niiiipipiji! ' i!!!*^|BA!ii-p''UU?? •- iasitavs--: lal y SOUTHERN BKANCn. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LIBRARY, 4_OS ANGELES, GALIF. U^A RURAL STATE AND PROVINCE SERIES Edited by L. H. BAILEY RURAL MICHIGAN RURAL STATE AND PROVINCE SERIES Rural New York E. O. Fippin Rural Michigan L. A. Chase Rural California E. J. Wickson Plate 1. Norway pine near Marquette — the property of the city. RURAL STATE AND PROVINCE SERIES RURAL MICHIGAN BY LEW ALLEN CHASE, M.A. HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, NORTHERN STATE NORMAL SCHOOL Author of "The Government of Michigan" THE MACMILLAN COMPAJSTY 1922 All rights reserved 59711 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Copyright, 1922, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and printed. Published September, 1922. ::..••• ••• V. .••; ..•••.'* •: :-= ? * ,*• .• .•• ••• '•• ••»«., <.. „ ' •-• • • Press of J. J. Little & Ives Company New York, U. S. A. PREFACE V ^V^ In the pages that follow will be found a general and free account of the past and present condition of Michigan agriculture and rural life. It is not ^ the province of the book to contain a careful and detailed analysis of the economic and social prob- lems related to the subject ; such a study must await the labors of other students along many special lines in the years to come. So far as it goes, it is hoped that the book will prove of interest and value 1, to the general reader and may serve as a basis for further investigation of particular problems. The book, then, may be regarded as an introduction to the study of the rural situation in ]\Iichigan. putting ) the State before the reading public in quite a new ^ light. ake, lictwecn the pres- 93 RURAL MICHIGAN ent sites of Ishpemiiiff and isTegaunee, about twelve miles inland from Lake Superior. The next year a small amount of ore was taken out and smelted at Jackson. Bog iron ofe was distributed at various points in the southern counties of the State, and for its utilization a number of forges, or furnaces, had been erected. Such a forge appears to have been first employed for smelting this Lake Superior ore. In 1847, a forge was established on the Carp Eiver close to the present site of Negaunee, for the purpose of converting the iron ore, which was found in a loose formation on the surface of the land, to a form that could be transported out of the country. This and other forges erected in this vicinity prepared the iron ore in the form of "blooms," in which condition it was shipped out of the district to eastern markets. After some years, blast furnaces were erected and the process of smelting the ore was begun. The iron was shipped from the mines to the forges or furnaces, most of which were con- structed close to the lake shore, and thence went forward by water. At first conveyance was by wagons, later by railroad. Ore docks were built in the harbor of Marquette, first of simple construction involving much labor in transferring the mineral from train to dock and from dock to ship. Then a type of dock was designed whereby the railroad ore cars deposited their load directly into pockets, whence in turn the ore was sent through shoots into the hold of the vessel along side. The marvelous perfection of present equipment of such docks per- OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 93 mits the loading of a cargo of 10,000 or more tons of iron ore in two or three hours, while at the port of destination the reverse process is likewise rapidly completed through the use of great "clams'' or "Hew- litts," which snatch many tons of mineral out of the ship at a single "bite," placing it on the dock for shipment by railroad to the furnaces and con- suming centers of Ohio and Pennsylvania. The abundant forests of the Lake Superior district have afforded wood for the manufacture of charcoal em- ployed in the smelting of a portion of the iron ore mined here, but most of it is smelted and utilized outside of the Lake Superior region. The local smel- ters using charcoal derive from the iron and the wood by-products, including acids and other chem- icals of great commercial importance and add mate- rially to the industrial status of northern Michigan. The iron deposits of the Marquette Eange have a general eastern and western trend, with Negaunee at the eastern end, while its western extension ap- proaches L'Anse. At various points mines have been opened : at Negaunee, Ishpeming, Michigamme, Republic, Gwinn and other locations, the ore being exported largely through Marquette, although the completion of the Peninsular Division of the Chi- cago and Northwestern Railway to Negaunee in 1864, made shipments possible out of the Lake Michigan port of Escanaba. For some years, too, ore reached L'Anse, to which port the line of the present Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad was opened in 1872, and where an ore dock of the pocket !<1 RURAL MICH WAN type was erected, later to be dismantled. From these mines of the Marquette Range an aggregate product of 121,059,070 tons (1854-1916) of iron ore has gone forward to market. The ore exhibited great tensile strength because of its relative freedom from phosphorus, sulfur, arsenic and other impurities, and while the early production running as high as 65 per cent pure iron to the rnine-run of ore has not been maintained — the present percentage being about 50, — the ore is still highly favored by consumers of the metal. Southwest of the Marquette Eange some fifty or sixty miles is the Menominee Range, the second to be developed in IMichigan. Mining operations here began about 1870, and the total output to 1916 was 10-1:,902,919 tons. The product goes out through Escanaba from ^uch mining points as Iron Moun- tain, Crystal Falls, Iron River and Stambaugh. Water-power development on the Menominee River has assisted in furnishing hydro-electric power for the use of the mines and the mining towns. In the westernmost county of the Upper Penin- sula not far from the Montreal River, the last of the three iron ranges of the State was opened up about 1880, following exploratory work by Pumpelly and Brooks. The outlet for the product of this dis- trict was by way of Ashland, Wisconsin, to which a railroad was shortly constructed — now a portion of the Chicago and Northwestern line — and at which docks were provided. The deposits extend over into OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 95 Wisconsin, and this fact is a sufficient reason for the pressing of ^lichigan's claim to the territory west of the Montreal River, resulting from the original alleged erroneous survey of the interstate line at that point. The mining properties are located at Ironwood, Bessemer, Wakefield and other points in Gogebic County, and up to IDIH had yielded an aggregate of 95,607,671 tons of ore. In the iron industry, as in other mining opera- tions, production is maintained at each mine for a greater or less period of years and when ore bodies become exhausted, the mine is abandoned and the workings allowed to fill with water. In 1917, the active iron mines in ^lichigan numbered thirty-four on the ilarquette Range; eleven on the ^Menominee Range; and twenty-two on the Gogebic Range. The ores uncovered have varied greatly