84 



STATE BOAKD OF AGEICULTUKE. 



ing the disaster of 1873, had attained very respectable proportions, and fully 

 justified the State in making an effort to obtain returns on the subject. The 

 object of taking the returns for two years, which does not seem to be understood 

 by the compiler of the census, who complains of the extra labor it occasioned 

 and the difficulty of obtaining accurate returns for 1873, was to show tlie effect 

 of the severe winter of 1873 on the succeeding croj^. At the time the census law 

 was amended so as to include fruit returns, the legislature had just experienced at 

 Lansing one of those severe frosts which, to persons coming out of the heated 

 atmosphere of the State capitol, appeared to take away the breath. Thirty 

 degrees below zero had several times been reached, and the horticultural mem- 

 bers of the legislature well knew that the crop of peaches and of some other 

 choice fruits Avould not be a fair average the coming season ; so, in order to make 

 the returns of fruit of any value, the crop for 1872 was included. That crop 

 was, perhaps, as nearly an average one as could then be obtained, and although 

 made up, in a great measure, from the imjoerfect memory of farmers, offer us 

 some basis of comparison. 



TaMe shoiving the Effect of the Cold Viinter of 1873 on the Fruit Crop. 



FKUIT. 



Apples 



Peaches 



Pears 



Plums 



Cherries 



Grapes 



Strawberries _ 



Currants and Goose 



berries _ _ 



Vegetables 



Value 



1872. 



7,243,146 bu. 

 318,554 " 

 33,932 " 

 G,301 " 

 G0,958 " 

 23,235 cwt. 

 50,420 bu. 



36,484 " 



685,904 " 



$3,537,519 00 



1873. 



5,928,275 bu. 



22,069 '' 



40,857 '• 



3,667 " 



66,746 " 



29,601 cwt. 



48,922 bu. 



40,562 '• 



930,686 '• 



$3,386,866 00 



Difference. 



1,319,971 bushels less. 

 296,485 " " 

 6,925 '• more. 

 2,634 " less. 

 5,788 " more. 

 6,366 cwt. more. 

 1,498 bushels less. 



From this table it will be seen that the principal loss occasioned by the severe 

 winter of 1873 Avas with the apples and peache«, while pears, cherries, grapes, 

 currants, and gooseberries showed a positive increase that year over the crop of 

 the preceding year, and so did melons and garden vegetables. Strawberries, 

 however, suffered a decrease from winter-killing of the plants. The loss on 

 apples and peaches was very great, and so great on peaches as to amount to a 

 failure, except in Berrien, Allegan, and Van Buren counties. Van Bureu was 

 that year the banner peach county, having produced 9,072 bushels, against 

 6,230 in Allegan, and 2,357 in Berrien. This would seem to justifv, in a meas- 

 ure, the claims of our South Haven friends as to their favored location. 



This table also shows the important fact that a winter, however severe, does 

 not necessarily affect grapes, currants, and gooseberries. Had raspberries been 

 specified, it is probable it would have shown them also but little affected. The 

 fact that after the still more severe winter of 1875 the grape croji failed for the 

 first time in Michigan, does not change this view, because it is well known that 

 much of that failure wa3 owing to the unusually short summer rather than to 

 the severity of the winter. The grapes were grown, but failed to mature. 



Tliis table also shows that notwithstanding the great loss on aj)ple3 and the 

 still greater failure of peaches, the loss was nearly made up by an increase in 



