70 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



for trial, in various parts of the state, such plants as we may have to spare. 

 Thus we hope to secure information as to their adaptation to the various 

 sections, and we are also able to place the new and promising sorts in the 

 hands of persons who will appreciate them. In the small-fruit garden we 

 are testing over one hundred varieties of strawberry, besides raspberry, 

 blackberry, currant, gooseberry, etc. 



Of the strawberries, we intend to plant twenty-four of each variety. 

 Half of the plants are kept in hills and the others are allowed to spread in 

 matted rows. Our notes for the past season show the Pearle to have been 

 most productive, while the Haverland nearly equaled it. These varieties 

 are rather soft for shipment, but for local markets they are well worthy of 

 trial. The Lady Rusk is nothing more than a very firm Crescent and as 

 such is of course valuable. The D. and D., from Barnesville, O., was 

 planted last spring, and gives indication also of being of Crescent parent- 

 age. Of other valuable new sorts are Daisy, Eureka, and Parker Earle. 

 The Bubach, Warfield, Gandy, Jessie, and Lida also made a good showing. 



We have no new rasj)berries that we can recommend above the standard 

 sorts, although the Royal Church, of the reds, and Cromwell, of the blacks, 

 are promising. 



SUB-STATION AT SOUTH HAVEN. 



Fruits grown on our grounds are subjected to rather severe tests, owing 

 to the unfavorable soil and climate, and, as many tender sorts that are 

 valuable in other sections utterly fail at the college, the board, in the 

 spring of 1889, authorized an arrangement with President Lyon by which 

 a report on the fruits grown in his extensive experimental plantation at 

 South Haven was secured. This was published as Bulletin 55, and met 

 with such favor that it was thought best to establish a permanent sub- 

 station on the " Lake Shore." To secure its location at that point, the 

 people of South Haven bought and donated to the station five acres of land 

 adjoining the Lyon tract, and the services of President Lyon were secured 

 to take charge of the sub-station. 



Planting was begun in the spring and will be continued from year to 

 year as new and promising varieties can be secured. In the meantime we 

 have the use, for station purposes, of the trees and plants belonging to 

 President Lyon. Many of these have been planted four years and will 

 furnish results long before they can be obtained on the station property. 



President Lyon has during the season taken careful notes and the public 

 is referred to Bulletin 67 for his conclusions. 



In all cases we endeavor to obtain the new seedlings before they are 

 placed on the market, and the intelligent, reading public can, by studying 

 the bulletins, save thousands of dollars by refusing to purchase the high- 

 priced novelties that have been tested by the station and found less 

 valuable than the old standard sorts. 



Nine tenths of the failures in fruitgrowing are due to improper soil, 

 a poor selection of varieties, or lack of proper care and cultivation, and 

 these could have been avoided had the owners taken pains to post them- 

 selves as to the best methods and varieties, and then put in practice 

 what they had learned. 



