REPORTS OF DISTRICT AND LOCAL SOCIETIES. 515 



Mr. Hamilton : I have been asked, "Have the peach orchards of Alle- 

 gan county been exterminated by yellows ?" I replied, by no means. We 

 are still doing business and the trees destroyed are more than replaced br- 

 others. The impression has gone out that Allegan county has gone out of 

 the business, but I wish to say that western Allegan has shipped this year 

 not less than 4,000,000 packages, so that we are still in the business and 

 growing more peaches than any other portion of "the belt," and the returns 

 are near $1,000,000 ; and many men have told me that they have sold their 

 crops for more than they could have sold their farms last year. Yellows is 

 not increasing. 



Mr. Lannin : I believe that Allegan county sent more peaches to mar- 

 ket than all the counties north and south of it. 



A paper was read by Mr. W. A. Brown of Benton Harbor, on "History 

 of the Strawberry." 



Invitations for the June meeting were extended by Judge Russell of 

 Hart, in behalf of the citizens of Hart and the Oceana Horticultural soci- 

 ety, and from C. L Whitney, in behalf of the society of Muskegon county. 

 The former was accepted. 



This question was asked : Supposing a man has a farm of 40 acres, 38 

 devoted to fruit, what should he do? 



W. A. Smith : If the land needed fertility. I should seed to clover 

 among young trees. I would cultivate, say. five feet each side of the tree 

 and leave the clover in the center for three or four years, then plow. This 

 will not last always. • Use ashes, barnyard manure (all you can get), lime 

 dust. Commercial fertilizers are rather expensive, but if the trees are bear- 

 ing use of them will pay. Putting clay on sand for pears is good ; and 

 you can not raise pears without clay. 



Mr. Sheffer : I have tried ashes foi peach trees but never found any 

 advantage. A neighbor has bought ashes by the carload, but I could never 

 see any advantage from it. I would sow rye with clover, and if I could 

 get muck I would compost. 



Mr. Hour : I have had some experience in raising the fertility of soil, 

 raising 120 bushels of corn to the acre. I put on ten loads of ashes, two 

 barrels of hen manure, and one barrel of lime to the acre. If a man fertil- 

 izes with ashes he niustput something else with it. Two crops of clover 

 plowed under go a great way in this direction. Some of our land does not 

 need manure. You should make the soil good before setting out trees. 



Mr. Hutchins : When we speak of fertilizers, we must recollect that 

 they are but partial fertilizers. You can not make soap from grease alone, 

 and you must supply the missing one or more of the three elements that 

 the plants need — potash, sulphates, and nitrates. Ashes is a valuable fer- 

 tilizer, and if you see no good result, then your soil certainly needs some 

 other elements. 



Mr. Wadswobth : I have made some efforts to use muck on heavy clay 

 and I found it a grand good thing. 



Mr. Morrill : I have found that on sand, ashes are valuable, and it 

 may be so on heavy clay. I can get a good catch of clover by following 

 ashes with clover. 



Mr. Whitney : I do not believe that we can throw away one pound of 

 manure. We need it all. They used to say in Illinois that they did not 

 need manure. Now they are buying. But to answer the question, I think 

 that for 38 acres of fruit, one should reserve ten acres at least to raise 

 crops for manure, and practice saving every pound of fertilizer that could 

 be produced. 



