FARMERS' INSTITUTE. 215 



come here, notwithstanding his intimate association with so many of our 

 enemies of tree and fruit. We shall be glad to hear about his pets, the ticks, 

 codling moth, curculio and others. We shall be particularly pleased to learn 

 the kind and the preparation of the food he regards as best to have them 

 die on. 



To Prof. Bailey we extend the heartfelt welcome accorded to the child 

 returning to his old home. In his recent visit to arrange for this meeting he 

 reminded the pomological society, under whose auspices this institute is held, 

 it was to his attendance at the South Haven pomological meetings he traced 

 his love for horticultural pursuits. I voice the feelings of the society and of 

 his former neighbors and friends in saying that we all take pride in the fact 

 that he was once one of our active members, who has gone out from us to 

 honor and usefulness. It is particularly pleasing to have him with us to- 

 night. 



While fruit has been our principal export, we recognize our fortunate posi- 

 tion for market gardening, being only five to seven hours from that great 

 market, Chicago, which is doubling about every ten years in population, and 

 even in its ability to consume and distribute fruit and vegetables. We can 

 load the various products which go to make up the fresh daily supply of a 

 great city, on a boat leaving here in the evening, arriving at Chicago early in 

 the morning and delivering its load in vastly better condition, with the easy, 

 swinging motion of the boat, surrounded by the fresh, pure air of the lake, 

 than those vegetables and fruits trundled into the city from eight to twenty 

 miles over roads usually rougher than corduroy, and through a portion of the 

 city where the air is not specially purifying. The favoring circumstances are 

 becoming better known and truck farming is increasing; hence Prof. 

 Tracy, who has wide renown in this department, and has a place on this 

 programme, would be especially welcomed, but he is detained with business 

 and may not be here. 



Last, but not least, we welcome Secretary Reynolds, of the college. We 

 regard the secretary as the heart of an organization and we deem it fortunate 

 in having one so capable of keeping the lifeblood in regular and healthy cir- 

 culation. 



To our citizens and those from other towns: We are glad to welcome you 

 to this institute. We hope you will find it such a ''feast of reason and flow 

 of soul" that each will return to his home with many items of helpful knowl- 

 edge and with renewed enthusiasm. 



For the purpoee of giving a more intelligent idea of this section, which by 

 common consent is styled the fruit belt, I had a map drawn showing the three 

 great fruit belt counties of Allegan, Van Buren and Berrien. A circle with a 

 radius of thirty miles having its focus near your present place of meeting, 

 includes most of the territory which has been blessed for more than twenty 

 consecutive years, except one, with annual crops of fruit, and especially of 

 the peach and fruits of the tenderer kinds. 



As further proof of its claim of being the fruit belt, I refer to the State 

 census of 1884. The entire peach crop of the State is there given as 290,091 

 bushels; in Allegan, Van Buren and Berrien counties, 187,002 bushels, or 

 about two-thirds of the entire crop. Of grapes, 1,550,702 pounds; the three 

 counties named, 680,177 pounds, or more than three-fifths of the whole. No 

 statistics were gathered of strawberries, blackberries and other small fruits, 

 but careful inquiry shows the larger portion of these fruits exported was from 



