GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY. 379 



years, and three hundred three years. He fights the curculio by the jarring 

 process. From his experience he would now plant twenty Washington, 

 twenty Jefferson, ten Lawrence, seventeen Bradshaw, seventeen Smith's 

 Orleans, sixteen Lombard in one hundred, thus including about equal quan- 

 tities of yellow and purple varieties. 



From the two hundred oldest trees he took, in 1874, about fifty bushels of 

 l^lums; in 1875, seventy-five bushels; this year (1877) about one hundred 

 and fifty bushels, from these two hundred trees. 



On a farm near Old Mission the committee found three sound, healthy 

 plum trees, which, they were told, had been standing seventeen years. Dur- 

 ing part of this time, however, the crops had been ruined by the curculio. 



The orchard committee also noticed and commended lawn and ornamental 

 grounds of Messrs. Reynolds and Tracy as better than they had expected to 

 see so far north. 



The report on the vineyard of Judge Kamsdell says the location is high, 

 containing two and one-half acres, sloping eastward. The varieties are lona, 

 Wilder, Delaware, Concord and Agawam. The owner considered lona worth 

 fifteen cents per pound to manufacture into wine. Wilder outranks all others 

 as a market grape, and is also a good keeper. 



The premium cherry orchard of George Parmelee contains two hundred 

 bearing trees, oonsistmg mainly of Mayduke, English Morello, Elton, Big- 

 arreau and Black Tartarian. The English Morellos were just being gathered 

 when the committee called there, yielding a bushel to the tree. The picking 

 was done by girls, who cut the stems in two with scissors, picking eighty to 

 ninety quarts each per day. 



The cherry orchard of Judge Ramsdell contains one hundred and ten trees, 

 two years planted, of the following varieties : 30 Early Richmond, 30 Black 

 Tartarian, 20 Rockport, 10 Mayduke, 10 Louis Phillippe, 5 Governor Wood, 

 5 Napoleon, 5 Reine Hortense. 



The peach orchard of Judge Ramsdell contains one hundred trees of Hale's 

 Early, standing twelve and one-half by sixteen feet apart. Hale's Early does 

 not rot here. He had tested several varieties, and would plant only those 

 ripening before September. He would, at present, plant only Hale's Early, 

 which does better here than farther south. This orchard was entered, not so 

 much with the expectation of a premium, as to draw attention to what can 

 be done with this fruit in that northern country. 



At the summer meeting of the State Horticultural Society, held at Benton 

 Harbor in June, 1881, Judge Ramsdell said: — 



" At my place the thermometer reached — 14^ (during the winter of 1881-'2) ; 

 on the peninsula only — 10°. There was no damage done to my orchard, ex- 

 cept plums. Washington and Jefferson suffered most. I lost fifty trees out 

 of seven hundred and fifty. They all bore heavily last year, and rotted very 

 badly; seven hundred out of one thousand bushels were lost by rot. Six 

 years ago my orchard went through a temperature of — 26° and came out all 

 right. The whole matter depends on how the trees go into the winter. 

 Peaches and apples, with us, are all promising. The less said about my grape- 

 vines the better. I have abandoned grape culture, and ought to have rooted 

 out my vines last year, but was too tender-hearted. The truth is, the little 

 insects known as thrips have met me and I am theirs. They live on grape- 

 vines, pear and maple leaves, American ivy, and will, lo my certain knowl- 

 edge, thrive upon blue grass. Under a scourge like this I gave up, and the 



