FAKMEES' INSTITUTES. 85 



other crops, showiug, what should always he insisted upou with those who depend 

 on fruit-growing for a living, the importance of mixed husbandry. 



Effects of the Season of 1875. 



The destruction of peach and even of apple trees by the extraordinary season 

 of 1875 will undoubtedly lead to the adoption of mixed husbandry in fruit-grow- 

 ing, and this can be done by the substitution of small fruits for the trees 

 destroyed, so that in a very few years the annual product will reach its former 

 and even greater proportions. 



"While peach-growing in the lake-shore counties will still be, as it is being, 

 ardently pursued by intelligent cultivators who will receive higher prices in con- 

 sequence of diminished jn'oduction, the fruit-growing interest is rapidly gaining, 

 from the experience of varied seasons, that solid basis which will make it one of 

 the permanent and profitable interests of the State. 



III. ITS PKOSPECTS. 



This leads me to the third and last branch of my subject. The jn'ospects of 

 frait-growing in Michigan, although not equal to what they were before our 

 recent disasters, are nevertheless good. The intelligent fruit-grower will adhere 

 to his profession with strong faith. The careless grower will become more care- 

 ful or abandon the business, leaving it better for those who pursue it with dili- 

 gence ; and on .the whole, I predict for fruit-growing in Michigan a brilliant and 

 a profitable future. 



Economy of tlie Fruit Business. 



To make fruit-growing profitable, however, cheaper transportation to market 

 must be secured. Every operation must be conducted with economy and pru- 

 dence, and the business must assume the solid, substantial character at which 

 the production and marketing of other farm crops have long since arrived. 

 Why it should cost ten times more to transport fruit across the lake than it does 

 other farm crops, must be explained by our transportation companies, or the 

 fruit farmers will have to become their own common carriers, or, what would be 

 still better, keep their produce for canning or drying, in preference to paying 

 unreasonable rates and submitting to extortion. If the producer would hold his 

 fruit for sale on his own farm, and the commission mercliants had to pay for 

 transportation instead of the fruit-grower, transportation comj^anies would soon 

 be compelled, by the united influence of the trading community of the large 

 cities, to place fn;it on a par with other staple productions as to cost of trans- 

 portation, and give the fruit interest a fair chance witli the other producing 

 interests. This state of things arrived at, and it is reasonable to believe that 

 fi-uit-gro^ving vrill rapidly assume its position as one of the staple productive 

 interests of Michigan. 



After the reading of Mr. Clubb's essay was the following 



DISCUSSIOX. 



Wm. Cumming of Saugatuck. — Mr. Clubb, the author of the paper is not 

 present, but I would like to know if the statistics in regard to the shipment of 

 fruit were taken from the shipping books of the warehouses, or gathered from 

 the farmers? I saw a statement in some of the Chicago papers that South 

 Haven was not only credited v/ith her own shipments of peaclies, but those of 

 Saugatuck also, for that year. 



