SUMMER MEETING, 1879. 77 



peach trees this spring Jiiid getting them all ready for the winter to kill, as 

 the next severe season must do for they are not suitably located. 



Strawberries promise well, only a few of the very earliest being frosted. 



Kaspberrics look well and will give plenty of fruit if it is not too dry. One 

 of onr growers says he can and does almost entirely overcome the effects of a 

 drouth by a daily cultivating during the ripening season. ]5lackcaps of the 

 various kinds are almost exclusively grown, as the red varieties not only winter- 

 kill badly, but they do not seem to sell as readily in the smaller towns about 

 here. 



Blackberries scarcely grown at all — too tender. 



Grapes not much grown for market, although most families have a few vines. 

 Promise a good crop now, but early autumn frosts may affect them. 



BARRY COUNTY. 



A. (J. Town writes : 



Fruit prospects in Barry county are about as follows: Apples, light crop 

 as compared with last year; pears, full crop; peaches, trees loaded; cherries, 

 good crop; few plums raised in county; raspberries and strawberries, never a 

 better crop. 



GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY. 



A. P. Gray writes : 



In reply to your circular would say, that I took a trip down the peninsula, 

 the result of which is about as follows: There is no one, so far as I have 

 seen, who can leave his business at this time (unless it be Judge Eamsdell), 

 to attend the meeting at Muskegon. I had intended to be there myself, but 

 as the times draws near it seems impossible. 



The prospect for fruit is very flattering, except for apples, which bloomed 

 rather lightly, and yet some of our best fruit men say their best crops have 

 been grown under similar circumstances. Pear trees in general are heavily 

 loaded. We shall have the largest crop of cherries ever harvested in the Grand 

 Traverse region. A frost June 6th injured the grapes and strawberries on 

 some of the low lands, but did no damage on the fruit lands proper. 



EATON COUNTY. 



Mrs. R. M. Cook writes: 



The prospect for apples was never better as far as I have been able to learn. 

 This is the off year for apples, but the last year's freezing thinned the fruit 

 out so that we shall have a good crop this year. It was a good lesson, and the 

 wise will profit by it. 



Early cherries all killed by frost ; late cherries very promising. Strawber- 

 ries backward but an abundance of them. Grapes set very full of blossom 

 buds; none in bloom yet that I know of. 



The out-look for all kinds of wild fruit uncommonly good. 



A CANADIAN LETTER. 



A very complimentary letter was read from B. Gott of Arkona, Canada, in 

 which he showed that the reports of our society were thoroughly appreciated 

 by the people of his vicinity, and he wished us God speed in our enterprising 

 work. He reported a very promising prospect of fruits of all kinds in Canada. 



