DECEMBER MEETING. 201 



Mason, F. J. Dowland ; Manistee, S. "W. Fowler; Ciraiid Traverse, W. W. 

 Tracy. 



At a later date in the incctino;, Mr. S. L. Fuller appeared and announced it 

 was impossible for him to serve as Treasurer of the society, ile said that he 

 was willing and glad to do all he could for the society, but as he looked upon 

 the duties of Treasurer there was a good deal of work to do, and he could not 

 spare tlic time and attention that it would rcr|uire to make a successful officer. 



A ballot was again taken for Treasurer which resultctl in the unanimous elec- 

 tion of S. M. Pearsall, of Grand l\apids. 



The closing exercises of the afternoon was a paper entitled 



HOME ORCIIAEDS VERSUS MARKET ORCHARDS. 



BY T. T. LYON. 



There is probably at the present time no more noticeable tendency among 

 the planters of fruit trees than that of the limiting or reducing of the number 

 of varieties to be planted. This tendency is doubtless to be attributed, prima- 

 rily at least, if not mainly, to the experiences and influence of ])lanters and 

 growers for market, and inasmuch as the supplying of markets is by no means 

 the only object for which planting is to be done, if, indeed, it is even the more 

 important one, it behooves us to consider well the different purposes to be sub- 

 served and the mode and modes by which the society can most wisely and effect- 

 ively load in the direction best calculated to advance the highest interest of all 

 concerned. The market idea has, of course, mainly to do with the question 

 with what varieties of fruits and under what system of management can the 

 plantation be made to yield the largest and most permanent net income. If a 

 market is to be supplied throughout the season, a greater number of sorts will, 

 of course, be required than if the crop is to be put upon tlie market in a single 

 lot or at wholesale, but in neither case will the selection of varieties to be 

 planted have the slightest reference to quality or appearance, except so far as 

 the same may be expected to increase the amount or the certainty of such net 

 returns. Indeed, so steadily has this idea been adhered to by many commer- 

 cial planters, of apples more especially, that in regions in which commercial 

 fruit growing has come to be the leading interest, extensive orchards may be 

 found in which at almost any time durmg the fruit season it would be difficult 

 for a discriminating lover of fresh fruits to find a specimen that his taste would 

 not reject as uneatable, unless, indeed, his appetite has been sharpened by con- 

 tinued abstinence. Indeed, so generally is the apple especially unknown in its 

 finer dessert varieties among our people at large, that it seems to have come to 

 be largely ranked with culinary vegetables, and as a rule is little used uncooked 

 in very many families, in wliich the idea of placing it as a dessert before the 

 family or visiting friends is rarely if ever entertained. 



With the wisdom or propriety of selections for planting upon the principle 

 before indicated, we are not disposed to take issue, so long as the commercial 

 result is the point aimed at, for the reason that the great mass of buyers, espec- 

 ially in our cities and larger village?, seem content to select their purchases 

 ■witli more regard to appearance than quality, while the education of such mar- 

 kets to a higher appreciation of quality, is, by most persons, regarded as a 

 hopeless task. We are, however, by no means to be regarded as conceding this 

 point; and, indeed, we might adduce many and authentic proofs of the higher 



