58 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



THE PROGRESS. 



The progress which has been made in development as between the northern 

 half of the Lower Peninsula, computing by areas, and the southera half, will 

 appear in the following figures. The southern half shows of improved land 

 as shown by the different censuses : 



Acres. 



1854 -..: 2,097,958 



1864 - - 3,583,411 



1870 --.4,845.166 



1874 .-...--.5,163,473 



The northern half shows of improved lands: 



Acres. 



1854 - 10,350 



1864 - 84.095 



1870 234,134 



1874 338,959 



THE POPULATION. 



The population of the southern half, as shown by the census of 1864, was 

 726,021 ; in 1874, 1,066,399. The population of the northern half in 1864 

 was 49,497 ; in 3 874, 204,648. The per cent of increase in the southern half 

 in ten years is about 47; and in the northern half, 313. Northern Michigan 

 is attractive, as is shown by the fact that several of the counties in the south- 

 ern half of the State show a decrease since the last census. 



ORCHARDS. 



Eeferring to the specialty of this Society, the census of 1874 shows devoted 

 to orchards in the northern half 13,123 acres, and it seems to be demonstrated 

 that that portion of the northern half of the peninsula which lies along Lake 

 Michigan is capable of increasing its fruit production to an almost- indefinite 

 extent, while apples, pears, plums, and small fruits thrive in nearly all sections. 



THE FUTURE LUMBER INTEREST. 



In considering the future of the agricultural interests of the northern half 

 of this peninsula, the fact that a large portion of it is covered with valuable 

 timber is not to be lost sight of. Of pine alone there is probably sufficient to 

 make fifty thousand million feet of lumber. The wealth of the State will be 

 promoted by handling this immense quantity only so fast as the timber may 

 be reqnired at remunerative rates, and erecting and operating such manufac- 

 tories as will fit it for the consumer's use before transportation, so that Mich- 

 igan may receive the full benefit of its native wealth. And that policy which 

 should cut this timber and force it upon the market faster than demanded, or 

 which should send it in a coarse and unfinished condition into other States for 

 the finer manipulations, would be an unwise one. Properly treated, the lum- 

 bering interest and the agricultural interest should go hand in hand and sup- 

 port each other. A home market is always more valuable to the agriculturist 

 than a foreign one, and ihe lumbering which goes on in the immediate vicin- 

 ity will not only furnish a market for the surplus products of the farmer, but 

 also employment for himself and his teams when their services may not be re- 

 quired upon the farm, and at remunerative prices. Growing, as the pine does, 

 in belts and groups intermingled with hard timber, probably two-thirds of 



