PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING. 153 



Mr. H. H. Hayes: Mr. Smith lately sold 2,000 bushels of Ben Davis 

 for 50 cents per bushel. 



Mr. Augustine: I agree that the Ben Davis of this state is not a 

 good apple. Neither is it good in my own state, north of Decatur — is 

 not fit to eat; but south of that point it is good. I know of a 

 man who is planting 50,000 apple trees, and 40,000 of them are Ben 

 Davis. I am pleased to learn of the success of the peach, here in 

 Michigan, for it is constantly successful nowhere else. There is a strip 

 of country through Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, 100 to 150 miles 

 wide, which is a good apple region. There is a much smaller strip in 

 Illinois which once grew peaches, but will not do so now. I do not 

 believe you can ever overdo the growing of peaches in Michigan. 



FRUITS AND VEGETABLES OUT OF SEASON. 



Mr. Tracy: A man goes from Michigan to Florida and plants 

 tomatoes, for instance. By February or March he picks them, just 

 before they turn red, and sends them north. A lady buys a few, at a 

 high price, and finds them not good. A few weeks later she tries 

 again, but fewer are eaten and no more bought. She concludes that 

 the family do not like tomatoes; and so, when the Michigan tomatoes 

 comes, she, and others , like her, do not buy them, and the market 

 for the home product is injured and the fruit sells too low. Oat-of- 

 season fruits and vegetables not only cut the prices of the home- 

 grown product, but they spoil the liking and desire for it. Another 

 evil in our marketing of fruits is that ninety per cent, of the price 

 paid by the consumer goes to parties between the producer and 

 consumer. 



PLANT FOR QUALITY. 



Mr. Garfield: A word is due in behalf of Mr. Lyon, for his per- 

 sistent advocacy of low heads for fruit trees, a principle now universally 

 adopted in Illinois and Missouri, as well as quite generally in our own 

 state. And he has " fought, bled, and died," almost, for better 

 quality in fruit, discouraging the planting of inferior kinds on the 

 excuse that they would give a greater yield. I am sorry to see these 

 immense orchards of Ben Davis in the country (Mr. Augustine has an 

 orchard of 20,000 apple trees, mostly Ben Davis), for, so long as we 

 raise and offer such fruits, so long will great shiploads of oranges 

 and bananas and other fruits be sent in because our fruits are so poor 



in quality. 

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