318 GENERAL HISTORY. 



which were killed to the pjrouud the second winter, but which grew again 

 from the stumps, and bore well for many years. The fruits nearly all resem- 

 bled Crawfords. These trees were all killed by the severe winters following 

 1870, except a few trees of late clings, which continued till within a year or 

 two. His apple orchard, planted in 1860 or '61, was killed at the same time, 

 except a few trees of Golden Russet and Talman Sweeting. 



Deacon Abel Page is said to have planted the first nursery at Grand Hapids, 

 if not, in fact, the first in Grand river valley, som after his settlement here, 

 about 1836, or not long there thereafter. Nurseries are also said to have 

 been planted at an early period by William I. Blakely, and also by George 

 C. Nelson, none of which have continued to the present time. 



Grin Trumbull planted the first nursery in eastern Kent, at Grattan, in 

 1848. It at no time contained more than twenty thousand trees, and was 

 continued less than ten years. 



Noah P. Husted planted a nursery in 1862, six miles south of Lowell, on a 

 half acre of ground. In 1863 three acres were added. In 1864 eighty acres 

 were purchased, and forty thousand apple trees and an assortment of other 

 fruits were planted. The area was rapidly enlarged until, in 1872, two hun- 

 dred acres were occupied with a general assortment of nursery stock, and the 

 annual sales amounted to §50,000. Ultimately the establishment collapsed, 

 going into the hands of a receiver. 



As early as 1870 commercial fruit culture had become an important inter- 

 est, the value of fruits produced and sold in the county ia that year being 

 $141,847, and that of garden products amounting to ^12,483. 



In 1872 the late Edward Bradfield (who resided on the Grand river flats 

 at Ada) writes: " I am convinced that we in this locality are to witness during 

 the present spring by far the greatest destruction of, or damage to, grape- 

 vines, fruit trees, and nursery stock since the commencement of the cultiva- 

 tion of fruit. Forty degrees below zero is bad enough, but when, as has been 

 the case several times during the past winter, the thermometer changes, in 

 from twelve to twenty-four hours, from fifteen to twenty degrees below zero 

 to forty or fifty degrees above, we have reason to fear the result, and I am 

 not surprised to find apple tree limbs an inch or more in diameter very much 

 injured." 



The following, from a History of Michigan Horticulture, by Secretary Gar- 

 field, contains such a mass of condensed facts respecting the horticulture of 

 this county that it is inserted entire : — 



The earliest history of horticulture in Kent county is connected with Grand 

 Eapids, as a French trading post. Lewis Campeau, previous to 1834, had 

 improved a piece of land extending from the present site of the Rathbun 

 house, on the corner of Monroe and Ottawa streets (now a commercial block) 

 to the Eagle hotel, and thence to the river bank. This was a vegetable and 

 flower garden, with shrubbery and trees scattered through it and a few 

 fruits. The most attractive thing about it was the flowers, and it was a place 

 of resort for whites and Indians. The latter used to land from their canoes 

 and go up through the garden to Mr. Campeau's house ( which was till 

 recently a portion of the front of the Rathbun house, now the Widdicomb 

 Block. — Writer.), An old canoe answered for a propagating bed, in which to 

 start things before they were planted in the garden. 



In 1835 Abel Page came to Grand Rapids, where he brought his family in 

 1836, and located on the bank of the river, near the foot of Huron street. 