in texture, solidity and chemical composition. They have been desig- nated by such discriminating terms as hematite, specular, magnetic and lamenite. On the Marquette Range hard ores were found at Republic and some other points, and were formerly much desired for smelting purposes, while the soft ores were discarded as unsuited to the furnaces. Improved smelting methods have reversed the situation. The ores of the Menominee and Gogebic ranges are soft hematite in character. An analysis of the Michigan iron ores, published in the report of the State Geologist for 1917, showed the following results as an approxi- mate average for each range: 96 RURAL MICHIGAN Percentafje of Content. Marquette Range: Iron, 54; phosphorus, .03; silica, 8 mantrancse, .24; moisture, 8. Menominee Range: Iron, 53; phosphorus, .04; silica, 8 manganese, .18; moisture, 7. Gogehio Range: Iron, 53; phosphorus, .04; silica, 7 manganese, .39; moisture, 11. At the beginning of mining operations, masses of ore were often found about the surface of the ground, the result of glacial action, and in outcrops, occa- sionally in the form of "iron mountains." The first mining consisted, then, in removing this most ac- cessible portion of the visible ores. Later, open pits were frequently sunk, such mines still obtaining at a few points, as near Wakefield. Such exploitation of the ore bodies liad the character of quarrying, which in time was extended beneath the surface of the ground; and eventually true shafts of consider- able depth were driven along the veins, involving extensive surface construction of hoists and other ■ equipment. While there is some "bog ore" in the Upper Peninsula, as in the Seney swamp, this is of no commercial importance. The question is often asked as to how long the iron ore and copper de- posits in the Lake Superior region will continue to be workable. In 1921, the State Geologist reported a visible supply of iron ore in Michigan of two hun- dred million tons, with an annual production from twelve to eighteen million tons. It is evident that the industry has a definite period of duration not very prolonged. There remains the possibility of utilizing low grade ores, not at present being worked, OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 97 and of discovering through exploration ore bodies that will materially add to the present ore reserves. The first possibility must rely for its realization on private enterprises; the second, on liberal support of the State Geological Survey as well as on private efforts. While Michigan is not ordinarily classed as a sil- ver-producing state, its production of this metal in the year 1919 amounted to 441,430 fine ounces. In the pioneer days of copper mining, silver in its pure native form was not infrequently uncovered in conjunction with the red metal, and many stories are related of the practice among the Cornish miners at the old "Cliff'' and other mines, of depositing small nuggets of silver in their boots and elsewhere about their persons on the theory that whatever be- sides copper was revealed in their mining operations belonged to the miner himself, — a view not shared by the owners of the mine but circumvented only with difficulty. Occasionally the silver was recov- ered embedded in nuggets of copper, and the mass was then popularly referred to as a "half-breed.'' A very remarkable silver formation on a diminutive island near the north shore of Lake Superior was discovered shortly after the Civil War, and while the "Silver Islet" lay just outside the territorial limits of the State, Michigan citizens were pri- marily concerned in developing its rich vein of the metal and were the beneficiaries of their enterprise from which $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 in the aggre- gate were realized. The area of the Porcupine ]\Ioun- 98 RURAL MICTIIGAN tains in the western part of the Upper Peninsula has yielded small amounts of silver for years, and in the early seventies of the last century, a number of mines were opened in the vicinity of Ontanogan River, an outlet of Lage Gogebic into Lake Superior; but the elaborate expectations of the promoters were not fully realized. In recent years much of the product of Michigan silver accrues from refining operations connected with the copper industry. It was inevitable that a region rich in mineral resources should attract the attention of the gold- seeker. Tlie presence of this precious metal was discerned in the quartz, but the State Geologist, in his report for 1885, is doubtless correct in giving credit to the Ropes Gold Mine for the first syste- matic effort at gold mining in upper Michigan. The gold-bearing serpentine is located some six miles northwest from Ishpeming, and here gold Avas dis- covered in 1881. Regular mining began in 1882. A stamp mill and concentration plant were erected, and the bullion found its way eventually to the United States mint. The product was a combina- tion of gold and silver in the ratio (1885) of about 2 to 5. Some rich rock was discovered. In one instance seventeen pounds of rock yielded $103 of gold.^ The gold content of the rock was variable in amount, being described as "pockety," and al- though in the fifteen years in which this mine was worked, gold and silver to the value of approxi- mately $650,000 was removed, of which in the aggre- ^"Mineral Statistics," Mich., 1885, p. 159. OTHER REHOURCEii OF MICHIGAN 99 gate 80 per cent was gold, the mining operations were eventually abandoned, and the property today has little surface indications of the mining activity that once obtained there.^ Yet there are some even now who insist that the mine will eventually be re- opened and will richly repay the confidence which has been placed in it. Evidences of the presence of gold were found throughout a considerable area adjacent to this mine, and not a few other efforts to recover the metal wore undertaken, in some in- stances with very encouraging results. From one of these short-lived mines, some $7,000 of gold were taken out in a few months, but the vein soon dwindled to inadequate proportions. In the Dead Eiver dis- trict and even within the city of Marquette, aurifer- ous deposits were uncovered near the surface, but for vears interest in gold mining in Michio;an has remained dormant. Persons of a speculative turn of mind may some- times wonder what the industrial development of Michigan Avould be like if, with its enormous wealth of luetallic minerals, an adequate supply of coal ex- isted within the State. Southwest from Saginaw Bay an extensive area productive of coal reaches as far as Jackscn and Calhoun counties, but the vein is normally thin, and, except in the territory close to Saginaw Bay, has been of no great economic im- portance. As far back as the territorial period, out- crops of coal were observed and very early its re- moval was undertaken. Thus it was mined near ^Ihid., 1S!)!», p. 291). 