LAKE MICHIGAN: 

 HOW IT AFFECTS FEUIT CULTURE, 



READ BEFORE THE STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, BY HENRY S. CLUBB. 



After describing the east shore of Lake Michigan at the Ionia meeting of the 

 Michigan State Pomological Society, a question was raised by a gentleman 

 present in relation to the influence of Lake Michigan on fruit culture. As no 

 one took up this question, I have essayed to introduce the subject as a fitting 

 sequence to my former paper. Not that I expect to exhaust it, but enough 

 will be accomplished if I shall write that which shall eventually lead to an 

 accredited theory when it shall have been thoroughly investigated. 



THE SUBJECTS TO JiE CONSIDEKED. 



The effect of the various seasons on the lake ; the influences exerted when 

 so affected ; the varied temperatures of the atmosphere under certain circum- 

 stances, and the power and influence exerted by the lake on the adjacent 

 country, are all subjects of deep interest to the lake shore horticulturist, and 

 are worthy the most careful investigation. 



THE LAKE IN THE SPRING. 



The spring season finds Lake Michigan a mass of water nearly covered with 

 floating ice. The storms of March and the rains of April having broken up 

 the ice in the rivers, large quantities of ice find their way to the lake, where 

 they are driven hither and thither at the mercy of the winds and the waves. 

 Sometimes there are drifts and gorges of this ice on the west side, but more 

 frequently it hugs the east shore, and is so extensive that the blue, open water 

 beyond is scarcely distinguishable from a dark cloud on the horizon, as one 

 stands on the east shore. None but the most daring navigators with the stout- 

 est-built propellors will venture through this terribly seething, and sometimes 

 terrific mass. Milwaukee and Grand Haven are, at present, the only harbors 

 kept open throughout the ice season. 



THE LAKE SHORE ICEBERGS. 



The shore is usually protected by a pile of ice from twenty to fifty feet in 

 height, which has been thrown up during the winter by the action of the 

 waves. 



