134 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



WINTER MEETING. 

 > 



Farmington, March 5 and 6, 1907. 



Farmington, famed as the home of Gov. F. M. Warner, was the happy 

 meeting place of the Michigan State Horticultural Society for its winter 

 gathering. Better weather could not have been ordered, which, with the 

 interest exhibited by the people in that vicinity, where apple growing is 

 done on a scale that is not exceeded by any other section in the state, brought 

 out an attendance that surprised the local as well as the outside officials 

 who worked to make the meeting a success. Being so well attended, every 

 speaker seemed to catch the spirit of the occasion and put a vim and earnest- 

 ness into what he said that made the matter given easily and clearly com- 

 prehended by the attentive listeners. 



President Cook, of Shiawassee county, called the first session to order, 

 after expressing his pleasure regarding the splendid outlook for the gather- 

 ing, he called upon Mr. N. A. Clapp, of Wayne county, who addressed the 

 audience upon the topic 



PKOGRESS OF THE GENERAL FARMER IN FRUIT GROWING. 



The subject was very ably handled. It was introduced from the stand- 

 point of health, in which the speaker pointed out hov/ that the bo3's and 

 girls who had been brought up on the farm had as a rule a constitution that 

 was far superior to that of persons reared under other circumstances, and 

 this condition was attributed' largely to the beneficial effect of fresh fruit 

 in abundant quantities, which acted upon the blood and liver and other 

 organs in a way that cleared the body of all waste while it built new health- 

 ful tissue that is full of life, resistant of disease and capable of accomplish- 

 ing the dictates of a will. It gives the country boy and girl a real appear- 

 ance of health that the city young people get through the application of 

 powders, etc. Iron is put into the liquid flesh that enables it to fill the 

 body with oxygen, giving, thereby, muscle and endurance as well as a clear 

 mind, all of which go to make life pure, healthful, vigorous and useful. Be- 

 cause of these features the speaker impressed his listeners with the import- 

 ance of giving attention to this phase of the farm work. It has an ad- 

 vantage that is not always found in the dollars and cents represented by 

 the product harvested from the trees. The comfort and happiness of the 

 family is the object to be sought. 



In the early days cider was the chief product of the orchard. Trees were 

 planted (and cared for in the rather primitive methods of the time) that the 

 fruit might be ground into pulp from which the juice was pressed to be bar- 

 reled for the fall and winter use of the farmer as well as to be sold upon the 

 market for cash. Since then there has been a great change, and now the cider 

 part of the business is only an accidental one, and all the knowledge and skill 

 of the grower is bent to produce as few specimens of fruit that is worthy to be 

 made into the liquid as possible. This evolution toward the use of fresh fruit 

 has led to the introduction of more and better varieties which are being planted 

 in positions permitting their best development and which are being placed 

 upon a market by improved transportation facilities nearly every month of 



