FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT. 93 



of that variety to give it a fair test and place a sufficient quantity on 

 the market to advertise it before the public. 



Better care of the orchards is insured, as the farmer must raise good 

 fruit to belong to the association, and thus he will cultivate, spray, and 

 prune his orchard, doing all that is necessary to produce a good quality 

 of fruit. His product must reach the standards of his association or 

 it is not accepted for shipment. 



Business men will finance cold storage plants, if the community raises 

 good fruit, and these plants may be of great value to the farmer, and 

 if the co-operative society can own its cold storage the price of storing 

 will be greatly reduced. 



There has been much difficulty in organizing these societies for the 

 following reasons. — Independent growers may raise better fruit than the 

 whole community can produce, and the members may fail to stand by 

 the association and its manager. 



A bad year with little fruit will often completely disrupt the working 

 order of the association. 



However, in nearly all cases organization has given greater stability 

 to the fruit business, and with co-operation, Michigan will take a place 

 as a fruit producing state second to none in the Union, with a product 

 of quality far exceeding the apple of the west. 



ORCHAKl) CONDITIONS IN NEW YORK. 



EDWIN SMITH. 



Upon finishing last year's school work, I was in the usual condition 

 of the college student, i. e., broke, so that I was unable to spend the 

 summer in western orchards as I had intended to do. Then I decided 

 that a fellow ought to go around and see the orchards at home first, 

 anyway. 



You know what excellent orchards I found in western Michigan, and 

 what a fine showing of fruit they contained. I saw some equally fine 

 peach orchards along the shore of Lake Erie in Ohio. Leaving Buffalo, 

 I decided to tramp through the orchards of western New York to my 

 home in Lodi, Seneca county. My pecuniary state of affairs scarcely 

 forced me to do this, but I thought it the best way to get acquainted 

 with the orchard conditions. 



From Buffalo I walked northeast to Lockport, not passing through 

 any good orchards until after I had reached the lake slope north of 

 that city. Here I came into the wonderful Olcott peach region, perhaps 

 the finest peach district in the United States. They there have the 

 ''Yellows," ''Little Pleach," and other diseases that Michigan growers 

 have to contend with, but they are not so virulent but that the trees 

 live to attain a bearing age of from fifteen to twenty-five years. Or- 

 chards are set in blocks of from five to one hundred acres. 



Going east along Lake Ontario from here, I passed through the towns 

 of Summerset, Middleport, Medina, Albion, Brockport, Hilton and 



