Weeks had on his silostones from the size of your head to twice the size-such stones as a man could take up and carry, that a man could take it all out and lay it outside of the silo or bring it all in, in a day.

Mr. Ford-You would not be afraid of their stalling?
Judge Bryant - No, sir.

Mr. Ford I noticed in the last example Mr. Sloan cited that that gentleman alternated and put in a foot of rye. I would like to ask the reason of that.

Judge Bryant That was because he was afraid fodder green would rot. When they first began to ensilage their green things, almost every man thought he must put in a layer of green feed, and then put in something dry to protect it, absorb the moisture.

Mr. Arnold-This silo you spoke of did not have any more than a quarter of the weight recommended in the Country Gentle

man.

Judge Bryant-The stones were such stones as he could pick up. I measured the silo. The ensilage had settled two feet four and one-half inches from where the doctor pointed out to me it was when they put on the plank, to where it was when I saw it. Mr. Arnold Was that forty-five pounds to the foot? Judge Bryant-That is what the Country Gentleman says. Mr. Ames-I should suppose jack screws would be better. Judge Bryant Jack screws cost money, and stones lie all around the premises.

THURSDAY, February 3, 1881, 9 o'clock A. M. Convention called to order, President Fratt in the chair.

Two papers were read upon the apple crop and how to keep it, etc., by J. C. Plumb, Milton, and Chas. Herschinger, of Baraboo, following which was the following

DISCUSSION.

W. W. Field, Madison - Before there is any discussion upon these papers, I desire to make a motion. There has been no com

mittee on resolutions appointed by this convention. I think it very proper that we should have such a committee, and I therefore move that a committee of three, on resolutions, be appointed by the chair, to which all resolutions shall be referred, whether they have now been or may hereafter be presented.

Motion carried.

The chair appointed Mr. Field, Mr. Roberts and Mr. Arnold as the committee.

J. W. Wood, Baraboo - I would like to say that in this matter of the temperature of cellars, much depends upon it. I myself have had some personal experience in the matter, as I have fruit cellars in which it is important for me to keep what I put in, and I have never succeeded very well until this winter. I would go into the cellar from the warmer atmosphere, and it would feel cool to me, and I would be satisfied without knowing what the exact temperature was. This year I thought I would be more thorough, and I purchased three or four thermometers and hung them around in different parts of my cellar.

I found that the tendency had always been to keep my cellars too warm, and I ventilated them in cold weather until I brought them down to within two or three degrees of freezing. I think one thermometer in my cellar has hung four degrees beyond freezing, without a particle of change that I have been able to notice, for six weeks. I am perfectly satisfied that everything is keeping, and I do not think it is wise in any man who is trying to keep fruit which depends upon the temperature of the cellar, to attempt to get along without a thermometer in it. I am very emphatic upon that point.

B. S. Hoxie, Cookville- That is very good, such weather as we have had this winter. What I want to know is how to keep them all right in such weather as we had last winter, and such as we are about to have. That is the point with me.

Mr. Wood-There is a very simple way, and that is, when the weather is cold outside and you want your cellar cold, open your cellar; when it gets warmer shut your cellar. Go according to the outside weather. If the outside becomes too warm, close your cellar. When it gets colder, as it did last winter- there was plenty of weather that would reduce the temperature of the cellar

if your cellar had been exposed. That would be a universal rule, to go according to the weather.

Geo. J. Kellogg, Janesville - It is easy enough to keep it right this winter. There are some cellars that everything has been freezing in them. It has been the cause of a good deal of anxiety to some to know how to warm them up. Some have resorted to one method and some to another. Some have covered their fruit. Apples will bear a temperature of two to three degrees below the freezing point, with a slight cover. They will bear that temperature for two or three weeks without freezing, and all the better for the preservation of the fruit.

. But the question with some who get frost into the cellar is how to raise that temperature. They have no stove or anything that is attached to the cellar. I would like to hear from some who I have been fighting

have had some experience with oil stoves. frost some with kettles of coals taken from wood fires. I have kept my cellar at a temperature of two below freezing for the last six weeks.

Charles Herschinger, Baraboo - I would like to answer Mr. Kellogg's question in this way, by saying if you have ventilation to the cellar from the chimney, you can warm your cellar with an ordinary stove to the degree you would like to have it.

