112 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



some of the old ones. I believe in the lower district, the St. Joseph dis- 

 trict, for instance, the Crawfords are practically discarded. Am I not 

 right, Mr. Morrill? 



Prest. Morrill: Yes, that is pretty nearly true. A few locations that 

 are just right still plant them. 



Mr. Graham: Around Grand Rapids that is not true. Crawford is still 

 one of our chief sorts, and I believe, taking it altogether, no one has 

 made more money from any one variety perhaps than from Crawford. It 

 is one of. the chief sorts grown around Grand Rapids still. It produces 

 crops almost as regularly as any variety that we have, and ordinarily 

 brings in about as much money, if not more. But we have very many 

 more of Hill's Chilli; peaches of the Hill's Chilli type have been very 

 largely planted, simply because of their hardiness. It has been a success- 

 ful new variety, very successful, and probably, take it through the state, 

 in good location, in bad location, good years and poor years, Hill's Chilli 

 has made as much money for the planter as any peach we have. Around 

 Grand Rapids it is not very successful; in our best locations it is not 

 planted to any great extent. 



^Ye have some new varieties. New Prolific is a good one (if I may be 

 allowed to put it that way) and Engle Mammoth is a first-class peach, 

 hardy, a good grower, and various kinds of those peaches we have of the 

 same type — Kalamazoo, Bronson, Gold Drop, and two or three more, 

 perhaps I might mention. I believe Kalamazoo, Bronson, and New Pro- 

 lific to be one and the same thing. They are a class of fruit that is 

 uniform in size and color, uniform in growth, a good market peach, and 

 of good quality. 



In regard to grapes, the varieties have not run out; there are no failing 

 varieties of which I know. Of course, we have discarded some. In regard 

 to the old Isabella, it was never good for anything as a market grape, 

 and it is not good for anything today. It is an excellent grape when 

 properly grown, but we can not grow it in Michigan to perfection. Hart- 

 ford and Champion never were good for anything. Concord, one of our 

 oldest varieties, is still at the head of the list. With all the new varieties 

 of grape that have been propagated, I do not believe there is anything 

 today that will take the place of Concord, not only because of its success 

 over so widespread a territory, but because of its actual worth. We have 

 Worden, a little earlier and thought by some a little choicer in quality; 

 but, taking it altogether, Worden can not be compared as a market grape 

 with Concord, in my mind. In white grapes we have had a great advance- 

 ment. A few years ago there w^as not a white grape that could be called a 

 market grape. Today we have many. Niagara I believe to stand side by 

 side with Concord, in its class as a white grape. 



With berries the change has been very much greater. There seems to 

 have been failing varieties of berry. The old Wilson strawberry, of which 

 we thought so much a quarter of a century ago, it is almost impossible 

 to grow today to any kind of perfection. I can remember back twenty-five 

 or thirty years ago, when it seemed to me that it took about a million 

 strawberries to fill a quart box. and today just a few will do it. It is 

 either impressions that I received in those days or it is a fact that we have 

 larger berries today. We have a good many new varieties, of course, that 

 were successful, but they come and go. The berry that was the greatest 

 success ten or twelve years ago. perhaps, is not grown today to any extent; 



