WEST MICHIGAN FRUIT GROWERS' SOCIETY. 89 



G. W. Richards, of the same place, thought it right for Orawfords, Mixons, 

 and Richmonds, but too low for others. Oar climate does not favor much 

 setting of the varieties named, though what we have may by better fertiliza- 

 tion be made to yield more. 



President Phillip?, in answer to inquiry, said peach growing was unsuccessful 

 about Grand Haven and pomologists are turning attention to grapes; but he 

 thought Mr. Dyckmau's estimate high enough. 



Mr. Dyckman said his estimate of one million trees was divisible into 

 250,000 in Casco and South Haven; 500,000 in and about Fennville, Ganges, 

 and Saugatuck, with 350,000 for the rest of the state. There are less now 

 than in 18?4. 



CULTIVATION OF NUT-BEARING AND OTHER DECIDUOUS TREES, 



was a subject introduced by W. A. Smith of Benton Harbor, in the following 

 paper : 



In every well timbered country there are three distinct and well defined 

 periods or epochs. The first period furnishes the conditions for a wild or sav- 

 age state of mankind, and during its continuance, nature provides in great 

 measure for the simple wants of her children. When the supply in one 

 locality becomes exhausted they need only migrate to other and more favor- 

 able locations, like the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. Bye and 

 bye the pioneer comes along. The country is wild, the land is clothed in its 

 primeval forests, the sound of the woodman's ax has not been heard to echo 

 among these stately trees. The timber which has been growing and decaying 

 upon the virgin soil for hundreds, thousands — yea, perhaps millions — of years 

 is in the way of human progress and must, at least in part, be removed. The 

 land must be tilled in order that man may rely upon his own energy and 

 resources for the necessaries of life. 



In a new country, before railroads are constructed, and not being favored 

 with water transportation, timber is of little or no value save for fuel and the 

 rude cabins of the first settlers. Hence, in days not long past, the logging 

 bee was a common frolic. The timber was burned upon the ground where it 

 grew, and the ashes added additional fertility to the soil already enriched by 

 the decomposition of vegetable matter for unknown ages. 



The second epoch is the period of commercial activity in the lumber regions. 

 Saw-mil)s are erected at all convenient points, and there is logging in the 

 winter, running logs in the spring, and a general activity in the lumber busi- 

 ness the balance of the year. In our own peninsular state this system is en- 

 tirely and systematically in vogue even now. 



Those of us who came to Michigan not more than a quarter of a century 

 ago remember well the majestic and magnificent stretches of forest over much 

 of her rich domain. In 1836, fifty years ago, Michigan entered upon her 

 career as a state. Then she was one of the best, if not the best, timbered 

 state in the Union. Her timber, even to the present time, has been a source 

 of munificent wealth to her citizens. The laborer had his wages, the capital- 

 ist his large percentage of the money invested. The ax has been applied to 

 her forests with a ruthless and savage hand. "Today is the day of our need," 

 says the lumberman. *' Let tomorrow take care of itself;" and how swiftly 

 and how thoroughly has he accomplished his work! Fifty years, a mere point 

 in the cycle of time — only a day, as it were, in the age of a state — and yet we 



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