FORTY-FIFTH ANNUAL RE FORT. 11 



by railroad, and a considerable part of the iiienibership has always been 

 within tlie city. 



Ill tlie year 1!)U more (han one-haU' oT Ihe proj^ranis were devote I 

 to teelniical topics. JOxi)er(s fi'oni the State Agricultnral Collej^e and 

 MichiiiaJi University lectured on forestry, spraying, poultry raising, 

 and marketing. Demonstrations were made in spraying and thinning of 

 fruit. Demonstrations in selecting and ])acking of fruit were offered 

 but the Tesponse did not justify bringing the demonstrator to the county. 

 Tiiese programs seem to have accom])lished considerable good. Tlie 

 spraying demonstrations were witnesse<l by more than two hundir«l 

 people and great interest was shown. A practical result of tl'.e forestry 

 movement was the setting of about a dozen plantations of forest trees 

 l»urchased from the Agricultural College through the field agent, Mr. 

 C. A. Tyler. 



On the completion of the new courthouse in 1893, the board of super- 

 visors set nsiile three convenient and suitable rooms in the basement 

 for use of the Society^ These rooms have been used thus continuously 

 for more than twenty years. One room is used for the Society meetings, 

 also as the dining room ; another is fitted for kitchen purposes; the third 

 contains a large book case with many volnnu's of horticultural reports 

 and also serves as a coat room. Tfecognized as the Society is, as a 

 county-wide institution, it is regretable that no way has yet been found 

 to make its usefulness felt to the entire county instead of being limited 

 mostly to a few near-by residents. 



Another organization that has been of considerable local importance 

 to "horticulturists is the ^^orton Fruit Growers' Association. The mem- 

 bership is mostly or entirely in Norton Township. After five years of 

 co-operation in a rather desultory manner this association was organ- 

 ized and incorporated in 1904 with a capital stock of .*i|>.5,000. The pri- 

 mary use of this organization seems to have been the purchase of fruit 

 growers supplies in large quantity. The officers elected at time of 

 organization Avere: AV. H. Patten, President; Chas. Poland, Vice- 

 President; Geo. Kandell, Secretary; E. -T. Pousell, D. B. Porter, T*. 

 Boiler, directors. At i)resent Tom Poland is I'resident; Chas. IJandell, 

 Secretary. 



2. I regret exceedingly my lack of definite knowledge of the history 

 of the introduction, development and, in some instances, the decline of 

 horticultural cro})S. It appears that, of fruits, the ]>each and strawberry 

 were among the earliest grown commercially. On the Rood farm in 

 Norton township, a peach orchard was in bearing in 1S69. Another 

 orchard on what is now the Storrs place in North Muskegon had passed 

 its period of best i)roductivity and Avas dying out in 1873. I do not 

 know Avheu these orchards were i>lanted. The best i^each orchards at 

 the present are probably in Casnovia toAvnship and in the vicinity of 

 Wliitehall and Montague. 



Strawlterries, I am told, AA'ere at their highest tide between 1880 an<l 

 J 900. It seems that the virgin soil in ]Muskegon county contains some 

 element of fertility or ]ioss('sses some mechanical condition that is 

 favorable to strawberry development but which is lost after some years 



