TWENTY FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING. 241 



five acres, were set to peaches. For twenty years it has borne crops, 

 except three years, and these have brought the owners from |100 to |.300 

 per acre, and more than one third of the orchard is still alive. While 

 this is better than the average, there is abundant proof that, for the past 

 twenty-five years, there are hundreds of acres of fruit, vegetables, celery, 

 and other horticultural products which have given a better average profit 

 for the same money and time, than the timber or any other business in 

 our state, when we consider the amount furnished as food to our people 

 and the money left in the community. In most places the locality gets 

 the benefit of labor and money put into the production, up to the point of 

 delivery at the cars; and, where the boats are owned by residents, the 

 cost of transportation remains in the place. I wish to enlarge on this 

 point. 



Take the manufacture of furniture or wagons. Most of the material 

 and much of the living of the men has to be imported to the place of man- 

 ufacture, and the money sent out. In horticulture, the clearing of the 

 land, preparing for the trees or plants, the growing of the trees in the 

 nursery, transplanting, subsequent care and cultivation, preparing for 

 market (including packages), and money paid out is mostly retained in 

 the immediate vicinity. The horticultural product tributary to Grand 

 Kapids, the celery at Kalamazoo, the small fruits and vegetables at Ben- 

 ton Harbor, the grapes, plums, and peaches in Allegan, Ottawa, and Van 

 Buren counties, and the apples generally over the state, are notable ex- 

 amples illustrating this point. 



Much has been written and said about California fruits in the past few 

 years. Their great advantages are the climate, permitting the growers 

 to work the year round; irrigation, which is pictured as doing away with 

 drouths and floods, or the interruption of work, it being only necessary to 

 turn the gate^, and the water is supplied at the right time and in proper 

 quantities; the push and co-operation of the people, as shown by the 

 extent of their marvelous exhibits at the World's Fair, in which individ- 

 uals, companies, towns, counties, cities, and villages, and the state as a 

 whole, spent over half a million dollars; their enterprise, which sent 

 fruits in carload lots to more than fifty cities in 189.3, ranging from Spo- 

 kane, Washington, to Boston, Mass., and from Houston, Texas, to Winni- 

 peg, Canada, in spite of long distances, steep grades, and sharp curves, 

 obtaining cheaper rates and about as quick time as Florida. For these 

 and other reasons, it was evident that, if California possesses unusual 

 facilities in production, then we might expect a competition which 

 would make us hustle to meet. Hence it seemed to me the problem of 

 production was of vital concern to Michigan fruitgrowers. 



I gave most thought and time to the peach, apple, pear, and plum, as 

 these were of greatest interest to us. I improved every chance to exam- 

 ine and inquire as carefully as possible into the details of the cost of the 

 trees, the price of water, including the land, the preparation for planting, 

 subsequent cultivation, trimming, thinning, care of insect pests, and dis- 

 eases of tree and fruit, of picking, packing, and marketing. After the 

 most careful consideration of advantages and disadvantages, it seems 

 dear to me that the cost of production is about the same in the two states. 

 In marketing it is decidedly in Michigan's favor, for all the above named 

 fruits, and many others, especially in the fresh or natural condition. 

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