8 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The principal native fruits of the jack pine plains that interest the horticul- 

 turist are the sand cherry, choke cherry, dewberry, and service berry, all yet 

 to be improved before they be found worth anything. A leading objection to 

 the service berry is the mild taste and the bright color which attracts two 

 birds for every berry. The strawberry has already been improved. There 

 are three species of blueberry, very low shrubs, usually less than a foot high. 



How does the above list strike the thrifty grower of the luxurious peach on 

 the west shore and on the favored hills of Washtenaw, Hillsdale, and loni.i? 

 No grapes, no plums, no apples (not even a crab), no raspberries, no straw- 

 berries of any account, as there is hardly strength enough in the soil for the 

 plants. 



There is precious little good sauce in the list. The crops are light and 

 profits clear down to 40 degrees below zero. 



For good crops of most fruits we must have a soil composed of something 

 besides sand. Fertilizers must be liberally added. Fortunately these sandy, 

 barren plains are not very extensive. Northern Michigan has much good 

 land and considerable that is excellent. This is usually sandy, eome of it 

 gravel, some clay, and some mixed. It is well watered. Much of the timber 

 is sugar maple, American elm, hemlock, a little pine, and three sorts of birch. 

 This land can be bought for two to ten dollars and upward per acre. At Har- 

 risville, on the Huron shore, in Alcona county, apples of several varieties 

 apparently thrive very well. Here we find Kentish cherries, wild plums, fine 

 red raspberries, and black caps are cultivated. Here is the home of currants, 

 gooseberries, blueberries, and strawberries. The earliest hardy grapes may 

 well be expected to be worth raising. 



In most places of the north, as before stated, nature does the mulching in 

 good season with the best of material — "the beautiful snow." 



For raising many kinds of vegetables, northern Michigan takes no second 

 place to any part of the country. Here can be grown radishes, crisp and 

 tender, lettuce of the best quality, onions (fair and strong enough), flat tur- 

 nips and rutabagas in perfection. Their potatoes already have a renowned 

 reputation. 



At Grayling I saw a wagon-box full of squashes, including Ilubbards, mar- 

 row, and turban. They were well grown. Dr. Palmer, in the village of 

 Grayling, raised a nice crop of equashes, which were so good that most of 

 them were stolen. Cabbages do first-rate. 



In the north the markets are excellent and will be so as long as lumbering 

 holds out. 



On good land, on the west shore, in Grand Traverse and Benzie counties, 

 we saw large orchards of clean, healthy trees of apples and cherries, which 

 told the horticulturist at the first glance some of the possibilities of north- 

 western Michigan. 



You have all heard of the west shore of Michigan, from Berrien county to 

 Mackinaw. Every one here must have heard of, and very likely he lias seen 

 and tasted, the plums, cherries, pears, apples, and peaches grown at Traverse 

 City by Judge Kamsdill, or at old ^lission by Parmelee and others. These 

 are the glory of the north. 



Our hunt for the northern extremity of the fruit-belt in Michigan reminds 

 me of a statement of Bill Nye. lie is one of those fellows without any hair 

 on his head, which he calls his " polished dome of thought." As he puts it, 

 his forehead extends clear over and buttons with his shirt-collar behind. So 



