WEST MICHIGAN FRUIT GROWERS' SOCIETY. 117 



mixed with the water and the whole kept in constant motion during the pro- 

 cess of spraying. 



Another branch of our business, which in many localities in western Mich- 

 igan has for some time been virtually abandoned, owing to the prevalence of 

 yellows and cold winters, is peach-growing. One flower will not make a 

 summer, but one good crop of peaches will produce a wonderful stimulus to 

 the future production of this most luscious and healthful of all our fruits. 

 Give us good peaches on this lake shore and we can compete suc3essfully with 

 the whole country in our western markets. But to be successful in this 

 branch of horticulture we must needs be vigilant, industrious, and persever- 

 ing. The soil we can prepare, the yellows we may dheck or finally remove, 

 but the climate is beyond our control. In this branch we hold the key to 

 success in our locality, and when we fail from climatic causes the great west 

 and northwest will have to depend almost if not entirely upon the far-away 

 Atlantic coast and the south for their supply. 



The past season has been a most favorable one for the luscious grape. A 

 warm, dry, long season gives us good ripe grapes. While in some localities 

 the crop has been affected to some extent by rot, we are as yet comparatively 

 free from this scourge. The fruit was good, the crop large, but the margin 

 small. 



The pear orchards in our locality (Berrien county) have of late years been 

 almost entirely free from blight. Our crops average fair to good, and we 

 found a ready sale at paying rates for all good fruit sent to market. I think 

 the production of this fruit is out of all proportion to its excellent properties 

 and its market value; and for home use while it lasts no other fruit can take 

 its place. 



VIEWS OF OTHERS. 



This paper was followed by considerable discussion upon the several points 

 touched upon in the essay. 



Mr. Corner said nature had stored up large amounts of food for plants and 

 fruit trees in the soil, sufficient probably to produce the needed supplies for 

 ordinary uses of the inhabitants ; but when orchards covered the larger part 

 of the ground in any district, and immense crops of fruit were shipped from 

 them, year after year, for a long term of years, in time the necessary elements 

 in the soil must be exhausted unless restored by the use of proper fertilizers 

 in large quantities. 



Frank Linderman said he had used fertilizers freely and found bone-dust, 

 ashes, and barn-yard manure of great value. He believed in a liberal use of 

 fertilizers. 



W. A. Smith said that while his vineyard was young, for the first few years, 

 he received good crops from it, but it failed to pi o luce satisfactory crops 

 afterward for some years. He then used ashes at the rate of four tons to the 

 acre. This had been followed by good crops of grapes. President Phillips 

 said that he had used ashes freely in his vineyard, with good results ; had 

 faith in the use of ashes in the vineyard. H. H. Hayes had used ashes and 

 bone-dust freely. The grape is improved in color and flavor thereby. 



