DECEMBER MEETING. 309 



ill tlie cultuio of fruit, us the timber is tukcu o(f, and tlie fields are fitted for 

 orcliard setting. Our croj) of apples v/as meagre the past season, but I see no 

 reason wby Ave may not bave a full crop next year. Wo need to knov,- more of 

 the best metliods of management, and tlie volumes of tbis society distributed 

 in our midst will aid us to a more rapid progress in tbe culture of fruits. We 

 are pretty well sujiplicd vvitb wild fruits in our county — tbere is usually an 

 abundance of blackberries, ra8i)berrios and bucklcberries, wbicb lielj) to till tbe 

 place of cultivtited varieties until our lands are more develojied. 



D. T. Fox, Kalamazoo. — Tbe apple crop of our county was not one-fourth 

 of wbat we would like to use up, say notbing about sbipments. ^\'e do not 

 like to be tlius limited in our sujiply, and it is not often tbat our orclianls deal 

 with us so sjiaringly. We liad a full crop of cberries, and wberever tbere were 

 peach trees, tbat fruit was abundant; just a moderate crop of pears, and small 

 fruits were abundant. Fruit trees bave made a good growtli of wood tbis sea- 

 son, and it is well ripened. Tbere are a good many young peacb orcbards tbat 

 under favorable circumstances will furnish a good crop next season. We are 

 getting into tbe belief in our county tbat Ave can raise plums, and by the jar- 

 ring process preserve tbe fruit from tbe ravages of tlie curculio, — it is not so 

 much work after all, if only attended to in tbe proper time and manner. 



A. G. Gulley, South Haven, Van Buren county. — I bave very little to report 

 beyond wbat is generally known of us. We had a plenty of peaches and 

 grapes, pears, and small fruits, and tliere is a general tendency to increase the 

 area of orcbarding. A great many ])each trees are going to be set another 

 spring, and our ])eople arc tborougbly imbued with tbe idea tbat tbere is a 

 reasonable profit in growing fruit, and Avith little cbance of failure if Avell 

 attended to. 



Mr. Dutton, Holland, Ottawa county. — Our people raise a good deal of fruit, 

 particularly apples and ])eacbes : but tbey do not take tbe interest in iirogres- 

 sive fruit-growing tbat tbey sbould, and do not look enough to excellent quality. 

 The codling moth nearly destroyed Avbat few apples Ave had tbis season, and no 

 measures Avliatever are taken to lessen its ravages. 



N. Cbilson, Battle Creek, Callioun county. — Tbe fruit crop Avitli us was a 

 substantial failure, as in otber portions of tlie State ; but we never bad a better 

 show at our county fair. The people came out Avith Avhat little they had, and 

 from tbis I believe our people are alive in tbe matter of fruit culture. 



P. D. Sneatben, Ionia county. — I bad no expectation of making a report, 

 but can say tbat for eleven years Ave bave not had so short a crop of apples. 

 The prospects good for another year, except peaches, and, if Ave have a mild 

 Avinter, they are all right ; but the peach wood is not Avell ripened, and a tem- 

 perature slightly lower than ordinary Avinter Aveather Avill probably injure our 

 peach crop materially in all but the most favored locations. 



Mr. Hanford, Bristol, Indiana. — I have the misfortune to IIa'c just OA'er the 

 Indiana line, but I am interested in tbis society, and calculate to be identified 

 Avith its work. Beyond the usual account of fruit prospects, I have to say that 

 Ave raise the Snyder blackberry, and believe in it because it is hardy and Ave 

 can depend on it. In straAvberries we are certainly progressing beyond the Wil- 

 son. The Monarch of the AVest is the berry with us. We can just as Avell 

 raise 200 bushels of these berries as 50 bushels of corn, and the soil may be no 

 richer or better prepared in the one case than in tlie other. Lime has been 

 used in our orchards, — some of them, — and has certainly been ethcacious in 

 freeing these orchards from tbe extensive ravages of the codling moth. The lime 



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