280 GENERAL HISTORY. 



the age of seventeeu he emigrated, alone and on foot, to Canada West. In 

 the fall of 1821 he came to Avon, Oakland county, Mich., where in 1824 he 

 purchased eighty acres of land, which, during the year 1826, he exchanged 

 for one hundred and sixty acres of land in the present town of Avon, on 

 which he resided till his death, on October 17th, 1875. 



Mr. Poppleton says : ''Upon this farm he commenced, axe in hand, to carve 

 out of the dense forest a home, a name and a reputation; to stamp his indel- 

 ible impress upon his surroundings, the time and people with whom he lived, 

 the agricultural interests of his county and State, its literature, and the 

 sciences Qf his time. He was a vigorous writer, commending such theories 

 and practices as met his approval, and condemning those which by observation 

 and experiment did not meet his views and judgment; turning neither to the 

 right nor left, but going direct to the subject matter in hand, sparing noth- 

 ing which he deemed contrary to the best teachings of nature, of questiona- 

 ble practices or theories, but commending those that had been tried by prac- 

 tical exjierience. He took pleasure in communicating his farming experiences 

 to his contemporaries in agricultural pursuits, and contributed liberally to 

 the literature in that interest through the Country Gentleman, Eural New 

 Yorker and Michigan Farmer." 



The farm of C. \V. Greene, of Farmington, was entered in competition in 

 this class. His orchard statement is as follows: "My apple orchard consists 

 of about seventy trees, all grafted fruit. Of other fruits I have only peaches 

 worthy of notice. My trees have received no injury from insects. Plowing 

 in manure, planting and hoeing among the trees, with careful pruning occa- 

 sionally, is the mode of treatment." 



The County Agricultural Society, in its report to the State Board of Agri- 

 culture for the year 1868, state that the apple crop of that year was quite 

 below the average. 



The orchard products of the county, as reported by State authority, for 

 the year 1870, were valued at $205,804. 



At the opening exhibit of fruits, the growth of 1875, at the Centennial 

 Exposition at Philadelphia, in May, 1876, the only exhibitor from Oakland 

 county was H. "Warder, of Clarkston. At the general exhibit of northern 

 fruits, in September and October, specimens were contributed by H. "Walter 

 And Mrs. G. Kirby, of Clarkston, and Mr. Delano, of Oxford. 



The State Pomological Society held its winter meeting at Pontiac on Feb- 

 ruary 5th to 7th, 1877, with a large attendance and nearly four hundred plates 

 of fruit on exhibition — an unusually large and fine exhibit considering the 

 late date of the meeting. 



The Oakland County Horticultural Society was organized in February, 

 1882, with S Van Hoosen of Kochester as president, I. B. Merrit of Pontiac 

 as secretary, and H. A. "Wyckoff of Pontiac as treasurer. 



There was a creditable show of fruits, vegetables, etc., at the first meeting, 

 and the society started with a membership of twenty-five and a promising 

 future — a promise which, from its subsequent annual reports to the parent 

 society, would seem to have been realized. 



In 1883 the State Horticultural Society offered a premium for a display of 

 flowers grown upon country school grounds. This offer brought out a dis- 

 play at the State fair of that year from district No. 10 of Avon, Oakland 

 county. The following is the report contributed to the transactions of the 

 State Horticultural Society of that year by Miss M. A. Nye, the teacher under 



