NORTH AMERICAN STATES 



NORTH AMERICAN STATES 2185 



Aside from the nature of the soil itself, the general 

 contour of the land aids in making Michigan a great 

 fruit state. While much of the land is level to the extent 

 of being low and swampy, and still other extensive 

 areas are so steep and rough as to be of little value for 

 the highest type of fruit-culture, a large proportion of 

 the land in nearly every county is gently rolling, with 

 slopes that often extend to points 100 or more feet 

 above the land in the neighboring valleys. This not 

 only provides the needed drainage for water, but favor- 

 ing the movements of the air, it permits the cold air to 

 pass off to the lower levels, thus lessening the injury 

 from late frosts in the spring as well as from early frosts 

 in the fall, besides making a difference of 5 to 10 in 

 the minimum winter temperatures. 



Another horticultural asset of almost inestimable 

 value to Michigan comes from the fact that the state 

 is surrounded on three sides by the waters of the Great 

 Lakes, besides having thousands of inland lakes within 

 her borders. They aid not only in providing almost 

 ideal climatic conditions, but in furnishing quick, 

 cheap and excellent conditions for the transportation 

 of fruit and other perishable products to market. 



In addition to the splendid service in the handling 

 of horticultural products provided by the steam and 

 trolley lines, the fruit-grower is favored by the many 

 trans-lake steamship lines, which take the fruit during 

 the night to the market points to which it is consigned 

 in time for the morning market. Not only are there 

 several lines which skirt the eastern shores, but on Lake 

 Michigan there are no less than a dozen lines which 

 take the fruit from twenty or more ports direct to 

 Chicago, Milwaukee and other points, besides a num- 

 ber of minor connecting lines of boats. Besides furnish- 

 ing regular and comparatively cheap service, the boat- 

 lines make it possible to ship the fruit under almost 

 ideal conditions, in the cool night air of the lake and 

 without the jar and shaking to which it would neces- 

 sarily be exposed if shipped by rail. 



Although in the early times nearly every farm had its 

 home-orchard in which a general variety of fruits was 

 grown, there were very few that could be called com- 

 mercial orchards, except in the counties bordering 

 upon Lake Michigan. The peach in particular was an 

 exception, and to such an extent that the region from 

 Benton Harbor to Grand Haven was known as the 

 Michigan Fruit-Belt, or Peach-Belt, but it was soon 

 learned that this region by no means included all of the 

 land in Michigan that was suited to commercial orchard- 

 ing. While by far the larger area is still in the southern 

 half of the lake-shore counties, extensive orchards of 

 the peach and other fruits are now found all along the 

 shore as far north as Charlevoix, and especially about 

 Ludington, Manistee, Frankfort and Traverse City. 

 The planting, however, has not been confined to the 

 counties bordering upon Lake Michigan, some of the 

 largest orchards in the state being in Newaygo, Kent, 

 Barry, Kalamazoo, Oakland, Livingston and other 

 interior counties. The principal requirements being a 

 moderately rich and well-drained soil and a location 

 considerably above the land immediately surrounding 

 it, these can and are being met in nearly every county 

 in the lower peninsula, although there are very few 

 commercial peach orchards in the northern half of the 

 state, except within 20 miles of Lake Michigan. 



Plums, also, have been very generally planted, 

 although the acreage is much smaller than that of 

 peaches. The southern lake-shore counties are giving 

 especial attention to this crop, the largest areas being in 

 Oceana, Allegan, Berrien, Mason, Kent, Van Buren and 

 Ottawa counties. Under proper care the crop is a 

 profitable one, but from lack of proper spraying and the 

 resulting loss of the foliage from leaf-blight, many of 

 the trees are seriously injured and often killed by the 

 winter. 



While the sour varieties of cherries do well in almost 



all of the Michigan counties, the northern half of the 

 western lake-shore counties seem to be especially suited 

 to them and very large plantings have been made, 

 particularly about Traverse City, Manistee, Frankfort, 

 Northport and Charlevoix. The same region is also 

 well adapted to the sweet cherry and extensive plant- 

 ings have been made. The trees seem to be hardy, bear 

 profusely and the fruit readily finds a market at about 

 twice the price of the sour varieties. 



Vineyards of considerable extent are found in most 

 of the southern counties, but from a commercial stand- 

 point Berrien and Van Buren counties take the lead, 

 and grapes from the Lawton and St. Joseph grape regions 

 are shipped to nearly every state in the Union. Kent, 

 Cass, Ottawa, Allegan, Monroe, and Kalamazoo coun- 

 ties also have many extensive vineyards. 



Nearly every county in the southern peninsula 

 has large commercial apple orchards and nearly three- 



Line A A western 

 limit of cold wave 

 of February 9, \ 

 1914. 



2499. Michigan, showing horticultural parts or districts. 



fourths of them have 100,000 trees or more. Although 

 they are being very generally planted all over the state, 

 the more extensive plantings are along the western 

 border. The largest percentage of increase has been in 

 Manistee, Benzie, Leelanaw, Grand Traverse, Antrim,. 

 Charlevoix and Cheboygan counties. Large plantings 

 of the Oldenburg have been made in the more southern- 

 counties, this variety for a number of years having beert 

 exceedingly profitable. 



While six of the southern lake-shore counties grow 

 more small-fruits than all the remainder of the state, 

 these being the only ones which have over 800 acres, 

 there are at least thirty counties in which 100 acres or 

 more are grown. The northern part of the state, includ- 

 ing the upper peninsula, is coming to the front with its 

 late varieties of strawberries which come on after the 

 season is over in the southern counties, and these with 

 the "everbearing" kinds make it possible in some sea- 

 sons to have Michigan-grown strawberries for six 

 months of the year. 



As the years go by, the growing of fruit becomes more 

 and more the work of specialists. It has been found that 

 the slipshod methods formerly in vogue will not give 

 results, and with greater attention to the selection of 



