The program for the occasion was very complete, and the subjects presented were such as would tend to instruct and enthuse the members present. The attendance of Wisconsin horticulturists was very good, and included most of those who had been prominent workers in the cause for many years. There were present as delegates from other states, Messrs. J. V. Cotta, of Illinois; C. G. Patten and J. Wragg, of Iowa; Chas. W. Garfield and Prof. A. J. Cook, of Michigan; D. R. Maginnis and J. S. Harris, of Minnesota.

The meeting was opened at 2 P. M., on the sixteenth, with an address of welcome by Hon. Alexander Cook, of Waukesha, in which he complimented the society upon its high and ennobling aims, and the zeal with which it had fostered the highest and most ennobling sentiments and inculcated them among the people of Wisconsin, the love of the useful and beautiful in nature, and especially the love for fruits and flowers. He alluded to the wonderful impetus that had been given to horticultural development and progress in the Northwest in the last score of years, through the earnest efforts of this society and kindred organizations in other states, and thought that we were now but standing on the threshold of an era of expansion of horticultural knowledge such as the world had never before conceived of.

Mr. B. F. Adams, of Madison, delivered an appropriate response to the address of welcome, reviewing the work of the society in the past and expressing the opinion that the present outlook was very encouraging, and closed his remarks by saying that the thoroughbred Wisconsin horticulturist possesses an enthusiasm that the coldest winds of winter or the strongest heats of summer could not overcome."

The remainder of the afternoon session was taken up with the reports of the secretary and other officers, committees, delegates to other state meetings and the election of officers.

The secretary in his report made an urgent plea for an increased membership. Thought the free distribution of reports tended to discourage membership and that the summer meetings held at different places in the State had added greatly to the strength and usefulness of the society. He gave irresponsible tree tramps some hard raps, but did not favor legislation on the subject. Thought the education to be gained through more meetings and farmers' institutes was the only available remedy. They would flourish in spite of all laws as long as there was ignorance of horticulture among the farmers.

Mr. G. J. Kellogg's report as delegate to the Illinois meeting showed that the apple question was but little nearer solved in that state than in Wisconsin and Minnesota. He said: "Half of the orchards in Northern Illinois are on the wood pile and the other half are leaning strongly that way." Nursery men and tree peddlers are not helping the matter, although they are profiting by the misfortunes of the planters.

Mr. A. G. Tuttle was the delegate to the Iowa meeting. He thought Iowa was on the right track and making rapid advances in testing the adaptability of Russian varieties. He said: "At least twenty-six varieties of Russians will compare favorably with the Duchess for hardiness and are as good in quality as an equal number of American varieties." Numerous varieties were being propagated at the agricultural experiment station at Ames, and Prof. Budd had distributed trees to over six hundred parties in Iowa, Minnesota and Dakota, to be tested and reported upon.

The evening session was opened with a paper on "Ornamental Trees," by A. L. Hatch, of Ithaca. He is a vigorous writer and a very earnest horticulturist. He cautioned against overplanting. Too close planting is a very general fault. Single specimens with ample room for development give the best effect. Harmony in form and color ought to be considered in all planting. Many planters crowd their grounds with such varieties as a traveling agent recommends at exorbitant prices and overlook the sugar maple, native white birch, American linden, hackberry and other beautiful natives that can frequently be had for the digging.

Mrs. Huntley followed with a paper on "Plants and Flowers for the Home." She said: "Our homes are what we make them. The young farmer can plant a few trees and shrubs when he sows his first crop. He can devote a little time to the garden from the very start. The woman can give a little time to the growing of flowers from the first. Their culture tends to elevate and purify the mind, and gives the dusty walks of life many a charm that can not be found where they are wanting, and they will afford relaxation from indoor labor." No other class of workers have so good an opportunity for ornamenting their homes as the farmer. The little beginnings made at the start will grow and expand into beautiful surroundings of a happy home. It is a misfortune for children to be reared in a home where there is no adornment. It is criminal in the parents to

neglect to beautify the surroundings of the home, and it tends to poverty. The lawn should always be as fresh and green as grass can make it. The vegetable garden will yield its fruits in a few short months. The strawberry bed will give its ripe fruit in fourteen months from planting, and the raspberry only a month later. She knew one farmer who plants a few trees upon the birth of each child, and they are that child's trees. Why should not all do likewise? And then our children would be a generation of horticulturists. Horticulture has always made the world more beautiful, home happier and human life better.

An interesting discussion followed the reading of the paper. The points brought out were heartily approved, with the suggestion that the house plants should be our plants instead of "my wife's plants."

