The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-31

president of the congress. accompanied
by his wife, was on the ground yester-
day. greeting all the early comers.
Mr.. Clayton has been the president for
the past four years, and prior to that
was the secretary for eight years-he
has literally grown gray in the service.
In reviewing the history of the con-
gress, he said:
Twelve years ago when we met in
Nashville, there were only thirty per-
sons present, but that number has
steadily increased from year to year,
as the people are learning the advan-
tages of the association. We met in
st. Paul in 1886, and I will always
look back to that time as one Of the
most enjoyable in my life. We went
on excursions all over the Northwest,
it seemed to me; first there was a trip
to Crookston and Grand Forks, and all
through that magnificent farming
country, and then came trip to Du-
luth and a ride on the lake.
1.-The object of these congresses is to
advance the agricultural interests of
the United States by the formulation
of such laws and recommendations to
congress as. the best interests Of the
farmers Indicate All questions are
discussed without reference to party
politics or partisanship. We are cred
tied with being the prime movers in Sc
curing the passage of the interstate
commerce law, the pure food BILL anti
trust legislation and the extension of
the signal service and the crop reports
We are not calamity howlers, nor do
we attack any institution, but we aim
to place protection around the agri-
cultural interests, or in other words.
to secure our rights. If protection is
to be the public policy, we want it ex-
tended to the farming interests. The
Dingley bill is in general a fair meas
ure, L think, although on some articles
the duty should be increased and on
others reduced-but then I am a Re-
publican anyway"
Another prominent parsonage who is
present is Frederick Wellhouse, of To-
peka, Kan, the largest apple grower
in the world. He has a farm, or rath-
er an orchard of 1900 acres, near To-
Deka, all set out in apple trees, of
which 400 acres are bearing fruit and
the rest are Just commencing to be
productive. In 1890 he took off $4,000
bushels of apples, and within a few
years he will be getting four or five
times that much. Although his hair
is Whitened by the frosts of nearly
seventy winters, Mr. Wellhouse is as
erect as ever and remembers the time
when hefirst became interested in apple
culture, when he was old enough to
walk" as he expressed it, He re-
moved to Kansas from Ohio in 1859,
and experimental with apple growing,
but at first it was failure-he had
to learn by experiment the varieties to
raise. Of the 5000 varieties of apples,
only about a dozen do WE'LL and he
confines his attention to the Ben
Davis, Missouri Pipin, Jonathan, York
Imperial Gano and Wineset He ships
to all parts of the country and some
find their way to Europe.
His orchard is divided into blocks of
$50 acres each, under the supervision
Of a foreman. During the busy time.
his harvest, he employs 200 pickers
and thirty-five teams to gather the
fruit. Mr. Wellhouse was the first to
introduce spraying of fruit trees, and
invented pump, which is attached to
the wagon in such a way that it is op-
Grated by the rotation Of the wheels,
and five of these are In use on his
place, the trees being sprayed with a
solution of London purple. Mr.. Well
house is accompanied by his wife, who
complains that all her husband thinks
about is apples-he sells the fruit to
buy more land and set out more trees.
and when these in turn bear, he takes
the proceeds for more land and more
trees.
Another very interesting parsonage