298 GENERAL HISTORY. 



packers who arraaige the fruit preparatory to shipment. All the fruit is graded accord- 

 ing to quality, the finest or first quality being put into packages called " squares," and 

 care is taken to have the packing done nicely, so that the fruit shall command the high- 

 est price when placed ui)Ou the market. 



A person who can pack two hundred and fifteen baskets per day is considered a good 

 packer. 



From the packing tables the packages are passed toother tables, where nimble-fingered 

 girls quickly cover them with tarlatan, after which they receive the wooden covers and 

 are marked and stacked ready to be drawn to Fennville or Saugatuck, the principal 

 shipping jjoints. There are from ten to sixteen hands employed at the packing house. 



]Mr. Hutchins ships this enormous crop to several large cities. 



Mr. Hutchins is among the few peach growers that remember the Sabbath day to 

 keep it holy. He and his wife are kind and obliging to their help, and there is not a 

 single person in their employ but regards them with the greatest respect. On Sunday 

 all who wish to go to churcli are furnished with the means to go. If all fruit growers, 

 like ]VIr. Hutchins, would take their help to church on Sunday, instead of requiring 

 work, they would not be troubled with so many cull peaches the first thing Monday 

 morning. 



As an illustration of the importance of the potent influence of the waters 

 of Lake Michigan in the modification of extremes of temperature upon its 

 eastern shore, the following quotation from C. A. Ensign, of Saugatuck, is 

 inserted: "Sunday, December 22d, 1872, at 9 A. M., the thermal degree 

 was — 12° to — 14° for this place ; Tuesday, December 24:th, — 20°. In both 

 instances the extreme lasted only about an hour. The movement of the 

 atmosphere was from the east, but at Ganges, where a less degree of cold 

 prevailed, the movement was from the south, and not wholly out of the in- 

 fluence of the lake. On December 23d, between the above extremes, the wind 

 was strong from the west (off Lake Michigan), and the thermometer stood 

 very steadily at 2° for the entire day. During the month of January (1873) 

 the coldest noted was — 12°." At this time the lowest temperature at Fenn- 

 ville, six and one-half miles from the lake, was — 23°, and at Eichmond, in 

 the valley of Kalamazoo river, six miles from the lake, — 2G°. 



D. \Y. Wiley, of western Allegan, proposed the organization of a horticult- 

 ural society for that part of the county as early as the winter of 1870-'71. 

 Some progress toward such organization was made during the following spring, 

 and such organization was finally effected on September 30th, 1871. Prior 

 to the completion of the organization, those engaged in the movement held 

 a fair in an unfinished building, with a fine display of apples, peaches, and 

 grapes, together with some fine samples of farm produce. This was prelim- 

 inary to sending an exhibit to the district fair of that year at Grand Eapids, 

 at which this exhibit received a special premium. This organization assumed 

 the title Like Shore Agricultural and Pomological Society. 



L. L. Lance, of Ganges, contributed a very fine collection of apples from 

 his winter's stock to the Michigan exhibit at the opening of the Centennial 

 Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876, and at the September and October display 

 of the State Pomological Society at this exposition the Lake Shore Pomolog- 

 ical Society contributed apples, pears, peaches, and grapes ; D. W. Wiley, of 

 Douglas, samples of the same ; A. Hamilton, Saugatuck, apples ; and L. L. 

 Lance, Ganges, apples. 



