County Horticultural Society

None of the viee-presldents being preeent, Mr. W. F. Bird was called to the ehair. Mesero. 0. R, L. Crozier, E. Baur W. F. Bird were appointed a committe pto draw reeoluti6na respectIng the dleath of President J. Austin Scotl and .lames D. Dttnean. Mr. .1. C. shcnk, of the committee of trnnsportation, repbrted that lie went to Detroit, pald D. o. Wile's man for lasi year'e dtatribution and care of tlie Ann Arlior fruit car, and eniiild.ved liim again for tliis ycar. B. J. ('onrad, cliainnan of said committe', siale.l 1 ha t he wat. -lied one day lasl year the dieposal of the Ann Arbor fruit car. li' anybody should be paid it was fche switch man wllO put the car int.'i position early in the morntng. D. o. Wiley's man took Whai ira aseigaed tw ais house on that day, and liad nothing to do With the distribution ol the fruit car. He had earrespoiwted with Dwyer Yhay i Lichtenberg & Soms, who thought it unneceesary to have a special agent. Ba-t ii the society wanted ome they would furnish one gratis. He eaw carloa.ds of watermelons aaid whorïleberries imloaded and assiuned by the railway a-uthorities without any special agent. He could not see why we sliould employ an agent of a special fruit house to ta.ke care of the fruit car. It was the business cd the fpeigbt office at Detroit to distribute and .handle our fruit carei'ully, and the men omployed by sald ofïi.-e were carelul and systematic in unloading and distributIng the Ann Arbor fruit car. E. iiaur Btated thftt he had a report of the hon.se he shipped to at Detroit, that hU cases were badly shaken ap by nóaigh handling, berry boxes lein)i only hall ruil. He addressed at omee Mr. C. J. Hupp, Ass't (ien'l Freight Agent, whether D. O. Wile's man was respo-nsible for the handling of the Ann Arbor fruit car. Mr. Hupp addreeeed H. MacMillen, the freight agent, who aaswered on July 29th: "Shipments in quesrtion are handled by my men and not by Witey's. Crates are earefully handled." Tlie freight office at Ann Arbor handled our gioods in the very bet manner and a carefully as any fruit grower himelf could do, without a special luent; he cöuld not see why we needed a pecial aent at Detroit, if tliat office did its dnty there as well as at Ann Arbor, and Mr. Hupp would sec tio it, tliiat it was done. He knew thnt Mr. Hupp WW a. very painstaJiiiig and obliging officer. Tlie corresionding ecretary was appoiuted to addi-esis Mr. Hupp Avlwthcr any outwide ag-ent had anything to do wit li the distributton of our fruit at th-e fpeight depot at Detroit, to report at our next meeting in pteinlx'r. FRUIT PROSI'ECTS. J. Schenk: peaches, pears and grapee in my orehard bet ter loaded than ever. 15. J. Oonrad: grapes, quinces and pears full erop, peaches fair. Jolui Allmand: grápes, os big a erop a ever before, quinces good, Baldwln apples very line. J. Schaefer: Grapes full erop. Blackberriee very large erop, luwe not suffered from drouth; ppeara and peaches lew, no apples except Baldwlna. Mr. R. Smith, wet of Dexter: Bartlett and Sickl peana look well, quinces fair, no peache. Stephen Mills: grapes proinisinif, pears very small erop, no n.pplex. C. J. C'onratli showel n photograph oí the Oonrath'8 Early black raspberry, wbich orlglnated in 1 886 on Charles Woodruff'8 fruit farm, wlio ohl the stock to Conrath. The yield from 2 1-2 acres of one year old plante was 75 .businels, sold at I)etroit tor from $4 to $4.75 per bushel. They hold their size "ell to the last pkking. Thoee wlio saw them in full bearlng speak in high terms of this proliflc, jet black berry of good size. Mr. (lonrath pkinted his berries geven [eet apart, nipped them when 2 1-2 feet high, to wend out side branches. s tlvat eiery plant is a stocky small tree. Hls cultavation ís perfectly ctoan, HKil porous, would not do ;us well in a stiff clay soil. Planta of tliis vnriety were sent to different experiment stations. W. H. 1'. Wadden, of the Experiment Station at the Michigan Agricultural Oolleg. report, July 28th 185)2: "Oonrath's Early Raepberry - busli trong growing, healtliy. First fruit ripe July (. lierry large roaind, firm, jt't black, quality excellent; It rlpeóed with Souhegan, but thé fruit is mocil largor and better and the bitelïèa wre more productivo." j. Troop, of Purdue Ühiyerslty, Indiana, reporte Jnly 28, 1802: "The Ooarath Karly Raapberry was just beglnnUtg to ripen when I left táfayetibe. It was amoiig the earilesi but nat the eaxltest and in si.e and product i Vfiioss it swiiK-d very satisfactwry, WH1 kívc you a report later." Mr. Oourath planted 12 acres of tliis beriy. He is one of the rising young fruit gi-owers in tliis vicinity and will lh an active member of tliis society. The fruit interest is rtowinn Ktixmger every year about Aun Arbor. It is wortliy of note, thai wli i Ie peache on the islands in Lake Erie and moet placee in and out of this mate i-e generally a. fallare this year, the erop about Anu Arbor ts ery promjglng. Ixits of school children find employment in this brancli of industry during the somnier vacation. The berry plckers generally are a happy and thrifty clnss. Their cheerfulnese comes freqúently out by tlieir happy sonirs in the field.