WEST MICHIGAN FRUIT GROWERS' SOCIETY. 143 



have become more and more confirmed in the belief that the organization of 

 this society was a necessity to the fruit growers of this shore, supplying 

 a long-felt want which is of so great magnitude that it is more and more 

 apparent every year. One thing consoles me, and that is that South Haven 

 and Casco will be well represented by others more able to entertain the 

 meeting than I could be, thereby helping to keep up the interest so necessary 

 to the society. If my friends Lannin or Atherly, and perhaps others, can 

 speak on the subject allotted to me, they will do better than I could myself, 

 for in the numberless discussions before the South Haven and Casco society, 

 within the last seveu years, we all have come to believe fully, that '' pre- 

 vention will prevent ;" yet we do not all carry out our convictions in practice. 



Here let me say that among the many facts that go to sustain the theory 

 that we can, if we will, prevent the spread of yellows, no one is more con- 

 clusive than this: Those fruit growers who have removed all trees promptly 

 as soon as discovered, have as a rule good orchards yet ; and those who have 

 neglected to do so, their orchards are ruined. Add to this one more fact, 

 that there are many good paying orchards here that have cut out hundreds 

 of trees, while every neglected orchard in the same neighborhood has been 

 swept away by the foul disease. Of course, all who have even one tree 

 affected must join in the work of demolition or some localities will suffer. 



Time will not allow me to say what I would of what I believe to be prevent- 

 ives of the first inception of yellows, such as proper nourishment of the tree, 

 the careful cultivation, thorough pruning of limbs, and the rigid thinning of 

 the overloaded trees ; also the healthiness of both pit and bud. If we neglect 

 any of these precautions we are on unsafe grounds. 



If President Phillips does not object, allow me to suggest briefly that I 

 hope, above all things which may happen to this society, that it may be 

 delivered from all "long drawn out" essays which have no practical value, 

 and generally are a dead weight on the meeting. 



One more suggestion : I hope the meeting will not fail to take up the fruit 

 exchange, and not let it be passed by or crowded out for want of time, for 

 whether Mr. Smith fails you or not (like myself) with his paper, this ques- 

 tion should be thoroughly discussed. I see that they have found it necessary 

 to adopt the exchange in Delaware and New Jersey for self-protection. I be- 

 lieve if the whole peach belt would unite and form an exchange at every 

 shipping point on this shore we could supersede the commission man and 

 obtain such prices as our fruit commands in the distant as well as our near 

 markets. 



Your friend, 



J. G. RAMSDELL. 



ONCE MORE, YELLOWS. 



Kesuming the topic as to prevention of spread of yellows, J. J. Atherly said 

 nothing new was known of the matter; it is all a mystery; we thought at 

 first that fertilization would prevent yellows, but it didn't, and no one knows 

 how to stop it. Mr. Lannin told of its mysterious and irregular ways of 

 spreading in his orchard, and remarked that the disease is more virulent here 

 than at the east. Wm. Corner said one means of prevention is neglected — 

 the uprooting of small groups of trees that die of yellows in villages and by- 

 places in the country. We don't know how to prevent trees from having 

 yellows, but we know if yellows are in the ash heap they are all right. 



