A GLIMPSE AT MICHIGAN HORTICULTURE. 



A PAPER PREPARED AT THE REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION AP- 

 POINTED BY GOVERNOR JEROME TO REPRESENT MICHIGAN 

 AT THE MEETING OF THE AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL 

 SOCIETY, IN SEPTEMBER, 1881. 



BY SECRETARY CHARLES W. GARFIELD. 



When Father Marquette and his Jesuit brothers paddled around our beauti- 

 ful peninsula over two hundred years ago dropping here and there a few apple 

 and pear seeds along with the '• seed of the word," they little dreamed of the 

 great future that was indicated for Michigan in the thrifty growth of seedling 

 fruit trees that were to spring up along their pathway. A few of these old 

 trees, and some that were planted a few years later, are still found in various 

 places on the shores of Erie, Huron and Lake Michigan; they are healthy and 

 strong, bearing regular crops of fruit, monuments of the adaptability of our 

 State to the cultivation of the apple and pear. 



It was not until the discovery that peaches could be grown successfully, of 

 the best quality, upon our western Michigan shore, that fruit-growing for mar- 

 ket was given an impetus in the State. This was about 1840, and from that 

 date until 1881 the develojjment of fruit culture in our State is without a par- 

 allel. Facts have gradually been brought to light in the experience of orchard- 

 ists that prove Michigan to be peculiarly adapted, on account of her climatic 

 conditions, to a wide range of fruits, from the semi-tropical fig to the iron-clad 

 Siberian crab. 



This rapid development has been due to two causes: First, the influence of 

 the great lake curves the isothermal lines well to the northward, so that a large 

 area is rendered serviceable in the growth of the less hardy fruits; and second, 

 in the rapid development of the Great West to which we are readily accessible, 

 and in which these fruits can not be grown, we have a never failing market for 

 all the surplus. 



Lake Michigan is truly a " cherishing mother" to the orchardist. A body 

 of water 360 miles in length and over 100 miles in breadth. It would float the 

 three States of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland; and it is deep enough 



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