ANNUAL MEETING AT LEXINGTON. 277 



Tjerries and raspberries ha'd about the same price as strawberries. The 

 former wer« mue-h curtailed by drought; of the latter Shafi'er's Colos- 

 sal is decidedly the most profitable. Plums and cherries much sought 

 for. Of grapes there was the heaviest crop since 1874, the dry atmos- 

 phere not permitting rot to set in. Sold at acceptable rates compara- 

 tively. 



In spite of the drouth causing uuxny apples to drop and to ripen 

 prematurely, there was the biggest crop on record of this fruit, and of 

 high quality, too ; smooth, large, almost free of worms, only later ou 

 attacked by crickets, birds, bugs, etc., the wounds causing decay. 

 Many farmers had 1,000 and 2,000 barrels to ship. Price somewhat 

 lower than last year. The leadership of the Ben. Davis has been con- 

 tested, many customers refusing to buy it, preferring Jonathan's and 

 other kinds of better quality. Stark and Lawver are favorably received 

 in the market. A goodly number of trees are planted every year, but 

 peaches are neglected for their uncertainty. 



cPtOP EEPOET, buchaxa:^^ couxty. 



REPORT BY J. MADINGER, ST. JOSEPH. 



We have to report a good year for all varieties of fruit, except as 

 to peaches and pears. The former proved an entire failure and the 

 latter yielded but a very light crop, and the trees blighted badly. 



Apples are the main reliance of the farmers in this county and the 

 yield was above an average. The quality of the fruit is excellent, but 

 some varieties are somewhat lacJiing in size, owing no doubt to the 

 dry weather during a portion of the growing season and the unusual 

 quantity of fruit on many of the trees. As near as can be estimated 

 there have been shipped from this county this fall, as far as I can learn 

 from shippers, six hundred car loads of apples, making one hundred 

 and sixty barrels to the car in all 96,000 barrels or about 285,000 bush- 

 els, the price paid from 85 cents to 81 per barrel. 



