hills, those that are called "Easter flowers;" fruit buds swelled and all prospects were for an early spring, but April was colder than March.

Fruit trees were not damaged by mice nor rabbits during the winter and the prospect was good for a full crop of apples. Small fruit wintered splendidly. We uncovered blackberries and raspberries April 24th, one week earlier than in 1893. Fruit trees bloomed earlier than they did in '93. The fore part of May was very favorable for small fruit and the orchard; the latter part of the month, cold nights with frost set in, and strawberries that were in full bloom the last week in May had to be covered with hay to save them. Of the Warfield and Michel that were not covered, the latter nearly all froze; the Warfields by the side of them were seventy-five per cent. better.

Blackberries and raspberries were not injured by the frost, but the apple crop was. At first I thought it was not the frost, but later I found that it was.

The prospect was good for the small fruit crop, but the drouth set in in June and continued through the summer unbroken with the exception of two showers; the ground had become so dry that they only revived vegetation for a short time.

Strawberries promised a large crop, the first pickings were of good size and found ready sale at $1.60 per crate of sixteen quarts. After five or six days' picking they all dried up, and the foliage looked as if it had been scorched, and in fact it had, by the hot sun and winds.

The new settings were badly injured through the summer, except where they were on very low land and had moisture, there they did well. When winter set in they looked poorly and the prospects are not very bright for the crop of 1895.

Red raspberries did better than we expected. Where they were heavily mulched after having been uncovered in the spring they gave a fair yield of medium sized berries which brought $1.60 per case, and the home demand was good at that price. Blackberries were nearly a total failure; the canes were loaded with fruit, but could not obtain moisture enough

to develop it, and it dried before ripening. New canes made a good growth in the fall and we may expect a good crop this year.

Plums, both cultivated and wild, were a good crop. Cherries were a light crop. Grapes poor. The apple crop was better than we anticipated in the spring. My crop was of a better quality than in 1893. I had no insects, but the fruit did not seem to keep as well as in former years. Some orchards had to be sprayed to save the crop. Early apples sold at fifty to seventy-five cents per bushel; fall and winter apples at one dollar, with a good demand at that price. Many newly planted trees died, even some that were mulched; where the soil was kept loose and mellow they lived through, but made very little growth. Trees grew late in the season. How they will come through the winter is hard to tell.

The ground is very dry and is frozen very deep, but fortunately the weather was not very cold up to January 15th; at the present writing, January 28th, it was 30 degrees below

zero.

A good many of the new Russian varieties have been planted, also the Northwestern Greening. Farmers are learn. ing that it is cheaper to raise the fruit than to buy it, and are taking more interest in tree planting. Blight affected trees more or less during the summer.

I have noticed that those orchards that have been kept clean from weeds and June grass, and have been given a good top dressing of barn-yard manure bore the best fruit, and will as long as they are taken care of in this way. While, on the other hand, those orchards that were sod-bound with June grass so it would shed water under the trees, like the roof of a house, looked very poorly, and more so in a dry season, the fruit was small and wormy, and the trees had a sickly appear

ance.

The highest temperature observed by me was 107 degrees in the shade, with hot winds from the south as if coming from a furnace.

In this locality we had frost every month of the year, not very heavy in July, but heavy enough so that grass turned white on low ground.

REPORT OF F. J. WELLS, MILTON, ROCK COUNTY.

Plants, shrubs and trees received very little injury during the winter.

March 17th gave us a May day with temperature at 75 degrees above zero.

March 18th we set raspberries.

Before night a good sum

mer rain threatened to start fruit buds and get them killed by later freezes. A cold spell set in the 24th followed by varied freezing and snow.

April 4th seeding began.

May 1st strawberries began to bloom.

May 3d onions, parsnip and potatoes up.

May 11th corn, melons, etc., planted.

May 17th potato beetles very plentiful.

May 18th gave us a lively snow storm from the north.

The

next day was clear, wind north, and mercury at 32 degrees above zero.

