66 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the fruit for next seasons' crop, the condition of the buds has been a con- 

 stant cause for conjecture. Hardly a season has passed without one or 

 more localities being robbed of its peach crop for the season, because of injury 

 in this respect. However, there has never been a universal failure from 

 this cause. Permit a personal reference at this point. Until the season 

 just closed, our home orchard has had but one year within my memory in 

 which it did not produce enough fruit to meet the expenses necessary to 

 its maintenance, while nearly all of the remaining years have been those 

 which the commercial man would class as highly prosperous. 



However, the loss of the buds for a season does not tell the whole story 

 of cold temperature in relation to the peach orchards of Michigan. There 

 have been winters in which certain localities suffered the loss of the majority 

 of their trees, while the remainder had their period of usefulness shortened 

 by several years. Such, for example, were the years, 1873, 1885, and 1889. 

 From those experiences, no region has been absolutely free, yet the remaining 

 trees supported the locality until new orchards could be set. But the un- 

 expected freeze of October 10th, 1906, left some impressions at nearly every 

 point of the peach belt, while in the vicinity of South Havqn, and for many 

 miles south, it practically swept the board clean, doing everything but 

 clearing the land. Localities which had been blessed with continual success, 

 and in which the orchards were the pride of the people, have produced 

 effects anything but pleasing during the past summer. This freeze was 

 the greatest force yet exerted to bring discouragement to the Michigan 

 peach grower. 



The cjuestion of greatest importance since the eventful night has been 

 "What of the future?" This is the question that follows every great devas- 

 tation of property. Consider the events which have transpired in San 

 Francisco during the last few months. Words can hardly picture the great 

 and unavoidable destruction to that beautiful city by the forces of nature. 

 But the inhabitants did not think of waiting a few years before rebuilding 

 in order to ascertain whether there would be a recurrence of the catastrophe. 

 The work of reconstruction began immediately. This spirit has been the 

 moving force in the progress of the world; and it is the spirit that must 

 regain for Michigan her rank in the production of peaches. The spirit of 

 waiting for results, in a case like the present, has never accomplished any- 

 thing, and never will. , 



Undoubtedly there are many localities that should never be reset, which 

 is one of the successes resulting from the freeze. It is time that the half-way 

 man either quits the business, or else comes up to the standard. Nature has 

 settled the question. Henceforth, men who have belonged to this class, 

 will either be found among the front ranks of fruit growers, or else they will 

 have adopted another profession. In fact, this freeze was a great clearing 

 house, ridding the countr}^ of hundreds of worthless orchards and raising 

 the ideals of the growers. 



W^e might enumerate many more occurrences that have tended to produce 

 temporary discouragements in certain districts, such as; poor choice of 

 varieties, failure of varieties to come true to name, and poor judgment in 

 culture, but the time will not allow us to discuss them. Each one of them 

 has contributed its share toward the development of men who are fully 

 equipped to make peach culture a success. The recent destruction of Galves- 

 ton by w^ater brought discouragement to thousands of people, but it de- 

 veloped the ingenuity of man to such an extent, that the new Galveston, 

 is now one of the most remarkable achievements of engineering skill. The 



