GENERAL HISTORY. 113 



of the executive board of the State Horticultural Society, Governor Jerome 

 appointed the following persons as commissioners, viz. : T. T. Lyon, of South 

 Haven; J. G. Eamsdell, of Traverse City; Evart H. Scott, of Ann Arbor; 

 W. K. Gibson, of Jackson, and W. J. Beal, of Lansing. 



The commissioners met at Kalamazoo on July Gth, 1881, and organized by 

 electing T. T. Lyon, president, W. J. Beal, secretary, and W. K. Gibson, 

 . general manager. 



H. Dale Adams, chairman of the general fruit committee of the American 

 Pomological Society for Michigan, who was present, was invited to act with 

 the commission. 



The State was districted and assigned to the commissioners as fol- 

 lows : Northeastern Michigan, to Professor W. J. Beal ; southeastern 

 Michigan, to Evart H. Scott; southwestern Michigan, to T. T. Lyon; north- 

 western Michigan, to J. G. Ramsdell ; central Michigan, to W. K. Gibson, 

 assisted by H. Dale Adams. 



Very perishable fruits were to be sent to the exhibition direct, so as to 

 arrive at the proper time; all other articles to be sent to Lansing and there 

 re-assorted and re-packed. 



Secretary Garfield prepared a pamphlet on " Michigan Horticulture " for 

 free distribution at Boston in connection with the exhibit, also a large map 

 of the State devised to express some horticultural particulars. 



For complete lists of contributions to this exhibit, which are too volumi- 

 nous for insertion here, reference is made to pages 75 and 76 of the Transac- 

 tions of the State Horticultural Society for 1881. 



The exhibition was held in the upper hall of the Massachusetts Horticult- 

 ural Society, whose fruit and vegetable exhibit, which occurred at the same 

 time, completely filled the spacious lower hall, together with two of the 

 five tables in the upper one, while their immense display of plants and flow- 

 ers occupied the spacious audience room of Music Hall, a block away, com- 

 pletely filling the main floor and the broad platf'irm in front of the immense 

 organ, which contributed its grand music to increase the interest of the occa- 

 sion. A portion of the cut flowers, apparently lacking roam below, was ar- 

 ranged in the front of the gallery. 



Michigan was assigned a prominent position at the extremity of one of the 

 central tables, at the end of which was displayed the large map already spoken 

 of, and which had been prepared at the request of Secretary Garfield, by Mr. 

 Sherman of the State Land Ofiice, and which proved a prominent attraction 

 in connection with the exhibit. 



The fruits from southern and central Michigan were arranged together as 

 a whole, including a collection of wild fruits and nuts, while those from 

 Grand Traverse were arranged separately, for the purpose of more distinctly 

 showing the differences occasioned by climate, and, at the same time, demon- 

 strating the northward trend in our State of the isothermal lines. 



At Boston the commission found Secretary George W. Seaver, of the South 

 Haven Pomological Society, and wife ; also B. Hathaway and wife, of Cass 

 county, who were accredited as delegates from Michigan. 



The Michigan exhibit, although not what it might have been in a more 

 favorable season, was highly creditable to the State, and received the highest 

 award provided by the society — the Wilder silver medal — " for the best mis- 

 cellaneous collection of fruits, composed ot apples, pears, peaches, plums, 

 grapes, wild fruits and nuts," exhibited by the State Horticultural Society, 



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