348 GENERAL HISTORY. 



upon climate, that these shores would be especially favorable for fruit. The 

 winters are never so cold here as in the interior and southern parts of the 

 State. The isothermal charts prepared by Professor Alexander Winchell, 

 published in the atlas of the State, show that the January temperature of this 

 point is the same as that of Fort Wayne, Indiana, the great fruit belt on the 

 western shore of the State, Bloomington, Illinois, and northern Missouri. 

 Rarely does the thermometer mark zero, not once during the past winter, 

 while during twelve years of personal knowledge we have only once known 

 the mercury to sink to ten below." 



In 1881 **A Glimpse at Michigan Horticulture," says: "A glance at the map 

 will exhibit the fact that it has the longest shore line of any county in the 

 State. Bounded on three sides by deep water, it is admirably situated so far 

 as lake protection is concerned. 



"Frost is unknown there in autumn until a month after it has visited the 

 interior of southern Michigan." 



In 1883 (Trans., p. 295) the Secretary's Portfolio says: "Since the great 

 fires which destroyed the forests and assisted in clearing up the county, the 

 wild fruit trees have been replaced by large orchards, containing every vari- 

 ety of fruit known to Michigan. 



"While peaches are not cultivated on the peninsula with as great success as 

 is met on the western shore of the State, still they are cultivated with far 

 greater success than in the interior, and in Huron county give a more than 

 satisfactory yield. Pears and plums are in every respect an extraordinary 

 crop, and in no portion of the State can be found a county excelling Huron, 

 either in the quality or the quantity of these fruits. 



" While peaches, pears, plums, cherries, and grapes excel in Huron county, 

 it will readily be inferred that the apple production must necessarily be of 

 equal value in magnitude and quality of production. Such is the case, and 

 the growing apple orchards of the peninsula give promise of the greatest 

 value. In the culture of fruit in this county not unfrequently a single acre 

 realizes several hundred dollars, after the family demand has been fully 

 supplied." 



Professor Emil Bauer, of Ann Arbor, had set apples on the sand ridges near 

 the shore in 1861, and they were still bearing good crops. Some on low 

 ground did not do well. He had also plums and pears in the west part of 

 Huron county, which were doing well. The trees are manured and mulched 

 every year. He spoke highly of the Jonathan apple for that locality. He 

 attributed the success of fruits there largely to the limestone subsoil. The 

 pears do not blight: he thinks the soil being saline prevents it. There are 

 no curculios, and he thinks their larvae do not like the sand. 



A "Brief of Horticulture," by Secretary G-arfield (Trans. 1884, p. 174), says 

 of this region : " As yet injurious insects have not seriously troubled the fruit 

 grower, and apples and pears are singularly clean and smooth. Near the 

 shores peaches can be grown with success There is no question but this will 

 be a grand country for plums and grapes. Plantations of all sorts of fruits 

 are rapidly starting up along the shores of the bay and lake." 



The Huron County Agricultural Society was organized in 1869. 



According to the census of 1884 there were in the county, of 



Apple orchards, 2,8G1 acres, 47,567 bearing trees, yielding in 1883, 14,362 

 bushels of fruit. 



Peach orchards, 23 acres, 1,069 bearing trees, yielding in 1883, 353 bushels 

 of fruit. 