100 RURAL MICHIGAN the Shiawassee Eiver at Corunna and near the Grand Kiver at Grand Ledge. For years mines were worked close to Jackson, and for a quarter of a century ex- cellent coal has been secured at St. Charles in Sagi- naw County and close to Bay City. Even as far north as Arenac County a very thin formation was uncovered, while detached masses occasionally ap- peared in the morainie accunmlations beyond the region of the coal formations proper. Yet all told the State's production is small compared with its requirements, according to the United States Geo- logical Survey, amounting to one-tenth or one-thir- teenth of the consumptive demand in normal years. The coal measures lie close to the surface, so close, indeed, that occasionally mining operations have been hindered by the insufficiency or absence of the covering rock, permitting the encompassing drift and surface waters to cumber the openings driven into the coal measure. Unfortunately, the Upper Peninsula, the seat of an enormous wealth of metallic minerals, seems wholly lacking in coal of any sort. Even if the coal of the Lower Peninsula were ade- quate for State needs, it is non-coking in quality. However, the admirable waterway system encom- passing Michigan on almost every quarter affords a ready avenue for the importation of coal from neigh- boring states. If Michigan lacks coal, it is superabundantly sup- plied with peat. Occasionally one hears of attempts being made to perfect processes for its economical utilization as fuel, but, so far as is known, little sue- OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 101 cess has as yet been attained. The cost of dehydrat- ing the substance is the chief impediment. Near Chassell on the Keweenaw Peninsula, the National Humus and Chemical Company has exploited local peat deposits in the manufacture of fertilizer and stable litter. Its great absorbing qualities favor its use in the stable, and, when artificially nitrogenized, in addition to its original nitrogenous content, recommend it strongly for fertilizing purposes, inde- pendently of, or following, its use in the stable. This industry, however, is as yet too near its incipiency to write positively of its success. It appears to con- tain very attractive possibilities. In the district between the copper country and Marquette close to the western extremity of the Huron Mountains and the head of Huron Bay, is an extensive formation of slate, on which quarrying operations were carried on for fifteen or twenty years in the seventies and eighties of the last century. A narrow gage tramway was constructed to convey the product from the quarries to the dock five miles distant. Several companies were early organized to work the formation and high hopes were entertained of financial success. Undoubtedly the slate is of excellent quality, except one feature which is held responsible for the failure of the enterprise: it was considerably shattered in its natural state and its removal involved much wastage. Expert opinion lias recently held that an improved method of quarrying would have obtained better results, but it has also been pointed out that very much slate is available 102 h'l h'AL MICllldAX in more accessible parts of the United States and that market conditions irrespective of availability are frequently difficult to meet. The formation ex- tends westward to the head of Keweenaw Bay and even beyond it, and hopes are still entertained tliat, with more scientific handling of the waste product, commercial development may again be secured. Un- doubtedly the slate formations lie close to water transportation on Lake Superior and, with other con- ditions equally favoral)le. the industry may revive. The site is one of great natural charm, and has at- tracted the tourist and hunter since the quarries were closed some thirty years ago. Although dis- tant from the railroad, agriculture has attained con- siderable development in the vicinity, and lumbering is active. The old workings are now in a decayed condition, the pits water-filled and the buildings aged and weather-Avorn. The glacial drift of both peninsulas abounds in bowlders suitable for building purposes, and in some places the surface of the land was thickly strewn with them, ocasionally of great size. Before the use of concrete became common early in the present century, foundations, walls and even pavements were composed of this rough bowlder material. There existed also in both peninsulas outcrops of bed-rock, chiefly sandstone and limestone, likewise available through quarrying for construction purposes. In the Lower Peninsula such formations and quarries were operated in Ionia, Kent, Eaton, Calhoun, Hills- dale, Jackson, Shiawassee, Iosco, Huron, Barry and OTHER. RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 103 Saginaw counties, but these enterprises have now been discontinued, so far as information now at hand indicates. The sandstone of these formations was likely to take on a yellowish hue because of the oxidation of the iron carbonate in the cementing material. The most important formations of work- able sandstones were found in the northern peninsula adjacent to Lake Superior at Marquette and on both shores of Keweenaw Bay. During the last quarter of the last century, a number of quarries were opened in both areas and continued to produce large quanti- ties of excellent building stone until the local supply was exhausted or market conditions became unfav- orable. The Marquette quarries, just south of the city, yielded a brown sandstone that was very much sought, the raindrop variety having a particularly pleasing appearance. A hard attractive brown sand- stone also was derived on the western shore-line of Keweenaw Bay between L'Anse and Pequaming, while on the opposite side of this waterway the fa- mous Portage Entry redstone was taken out for many years in very large quantities. Indeed this formation was quarried until very recently, when the cost of removing the over-burden, then become of considerable deptli, and also apparently a change in taste among the users of building stone, made quarry- ing unprofitable. From these sandstones of Lake Superior many well-known structures in many cities of both the United States and Canada were erected, the stone being transported great distances both l)y rail and water. Its proximity to tlie shore of the 104 RURAL MICHIGAN lake facilitated shipment, where gravity could be relied on to bring the rough stone from the pits to the finishing mills beside the docks. The stone, -when first extracted from its matrix, was readily workable into any desired design by machine tools, and then, when exposed to the air, dried and hardened into a condition of great duration both as against fire and weather. The many abandoned open pits along the south shore of Lake Superior testify to the very active demand once entertained for this building-material, a demand now transferred to the less sightly but more adaptable and cheaper concrete construction. At present (December, 1931), there remains only one active sandstone quarry operating in Michigan, near Grindstone City, Huron County. From 1860 to 1916 Michigan produced 236,724,878 barrels of salt, valued at $98,815,061.