MICniOAK STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 88" 



FRUIT LANDS OF WESTERN MICHIGAN. 



From the Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Agricultnre, 1869. 



The "Michigan Fruit Eegion," popularly so called, is now 

 known to extend the whole length of the eastern shore of Lake 

 Michigan. The peach belt may be said to vary from five to 

 twenty-five miles in width, and its length is about two hun- 

 dred and twenty-five miles. With an average width of ten 

 miles, the area comprised amounts to two thousand tv,o hun- 

 dred and fifty square miles. It is estimated that the proportion 

 of this area actually suited by circumstances of elevation, etc., 

 to the successful culture of the peach and the grape, amounts 

 to one-third, or 480,000 acres, of which about 10,000 acres are 

 already planted in peaches, and probably 2,00(> acres in grapes, 

 only a small percentage being yet in full bearing condition^ 

 Throughout the entire fruit region the rise of real estate has 

 been remarkable, especially in the neighborhood of the prin- 

 cipal shipping points and harbors. There are also numerous 

 small piers and second-rate harbors, where fruit is shipped to 

 some extent; and in the vicinity of these points, land which 

 formerly was considered valuable only for ties and wood, is 

 now salable at $10 to $50 an acre, when all the valuable tim- 

 ber is stripped off", and before it is cleared for cultivation. The 

 increase in the price of real estate has kept even pace with the 

 confidence which each succeeding season inspires in the suc- 

 cess of peach culture. The location of Grand Haven being 

 central with regard to north and south, perhaps the increase 

 here maybe regarded as a fair average of the whole region^ 

 It is greater at St. Joseph, on account of tlie longer time the 

 business has been in operation there ; while the increase north 

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