242 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



them taken up, get better roots, and get them home in better condition. 

 The home nurseryman, too, is likely to know what is best for his locality, 

 and to grow it. The stock will be better acclimated. 



Mr. Dareow agreed that the nearer home good stock may be obatined, 

 the better. Yet it is well understood that some kinds of stock may be bet- 

 ter grown in some states than others. Peaches can be as well grown 

 here, but pears do better in New York, and so do plums, though the adult 

 trees do equally well everywhere. 



Mr. Swingle: I have bought and sold pear trees from Rochester and 

 Geneva, N. Y., and Bloomington, 111., yet never got nor saw any that do 

 better than those grown right here in Michigan. 



Mr. Pratt: We of Oceana county can not get strictly home-grown 

 trees, so have to go outside. I have got my best in Kalamazoo. Our peo- 

 ple have been greatly misused in this respect, and some orchards are 

 worthless which should have made their owners wealthy. Much worthless 

 stuff has been shoved off upon us. Stock from the Ilgenfritz nursery has 

 done "grandly." 



Beginning the session of Wednesday morning, President Lannin 

 announced committees thus: 



Resolutions — N. W. Lewis, C. H. DAERO^Y, W. F. Ilgenfritz. 



Fruit — Wm. a. Taylor, M. H. Hitchcock, J. L. Hopkins. 



O. Beebe of South Haven presented the apjoended j)aper on 



GRAPES for market AND DESSERT. 



"Let us consider the best five varieties for market purposes. There are 

 a few things which are essential elements of the market gra^oe, without 

 which failure is absolutely certain. First, we must have a strong, healthy 

 vine, a good grower, with thick, leathery foliage, fairly early, so as to 

 insure always ripening, with all pos.sible power of resisting mildew and rot, 

 and it must be a regular and prolific bearer. For best results it must be 

 large, (medium, certainly); if small, it must be of extra quality or it will 

 not sell well. The clusters should be large and attractive, both in color 

 and form; berries close set, better with shoulder, for the market is gov- 

 erned almost entirely by attractiveness of the fruit and package, and not 

 by the quality of its contents. 



Now, what five varieties have we that approximate nearest the descrip- 

 tion given, among a long list of good grapes ? I shall not name any untried or 

 questionable sorts, but shall select from those well known, and leave for 

 future development those kinds so highly recommended by some among 

 the newer varieties. I shall first name the Concord, the old, iron-clad, 

 universal favorite, as one of the very best. Second in order, but first in 

 fact, of the black grapes, is the Worden, as hardy as Concord, can be 

 grown over as wide an extent of country, larger in berry and bunch, and 

 in flavor far surpassing it. Third, the Niagara, a white grape of unsur- 

 passed beauty, of enormous size bunch, berries very closely set on the 

 stem, of very fair quality, and when i^acked in a tasty package is bound to 

 sell whether others do or not. The vine is very hardy and prolific, an 

 immense yielder. Fourth we have the Brighton, of Catawba appearance 

 and flavor, clusters larger and handsomer, earlier than the Concord, a 

 strong vine and very prolific. I have hesitated some about the fifth, 

 between Moore's Early and Champion, as both are very early, coming into 

 market ten days before either of the others named. But from my own 