^ The output of salt in 1919 was 2,492,378 short tons. Salt was one of the first mineral resources of Michigan to whi-ch attention was given by the State Geological Survey. Douglass Houghton, the first State Geo- logist, was convinced of the presence of salt in the Saginaw valley and he persuaded the legislature to make provision for exploratory work under State direction. Investigations were conducted both in the valleys of the Grand and the Saginaw rivers, but early results were not encouraging and State efl'orts were discontinued. Some years later private agencies resumed these investigations and by 1860 the definite success of salt production in Michigan was estab- ^ "Mineral Resources of Michigan," Lansing, 1916, p. 159. OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 105 lished. There remained the problem of eliminating impurities from the product — particularly bromine, iron and gypsum, — and in 18G9, the State inspector- ship of salt was created to promote greater purity in the saline output. Seven years later, an associa- tion of salt producers was organized to control the marketing of the product, and by 1880 Michigan was producing nearly half the salt of the country. Since that time the State has continued to hold first place in most of the years to the present time, occasionally yielding the primacy to ISTew York. Although there is some evidence of salt in the rocks of the Upper Peninsula, the State's production has during this period been confined to the southern peninsula. By 1890 salt was being produced in the counties of Saginaw, Bay, Huron, St. Clair, Iosco, Midland, Manistee, Mason and Gratiot. More recently Wayne has taken first place, that county's production in 1916 amounting to 9,000,000 out of 16,000,000 bar- rels produced in the State. This shows the shifting of the major output from the Manistee-Ludington area in the northwestern Lower Peninsula, which in turn had taken the supremacy from the Saginaw district. Indeed, the whole region fronting the St. Clair and Detroit rivers overlying a deep layer of rock salt, is now the most important salt territory of Michigan, although important regions of rock salt are likewise found underlying Manistee and Mason counties in the northwest, and Alpena and Presque Isle counties of the northeast. The Saginaw salt has been obtained from a liriuo found at a depth of 106 RURAL MICHIGAN 600 to 1,000 feet or more, while the Manistee salt is derived from a brine artificially produced through the injection of fresh water from the surface of the ground into the salt formation, in penetrating which it dissolves a quantity of salt which the return flow of water to the surface conveys thither, where it is concentrated and purified. Formerly the evapora- tion of the water from the brine was cheaply per- formed by the use of waste fuel and waste steam from the saw-mills of the locality, so that the timber supply has adversely affected the salt industry of Michigan. Yet recent statistics of salt production show that the industry is on a much larger scale now than ever before. For the past forty years the State has produced more than one-fourth of the national supply of this most necessary article. In addition, by-products, such as bromine, calcium chloride, bleaching and caustic soda, have been de- rived from the salt industry. During the war the production of bromine, especially at Midland, as- sumed great importance. The reserves of salt remain very large, in some places the deposits having a thickness of 500 to 800 feet, at moderate depths. Definite information concerning exact distribution and available quantity of salt in the State is wanting. However, it seems evident that the ancient oceanic beds in which this product is obtained are sufficient for all future requirements. In the early period of the gypsum industry, the product was largely utilized as "land-plaster," but with the increasing use of artificial fertilizers, this OTHER. REf^OURCE!^ OF MICHIGAN 107 has lessened in importance, so that at present g}'psvim goes more largely into the manufacture of gypsum plasters employed in the building-trades, plaster- board, fire-proofing and calcimines.^ In 1916, mixed wall-plaster constituted the most important of these gypsum products, its value being then G2.7 per cent of the total of raw and calcined products of the State. Stucco had 26.2 per cent of the total value of gypsum products in that year. In 1916 five mines, two quarries and eight mills were reported by the State Geologist in operation. Kent County is the main location of the industry, since the gypsum formations here are extensive and accessible. Still other gypsum beds exist in Iosco, Arenac, Ionia, Tuscola, and Eaton counties in the southern penin- sula, and near St. Ignace, Mackinac County and on St. Martin's and adjacent islands of the northern peninsula. The g}-psum beds of the State have been officially described as inexhaustible. The production for 1916 was 457,375 tons, and in 1919, 339,125 tons. This is the maximum yearly output. The total production of the United States for that year was 2,750,000 short tons. New York was then the largest producer of gypsum, Iowa second, and Michigan third.=^ At a number of localities in Michigan are situated mineral springs of considerable therapeutic reputa- tion. In 1911 twenty-two mineral springs were re- ^ "Mineral Resources," Midi.. 1916, 161. *U. S. Geol. Survey: "Mineral Resources," 1916, Pt. 11., 255. 108 RURAL MICIIKIAN corded by the United States Geological Survey, as yielding 931,343 gallons of mineral water. In 1919 the number reported was ten springs yielding 1,570,- 906 gallons. These springs were located at Saginaw, Grand Eapids, Mt. Clemens, Maltby, Ogemaw County and Xorthville, Wayne County. The total value of these waters in 1919 was put at $132,312, at an average price of eight cents a gallon.^ The Michigan Geological Survey notes a progressive de- crease in the output of these waters since the high point of more than 8,000,000 gallons in 1902. As they are chiefly potable rather than medicinal, local conditions related to the water supply have their in- fluence on the demand for these mineral waters.- Some nine miles from L'Anse in Baraga County is a deposit of graphite which has been worked in- termittently for some years. This graphite is of too low a grade for lubricating purposes, but it has been used in the manufacture of paint. In the vicinity of the old Eopes Gold Mine near Ishpeming is a deposit of low-grade asbestos, as yet unworked. If Michigan is poor in its coal resources, it is even more inadequately provided with oil and gas, so far as existing knowledge goes. There are a number of wells within the city limits of Port Huron, ap- parently an extension of the Ontario field. The oil from one group of these wells is consumed in the manufacture of lubricants, for which it is said to be *U. S.Geol. Survey: "Mineral Waters in 1918," 515. ^Mich. Geol. Survey: "Production and Value of Mineral Products in Michigan," Lansing, 1917, 184. OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN lUl) especially well adapted.