536 &TATE tOMOLOGICAL SOCIETF. 



Secretary Thompson said that the peach crop in Kent county is larger than 

 ever before, notwithstanding we were struck two years ago with frost. We 

 thought then wc were never going to have any more fruit, but we have had 

 this year a fair crop of apples and a large crop of peaches for that county. 



A paper by Mr. S. B. Peck of Muskegon was then read by Mr. "Whitney, on 

 the" Insect Pests." 



Mr. Geo. Parmelee of Grand Traverse read a valuable paper on the cultiva- 

 tion of the cherry, in which he condemned the cherry bird and the importa- 

 tion of the English sj^arrow. 



The various awarding committees then made reports. 



Mr. Geo. Parmelee then spoke for over two hours on " Chemistry vs. Exper- 

 ience," and was listened to with the closest attention. His theory is that 

 plants receive their nourishment in a gaseous rather than solid form, upset- 

 ting the doctrine of Liebig that certain plants needed to be fed with soil con- 

 taining, by analysis, precisely the same element as the plants contained. 



A vote of thanks was tendered the officers and members of the Spring Lake 

 Horticultural Society for their hospitalities. 



The annual meeting of the society is to be held at Ionia, on the second 

 Tuesday in December. The society then adjourned. 



THE ANNUAL MEETING AT IONIA. 



The annual meeting, for 1874, of the Michigan State Pomological Society, 

 was held at Ionia, the county seat of Ionia county, on the invitation of the 

 officers and members of the Ionia County Agricultural Society. This flourish- 

 ing county society has the following 



OFFICERS FOR 1875. 



President — G. W. AVebber, Ionia. 



Secretary — H. C. Sessions, Ionia. 



Treasurer — J. W. Loomis, Berlin. 



Board of Directors — E. P. Kelsey, Ionia ; N. B. Hayes, North Plains ; D. H. 

 English, Boston ; D. T. Hoyt, Eonald ; W. A. Inman, Easton. 



Marshal — A. F. Kelsey, Berlin. 



Division Superintendents — Wm. S. Bates, A. Alderman, Henry F. Hubbell, 

 A. B. Culver, G. A. Willett, H. G. Wright, C. E. Eust, James H. Kidd. 



THE FAIR GROUNDS 



are located on the north bank of Grand river, within the limits of the city of 

 Ionia, and have been enlarged from twenty to thirty-five acres, and when not 

 used by the society, are nnder the supervision of the Ionia Park Association, 

 composed of some of the most liberal of the citizens of the city of Ionia. The 

 association purchased the fifteen acres added to the old grounds, and made the 

 Agricultural Society a present of it, and it is laid out into beautiful drives and 

 walks; one drive along the entire river front is one of the most beautiful in 

 the State. The new grounds are shaded by native forest trees, with a thick 

 matting of grass underneath ; which, with its drives and walks, render it a 

 Tery fairy land. 



