312 GENERAL HISTORY. 



In or about the year 1871 Mr. Fulkerson, of this county, planted the seeds- 

 of a single bunch of Wilder grapes, which produced about sixty plants. 

 About twenty of these fruited in 1878; of the fruit of eight of these, speci- 

 mens were, in September, sent to T. T. Lyon, chairman of committee on 

 new fruits, who says of them : To my apprehension the result of Mr. Fulker- 

 Bon's experiment can hardly be esteemed less wonderful than that wrought 

 out by Mr. Rogers in the production of his batch of hybrids, of which the 

 parent of this recent generation is one. 



Wilder is one of the finest of the Kogers hybrids, and more or less of these 

 were apparently its equals in quality. So large a proportion of meritorious 

 seedlings is a very surprising occurrence. 



Clinton county, according to the census of 1884, has of 



Apple orchards, 8,496 acres, 258,119 bearing trees, yielding in 1883, 134,- 

 670 bushels of fruit. 



Peach orchards, 183 acres, 11,448 bearing trees, yielding in 1883, 3,983 

 bushels of fruit. 



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

 $67,134. 



Vineyards, one acre : grapes sold in 1883, 975 pounds. 



wine made in 1883, 27 gallons. 



Nurseries, one acre; products sold in 1883, $75. 



Market garden products sold in 1883, 13,200. 



IONIA COUNTY. 



This county was set off and named by act of the I^egislative^^Council of the- 

 Territory, approved March 2d, 1831, and it was organized by act of the State 

 Legislature, approved March 18th, 1837, to take effect on and after the first- 

 Monday of the ensuing April. 



The name is that of an ancient Grecian province. 



The county seat was established at Ionia in 1836. 



W. B. Lincoln, in Pion, Col., vol. 1, p-ge 193, says, in effect, the first set- 

 tlement was in May, 1833, by the Dexter colony, from Herkimer county. 

 New York, at which time no settlement had been made on Giaud river 

 below Jackson. The colony consisted of six families and a few single per- 

 sons. ^ 



Hon. W. L. Webber, of Ionia, learns that in 1834, or perhaps earlier, Louis 

 Genereau settled on Grand river, three-fourths of a mile west of the present 

 village of Muir, where he opened trade with the Indians, and also cleared a 

 parcel of land and planted a seedling orchard of trees brought in for him by 

 the Indians. 



In the autumn of 1836 Vine Welch and his father settled in the township 

 of Easton, six miles from the present village of Ionia; the remainder of the 

 family, together with the family of his sister, Mrs. Dye, followed them in 

 the spring of 18 i7. (Pio. Col., vol. 8, pages 263 to 265.) 



Eri Le Valley, George Hosford and C. K. Rust were among the first plant- 

 ers for commercial purposes. Their plantations have proved highly success- 

 ful and profitable, and are yet in good condition. 



