THE SPEING MEETIIS'G, 



HELD IN HOLLAND CITY, MARCH 3, 4 AND 5, 1886. 



Soon after the annual meeting in Allegan, in December, 1885, Mr. A. J. 

 Knisely tendered to the executive board his resignation as secretary, which 

 was accepted. G. H. LaFleur, of Allegan, was then appointed secretary to 

 fill the vacancy for the rest of the year. 



His first official work was to prepare for the March meeting of the society, 

 which was held at Holland City, from the 3d to the 6th of that month, on 

 invitation from the local horticultural and agricultural societies. 



At this meeting, after an address of welcome by Dr. 0. E. Yates, of Hol- 

 land, and response by A. S. Kedzie, of Grand Haven, a paper on "How to 

 Protect the Vineyard against the (Jut-worms" was read by Mr. C. A. Dut- 

 ton, and followed by a general discussion. There were arguments for and 

 against growing turnips among the vines, affording the worms other food 

 than the buds; salt sown broadcast, some declared, had been efficacious, while 

 others had found it of no effect ; and President Phillips told of the destruct- 

 ive qualities upon the cut-worm of crops of buckwheat turned under when in 

 bloom, a remedy now generally accepted as a specific. 



Following this was a paper by the Hon. H. H. Holt, of Muskegon, upon 



"CAN SANDY SOILS BE MADE PROFITABLE?" 



The question proposed as the subject of this article will perhaps suggest 

 several inquiries, among which may be these: What has this question 

 to do with horticulture? and why should the writer of the article presume to 

 teach practical fruit growers? Candor compels me to say that no answer can 

 be given to the last of these inquiries. In reply to and in explanation of the 

 query as to the relation of the successful cultivation of sandy soils to fruit 

 growing, I will say this: That while it is admitted that no portion of our 

 country is better adapted than western Michigan to the cultivation of all 

 kinds of fruit and vegetables grown at the north, still experience has shown 

 that we can not depend upon one kind of fruit alone, or in fact upon various 

 kinds of fruit. We have learned, as was the case last year with strawberries, 

 that the crop may be so abundant and the weather be such in the various 

 portions of what ia known as the strawberry belt, that the entire crop of the 

 country may be thrown upon the market at once, thus causing almost a total 

 loss of profit. Sometimes a late frost or a hard winter may ruin a particular 

 crop while others escape. The proper course, it would seem, for fruit grow- 

 ers to pursue, is to devote a portion of their energies to the cultivation of 