^ Small quantities of oil have been discovered in borings in the neighboring territory, but not of economic importance. In the Saginaw Valley, test borings have been made at sev- eral points and some oil obtained thereby, but, while the geological formation is regarded as favorable, a commercial yield of oil has been obtained at widely separated points in Michigan but with meager re- sults. Lenawee County in the southern portion of the Lower Peninsula, and Schoolcraft County in the southern part of the LTpper Peninsula have had oil booms as recently as 1920, but little has been achieved in either territory. In both peninsulas are large formations of oil-bearing shales which may eventually be drawn on for petroleum. Small outputs of oil have been recovered at Allegan, Kalamazoo, Kill- master, Ludington, at East Lake, Stronach, Mt. Pleasant and Osseo. The aggregate product has been quite negligible. Eaw material, as marl, limestone, clay and shale, for the manufacture of cement abounds in Michigan. The largest deposits of nearly pure calcium carbonate are in the northern portion of the southern peninsula, and in the eastern part of the northern peninsula, and hence at points more remote from markets and the sources of fuel. According to the Michigan Geo- logical Survey, more than one hundred marl deposits each above fifty acres in extent and with an average depth of at least ten feet have been discovered in ^Mich. Geol. Survey: "The Occurrence of Oil and Gas in Michigan," Lansing, 1912, 56. 110 in li'AL MICUJOAN the southern peninsula of Michigan. The Survey regards this as probably less than one-fourth of the total number in this peninsula. Some deposits are 1,000 acres in extent and have an average depth of twenty or more feet. The Upper Peninsula also has marl deposits. IMarl is found in twenty-two counties of the State. The total area is estimated at 27,000 acres. Some of these marl deposits are unfavorably situated for development, but many others are ad- vantageously located and are at present being ex- ploited in the manufacture of cement. Shale is distributed very widely throughout the State, often in close association with other raw materials required in cement making. Cement manufacture began in Michigan in the early seventies at Kalamazoo, where marl and clay were employed in a vertical kiln. While this enterprise was a financial failure, other plants sprang up and the industry developed very rapidly after l(Si)5. The later stage of the industry involves the use of rotary kilns and powdered coal as fuel. Since 1S!)(!, thirty-five cement plants are said to have been built or projected in Michigan, of which eleven were still in operation in 1917. Of these eleven, six were using marl and clay, and five limestone and shale. Cement plants have been lo- cated at Alpena, Fenton, Bellaire, Bellevue, Bronson, Coldwater, Kalamazoo, Elk Rapid.s, Farwell, White Pigeon, Charlevoix, Marlborough, Bay City, Lupton, Chelsea, Cement City, Spring Arbor, Lakeland, Athens, Three Rivers, Gray Village, Wyandotte, Xewago, Mocherville, Union City, Petoskey, Man- OTHER REf^OURCES OF MICHIGAN 111 Chester, Lima, Qiiiney, Grass Lake, and Brighton. This distributed the industry widely over the entire Lower Peninsula of Michigan, thus utilizing the widely extended marl and limestone deposits and distributing the output widely among the consumers. That output in 1918, according to the United States Geological Survey, was 3,554,872 barrels, a decrease from the 1917 production of 4,088,899 barrels.^ It is economically desirable that cement factories should be erected in the Upper Peninsula to supply the local requirements. There is al)undant raw material available, and wliile the local market is not as ex- tensive as in the southern portion of the State, it exists and might well be supplied from a plant within the district. Limestone is distributed widely over the State, but that of commercial importance is found chiefly in the northern portion of the Lower Peninsula and in the eastern part of the Upper Peninsula. De- posits here lie close to transportation routes by rail or water, and in recent years have been largely ex- ploited. These limestone formations contain de- posits of a high calcium carbonate content, which have been utilized as fluxes in blast furnaces at Sault Ste. Marie, Marquette and Duluth, at the carl)ide works at Sault Ste. Marie, and at the copper smelters in the copper country. The purity some- times attains 98 per <^'ent of calcium carbonate. The dolomites which are also found here and elsewhere in the State, while utilizal)le as linings for open '"Ccmont in IHIS'': V. S. Geol. Survey, p. 572. 112 RURAL MICHIGAN hearth furnaces and in the manufacture of paper by the sulfite process, are mainly employed as road material and railway ballast, while building stone is thus derived in Monroe County. Still other quarries of limestone are in Eaton, Wayne and Huron coun- ties, which are valued because situated in areas where outcrops of rock are seldom encountered suitable for quarrying. Eecently there has been a tendency to employ the high calcium limestones in the North as a soil corrective, for which they are well adapted. Near Ishpeming is a formation of marble, designated the "verde antique," which yields a greenish marble barred with white bands of dolomite, which when polished is extremely beautiful. This marble area is now being commercially exploited. In the south- ern peninsula limestone is employed in the manu- facture of concrete, as noted in another paragraph. The value of limestone produced in Michigan in 1917 is stated by the State Geological Survey to have been $3,320,895.^ In 1918 the United States Geo- logical Survey ranked Michigan sixth in the pro- duction of limestone.- The product in that year was 134,813 tons, valued at $8.80 a ton. The Geo- logical Survey notes that the demand for building lime had declined almost to the vanishing point.^ In 1917 Michigan produced 236,612,000 common bricks, which represents a decrease from the output ^See Kept, on Mich. Limestones in "Production and Value of Mineral Products in Michigan," Lansing, 1915, 111. 2 "Lime in 1918": U. S. Geol. Survey, p. 817. Ubid., 822. OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 113 for several years preceding. Drain tile were also manufactured of a value of $734,012. The figures for 1916 show also 5,539,000 vitrified bricks pro- duced, valued at $80,915. In addition there were small amounts of fire-proofing and hollow building tile or blocks.^ There has been a steady increase in the production of pottery, which, in 1917, amounted to $1,187,981, attributed to the increased output of porcelain and decorated ware, and porcelain sanitary and electrical supplies. The manufacture of flower-pots is an important element in this total, and other items include clay pipes, crucibles, spark- plugs and insulators. ]\Iichigan clays are employed in the manufacture of flower-pots, but imported clays for porcelain pipes and other white ware, since Michigan lacks kaolin for this purpose.^ The brick- making and related industries are confined very largely to the southern half of the Lower Peninsula where suitable raw material is available. "Wayne County, where lake clay is abundant, is a particularly important center for the manufacture of common bricks. The Michigan Geological Survey has stated that most of the surface clays in IMichigan are of low grade, and, due to their sandy or calcareous nature, most of these chiys are adapted for making only common brick and tile or low grade pottery.^ Ex- posures of clay or shale beds suitable for the manu- * "Production and Value of Mineral Products in Mich- ifran," 1917, 153-154. Ubid., 155. Ubid., 151. 