238 GENERAL HISTORY 



fords were first introduced by B. C. Hoyt, Esq., who obtained buds front' 

 Prince, of Long Island, and started the first nursery. Before this L. L. 

 Johnson set an orchard, from trees unclaimed at the warehouse, on lands 

 near where the residence of Mr. Charles Hull now stands, north of the St. 

 Joseph river.' This orchard, we learn, is now the property of H. R. 

 Lobough. ' Captain Boughton took our first peaches to Chicago in barrels, 

 paying for them at the rate of $1.25 per bushel. The second year I sold to 

 a commission man in Chicago, for $2.50 per basket, which held three pecks. 

 The next year I sold to Newhall for $3 per basket. It would take the full 

 contents of one of our present baskets to round up one of those first baskets. 

 We covered them with cotton cloth. No great quantity was shipped until 

 the captain's orchard began to bear. In the early time there was no loss of 

 any crop, except once, by a frost in June, which froze apples when as big as 

 walnuts. I had no peaches then. The first trees I set grew rapidly. I had 

 several that bore three pecks each, three years after the setting. They were 

 the blood peach. Some of the trees I set out then are still alive and bear- 

 ing.' 



" Mr. George Parmelee, now of Traverse (deceased in 1885), who came to 

 this county in 1845, put out his first trees in 1848 in the town of Benton, 

 north of the Paw Paw river, setting two acres of budded trees. He subse- 

 quently enlarged his orchard until it covered about ninety acres. Samuel 

 Jackson now owns the pioneer orchard of Mr. Parmelee, in which are some 

 of the largest and^nest peach trees in the county. 



" In 1849 Captain Boughton set out 130 budded peach trees, in St. Joseph 

 township, south of the St. Joseph river. In 1850 he shipped 250 barrels of 

 seedlings and 150 barrels of improved varieties, twice a week. The ship- 

 ments for the year were, by his vessel alone, not less than 10,000 baskets. 

 Captain Boughton states that the first barrel of improved peaches he handled 

 came from an accidental tree, on the Conger, afterward Chauncey, now 

 Sterne Bronson place in Benton. He bought it (the fruit) with seedlings, 

 for the same price. On opening, and discovering its quality, so many Chicago 

 commission men wanted the barrel, that he sold it at auction, for $8. In 1852 

 the captain set out twelve acres more of fruit. 



"The Cincinnati peach orchard, containing sixty-five acres, now owned by 

 S. Perkins and D. II. Sheldon, of Chicago, was set out in 1857; and was once 

 the largest peach orchard in the State. 



" From this time the fruit interest commenced to grow rapidly, as one after 

 another settled here and went into the business; and, in 1865, a canvass was 

 made, which showed the names of about 250 persons engaged in fruit raising. 

 Now, in 1872, our canvass shows over 800. 



" Only a few years ago, this section of country was generally covered with 

 heavy timber; now it is an almost unbroken mass of fruit trees and vines. 

 Then there were only a few roughly constructed houses, where dwelt the hardy 

 pioneers; now the country is thickly dotted with handsome residences, the 

 abodes of wealthy fruit growers, and millions of dollars are invested in the 

 business of fruit culture." 



Damon, in his history of St. Joseph, at page 55, states that when fully im- 

 proved, with a fine residence and corresponding out-buildings, the farm of 

 George Parmelee, already mentioned, was sold for the sum of $43,000; and he 

 further states the following: — 



"Messrs. Bovntou and Alexander in ls65, from one and one-half acres of 



