than Green Bay, where the pear, plum and peach flourish in great prefection. It is not strange, that, exposed to severe and long protracted cold unlike that of any portion of the country lying east of us in the same latiude, our prgress in fruit growing should have been slow, as our eastern experiences were of little avail to us. The selection of varieties of the apple made by the first planters was, with a few exceptions, most unfortunate. Those well known kinds deservedly popular at the east, were found unsuited to our climate, and the result of this first trial, seemed to have left the very general impression that we could not succeed in growing the apple here. The enthusiastic, intelligent cultivator however, satisfied that extreme cold was the principal cause of injury, now turned his attention to those varieties which had their origin in high northern latitudes. The result was satisfactory. Then commenced our first real progress. Many varieties were introduced admirably adapted to our climate, and the orchardist can now plant with as much certainty of success as in those regions more favorable to the cultivation of fruits. It is said that in the interior of Russia where the climate is similar to ours -in the region extending from the lakes to the Rocky Mountains-apples, pears, plums and cherries are grown in great abundance, even as far north as the fifty-seventh parallel. In view of the perfect adaptation to our climate of the Russian fruits, already introduced, would it not be well to 36 AG. TRANS. (561) take means for the introduction of a greater variety of apples, and also of pears, plums, and cherries? In some appropriate way, may not the attention of the Commissioner of Agriculture at Washington be called to the necessities of the great North-west, that while collecting seeds and cuttings from Europe, he may place within our reach, some of those Russian fruits? We have already quite a variety of apples, well adapted to our climate, and the fact of there being scattered throughout our State fine, healthy orchards, annually producing their returns of the fairest and finest of fruit, demonstrates beyond all doubt, that apples can be grown here, and in great abundance. True, many do not succeed. Some from peculiarities of soil, or location, but far more from gross neglect, and want of proper cultivation. man It is estimated that seventy-five per cent. of all trees planted in portions of our country, favorable to fruit-growing, are destroyed by improper ma agement, or neglect. The truth is, a very large class of those who plant, look upon their work as done, when they have made an excavation in the soil, into which the roots can be crowded, and have thrown sufficient earth about them to hold the trees in an upright position. They expect it to thrive, and vie with the oak in hardiness, while at the same time more exposed to depredations from cattle, and injuries from other causes. Such will continue to divide their maledictions between the climate and the nurseryman, all uncon cious of any fault on their part, while it is very evident that they would not have succeeded even in the Garden of Eden, for it seems to have been the employment of that first distinguished fruit-grower, to dress and keep the garden. As a successful cultivation of fruit is more difficult, and the adverse influences, against which we have to contend, are increased, there is reason for closer observation into the causes of failure, that we may be enabled to use such means as lie within our reach to prevent injury, and save from disaster. It has been well said, that "Horticulture is not altogether an art ;” it is a progressive science. The wisest of us have to be continually unlearning things in which we once implicitly believed, and learning new facts, as the science develops itself. This is eminently true of us here; all along our pathway lie the scattered remains of favorite theories. Theories so plausible as to receive, for the time, the sanction of the most intelligent cultivators, which unsupported by subsequently developed facts, have been swept away, or materially changed. After the first trial of grafted sorts had resulted so disastrously, it was thought that by planting the seed we might obtain a class of seedlings, of fair quality, and of a degree of hardiness, sufficient to withstand our climate. The trial was made, over, and over again, with no better results than the early trial of grafted sorts. Various have been the causes assigned for the injury and destruction of our orchards, prominent among them that of late growth. It was maintained that the sure road to success was to chose those varieties which finished their growth early. Perfect maturity of wood is always desirable, and to insure the safety of some varieties, absolutely necessary. Still there are others that make very late growth-rarely, if ever, while young, showing perfect maturity-that are among our hardiest varieties, such are the Fameuse and Fall Wine Sap; while some of the most tender, finish their growth, and show well ripened wood. Among them are the Porter and Early Harvest. The pear and plum finish their growth earlier than the apple, and yet are much more liable to injury. While, to a certain extent, this theory of injury to our trees in consequence of late growth still holds true, it cannot be universally applied to all varieties, and probably not to any in all stages of their growth; for while some of our best, and hardiest varieties will injure from this cause while in the nursery, or for the first few years after planted, others that show well matured growth, and seldom improve while young, are perfectly worthless when they come to the bearing age. Trees that improve from this cause are much more liable to be destroyed while young, than after coming into bearing. Seldom, if ever, are bearing trees injured from having made a late growth, for the production of mere wood growth, and the production of fruit, are antagonistical processes. Whence, then, comes the injury to bearing orchards? I answer, mainly from severe and long protracted cold. Extreme heat and extreme cold act in a similar manner upon plants; and exhaustive evaporation is equally injurious, whether produced by one or the other of these extremes. An examination of the branch of a tree while the mercury ranges from 20 to 30 below zero, shows the wood to be reduced to the smallest compass possible, not less than it would be, if severed from the tree and exposed to a week of summer heat. This condition, long continued, especially if the cold be acompanied by rapidly moving currents of air, effectually drives all moisture from the tree, and so compacts the wood, that the tree is wholly, or partially destroyed. That injury does not result to all trees alike, is very evident. While one may be constitutionally fitted to endure severe freezing, another is destroyed by comparatively slight cold. One from its peculiar cellular structure resumes its functions when the adversve influences cease to act upon it; while the other loses all power of recovery, is rendered unsightly, by disease, or dies outright. That extreme cold is a principal cause of injury must be apparent from the fact, that the greatest injuries to our orchards, have always been produced by a winter of severest cold. Another injury resulting from severe freezing, is the opening of the fissures through the body of a tree, extending frequently its entire length. When the cold is most severe, the opening is large enough to admit one's finger, thereby, exposing the heart of the trees to that drying process of freezing. Fissures are also made between the branch and body, where the union between trunk and branch is imperfect. This bursting of the body is not confined to fruit trees alone; the oak, and many other forest trees are ruptured in the same manner and from the same cause. It seems to result in no permanent injury to them, neither does it to most of our hardy apple trees; while those more tender are badly injured, and not unfrequently de |
