146 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE 



NEW INDUSTRIES. 



THE COMPETITION IN WHEAT CULTURE — THE NECESSITY OF A DIVBB- 



SIFIED INDUSTRY — FRUIT CULTURE NECESSARY TO RELIEVE 



THE OVER PRODUCTION OF GRAIN. 



ADDRESS BY J. P. THOMPSON. 



Gentlemen and Members of the State Pomologkal Society : 



I accept the position of President of jour Society with grat- 

 itude for the undeserved compliment, and with a pledge that 

 so far as my humble abilities permit, there shall not be want- 

 ing on my part, attention to the objects of the Society. 



THE WANT OF MICHIGAN AGRICULTURE. 



My chief delight in fruit culture arises from the fact that 

 it promises to become a distinct, and a new industry in our 

 midst. Just now the great and paramount want of the West 

 is diversified labor, and diversified production. We want more 

 new husbandries, new ways of getting a living, new methods 

 of procuring competencies, new manufactures, new branches 

 of agriculture; in a word, we need, and must have diversified 

 industry. All men cannot be grain-growers, and prosper. It 

 was natural for men when just stepping into the unbroken 

 wilderness, to first sow the seed for bread, or to cultivate that 

 which would soonest return an income. 



The western pioneer is always necessarily first a grain pro- 

 ducer. He generally is poor, and a beginner, and grain 

 production promises to bring him quickest the necessaries of 

 life. But grain production is a business of world-wide com- 

 petition, and but few men have made fortunes at it, A 