May 25 melons were replanted, having been killed by the storm and cold.

May 31st showed a white frost. Little injury.

June 6th a hard frost (mercury at 31 degrees above zero), killed three-fourths of our Ohios and grapes. The Greggs, being later, escaped; also the red raspberries, currants, gooseberries, and cherries. Apples were in full bloom and were not injured. Strawberry prospect half destroyed. Potatoes in bud frozen half down. Somestrips escaped.

June 8th first picking of strawberries on our prairie. The last picking was July 5th, with raspberries right after them, and a drouth on their neck, reducing the crop one-third. July 19th encouraged us with a good rain, after twenty-five days of shine. Then followed another drouth which ruined the blackberries and reduced growing crops very much.

August 20th gave the first ripe melons.

September helped us out with abundant showers. The first killing fall frost visited us September 15th. November 11th

snow fell, starting the sleighs. This did not last long. plowing was done between December 20th and 25th.

Some

There were nearly twenty acres of strawberries about Milton. They yielded one-third of a crop, and wholesaled at from seven to ten cents per quart.

For lots of good, handsome berries, plant Warfield, Crescent and Haverland, fertilize with Beder Wood, Lovett, Wolverton, Saunders, Enhance and Parker Earle.

Wolverton showed an immense number of blossoms and berries when the frost spoiled our fun and report. Lovett and Saunders gave us some large, very satisfactory berries. Enhance did well in size and yield of fruit.

Greenville promises a good supply of berries. Timbrell plants set early this spring were very large and thrifty, but the number of blossoms they bore indicated moderate productiveness.

Leader has a good-sized berry but small vines. Beverly has better foliage.

Smith's Seedling is a moderate bearer, with us; has extra, high flavor; colors unevenly; often spoils on one side before it is red on the other. Not a market berry. Muskingum is productive, large, round, soft, and tame flavored, with a weak vine. Edgar Queen is too soft.

Michels is good for a sell in the plants. It gave us a few good early, small berries. Don't get too cheap plants; they may be small, run out stock, mixed, or "I don't know what they are."

Don't pay $2.00 per hundred for plants in genral cultivation.

The best varieties can be had at from fifty cents to one dollar per hundred and often less.

New varieties ought to be tested at our trial stations be fore we give them the credit of our patronage.

It would save many misspent dollars, but the pleasures of anticipation are so great that we are almost compelled to indulge in some which have, the most credible, or incredible recommendation. Unless you expect to sell plants, go slow. For profits in the sale of fruit, get those varieties which do best in your locality; plant early, keep clean.

We sprayed our apples, grapes, currants and potatoes with Bordeaux mixture, adding six ounces of Paris green to fifty gallons of mixture.

The Transparent, Wealthy and Duchess gave us a large yield of beautiful fruit.

The currant worms struck and we picked the handsome Fays.

Potatoes that were sprayed the heaviest remained green ten days longer than the rest.

When potatoes six or more inches high are frozen half down they might as well be plowed under.

The yield this season was from one-fourth to one-half a crop, and sold at from sixty to eighty cents per bushel.

The earliest apples sold at about one dollar per bushel, but harvest and fall apples sold largely at fifty cents per bushel. The crop was large; early apples under size and difficult to keep. Some trees perished in maturing their load of fruit. Winter apples were a short crop and were shipped in and sold at $2.75 per barrel.

Oh! that agent was around with a smooth story, and exaggerating plates to sell us trees in general cultivation at seventy-five cents each. We heard him through, then showed him specimens of the same varieties in the garden that cost twenty-five cents apiece, splendid trees.

Deal with somebody known to be reliable and responsible living near by.

Get mostly those varieties that do well generally, or are successful in your locality.

OBSERVATIONS IN OUTAGAMIE COUNTY.

Mrs. D. Huntley, Appleton.

The season of 1894 was a disappointment to many fruit growers in this section. The spring opened with most delightful weather. March was mild and pleasant and gave every