114 RURAL MICHIGAN facture of vitrified, fire and front brick, vitrified tile and fire-proofing are likewise stated not to be abundant. At Grand Ledge, Jackson, Corunna, Bay City and Flushing, shales of the coal-measures have been utilized for making vitrified and front brick, vitrified tile, sewer pipe, conduits and fire-proofing. Slip clays suitable for glazing pottery are found in Ontonagon County.^ GAME AND FISH The forest and prairies, lakes and streams of Michi- gan were the natural habitat of multitudes of animals of many sorts, some of them serviceable to man and some noxious and even dangerous. This animal life varied from period to period with the migration of the species and the destruction wrought by enemies hu- man and otherwise. The figure of the huntsman depicted on the shield embodied in the State's coat- of-arms, with the attending moose and elk support- ing this same shield, were symbolical of the part played by this wild life in the pioneer era of Mich- igan history. Charles S. Wheeler has enumerated some fifty species of animals found in early Michigan, including the bison, caribou, elk, moose, common deer, panther, lynx, wildcat, gray wolf, fisher, sable or pine marten, red fox, gray fox, ermine or white weasel, mink, badger, skunk, otter, wolverine, black bear, raccoon, four bats, two moles, two shrews, flying squirrel, black and gray squirrel, fox squirrel, two ^ "Production and Value of Mineral Products in Michi- gan," 1916, 178. OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 115 chipmunks, striped gopher, woodchuck, beaver, iive kinds of mice, muskrat, common rabbit, wliite hare, porcupine and opossum. He states further that "three hundred and thirty-six kinds of birds have been reported as residents or migrants. Dr. Miles re- ports 43 reptiles, including turtles, snakes, frogs, toads and lizards; also IGl land and fresh-water mol- lusks." ^ George W. Sears, traversing the Michigan wilderness some eighty years ago, from Saginaw to the Muskegon Eiver, encountered droves of wild tur- keys amid heavy timber almost hourly. Deer were everywhere "on all sorts of ground and among all varieties of timber. Very tame they were too, often stopping to look at the stranger, offering easy shots at short range and finally going off quite leisurely." W. J. Beal has left us an account of the game animals of his Lenawee County home, where "black bear occa- sionally devoured pigs as they were allowed to run among oaks and beeches to fatten on the nuts known as shack or mast," where "wolves were thick enough, often making night hideous by their howling which resembled the howling of a lonesome dog," and where "occasionally the screams of a wildcat terrified some belated footman. Foxes were numerous and cun- ning. Deer, badgers, porcupines, minks and musk- rats were plentiful. Deer ate the young wheat of the fields. Wild turkeys were often seen in flocks and sometimes wintered on corn left in the shock in the field. Partridges and quail were abundant, wild pigeons so numerous that at times of wheat seeding ^"Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections" XXXII, 359. IIG RURAL MICHIGAN the farmer had to watch his fields to save the seeding. Coon, mink, otter and nuiskrats were hunted and trapped for their fur. Opossums, turkey buzzards and eagles were occasionally seen, but no crows had arrived." Fox squirrels, he tells us, came later from the South to join their many relations already domiciled in the State. In the northern peninsula there is considerable temporary testimony to the in- adequate game supply in the pioneer period, so that the Indian population, as David Thompson relates, was sparse through the poverty of the means of sub- sistence and, according to the Elder Henry, was on occasion forced to cannibalize to save a remnant of the family or tribe. From all this array of animal life, the first settlers of Michigan derived an income from the catch and sale of furs, and the trade remains surprisingly large after all these years of destructive forays by their human foes on the denizens of the woods. Miss Johnson quotes from the trader, Burnett's ledger of 1796-1797, as follows: "Sold 99 packs composed of 5 bears, 5 pound beaver, 10 fishers, 58 cats, 74 doe, 78 foxes, 108 wolves, 117 otters, 183 minks, 557 bucks, 1,231 deer, 1,340 muskrats, and 5,587 rac- coons."^ C. A. Weissert of Barry County notes among the furs dealt in, the marten, beaver, mink, muskrat, otter, raccoon and fisher.- At points of vantage throughout the two peninsulas arose the posts ^ Johnson: ":\richigan Fur Trade," Lansing, Mich. Hist. Commission. 1919, 97. ■' "Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections," XXXVIII, 659. OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 117 of the fur trade : On the tributaries of the Saginaw and the Grand, on the St. Joseph and the Kalamazoo, and by the Lake Superior shore, while Mackinac and the "Soo" were famous outfitting points and places of concentration for the enormous traffic in peltries throughout Michigan and the great Northwest. Some interior points Avere designated by names of house- hold familiarity among the pioneers of Michigan. It was thus with Knagg's place and Williams' ex- change in the Shiawassee Valley and Campau's post on the Saginaw. Hither the trapper brought his catch of beaver, so much an article of barter in the fur country that it served as currency in lieu of coin. The slaughter began with the Indians and the French and has never ceased even to this hour. It brought extermination to the buffalo, the elk, the moose, the caribou, the panther and the wolverine, as also to the passenger pigeon and the wild turkey.^ The State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Commissioner refers to estimates by dealers in the 1920 fur trade, which put the catch of furs in that year as selling from three to six million dollars; and the Commissioner estimates the normal annual output in Michigan as worth two million dollars. - Beaver and other furs are still secured, but re- course has recently been had to the creation of an artificial supply through the propagation of highly valuable species of foxes. In 1920 the Bureau of ^"Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections," XXXIII, 358. * Kept. Midi. State Came, Fish and Forest Fire Dept. of the Public Domain Commission, 1919-1920, 8. 118 RURAL MICHIGAN Biological Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture estimated, on the basis of incomplete information, the investment in the silver fox ranches in Michigan at $522,785, and that these ranches were stocked with some 661 animals. This is re- garded as an under-estimate. Muskegon on the Lake Michigan side of the southern peninsula has become one of the most important centers of fox farming in the United States, while a beginning in this industry was made, in 1920, at Houghton and ]\Iarquette. Fox farming in Michigan has become a well-established industry. The preservation of fur-bearing animals is in- volved in the movement for greater forest protection, since the forest and cut-over lands provide for wild life of many kinds. It is recognized to some extent that the destruction of the forest and bush areas by fire means the removal of game and a valuable trafTic arising therefrom. Skins of bear and beaver, mink, otter and other small fur-bearers, usually are marketable at a good price. A list of fur quotations from January, 1920, places the price of a lynx skin at $12 to $20, wildcat from $3 to $5, wolf at $15 to $25, to which was added (until 1921) a bounty of $35 for his destruction as a noxious animal. Mink skins were quoted at $12 to $16, skunk at $1.50 to $8, weasel from $0.50 to $2, and muskrats, a leader in the market, at $3 to $4. Bear pelts, and bears are not uncommon in the north Michigan woods, were salable at $20 to $40, marten at $25 to $35, and raccoon at $5 to $9. Ordinary foxes went at $15 OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 119 to $25. Badger was quoted at $1.50 to $2. Beavers, once the king of the trade, were valued at $15 to $35 each, and the fisher and otter were given as high a rating.