150 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



doubt you are all familiar with the Elberta and it needs no recommendation from me; 

 it is what the peach buying public prefers and willingly pays a good price for. 



A number of good varieties follow the Elberta; where the Gold Drop is well grown and 

 the trees very closely thinned, there is nothing better; and this is the peach the housewife 

 dotes on for canning purposes. 



Following the Gold Drop is the Lemon Free, a very excellent quality, but not largely 

 grown; the Smock, which comes next, is one of the best of all late peaches and always 



E roves profitable, coming as it does after the main peach crop is harvested; it bears well, 

 ut the tree is very brittle, so must not be allowed to carry too hea^^ a load, as it will 

 break badly. 



The latest variety of value is the Salway; it will hardly ripen before the first or middle 

 of October, but where it is possible for it to ripen the peach is sure to be fine and the price 

 likewise. 



This is no large list, as you see; I do not believe in growing a great nimiber of varieties, 

 but just enough and of the right varieties to have peaches for shipping throughout the 

 season. 



The peach business is such an elaborate one that I might talk on indefinitely; I have 

 said nothing in regard to spraying, pmning, thinning, packing and marketing and shall 

 not, for if you grow peaches, these are all points on which you must work out your own 

 salvation. 



At the present time there is so much good literature by practical authorities on all these 

 subjects, that a man has no excuse for not being weU posted; the Department of Agriculture 

 at Washington, and our own State department are ever ready to give aid, and a postal 

 card requesting a bulletin on almost any subject connected with the farm, will bring you 

 the best practical advice you can have. 



Let me say in closing, the cost of raising peaches or anything else for profit is "eternal 

 vigilance." 



Discussion. — Mr. Farrand stated that it would likely be best to prune and cultivate 

 less on the east than on the west side of the State. Some varieties need more pruning 

 than others, as for example the Engles Mammoth, Elberta, Crosby and Gold Drop. 

 From the discussion it was evident that the two sections of the State differ in the varieties 

 demanded by the conditions. One should acquaint himself with the kinds that are doing 

 best in his immediate locality when determining what to buy. 



BEES WITH THE ORCHARD AND THE GARDEN. 



Because flowers are a common factor in the business of the fruit man and the apiarist 

 it is important that the horticulturist consider the keeping of bees, was the firet point 

 of a very entertaining paper by E. M. Hunt, of Wayne county. He described a swarm 

 of bees, how they organize their work, the life history of the workers, etc. Pollen, he said, 

 is the ideal food for the young insects which while being gathered by the bees as they go 

 about securing it and the nectar is also transmitted to the stigmatic surface of other flowers 

 than the one on which it was produced — resulting in the development of superior fruit 

 to that grown from cross fertilization in greenhouses. This busy worker has been 

 charged with doing harm to grapes; but the truth is not fuUy known as it is contended 

 by many that they only gather the juices after the f i-uit has been injured. Spraying during 

 full bloom of the trees harms the bees and should be avoided. Bees are the fruit growers' 

 insurance. They should be kept for the fruit's sake alone if not for the profit secured 

 from the honey. 



BENEFITS OF COOPERATION. 



David Gage, of Oakland county, was the happy choice of the committee for presenting 

 this subject. He pointed out how important it was to work together wherever there is 

 a great work to be done. He cited the great struggle between the north and the south 

 as an example of cooperation toward one end. It is needed in our home, church and schools. 

 A man that goes into the fruit business should not forget to take his wife into partnership 

 with htm — let her understand what you are striving to do, pennit her to consider the 

 details with you and then when the profits come allow her a reasonable portion of the 

 harvest. In communities there should be an effort to acquaint one another with the 

 condition of the crop so that each will be in a position to talk with buyers when they come 

 to contract for the fruit. If the men of the north had been selfish during the civil war 

 they could have stayed at home and gained for themselves considerable wealth; but many 

 men of such minds would have made a failure of the great cause for which Lincoln and 

 his advisers were striving. A failure in the larger work would have made property insecure; 

 thus bringing upon the selfish man punishment for his narrow-mindedness. So with the 



