FARMEES' INSTITUTES. 79 



The precise period when this Avouderfully productive and extensive fruit garden 

 was first planted, human history fails to record, and Indian tradition gives us 

 no clue to the mystery. 8oon after the subsidence of the waters which at one 

 time covered this territory, the spontaneous fruits of the earth probably made 

 their appearance, and a brief consideration of what are called the ''wild fruits 

 of Michigan"' will be in order here. 



The Wild Fruits of Michifjan. 



The principal wild fruits of our favored State are as follows : 



Ajjjjies — Crab-apples, Thorn-apples. 



Berries — Cranberries, Billberries, Blackberries, Blueberries, Dewberries, 

 Gooseberries, Mulberries, lva<pberries, Strawberries, Thimbleberries, Winter- 

 green berries. Whortle or Huckle berries. 



Cherries — Black Cherries, Choke Cherries, Eed Cherries, Yellow and Blue 

 Ground Cherries. 



Currants. 



Grapes. 



Mandrakes. 



Nuts — Beechnuts, Butternuts, Chestnuts, Hazelnuts, Ilickorynut-^, Walnuts. 



Pa2v-2)aws. 



Plums. 



Knowing that this list is incomplete, I shall esteem it a favor for any one 

 to furnish the names of other wild fruits of consequence which I may have 

 omitted, so tliat should this paper be printed in permanent form, the list may 

 be rendered as complete as pc^ssiblc. But the list as here jn-esented shows that 

 there are many valuable fruits indigenous to Michigan, and the fact that the 

 best of these are produced in great abundance, and command a high price 

 when gathered and placed in market, shows that Michigan is and long has been 

 a fruit-producing State, and Avould, without the aid of horticultural skill, 

 naturally occupy that position and acquire that character aiuong the sister 

 States. 



It is true, with the choice productions of orchard and garden before our eyes, 

 Ave are apt to think lightly of these natural emanations of forest and swamp, 

 but so abundant are the wild fruits of Michigan, and so fine in quality are most 

 of them, that it can hardly be said that persons residing in the vicinity of 

 many of our fruitful forests and marshes, avail themselves of their natural 

 advantages if they do not participate in the harvest so bountifully provided 

 without human labor, and '' without money and Avitliout j^rice.'' 



These wild fruits do not figure in our census returns. In fact, until 1874 tlio 

 State never collected the statistics of fruit at all, and it is only noAV that the 

 fniit-growing interest has risen to the dignity of millions of dollars in its annual 

 returns, that statistics in regard to it have been collected by State authority. It 

 may reasonably be assumed that the systematic harvesting and marketing of the 

 Avild fruits that now grow and annually decay, Avould, after paying all expenses, 

 more than pay the expenses of our State government, including the support of 

 our benevolent institutions and even the construction of our State Capitol. 



The Cranherry. — The Cranberry ci'op produced in the marshes of Michigan 

 alone is immense, and the efforts to collect it and ship it, although seldom real- 

 izmg less than ^10 a barrel, are only partial and local, seldom reaching the 

 •main crop. 



Whortleherrij and Easpberri/. — ISText to this in importance is the Whortle- 

 berry in the Lower Peninsula, and the Easpberry in the Upper. In June the 



