SUMMER MEETING, ]S70. 97 



qualities of all fruits and all vegetable growths that belong to horticulture aud 

 pomology must be decided upon. 



Mr. Lilly, of Allegan, said tlio college was laboring under a good maiiy dis- 

 advautages of location, and he thougiit many were expecting too much of it 

 in the line of testing fruits. How could peaclies be tested there when tliey 

 could scarcely raise trees. 



Following this discussiou, Mr. Thompsou occupied the attention of the con- 

 vention in a paper on vegetables, the essence of which is given in the report 

 of the Lansing meeting of this year. 



The evening session closed witli a short, pithy address by Mortimer White- 

 head, of New Jersey, who spoke in very complimentary language of Michigan 

 as a fruit state, and our society as a working force in developing the peculiar 

 horticultural capabilities of the state. 



Thursday Morning Session. 



Mayor Holt was introduced to the convention at the opening of the morning 

 session, and gave the members a cordial invitation to visit his museum, which 

 Avas accepted, and the time put at eleven o'clock. 



The president spoke of a visit which he had made during the morning to the 

 farm of Mr. Charles Culver, in the town of Lake ton. He was surprised by 

 the horticultural promises there presented to him. 



Mr. S. L. Fuller followed with an account of a trip which he had taken to 

 the farm of H. S. Tyler, our essayist of yesterday, and exhibited a number of 

 specimens, including the Sharpless strawberry, which he had gleaned there. 



The following letter was read from Prof. C. D. Lawton, of Van Buren 

 county : 



THE EASPBERRY. 



I wish that among the topics to be considered the raspberry had been in- 

 cluded, as that is much more extensively cultivated about here (Lawton, Van 

 Buren county), than is the strawberry. The black cap varieties are principally 

 raised — mainly the Doolittle and Mammotli Cluster. There are many planta- 

 tions of these in this vicinity that are already in bearing, and many more have 

 been set out in the last spring. Heretofore the cultivation of this fruit has 

 proved profitable. When the market is judged to be too dull to warrant ship- 

 ment, the producer dries the fruit at home, reserving it for the winter trade, 

 receiving from 30 to 40 cents per pound dried. Mr. llobert Jones, of Lawton, 

 tells me he sold, last winter, 400 pounds of dried raspberries at 30 cents. He 

 finds that it requires 3^ quarts of fresh berries to produce one pound dried. 

 The experience of other producers here corresponds with his, only varying in 

 amount. 



But within a year or two the rust has appeared, and is the occasion of con- 

 siderable inquiry, alarm and pecuniary loss, since the only remedy thus far 

 presented is to root out and burn the affected plants. Is there any other 

 alternative, any remedy? I wish you would bring the matter up at your meet- 

 ing and inquire: (1.) What is the cause of the rust in the raspberries? (v.) 

 Is the disease contagious, i. e., will it spread through and affect a whole plan- 

 tation in which it appears, if left to itself? (3.) How may the disease be pre- 

 vented, and how eradicated when it appears, /. c, what are the preventives and 



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