314 GENERAL HISTORY. 



To X. E. Smith, loaia, a second premium for a Concord vineyard. 



To N. E. Smith, Ionia, a first premium for a Delaware vineyard. 



At the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 187G, X. E. Smith and C. 

 Harford, of Ionia, contributed fruits to the September and October exhibit 

 of the State Pomological Societ}'. 



At the winter meeting of the State Pomological Society, held at Lansing, 

 February 18th-20th, 1870, Eri Le Valley, of Ionia, said he planted the 

 first peach tree in Ionia county, thirty-eight years ago. His first orchard 

 was well protected by timber on the west and north, but that one bit of ex- 

 perience was enough for a lifetime. Since then he had planted other or- 

 chards, and the one that went through the hard winter the best, when the 

 thermometer went 10° below zero, then 20°, then 28°, then 38° below zero, 

 was fully exposed to the north and west. His choice of a location would be 

 one on high ground, with a deep and sharp slope on the north and west sides. 

 Then he would plant evergreens among his orchard trees. 



E. Le Valley contributes to the " Transactions of the State Horticultural 

 Society for 1882" the following, which is quoted entire: "The first settlers 

 in this county cut their way through one hundred miles of unbroken forest 

 in 1833 ; but with all their cares and labors they did not forget to bring with 

 ■them fruit seeds, pits, cuttings and small trees, and were soon blessed with 

 cultivated fruits." 



The first apple trees were planted in the fall of 1833, by George W. Case, 

 Erastus Yeomans, Samuel Dexter and Alfred Cornell, within the present city 

 limits of Ionia. Mr. Cornell also planted apple seeds, peach and plum pits 

 for a nursery in the same year. He sold his first trees in 1836. The first 

 grafting in the county was done in the spring of 183 !i, in the Cornell nursery. 



A nursery was started in the township of Portland about the same time by 

 Willard Brooks and Mr. Hall. From this time forward trees were planted 

 by nearly every new comer, and grafting soon followed the planting. Apple 

 orchards were planted from 1836 to 1839, by Alonzo Sessions, John E. Mor- 

 rison. William Babcock, Levi Taylor, Mr. McKelvey, Porter Place, Mr. Chubb, 

 Charles Gott, Mr. Knox, Mr. Brooks, Mr. A. Newman, and many others. 

 From 1839 a general assortment of fruit was added to orchards. 



The first peach orchard was planted by Eri Le Valley in the spring of 

 1839. Elder John VauVleek, of Palo, planted an orchard of peaches about the 

 .same time, all seedlings, the pits being brought from the State of New York. 

 These trees bore fruit in 1842. In 1847 peaches were sent to Milwaukee. 

 By grafting and budding the best varieties were secured, and this, together 

 with good care of the orchards, has made Ionia county what it is to-day, one 

 of the best fruit counties in the State. 



The grape, one of the best fruits we grow, was planted first in 1844. The 

 Isabella and Delaware varieties first, and a few years later the Concord was 

 introduced here bv Mr. George Hosford from Massachusetts. It is now the 

 leading variety in the State. Although the grape is not a specialty in the 

 county, the fact that over one hundred tons were grown in 188.i, will give 

 some idea of what we are doing in fruit culture. 



The annual meeting of the State Pomological Society was held at Ionia 

 in December, 1874, upon the invitation of the Ionia County Agricultural 

 Society. At this meeting a committee of arrangements was appointed with 

 reference to the needful preliminary arrangements for the approaching Cen- 

 tennial Exposition at Philadelphia. 



