KALAMAZOO COUNTY. 265 



peaches, ranging in price from seventy-five cents to two dollars per bushel. 



In 1880 the County Agricultural Society reports : " Fruit and vegetable 

 hall was filled to overflowing, and in all of its appointments elicited univer- 

 sal commendation. Floral and art hall was reasonably well filled. It is to 

 be remembered that this is a large building, erected for the use of the State 

 fair, and there has usually been more or less empty space. At the last fair 

 there was an unusually fine display of garden and greenhouse plants and 

 flowers, and our gardeners and florists are well deserving the thanks of the 

 society for what they have done to fill up this department of the fair. It is 

 undeniable that the floral display is an exceedingly attractive feature of this 

 hall, and it cannot be dispensed with without serious harm." 



Hill's Chili peach proves to be identical with the Cass peach, which was 

 planted on Genesee prairie, near Kalamazoo, in 1831, and was reputed to 

 have been brought by General Lewis Cass, from Normandy; although of the 

 truth of this there are reasons for grave doubt. This peach is reproduced 

 from seed, with little or no variation, and was so propagated for a consider- 

 able period by a Mr. Hill, of the town of Chili, in western New York ; hence 

 its name. It had been brought there, in the seed, from the State of Connec- 

 ticut, and for that reason was for a time known there as the Connecticut 

 peach. Stanley's Late, Sugar, Jenny Lind, Leopard, Queen of Sheba, and 

 Seagrove's Smock are identical, and are probably reproductions of this 

 variety. 



The Primate apple was first brought to this State and grafted into orchards 

 in Galesburg, in this county, prior to January, 1852, by Lyman Tubbs, for- 

 merly of Benton Centre, New York. Mr. Tubbs originally obtained the 

 variety from New Jersey, where, however, it seems to have been very little 

 known, and the time, place, and manner of its origin are yet undetermined. 

 In this State it has long since come to be recognized as one of our most 

 desirable summer apples. 



In the autumn of 1834, or the spring following, Timothy W. Dunham 

 removed from Jackson county to Kalamazoo and purchased forty acres of 

 land at what is known as Indian Fields, four miles south of the then incipi- 

 ent village of Kalamazoo, where he planted a quantity of apple seeds as the 

 commencement of a nursery. On a subsequent journey to western New York 

 he added a few peach trees to his collection, together with a quantity of cions 

 and roots, obtained in part from Koch ester, New York, and in part from E. 

 D. and Z. K. Lay, who had already established a nursery at Ypsilanti, Michi- 

 gan. The Dunham enterprise was rapidly expanded, till it comprised twelve 

 acres of nursery and eighteen acres of orcharding. It is said to have supplied 

 a large proportion of the original orchards about Kalamazoo. The establish- 

 ment was sold and discontinued soon after 1854, at which time Mr. Dunham 

 removed to St. Joseph, to reengage in orcharding there. 



Prior to 1854 L. G. Bragg & Co. had commenced the nursery business in 

 the vicinity of Kalamazoo, which has been maintained down to the present 

 time, although for the last few years J. N. Stearns, who for a considerable 

 period had been one of the partners, has ceased to be such, and has been en- 

 gaged in the same business individually. 



Other enterprises of the same character were also undertaken by Mr. Tom- 

 linson, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Prouty and H. Dale Adams, but all these are under- 

 stood to be already discontinued, although at least one of them, Mr. Adams, 

 still maintains extensive orchards and vineyards, and devotes much attention, 



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