258 GENERAL HISTORY. 



The cemetery at Ann Arbor is the work of a private association. It em- 

 braces tk beautiful tract of land southeasterly from the city, upon the bluff 

 overlooking the valley of the Huron, sufficiently but not objectionably diver- 

 sified in surface. The natural growth, mostly of young oaks, had not been 

 removed, and has been so utilized as to require comparatively little artificial 

 planting. 



lu laying out, advantage has been so far taken of the natural inequalities 

 of the surface that comparatively little grading has been found needful, 

 while a few evergreens, planted mainly along the drives, suffice to impart 

 variety to the whole. 



From its inception the enterprise has been under the management of J. 

 Austin Scott, of this city, who has, without stint, given his time and energies 

 to the work of bringing the enterprise up to its present very satisfactory con- 

 dition. 



In the year 1839 a State Agricultural Society, with Hon. John Biddle, 

 then of Detroit, as president, gave public notice that a State fair would be 

 held at Ann Arbor, on October first of that year. No officers of the 

 society appeared upon the occasion, and the only exhibitors were Henry Ray- 

 mond, of Detroit, and John Tibbitts, of Plymouth. No subsequent doings 

 of this society are known to have occurred. (See Michigan Pioneer Collec- 

 tions, vol. 3, pages 245 and 246.) 



The present State Agricultural Society held its second annual fair at Ann 

 Arbor; Epaphroditus Ransom, of Kalamazoo, being president, and J. C. 

 Holmes, of Detroit, secretary. The fair was held on Wednesday, Thursday" 

 and Friday, September 25th, 26th and 27th, 1850, with a list of premiums 

 amounting to ^2,500. 



On July 7th, 1849, a county organization was effected, taking the title 

 " Washtenaw County Agricultural and Horticultural Society." 



The Washtenaw County Pomological Society was organized in 1878, largely 

 through the efforts of J. Austin Scott, for many years one of the leading 

 horticulturists of Ohio, but more recently of Ann Arbor. The society be- 

 came auxiliary to the State Horticultural Society, which, upon invitation, 

 held a very interesting and profitable meeting here on December 6th, 7th and 

 8th, 1880, the same being its annual meeting for that year. 



Upon a similar invitation the annual meeting of the State Society for the 

 year 1884, was also held here on December 1st, 2d and 3d. As at the pre- 

 vious meeting the circuit court room was opened for the purpose as were 

 several adjoining rooms, in which to accommodate the accompanying exhibits. 

 This meeting proved no less interesting and profitable than the previous one 

 had done. 



The auxiliary has submitted annual reports to the parent society since its 

 organization. It receives valuable sympathy and encouragement from the 

 oflicials of the University, and is believed to be exerting an elevating and re- 

 fining influence upon the h(,>rticulture of the city and country. 



According to the census of 1884 Washtenaw county has, of 



Apple orchards, 11,861 acres, 380,635 bearing trees; yielding, in 1883^ 

 185,110 bushels of fruit. 



Peach orchards, 827 acres, 92,180 bearing trees; yielding, in 1883, 323 

 bushels of fruit. 



The value of orchard products of all kinds, sold or consumed, in 1883, was- 

 $80,488.00. 



