THE ANNUAL MEETING. 241 



A. D. Healey of South Haven, is reported as having grown last year 9,000 

 baskets of peaches on a place of 20 acres, over three acres not in trees. 



SOUTH HAVEN. 



The early history of fruitgrowing in Van Buren county, without South Haven, 

 would be the play of Hamlet with the part of Hamlet left out. I may say that 

 no one place in the State has furnished so much practical knowledge of fruit- 

 growing to the public as the orchardists and fruit-growers of this region. Its 

 society was organized in 1871, with Norman Phillips as its President, who con- 

 tinued in office four years. T. T. Lyon held the office for two years, and H. 

 E. Bidwell, W. H. Hurlbut, and C. H. Wigglesworth each one year. J. Lan- 

 nin is the presiding officer at present. The society has held weekly meetings 

 through all these years, and the amount of practical knowledge acquired, and 

 the facility of expression attained by its members is a matter of surprise to the 

 uninitiated. This discussion of topics has led to a nearly uniform practice in 

 the several branches of fruit-growing. Where a dissimilarity prevails, it is 

 among the non-essentials, so that a standard of excellence is reached which the 

 tyro can imitate without much fear of going estray. 



The early history of fruit-growing here was not in any sense fortuitous. 

 Those who began had a purpose in view. S. B. Morehouse was one of the first 

 to plant an orchard. This was in 1852, within what is now the village plat. 

 Randolph Densmore also set an orchard about the same time on an adjoining 

 lot. This was two or three years after the old Parmalee orchard at St. Joseph. 

 While St. Joseph had cultivated fields ready for the reception of trees, South 

 Haven had an unbroken forest, requiring the labor of years to remove. So 

 the progress was slow. James L. Reed, Joseph Dow, S. Gr. Sheffer, and C. M. 

 Sheffer were among the early planters. The first vineyards were set in 1858. 

 Orris Church set one and one-half acres, and A. S. Dyckman set one acre. 

 Aaron Eames first introduced the Delaware grape in any considerable quantity 

 in 18G4. A. S. Dyckman, in an address before the September meeting of the 

 State Pomological Society in 1872, said: "With our few hundred acres of 

 orcharding, and our Pomological Society now fairly organized, we are just 

 upon the threshold of successful culture. The incipient idea of our pomologi- 

 cal history gave us only the necessity of putting the trees into holes in the 

 ground between great stump roots, then fold our arms and wait for a benefi- 

 cent providence, with sunshine and showers, to do the rest." 



The first fruit shipped from this part was probably about the year 1862. No 

 statistics can be given that will indicate with any certainty the shipments of 

 fruit. Quite a quantity comes from down the shore in Allegan county. Some 

 is taken by sailing craft, of which there is no record. The crop the present 

 year is by far the largest ever raised, and the interest is greatly increasing and 

 will continue to do so unless the yellows gets the start of the wide-awake fruit 



men.* 



NURSERIES. 



The Association nurseries and the Hopkins' nursery of South Haven, com- 

 prise about 100 acres; both started in 1874, are still running, and growing 

 trees successfully. 



A. A. Olds has a nursery in Hamilton growing apple and peach trees; he 

 has about ten acres in stock. 



* For a history of Lawton Pomological Society see Pomological Report for 1878, page 280. 



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