396 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE.- 



with another it is as sure as almost any fruit crop is anywhere, either in Europe or 

 America, while the grape crop is as sure as corn and potatoes, with the variety mostly 

 cultivated, the Concord. The soil in the limits mentioned is so varied as to render it 

 difficult to describe, for on the same farm will be found sand, sandy loam, rich black 

 soil, loam and clay, each being adapted for particular kinds of fruit and vegetables, 

 rendering the fruit-farmer capable of producing fruit for market, commencing his har- 

 vest with strawberries the first week in June, and continuing with raspberries, cur- 

 rants, gooseberries, cherries, summer apples, early peaches, late peaches, grapes, fall 

 and winter apples, until the frosts and storms of December render shipment by lake 

 dangerous. 



Twenty miles north of Saint Josepli is Soutli Haven, another great 

 fruit center. Black Eiver enters the lake here, forming at the mouth 

 quite a good-sized harbor for steamers and lake-shore traders. From 

 Benton Harbor to within three or four miles of this harbor the shore is 

 lined with sand-hills, mostly covered on the east side with forests, not 

 much settled, but presenting many good sites for fruit-growing. These 

 hills terminate in a fine level bluff of clay subsoil and sandy and gravelly 

 loam, interspersed with clay and rich black vegetable mold, averaging, 

 perhaps, 40 feet above the lake. In this region are some fine fruit- 

 farms, among them that of Mr. A. S. Dyckmau, president of the State 

 PomologicarSociety. It consists of 05 acres, within and adjoining South 

 Haven. In 1873, when peaches were a very short crop along the lake- 

 shore, Mr. Dyckman had an excellent yield, for which he obtained good 

 prices, aggregating over $10,000 net profits. 



Twenty miles north of South Haven are Kalamazoo Eiver and Lake. 

 This is a much newer, bat still a very prolific, fruit-region. The Kala- 

 mazoo Lake, which is only an enlargement of the river, constitutes the 

 harbor. The villages of Saugatuck, on the north, and Douglas, on the 

 south, are shipping-places for the pi-oducts of the circumjacent region. 

 In this neighborhood Mr. Terattet reahzed, in 1872, $1,700 net profit 

 from the peaches on six acres. 



Eight miles north of the mouth of the Kalamazoo is Black Lake Har- 

 bor. It is accessible for good-sized vessels during the season of navi- 

 gation. Inside is a beautiful lake about six miles long and from half a 

 mile to a mile in width. Around this lake are numerous orchards and 

 vineyards, and at its head is the city of Holland, the commercial metrop- 

 olis of the Holland colony. S|;)read over the territory covered by the 

 surrounding towns and villages are hundreds of farms, mostly small, but 

 thoroughly -cultivated, and almost every farm has its orchard and vine- 

 yard, while not a few make the cultivation of peaches and igrapes the 

 principal feature. 



Still farther north, opposite Milwaukee, Wis., is Grand Haven Har- 

 bor, near the mouth of Grand liiver, a line stream of water, 300 feet 

 across at its mouth, and widening within to 400 or 500 feet, with depth 

 of water sufiicient for the largest craft that float on the lakes. The 

 principal fruit-growing tovrnships in this region are Grand Haven, Spring 

 Lake, Ferrysburgh, Peach Plains, Fruitport, Midway, Eastmanville, 

 Nuncia, Coopersville, Nortonville, Spoonville, Lament, Boriiu, Oconto, 

 West Olive, Robinson, Allendale, Lake Pottawattomie, Bass River, 

 Little Black Lake, and Pigeon Creek. There are now about 300 fruit- 

 farms embraced within these townships, varying from 5 to 100 acres in 

 extent, furnishing the principal support to about as many fomilies. All 

 the points named are reached either by navigation or railroad, and souy3 

 by both. 



Another fruit center is Muskegon City, 11 miles north of Grand Haven. 

 It is on the south side of Muskegon Lake, near its junction with Lake 

 Michigan. Four miles aboyo is Black Lake, lour miles long by half a 



