242 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Bragg & Nelson of Paw Paw, are growing peach trees extensively. They 

 are now budding the stock on nine acres of ground, which they estimate will 

 make about 200,000 buds set. 



O. S. Hoskins is budding about 10,000 peach; he has about four acres in 

 nursery, including apple, peach, and small fruit. 



Several other parties who once grew a large amount of nursery stock in the 

 vicinity of Paw Paw have either gone out of the business or removed to other 

 locations. Not more than 10,000 apple trees, all told, are now growing that 

 will be marketable, and no new stock is being set. 



LARGE TREES. 



We have no large pear trees in our county, and peach trees do not attain 

 remarkable dimensions before they begin to decay. But we have one apple 

 tree which may be considered remarkable for its age ; it stands in the yard on 

 the farm of Eaton Branch, adjoining the village of Lawrence on the north- 

 west. It was planted in the fall of 1337; it measures now six feet and one 

 inch in circumference, three feet from the ground ; its branches spread to a 

 diameter of 49 feet ; it is 40 feet high and still growing. The variety is the 

 Red Romanite. It was purchased by Mr. Branch from Isaac Gibbs, four miles 

 west of Kalamazoo, with a few others, and planted as before stated, in the fall 

 of 1837. One other of the trees is a little larger around but not so tall nor 

 spreading. The soil is a strong clay loam, remarkably well suited to the growth 

 of apple trees. 



Wild plum and crab-apple trees, once so mumerous here, have entirely dis- 

 appeared. The curculio and codling-moth have prevented the fruit from 

 maturing, and nature seems tired of its fruitless endeavor to provide for a per- 

 petuation of its species. The huckleberry swamps that forty years ago fur- 

 nished a large share of the fruit of the early settlers have been despoiled by 

 railroad grades, highways, and State drainage laws. Corn tassels wave where 

 the berries grew, and onions and cabbage occupy the ground once fertile with 

 massasaugas. Wild seedling strawberries were exceedingly uncommon in those 

 early days; the fires that annually swept through the openings prevented their 

 spreading where an occasional plant was found. The dew-berry, or running 

 blackberry as it was called, came in as soon as the fires were checked by the 

 clearings, but not in sufficient quantity to furnish anything like a daily allow- 

 ance in their season. Wild frost grapes were scattered here and there through 

 the forests, and when a tree was found unusually loaded it was cut down to 

 gather the fruit, destroying the vine and all promise for future fruitage. 



A very pleasing contrast is now found in every well-regulated farmer's gar- 

 den. From the first ripe strawberry early in June, running through the suc- 

 cession of raspberries, a daily supply can be picked for the table. The Early 

 Alexander anticipates the former peach season a month at least, and from the 

 middle of July until October we can revel in the delights of ripe peaches. The 

 Concord and Delaware have brought the cultivation of the grape within the 

 reach of every household. The present apple crop, in its abundance, guaran- 

 tees to every family in Michigan within reach of a railroad a winter supply at 

 reasonable rates. 



We are proud to chronicle the results of the last forty years. What will be 

 the results in the next half century? What additions to varieties extending the 

 season? What new process of preserving or keeping fruit for evaporation? 

 The extent of fruit products in oar State is almost unlimited. Where will be 



