Notes and Gleanings. i85 



initiated by Northern men, and has so far been attended with very flaitering 

 success. 



With proper facilities for transportation, the cities of the North might be sup- 

 phed with early vegetables raised here by open field culture, and which are now 

 obtained only at great expense through the agency of forcing-pits and hot-houses. 



But the attention of our people is mainly directed to the culture of fruits, 

 especially those of the orange family, embracing the orange proper, the lemon, 

 lime, and citron ; all of which thrive well in this latitude. As yet there are but 

 few groves that have begun to bear : but the young groves of one and two years' 

 growth promise well ; and the number of trees that have been set out during 

 the past two years, between this place and Jacksonville, will not fall far short 

 of 250,000. 



Fruit-Culture in Western Michigan. — Henry S. Chubb, Correspond- 

 ing Secretary Lake-Shore and Western Michigan Horticultural Association, 

 writes as follows of the Grand Haven fruit-region : — 



" The prospect for peaches among the orchards of this vicinity is excellent. 

 Every living peach-tree has on its limbs a superabundance of rapidly-advancing 

 fruit. The prospect for apples is not as large. Strawberries are very abundant, 

 and are selling at from ten cents to fifteen cents per quart. The late exhibition 

 of strawberries and other small fruit, at Spring Lake, showed that this sandy 

 region is well adapted to the production of these first-fruits of the season. 

 Gooseberries, currants, and raspberries also promise well. The cherry-trees 

 are laden with fruit ; and, notwithstanding the curculio, there will be a fair crop 

 of plums. Grapes, also, are looking well. 



"An orchard of twenty acres, peaches and apples, planted about ten years 

 ago, in this city, is for the first time bearing a full crop. It is estimated that 

 there will be about three thousand bushels of peaches this season, besides the 

 apples, pears, and grapes, which occupy more than half the enclosure. The 

 other old orchards of this vicinity, some of which have borne well before, are also 

 lieavily laden with peaches. 



" The upward tendency of prices in fruit-lands is a sure indication of the in- 

 creasing interest attached to fruit-growing in this vicinity. Large tracts of land 

 around the city, purchased less than a year ago for from five dollars to eleven dollars 

 per acre, have been selling rapidly in ten-acre lots at from twenty-five dollars to 

 a hundred dollars per acre, for fruit-lands ; while, close to the city, one-quarter- 

 acre lots in almost inaccessible positions on hillsides, held for years at twenty- 

 five dollars a lot, are now selling at seventy-five dollars to a hundred dollars. 

 Some of the ten-acre lots, sold for fruit-lands at a hundred dollars an acre late 

 last fall, are now realizing eight hundred dollars per acre in quarter-acre lots. 

 Fruit-land in eligible locations can still be had for twenty-five dollars per acre 

 in the wild state ; but this price is very likely to double before the close of this 

 season. Improved fruit-lands vary from five hundred dollars to eight hundred 

 dollars per acre when in bearing. These prices, however, do not include the 

 present crop, which prom'^es so well that it will almost purclase the land at 

 these prices." 



VOL. IV. 



