2 TO GENERAL HISTORY. 



The largest peach crop ever produced in the vicinity of Lawton was that 

 of 1880, although that of 1881 was a good one. Peaches, when they bear, 

 prove to be the most profitable. In 1880 one person cleared ^-^jSOO from ten 

 acres of five-ye:tr-old peach trees, and in 1882 he realized $1,500 from the sale 

 of three thousand baskets. 



The first grape-vines produced at Lawton were propagated by the brothers 

 Lawton from cuttings of Concord, Delaware and Diana, which were procured 

 at Geneva, N. Y. From these vineyards were planted by C. D. and G. W. 

 Lawton and N. H. Bitley, and, subsequently, by A. B. Jones, who, com- 

 mencing without means, has, by diligence, economy and good judgment in 

 the business of fruit growing, become the possessor of a fine plantation of 

 thirty acres, all planted to fruit, and also a beautiful home. 



The grape is the specialty about Lawton, as it is found to succeed finely 

 here. The annual product of the vicinity is about three hundred tons. 



A fruit evaporating company was organized at Lawton in 1880. They 

 have a fine building which contains two large Williams' evaporators. 



In 1858 N. H. Bitely and Messrs. Bragg commenced the first nursery at 

 Lawton. They grew apple trees and, to a limited extent, other fruit trees 

 and plants, until, in 18(35, C. D. and G. W. Lawton joined with Mr. Bitely 

 and continued the business for a few years. Mr. William Kellogg has been 

 engaged in producing nursery stock at Lav/ton, in a limited way, for twenty- 

 five years. P. I. Bragg, in the same town, but nearer Paw Paw, has been in 

 the nursery business for thirty years. 



In the spring of 1874 a nursery association was organized at South Haven 

 as a stock compauy, under ;i general law of the State, with a capital stock of 

 $50,000, of which $10,000 was subscribed by non-resident parties, aud about 

 124,000 by residents, a considerable portion of which covered the land re- 

 quired in the business. Of the balance of the $24,000, payable in cash, only 

 about $7,000 proved collectible, and this being considered clearly inadequate 

 to the caring for the stock then upon the ground, and to meet the indebted- 

 ness of the Corporation at maturity, upon a statement of the situation, the 

 stockholders determined to abandon the enterprise, and the association was 

 therefore voluntarily dissolved after an existence of about four years. 



A farther individual attempt was made to continue the enterprise, on a 

 diminished scale, and to redeem outstanding liabilities against the property, 

 but these, with the consequent practical control, having passed into inex- 

 perienced hands, this undertaking was soon abandoned. 



In 1859 the Prospect Hill (Jemctery Association was organized at Paw Paw, 

 and thirty acres of the elevated lands lying a short distance south of that 

 village were purchased and laid out for this purpose. On these grounds an 

 observatory one hundred and twenty-seven feet in height has been built, from 

 which, in clear weather, the waters of Lake Michigan, twenty-four miles 

 disrant, are visible. 



A Van Buren C.)unty Agricultural Society was organized on June 28th, 

 1851, with headquarters at Paw Paw. 



An association known as the Paw Paw Valley Agricultural Society was or- 

 ganized at Lawrence, holding its first fair at that place in 1866. Failing 

 from lack of adequate support, it was re-organized on January 7th, 1871, and 

 held fairs at Lawrence for several years, when the enterprise was again aban- 

 doned. 



Several agricultural exhibitions had been held at South Haven prior to- 