At this point Chas. W. Garfield, secretary of the Michigan Horticultural Society, and of the American Pomological Society, was introduced, and spoke at length of the workings of the Michigan Society, and advocated the encouragement of local and county societies and the establishment of experimental stations. The next paper read was on the "Slaughter of the Birds," by Mrs. Ida E. Tillson, of West Salem, in which was shown in a happy manner the blessing of birds to the agriculturist and horticulturist, as their food consisted principally of injurious insects. She alluded to the principal causes that tended to diminish the number of birds and threatened the extermination of some of the most useful species. It was not enough that the electric lights killed them by thousands, and the town boys "embryo hunters," armed with deadly shot guns-roamed far and wide and from pure wantoness slay all they can find and rob the nests of such as escape, so that in the neighborhood of our villages the quails, larks, blue jays, orioles and other summer songsters can not find a place to rest their weary wing, but the women have added another incentive for their destruction, by adopting a fashion that would shame the barbarians, giving birds a commercial value; and so great is their demand for them for making their "head gear" hideous that the most secluded resorts no longer afford protection for such as are clothed with bright plumage. Unless this slaughter is stopped disaster is sure to follow. Insects will increase to an alarming extent and destroy our crops and our land will become a dreary waste.

SECOND DAY.

This forenoon President Smith read his annual address, in which he reviewed the workings of the society, and the lessons of the season. In alluding to the great drought of last summer he said that experience had demonstrated that good cultivation was the best preventive to injuries to crops in times of drought. He alluded to the L. L. May Nursery Company of St. Paul, and said they had operated extensively in Brown County, through an agent, and sold large quantities of trees and plants at prices little less than robbery, and he could not see wherein their operations differed very much from obtaining money under false pretenses. The operations of such agents are very detrimental to horticulture in the Northwest. Was much pleased with the course taken by the Minnesota Society in the matter, and did not think they scored any points by appearing before our Society. He urged the dissemination of such information through the working of the society as shall educate the farmers to be on their guard against all suspicious tree men, and that the society exercise great care in recommending varieties for general cultivation. A more thorough organization of local societies would prove a partial remedy, as this class of men were disposed to shun those who were well posted on trees and plants.

The remainder of the forenoon was occupied by Prof. Cook, of Michigan, in delivering an illustrated lecture on "Insects Injurious to Plant Life, and Means of Destroying Them." In speaking of the codling moth he says it can not be caught with sweetened water, is not attracted into the house by lights, that they are great respecters of prior rights, and never deposit but one egg in an apple, and no matter how numerous they are, have an instinct to pass by every fruit in which an egg has been deposited by another insect. In speaking of remedies he condemned the old bunch remedy as a failure. The hog remedy is better, as much of the affected fruit falls to the ground before the worms escape, and if at once eaten by hogs will prevent propagation. He told of an orchardist who had about exterminated them on his place by employing boys to pick all infected fruit, and it paid him well to do it. He considered the best remedy to be Paris Green or London Purple, applied when the fruit is about the size of a pea, and said there would not be a trace of the poison remaining two months afterward. To be effective one pound of the poison is put into one hundred gallons of

water and applied with a Holman pump or garden syringe. For large orchards he would use the Field pump with the Dixon spray nozzle. Cattle and other stock must be kept out of the orchard until after two or three heavy rains have fallen.

The "borer" is easily destroyed by using an emulsion of one pint of crude carbolic acid and one quart of soft soap, put into two gallons of water. This emulsion should be applied to the body of the tree with a brush, about the first of June. It also kills the scale or bark louse and fungus growths and helps the tree to endure the following winter.

In this manner he went through the various tribes of the most injurious insects, illustrating them with large drawings and pointing out the best known remedies for each and advised all fruit growers to interest their children in the study of insects and train them to become familiar with their habits and transformations.

In our opinion this lecture, and a paper upon the same subject read the next day by J. S. Stickney, were the crowning features of the meeting and worth many times more to the state than the small sum annually appropriated to aid the society. Here we would suggest that an effort be made to arrange with Mr. Cook to repeat the lecture before our Society at our next annual meeting.

Chas. W. Garfield occupied one hour of the afternoon session and made a good talk on the subject, "How, When and Where to Teach Horticulture." He is an enthusiast, and gained the attention and admiration of the audience.

The remainder of the program was fully carried out and there was an increasing interest from the opening to the close of the meeting and at the final adjournment everyone present pronounced it the best meeting yet held by the society.

I should like to give a further notice of the remaining papers but the length of my report will not permit me to dwell longer in this field, where I have been so well entertained. I must, however, allude to Mrs. Hollister's paper upon "Life of Women on the Farm, as it is and as it should be;" "The Ethics of Horticulture," by Mrs. Campbell. I heartily wish every farmer and his wife in the Northwest could have heard them. I feel like congratulating the Wisconsin society on their having enlisted the co-operation of so many of their talented women in their work.