INTEODUOTOEY NOTE. 



By Secretary Garfield. 



During the year 1886, in which the State of Michigan celebrated her semi- 

 centennial, there was brought together a large amount of information of 

 great historical value, that has been compiled in a volume issued by the State. 

 The article devoted to horticulture, owing to the limited time for preparation, 

 and the small space allotted to it, was but the merest epitome of our half 

 century's progress in this art. It was this fact, coupled with the earnest 

 desire to preserve a more complete account of the early undertakings in 

 orchard planting, that led the Michigan State Horticultural Society to in- 

 quire into the best method of securing this historical material and placing it 

 in convenient form for future reference. 



By unanimous vote of the Executive Board of the Society, Mr. T. T. 

 Lyon, the President of the Society, was invited to contribute a paper for our 

 sixteenth volume of proceedings, embodying the prominent features connected 

 with the rapid development of the horticultural interests of Michigan in the 

 half century just closed. No man in the State had been so thoroughly iden- 

 tified with the progress in fruit culture, and no one had done so much to 

 place Michigan in the front rank in the production of the best fruits as Presi- 

 dent Lyon. He undertook the work, and the following pages testify to the 

 painstaking labor and indefatigable research brought to bear upon the his- 

 tory. It was found impossible to give completeness to the enterprise if the 

 preparation was hastened so as to make the compilation a contribution to the 

 volume for 1886, so that the work was continued into this year and is made 

 the leading feature of our seventeenth volume of proceedings. 



The Michigan State Horticultural Society, as well as all fruit growers who 

 have a pride in the position our State occupies in the production of fine fruits, 

 owe Mr. Lyon a debt of gratitude for this crowning work of a half century, 

 which he has given to progressive horticulture. In this contribution it is 



