WINTER MEETING, 1S79. 5 



young trees, careful pruning and a close look-out for insects, with a good 

 ■vrashing of soft soap once or twice a year, and so far everytliing is lovely. 



Our winter is good so far no colder than 4° above, and it lias not been 

 over 30° above since about the first of December. Our apples matured much 

 earlier this year than usual, and wo are now eating a No. 1 Golden Kusset and 

 Northern Spy. 



January 2'd, 1879. 



FROK A. C. T0\V:N^, MILO, BARRY COUNTY. 



As regards our fruit prospects I would say the indications now are there will 

 be a good crop of apples, peaches, jiears, and the smaller varieties of fruit in 

 this county. As the most of tliis county is high table land, lying between, 

 the rivers of Kalamazoo and Thornapple, and interspersed with numerous 

 inland lakes fed from springs, the thermometer does not appear to as yet get 

 below zero, as in the valleys on either side of us. In that respect we are highly 

 favored, and seldom have a failure in fruit. 



FROM J. B. BARNES, OWOSSO. 



In reply to your inquiry touching fruit prospects, I am happy to say that the 

 information obtained from reliable sources in different sections of the county is 

 very gratifying. I cannot learn that the intense cold that we had in January 

 has done any harm. Tlie heavy sheet of snow which has covered the ground 

 for the last six weeks will prove highly advantageous to the coming strawberry 

 crop. Grapes and peaches are unharmed, and from all that I can learn, I 

 think the chances for an abundant crop of fruit of all kinds are good. 



FR03r B. GOTT, ARKONA, CANADA. 



I may premise by saying that at present a great deal of uncertainty envel- 

 ops our coming season's fruit crop ; nor can we just here state with any degree 

 of positiveness exactly what we are certain to realize. But as in many other 

 c. ses of this nature, we may be allowed to premise and attempt to arrive at 

 conclusions from circumstantial testimony, or the general drift of outside 

 evidence. Knowing as we do the character of this country for good fruit, as 

 at present developing itself ; of her large and encouragingly productive orchards, 

 both of apple, pear, plum, and peach ; of her extensive and fruitful planta- 

 tions of grapes and small fruits, we may perhaps be allowed to assert that our 

 prospects are essentially good and deeply interesting. The cold of the past 

 month in the present winter has been somewhat unusually severe ; not here 

 alone, however, but very generally and in various parts of the great republic, 

 and the snow-fall has been heavy and long continued, but still we are not of 

 the opinion that either of these conditions are anything injurious to our pros- 

 pects for good and liberal gathering. The temperature of last January at 

 its lowest indications here reached in the early part of the month 5° below 

 zero, accompanied by a fearfully distressing and penetrating southwest wind, 

 which we feared would most completely nullify our whole crop of peach fruit- 

 buds, and raspberries, etc. But on examination at these points we can find 

 but few buds, say not more than ten per cent of them so injured to the best of 

 our present detection. These are the buds and these are the crops we are 

 mostly concerned about in a cold time, as our apples and pears are not so easily 

 affected by a low degree of temperature, and our other small fruits are mostly 

 quite hardy. Grapes have advantages in their culture not so readily applicable 