^ The high price of furs of the late post-war period had the effect of greatly stimulating the destruction of fur-bearing^animals, until even muskrats became exterminated in some localities where they had once flourished." The destruction of the forest cover through commercial operations and fires likewise has diminished the game supply of the State in the opinion of the Commissioner and of sportsmen. In the open November season (now limited to ten days) there continues to be a very large annual destruction of deer in the northern counties, esti- mated by the Commissioner in 1920 at 28,000 head. Below the Straits of Mackinac the depletion in the number of deer was so great by 1920 that the State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Commissioner thought it advisable to take measures for their augmentation. The major portion of the kill of deer now pertains to tlie Upper Peninsula, where, in spite of a shortened season for hunting, 1920 witnessed the largest ship- ment in the five years preceding, the number passing the Straits being 5,079 head. In 1918 two herds of nineteen individuals of elk were released from refuges to covert in Alpena and Presque Isle coun- ties of the southern peninsula. Two years later it '"The arand Rnpids Herald, Jan. 11. 1920. 4. *"Rept. State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Commissioner," 1919-1920, 8, 9, 120 * RURAL MICHIGAN was estimated that the original numher had increased 100 per cent.^ In 1923 sixty Norway reindeer were introduced into northern Michigan. There is said also to be a large increase in the number of migratory wild ducks and geese and other fowl as a consequence of the treaty for their pro- tection contracted with Canada and reinforced by legislation. Of particular importance to Michigan agriculture is the undoubted increase in the numbers of many varieties of insectivorous birds in the State, the consequence of protective legislation and educa- tion of the people, whose appetite for noxious in- sects and weed-seeds ought to be a highly appreciated contribution to the State's agricultural welfare. On the other hand, the predatory fox is also reported to be growing in numbers, in spite of the bounty paid for its destruction; while the undoubted increase in the number of wolves and coyotes, especially in the northern peninsula, has caused much concern to the sheepmen of the district. Squirrels, too, are said to be increasing, especially in some parts of the State, and make some trouble to the farmers' gran- aries. Isle Eoyale, close to the extreme northern boundary in Lake Superior, is remarkably well stocked with moose — an animal seen only on rare occasions on the mainland. The deputy of the State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Conmiissioner, stationed on the island, reported (1920) upwards of one thou- ' "Rcpt. State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Commissioner," li)l!)-1920, p. 15. c _bJO c 1-i i) CO a; 03 OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 121 sand moose there, an estimate regarded as moderate by the Commissioner. In 1916 the Public Domain Commission established a game farm four miles southeast of j\Iason, Ing- ham County, whose principal service has been the propagation of ring-necked pheasants, for the pur- pose of stocking the wild lands of the State. In 1920, 58,468 eggs were produced on this farm, of which 38,463 were sent to individual applicants for hatching, and 4,461 adult birds reared on the farm were distributed in general field covert, principally in the southern counties of the Lower Peninsula. The State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Commissioner, who was responsible for this undertaking, reports general success in securing pheasant colonies even in northern counties where results were not anticipated. It was believed that this bird would well replace the ruffed grouse whose depletion, it was hoped, would be offset by this imported variety.^ In 1919, the propagation of wild turkeys was also begun at the State game farm and a few birds were released in 1921. The bird was formerly very abundant, if the accounts of pioneers are to be credited, but has been completely exterminated in a wild state." ' "Rept. State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Commissioner," 1919-1920, 12. ^ How "Xature, dospite man's grasping ways, provides more altundaiilly Hum ever food and shelter for the birds and animals," is deseribed by George Shiras, 3d, in The National (leographic Marjazine for August, 1921, page 202fT. Shiras is very familiar with wild life and the conditions 122 RURAL MICHIGAN "Oar lakes were well stocked with excellent fish," writes L. D. Watkins of Manchester, "bass, pike, pickerel, perch, sunfish and blue-gills were the most common and were easily taken." ^ Harvey Tower, writing of the Oceana County of seventy years ago, informs that from ten to fifty barrels "to a haul" of whitefish were not unusual; while the Indians of the Sault Ste. Marie caught them with their hands amid the rocks and rapids. Bela Hubbard enjoyed the rare sport of landing with his hands, after a vigorous tussle, one of a school of sturgeon discovered gamboling in the waves breaking amid the bowlders near the "shore. "I do not wish you to lose faith in my veracity," Mrs. A. M. Hayes of Hastings assures her readers, "but I have seen squaws spear sturgeon near-by on the river that would weigh all the way from sixty to one hundred pounds." ^ under which it lives in the Lake Superior country. His thesis is that the primeval forest yielded less sustenance and poorer cover for l>irds and animals than is now afforded by the vegetation that has replaced this original forest cover, with a resulting increase in animal life in this region. There is historical evidence of the truth of this opinion. David Thompson, the fur-trader, who was fa- miliar with the Lake Superior shore more than a century ago, refers to tlie paucity of gaiue here. Forced canni- balism among the Indians was not unknown. Similarly, it has been pointed out that the northern Michigan cut-over area affords excellent conditions for bee-keeping, since the vegetation it now carries comprises many plants that yield nectar. The State Inspectoi^^of Apiaries in 1021 adverted to the presence of alsike and white clover, wild red rasp- berry, blackberry, fire-weed, basswood, boneset, aster, etc.. on tlie uplands of this resion as favorable to bees. ' "Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections." v. XXII, p. 265. 