DIGEST OF STATE REPORTS. 



395 



Joseph on a comparatively narrow belt. This fruit-region covers an area 

 of about fourteen by eighteen miles in extent, and is occupied by the 

 eight townships named in the following table of statistics for 1873 : 



Townships. 



Benton 



Bainbridge . 

 Hogan 



Lincoln , 



Koyalton ... 

 Saint Joseph 



Sodus 



Watervliet . 



Total ... 



Acres in- 



P^ 



3, 172i 

 832i 



eaui 



1,973 

 623: 



1, 221 J 

 342i 

 4G2i 



9, 254f 



214i 



6i 



26i 



288J 



37: 



71| 



lOi 



1 



65G1 



M 



109 



4i| 



m\ 



103i 

 33i 



134 

 3i 



5i 

 223 



28J- 



loel 



f 11 



273i505i 



Number of— 



O 



32, 110 

 736 



4,847 

 35, 154 



3, 050 

 31, 240 



1, 167 



1,331 



109, 636 



o 



5,427 

 479 



2, 694 



4,092 

 671 



5,013 

 508 

 471 



PM 



204, 721 

 29, 185 

 40, 195 



140, 987 

 45, 140 

 96, 068 

 17, 724 

 20, 447 



19,355 594,467 



10, 935 



928 



1,600 



11, 108 



4,098 



17, 168 



771 



913 



<) 



67, 092 



28, 693 

 15, 970 

 28, 567 

 20, 685 

 23, 514 

 8,330 

 18, 785 



47,621 211,636 



1,223 

 23 



526 



2,327 



324 



2,860 

 20 



7,503 



O" 



1,453 



300 



231 



4,631 



1,214 



5,193 



172 



13, 094 



295 

 114 

 70 

 49 

 91 

 115 

 32 

 75 



841 



Mr. Clubb says that the first peach-tree planted in this region was 

 raised from seed by Mr. Burnett, who located in this section about a 

 century ago. Mr. B. C. Hoyt, who settled here in 1829, found the tree, 

 which continued to bear fruit until 1839. Mr. Hoyt was the first to raise 

 peaches which found their way into the Chicago market in 1839. They 

 were bought by a cook of a steamer, packed in barrels, and taken to 

 Chicago as a speculation. In 1834, long before Saint Joseph commenced 

 the peach business, Mr. Brodiss, who lived six miles from Niles, on the 

 Saint Joseph Eiver, brought peaches down the river on a canoe, and 

 sold them in the village of Saint Joseph. They were all seedlings. 

 About 1834 a family named Abbee planted some improved varieties of 

 peaches and apples, which were obtained from Rochester, N. Y. These 

 trees were afterward transplanted from the village to Royalton township, 

 and fruit was sold from them in Saint Joseph in 1837. In 1840, Capt. 

 Curtiss Boughton commenced the business of transporting peaches in 

 barrels and dry-goods boxes on his vessel to Chicago, where he sold them 

 at enormous profits, sometimes realizing $45 i)er barrel. This high price 

 naturally drew attention to the business and led to the settlement of the 

 country, especially in the vicinity of Saint Joseph and Benton Harbor, 

 resulting in the above statistics in about thirty years. This extension 

 of peach-growing has been gradual. Mr. George Parraalee planted his 

 orchard in 1848. He subsequently enlarged it to ninety acres. Captain 

 Boughton planted 130 budded i)each-trees in 1849. In 1850 his ship- 

 ments were 10,000 baskets. The Cincinnati peach-orchard, of sixty acres, 

 was planted in 1857. It is now owned by Messrs. Perkins & Sheldon, 

 of Chicago. Notwithstanding the destruction of so33e of its trees to 

 prevent the spread of the yellows, there were 40,000 baskets of peaches 

 shipped from this orchard during the season of 1874. No less than 

 3,300 baskets have been shipped from this orchard on a single day. The 

 average net price obtained was 40 cents a basket. 

 The following is his estimate of this fruit-region : 



On the whole, I regard the Saint Joseph fruit-region, which includes Benton Harbor 

 and all the towns named above, as a most complete demonstration of the success of 

 fruit-culture in Michigan. It is claimed that a total failure of the fruit crop has not 

 occurred, except after the extremely cold weather of 18G4, and although the peach crop 

 does not always grow bo abundantly aa it has th« season of 1874, taking one season 



