53 GENERAL HISTORY. 



Its object, as stated in article second of its constitution, *^was to collect all 

 possible information pertaining to the sale of fruit in the Northwest, and 

 publish it in some suitable form for distribution to the members to enable 

 them to more readily reach a market for the product of their farms and gar- 

 dens, and to make any other regulation regarding the sale of fruit deemed 

 necessary and advisable hj the association." 



A constitution was adopted and a set of general and special rules; also a 

 Fruit Board of Trade, or Guild. It also proposed similar guilds in all the 

 principal towns of the Northwest. 



Nothing seems to have been effected by such organization, which, 

 apparently, was soon abandoned. * 



On February 9th, 1875, the State Pomological Society met at Lansing. 

 The sessions occupied three days. 



The sessions and the exhibit of fruit were held in the old library room of 

 the Capitol, and the display of fruit was very creditable. 



The starring of the catalogue of the American Pomological Society for 

 Michigan not giving a proper indication of the success of varieties of fruit 

 in our State, T. T. Lyon, George Parmelee and H. Dale Adams were appointed 

 a committee to prepare and submit to the proper authorities of that society 

 such amendments as they shall deem needful. 



The present severe weather seems to have brought out the following 

 remarks by Secretary Thompson, who referred to the cold winter of 

 1872-3, which was expected to destroy all the fruit and many other crops; 

 yet the products of 1873 were among the most satisfactory ever turned out 

 in Michigan; and the fruit and vegetable crops yielded nearly 1-1,000,000. 

 He also stated the number of acres of land in the State devoted to fruit cul- 

 ture to be 241,048 acres, valued at $25,000,000. 



The merits of various market apples being under discussion, E. Buell, of 

 Kalamazoo, preferred Red Canada, while others preferred Northern Spy. 



In the evening Professor A. J. Cook addressed the audience on "Economic 

 Entomology," urging its great importance to tillers of the soil in affording 

 information as to the best modes of suppressing insect enemies. 



A. G. Gulley, of Dearborn, gave a short paper on ''Where to buy our Trees, '*^ 

 counseling to avoid agents and giving preference to home grown stock, and 

 to make purchases in person, as far as practicable. ^ 



C. W. Garfield, of Grand Rapids, followed with an a-Idress on " How to 

 Beautify Homes," confining his remarks mainly to floral decorations, and treat- 

 ing somewhat upon the domain of taste, respecting which people may be expect- 

 ed to differ. Cut flowers were used to some extent to illustrate his ideas. 



The weather becoming less severe on Wednesday morning, the attendance 

 as well as the exhibit of fruits was considerably increased. 



A. S. Dyckman read a paper on "Pruning Peach Trees" in which he took 

 issue with Mr. A. J. Downing's process of "shortening in," claiming that it 

 occasioned too dense a head, caused mildew, etc. His main idea in pruning is 

 thinning. 



D. R. Waters, of Spring Lake, followed with a paper on the same subject, 

 taking the opposite position, in accord with Downing, Thomas and others. 



In the course of the subsequent discussion it was explained that the short- 

 ening in practice is based upon two facts, the one being the strong tendency 

 of the peach tree to push its principal growths from the longest and strongest 

 shoots, and the other that neither foliage nor fruit is ever produced from 

 buds more than one year old, and hence that the failure of a shoot to make 