J. C. Plumb, Milton - The experience of every farmer is that none of the ordinary means are satisfactory or sufficient. I have been satisfied for years that we must have a different principle or plan of ventilating our cellars in the winter. It must be thorough; what is called sub-earth ventilation or earth ventilation. Have the cold air pass through a tunnel under ground of sufficient length so that it will be tempered, so that it may pass into the cellar sufficient to secure a current of air of the right temper. ature, and then summer or winter you will have the earth temperature, which ranges from forty-five to fifty degrees. It is a very simple experiment for any one to try. You will find your well water even in shallow wells, if covered from the outside air, to be from forty-four to fifty degrees; hardly any variation; and this plan that I have indicated in my paper I believe to be the ultimate. It is the thing that we must come to in relation to ventilating our cellars in winter time as well as in summer.

A. A. Arnold, Galesville-We have a great many fruit grow. ers here, and I would like to get their opinion on what is going to be the result of this cold winter upon our fruit.

Mr. Plumb-I wish to add just one criticism on Mr. Herschinger's very valuable paper. The point which he makes there, that apples will not keep well in a damp atmosphere. They will not keep well in a dry atmosphere, that is certain. Now I would like to ask him what the condition of the atmosphere is in his barrel of Golden Russets headed up tight, if it is not very damp. Damp air is essential to the well-keeping of fruit, providing it is of a low temperature, but a moist and high temperature is destructive to the apple at once. If it must be high it had better be dry, but the dampness is essential.

Mr. Herschinger-The reason that we give the Golden Russet no ventilation in the barrel is because that variety requires more dampness than a good many other varieties, but with all the ventilation that you have in your cellar, there is still sufficient dampness there to keep other varieties; hence, I simply treat the Golden Russet different from the rest. I had a cellar that had a stream of water running through it, and that, I think, would be about as good a place you could get to keep fruit, if dampness is so essential; but I never could keep fruit in that cellar as I can in the cellar I have now, which is naturally very dry; but when you close your cellar and have no ventilation except from the roof, there is sufficient dampness, or, if anything, more than you need; hence, I should claim that fruit wants to be kept dry, as dry as you can get your cellar; then it will have dampness enough.

B. B. Olds, Clinton - I have nothing to say new on this subject. I have been interested in listening to the discussion of the papers, and of course can indorse the ideas that have been presented, especially upon the different treatment of the different kinds of fruit. That is a That is a point of a good deal of importance. The Golden Russet, for instance, wants a very different condition from many others for keeping its good condition, and the idea advanced by Mr. Plumb, of getting this low state of temperature by an underground operation, is one that looks rational and ought to be considered.

C. L. Thompson, Marshall- I would like to ask Mr. Plumb how far frost would have to go through straw to frost apples.

Mr. Plumb—I have not tried that myself, and it is a difficult question to answer. If any one is apprehensive that an ordinary strawstack is not enough, put a double lining of paper right over it. A single thickness of paper is as good as a foot of straw to keep out frost.

Mr. Kellogg I rise to answer the question put by Mr. Arnold in reference to the effect of the cold weather of the present winter upon the fruit. It will be next June before we can answer that question. I think we will have some orchard funerals then. I think from the heavy crop of fruit last season, the weak condition in which it went into quarters, and the cold weather last month and the warm weather we must have this and the coming month, I think there will be a heavy loss in the orchard next June. It will not be apparent until about next June. I believe very little damage has been done so far from the excessive cold. weather were it not for the warmer weather that is coming. The weather for the past month has been exceedingly steady; very few times it has thawed out a tree, except on the southern portion.

I have a synopsis of the weather for the last twenty-five years, and perhaps if I had time I would read it, but I will furnish it for your transactions if you wish; but the last month has not been as cold as the February of 1875. The aggregate number of degrees below zero, counting up each day it falls below zero, was 325 for the month of February, 1875, while the past month it was 281.

Mr. Arnold I would like to ask what you would recommend for preserving the trees?

Mr. Kellogg Set out two new trees for every one that dies. Wm. Gill, Brooklyn-I wish to get a little further explanation from Mr. Kellogg. He carries the idea that injury is to come from the warm weather we are going to get this month and next. I hope this question is pertinent. I hope he is competent to tell us something that will prevent that injury that is going to result from the warm weather we are going to have.

Mr. Kellogg - Shield on the southwest side is the only remedy