114 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Rose — But there are other good points and plenty of good land 

 in Michigan, that will raise peaches and other fruit. And as to the 

 marketing, I just believe that an up to date man will do better not to 

 be too far away from his markets. Right around Grand Rapids you 

 have one of the best markets in the United States. 



You have the scale and some diseases here — there is no scale with 

 us, neither Yellows or Little Peach, but we do have the curl leaf. We 

 are right on the spot and welcome them with the spray pump as they 

 appear. 



A Voice — Do you mean the Yellows and the Little Peach? 



Mr. Rose — No, I mean the scale and some other diseases. 



A Member — Do you have the aphis up there? 



Mr. Rose — A very little, in the neighborhood, but not very much. 



The question comes up to everybody, what shall I plant? Where 

 shall I get my trees — from whom shall I buy them? These are vital 

 points. My advice is that you go to the nurseries that you know some- 

 thing about. Do not buy trees because they are cheap, and do not buy 

 trees from an itinerant peddler. 



As to varieties, that has been discussed quite freely here. Every- 

 body is quite well posted on varieties. Pears are one of the best fruits 

 that we have for profit, and the Bartlett is about the most profitable of 

 them all. I also get good results from the Seckel. 



There is a new peach that will be boomed this next year, which is 

 called the J. H. Hale. It is claimed for it, that it is better than any- 

 thing that has yet been put on the market. Mr. Hale is a prominent 

 man and would not advocate anything that he did not think was all 

 right. It seems that he found this peach in a block of early peaches 

 in Georgia. He claims that it is one-third larger than the Elberta, more 

 productive, better color, better carrier, has no fuzz, and this year in 

 Connecticut, where all other varieties had nothing on, the J. H. Hale 

 had a fairly good crop. I believe we ought to test this peach out and 

 if it is all right, we will be in the front line. I do not believe in buy- 

 ing everything that comes along, but on the strength of Mr. Hale's state- 

 ment, I think we would be justified in giving it a trial. 



Another question that comes up and over which there is considerable 

 discussion and difference of opinion, is the distance apart that our 

 trees should be. I am a crank on distance. I think there is more dam- 

 age done to the fruit interests by growing the trees too close together 

 than from any other cause. Our soils are not good soils. We have 

 a rather light soil compared with other soils. We cannot grow peaches 

 as they grow them in Southern Ohio and Southern Indiana. We can- 

 not put the size or color into them that they get there, but we can by 

 putting our trees further apart thinning and pruning them, and giving 

 them plant food, enable them to produce a better apple and a better 

 peach and better other fruits than they would otherwise produce. I 

 have planted cherries 40 by 20 feet, and we have been cutting off the 

 limbs every year. They should be 30 by 40 feet. We would get more 

 out of them than to have them planted so close together. With us, 

 we receive more money at the canning factory than any other grower 

 in that country, more than the western fellows got for their cherries 

 in the West. I had a fellow from the Agricultural College of Wis- 

 consin working for me and he went to the North Yakima country, and 



