THE WISCONSIN FARMER.



may, by-and-by, prove fatal to the hopes of
many a new beginner in tree planting.
  Wher we look over the Reports of various
Horticultural and Pomological Societies, also
individual and catalogue lists of those recoin-
mended for general culture, we find very few
of the old favorites "left out in the cold," and
the conclusion would be, that after all our ter-
rible experience of 1856, we still can trust the
favorite lists of New York and Ohio in the
changeable climate of the Northwest.
  But we reason differently; what has been
may be. During the twelveyears previous to
1856, we saw the favorite Greening, Swaar,
Baldwin, &e, as well as apricots and quinces,
peaches by the hundreds of bushels, and many
beautiful shrubs now discarded, all apparent-
ly at home in Wisconsin; but what followed
we need not repeat. Tree planters were seiz-
ed with excessive fear, followed by excessive
caution, which has now been replaced with a
just confidence, which we hope never to see
relapse into a reckless run after every fancy
picture and worthless assurance of the i far-
fetched-' tree agent.
  The object of the tree planter is, first, food;
then mnoney;-to which may be added occasion-
ally the amateur's desire for show.
  But for home use or market, what is wanted
is, almost universally, those varieties that are



first sure, then good; and as these two quali-
ties certainly can be conbined in a list of 20



or more varieties, new and old, of apples, and
half as many of pears, we would repeat the
word of caution to every nurseryman and tree
planter in the Northwest.
  Confusion of names has led many an honest
fruit grower to recommend tender varieties as
"good and hardy."  And a prolific source of
this wrong nomenclature is the wholesale im-
portation of good looking hardy trees of pass-
able fruit, mislabelled with all the dear old
fruit of Egypt (New England).  But wide-
awake tree planters will look ouit for this old
' hand" every time.
  The tendency to enlarge the list of "hardy'
varieties, or those recommended for general
culture is, we fear, indulged in without due



consideration. In the September issue of the
FARMER, one nurseryman, through a second
person, recommends, among others, the C. Red
June, K. Codlin, Fall Wine, and White Winter
Pearmain,-names we -'We would not place in
the hardy list, and which should be recom-
mended witI, a caution or proviso attached;
and the same of Mlaiden's Blush.
  The Corresponding Editor, in same number,
"fully endorses ' the list of pears of a Mas-
sachusetts Horticultural Society, containing
the Bartlett, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Duch-
esse and others of doubtful utility-varieties
w-lich do not possess that hardy constitution
which adapts them to general culture in the
Northvwet  Especially the last two named
varieties we pronounce comparatively worth-
less in Wisconsin.
  True, isolated cases occur in which many of
these discarded varieties fill the highest hopes
with a crop of luscious fruit, but the tens of
thousands invested in them yield only the
seven hundred per cent. discount, from a
blight equalled only by Viat of rebeldom.
  Professional fruit growers, do not lower the
standard!  But while we propagate in our
nurseries every good variety of fruit practi-
cal, yet we should remember the public at
large want but few of them for general plant-
ing, and that few of the 'every time sure"



class.
LARS SiDr. N Ir.nERIrS, MADISON. WiJ.



J. C. PLT7MD.



[Frrn an address before the Fr,,it-crowvrs' Soc. of West
    ,rn N. Y., by 11. T. ERools, Eaq., Preildent.
            History of the Apple.
  Geology, an acknowledged chronological
authority, informs us that the order Rosacte
to which the apple belongs, is a little older
than man. As if conscious of the coming of
her lord, the earth blossomed with unwonted
flowers, and strewed his future home with
golden fruit.
  Whether apples early became prominent as
food we do not know, but there seems reason
to suppose they should at once assume the
place they prove so fit to fill.
Solomon among inspired, and Homer among
profane writers, 1000 B. C., mention the apple.
Joel speaks of the apple tree 200 years later.
  Some Biblical critics assume that since the
apples of Sodotn are known as indifferent



378



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