through the advice of my uncle, Dr. A. H. Street, of Albert
Lea, I joined your society, and through the experience of your members I
learned many valuable lessons. Perhaps the one that impressed me the
most was that of grafting our choicest varieties upon hardy crab stocks
so as to make them hardy enough to withstand our hardest winters, and by
so doing it nearly insures us against total failures in the fruit crop
and especially against losing the trees outright.

[Illustration: Mr. H. G. Street, of Hebron, Ills.]

This top-working of course will not do all; we still have to assist
Nature by proper spraying, pruning, cultivating, etc. Doing all in your
power to secure a crop each year to supply the trade you have already
worked up is a big item in holding it.

While studying your conditions, together with those of Wisconsin and
Illinois, I became very much interested in the native plums as well as
in the apple industry. Therefore I also set out some three acres of the
following varieties: Surprise, Terry, Wyant, Hammer and Hawkeye, also
some of the Emerald and Lombard.

As this was then new business to me, I had fallen into no deep ruts, and
of course I took it for granted that all horticulturists practiced what
they preached. Therefore I pruned, sprayed, etc., according to
directions, and in due time the fruits of my labor commenced to show up,
and they certainly were attractive to the eye as well as to the taste.

[Illustration: Wolf River apple tree twelve years old, bearing eighteen
bushels, in H. G. Street's orchard.]

As our supply increased our demand increased also, so that for the past
five years our average plum crop has been around 2,000 baskets (the
8-lb. grape basket) and all sold readily at 25 to 35 cents retail.

We are located at Hebron, Illinois, eight miles south of Lake Geneva,
Wis., on the Chicago & Lake Geneva Railway, which makes an ideal
location for a fancy trade. During plum harvest it is nothing uncommon
to have fifty to 100 visitors a day. These customers include all
classes, from the Chicago millionaires to the common laborers, and all
receive the same cordial reception.

We make it a point never to allow them to think that we are close with
our fruit--not even the neighborhood boys, as they are our best
friends. What they buy we charge them a good fair price for and never
fail to give all new customers a few choice samples of best varieties.

By the latter part of the plum season ou