FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. 9 



time its largest crop of fruit when we packed up 520 barrels. Most of 

 the fruit at this time was shipped to Chicago to Stewart & Wolcott, com- 

 mission merchants. Mr. Stewart came up ever}' fall for several years 

 and went around among the farmers showing them how to sort and 

 pack the apples. 



Individual reputations were built up in those early days for honest 

 packing, as is shown by an instance told me by a friend who saw the 

 transaction. 



I have spoken mostly of apples but pears, plums, peaches and cherries 

 were also grown to a limited extent. The most serious pest we had to 

 contend with was the codling moth, with no remedy except to bandage 

 the trees and destroy the worms that could be caught hiding under the 

 bands. The plum curculio had to be fought by jarring the trees and 

 killing those that would fall on to a sheet or canvas placed under the 

 trees. The curculio would also often work on cherries and both plum 

 and cherry trees would sometimes lose their foliage because of the 

 blight and seriously injure the vitality of the trees. We first commenced 

 spraying about 25 years ago, using only water and paris green to destroy 

 the young worms of the codling moth but nothing w^as done toward 

 spraying for fungous diseases until several years later. People were 

 slow to believe in the benefits of spraying as many who did spray failed 

 to do thorough work or to spray at the right time. 



In September, 1895, the State Horticultural Society held a meeting 

 here in connection with the county fair. At that time Mr. Smith 

 Hawley of Luding-ton gave an address at the fair grounds on "The Re- 

 vival of Apple Culture in Michigan." In this address he gave his ex- 

 periences in two years' use of the Bordeaux mixture. He told at just 

 what stage of growth the different sprayings were given and emphasized 

 the importance of thoroughness in the work. Here was the experience 

 of a practical man who had obtained wonderful results from spraying. 

 That address was worth a great deal to those who heard it and from 

 that time on more thorough work was done in the way of spraying on 

 the Peninsula. We soon learned to control the curculio as well as the 

 codling moth and fungous diseases of the plum and the cheri-y as well 

 as of the apple. But it was not until 4 or 5 years ago that power 

 sprayers began to be used. 



The cherry has lately come into prominence as a profitable fruit to 

 grow in this region. It can be grown to great perfection here and will 

 yield a greater net profit per acre than any other fruit we can grow. 

 The fear of not being able to get help enough to pick them has prevented 

 many from setting out large orchards, but we are beginning to see now 

 that those who have the most cherries to pick have the least trouble to 

 get pickers. 



It is sometimes argued that the fruit grower should grow fruit ex- 

 clusively and not combine it with any other branch of farming. The 

 man with only a small area in a favored location may well devote it 

 all to the production of fruit, depending on outside sources for main- 

 taining the fertility of the soil and supplying the needs of the home. 

 But the great majority of people who grow fruit do and I think always 

 will combine it with some other branch of farming. The general farmer 

 usually depends on one or two leading money crops to which he gives 

 special attention, arranging other crops in the rotation with reference 

 to maintaining the fertility of the soil and supplying the needs of the 