'Ibid., VIII, 225; v. Ill, p. 199; v. XXVI, p. 240, OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 123 Michigan is estimated to have 16,000 miles of rivers and small streams and it has innumerable inland lakes — the home of many varieties of edible fish, such as pike and pickerel, perch, bullheads, bass and trout, the aggregate output of which se- cured by commercial fishermen and sportsmen, while not statistically ascertained, is undoubtedly very large. The Great Lakes encompassing the State yield the great supply of marketable fish, amounting in 1917 to 29,737,335 pounds. In that year 3,183 per- sons were engaged in this occupation in the State, and the total product was valued at $1,668,529.^ Of the Great Lakes in the IMichigan area. Lake Huron contributed the largest fraction of the total supply — 13,363,207 pounds. Lake Michigan was second in rank, with some two million pounds less product than Lake Huron ; while Lake Superior, with an output of 2,891,131 pounds, was a very poor third in rank. It seems to be a fact, not generally under- stood, that the growth of fish in Lake Superior is much less rapid than in the lakes of a more southerly latitude. This is attributable to the lower tempera- ture prevailing in this greatest fresh-water sea and to the diminished supply of vegetable matter con- sumed by fish as food. John Lowe of the Northern State Normal School, Marquette, has estimated that during the first year of life, a fish in Lake Superior increases some three ounces in weight, while in Lake Michigan the growth is about thrice as rapid. ^"Fisliery Industries of the U. S. Bur. Fisheries," 1919, 123, 124. 124 RURAL MICHIGAN It has become evident that the fidi supply of the Great Lakes is diniinishing, and the great im- portance of the industry has promoted the estab- lishment of hatcheries both by the State and the United States for the propagation of fish for planting in the inland waters and in the Great Lakes. Hatch- eries owned or operated by the State under the direc- tion of the Michigan Fish (now Conservation) Com- mission were located (December, 1920), at Paris, Mecosta Connty ; Comstock Park, Kent County ; Hen- rietta, Wexford County; Drayton Plains, Oakland County; Detroit; Sault Ste. Marie; Grayling, Craw- ford County ; and Bay Port, Huron County ; while other hatcheries were under construction at Manis- tique, Schoolcraft County in the Upper Peninsula; Oden, Emmet County; Hastings, Barry County; Benton Harbor, Berrien County; and Harrisville, Alcona County. From these fish hatcheries during the year 1920, the number of fish distributed through- out the State aggregated 128,225,300, including fry, fingerlings and yearlings. These included 12,132,- 000 l)rook trout (fry and advanced fry) ; 0,458,500 rainbow trout; 9,018,000 wall-eyed pike; 53,870,000 perch (fry) ; 18,000,000 whitefish (fry) ; and 891,- 000 lake trout (fry). During the past twenty years, according to the superintendent and secretary of the Michigan Fish Commission, most of the work of fish propagation in the Great Lakes has been main- tained by the United States Bureau of Fisheries, which operates hatcheries in Michigan at North- ville, Alpena, and Charlevoix. The list of species OTHER RESOURCES OF MICHIGAN 125 of fish planted by the Michigan Fish Commission in the year 1920 also includes brown trout, large- mouthed and small-mouthed black bass, bluegills, bullheads, landlocked salmon, and rocky mountain whitefish, whose numbers are in most instances less than one million. WATER SUPPLY At favored spots along the waterways of Michigan, the early settlers erected their water-wheels and mills, where the farmer ground his grain and re- duced his logs to lumber. Such points were the rapids of the Grand at Grand Rapids, the big rapids of the Shiawassee at Owosso, the big rapids of the Muskegon at Big Eapids and at almost countless other locations throughout the State. Many grist- mills still use this economical source of power, though steam has replaced water as the motive force for the lumber industry. Today, it is hydro-electric power that gives the water-courses of Michigan their chief economic importance. The development under this head gives Michigan a leading place in the United States. The potential water power of the State has been estimated at 332,000 horse power, of which the total actual developed power was put at 213,000 horse power.^ The Geological Survey of Michigan has investigated the available water power of the Upper Peninsula. - ' Statement of tlic National Bank of Commerce in New York, March 10, 1920. ='See 1910 Report. 12G RURAL MICHIGAN Of the various hydro-electric power companies op- erating in Michigan, the Escanaba Traction Com- pany, which has a series of stations on the Escanaba Eiver in the Upper Peninsula, is credited by the Michigan Public Utilities Commission with the great- est kilowatt capacity (Dec. 31, 1918), namely, 100,- 800 ; while the Consumers Power Company's twenty- one stations on the ]\Ianistee, Muskegon, Grand, Lookingglass, Shiawassee, Au Sable, and Kalamazoo rivers, with 75,900 kilowatt capacity, was the largest actual producer of current in 1918, the output ap- proximating 228,000,000 kilowatt hours.^ Other large producers of power are the Cleveland Clilfs Iron Company (26,000,000 K. W. H.) operating on the iron range near Marquette; the Indiana and Michigan Electric Company (54,000,000 K. W. H.) on the St. Joseph River; and the Detroit Edison Company managing five plants on the Huron River. A considerable number of concerns are operating single stations of a few hundred kilowatts potential capacity, and still other plants municipally owned and operated, like those at Marquette and Escanaba. The agricultural significance of this electric power development is chiefly in connection with the inter- urban railroad, which has become a highly prized service in many parts of the State. ^Statement of the Michigan Public Utilities Commia- sion, 1920. CHAPTEE IV THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND The land of Michigan originally belonged to the Indian inhabitants. Territorial sovereignty came to the United States by its treaty with Great Britain in 1783. Actual possession of the southern penin- sula resulted from Jay's Treaty, becoming effective in 1796; while it remained for the Governor Lewis Cass in 1820 to assert American sovereignty north of the Straits of Mackinac. Title to much of the land, however, was first bestowed on the United States through a series of treaties with the Indians. Notable among these treaties is that of Detroit in 1807, ceding a tract in the southeastern area of Michi- gan ; the Saginaw Treaty of 1819, ceding, a large region in the east-central portion tributary mainly to Saginaw Bay; the cession by the Pottawatomies in 1821, of lands in the southwest between the St. Joseph and Grand rivers; while the large territory north of this river, embracing the northwestern and northern parts of the Lower Peninsula and much of the eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula, not already granted, as far west as the Chocolay Eiver near Marquette, was ceded by the Ottawas and Chip- pewas in 1836. The region west of this line was 127 us RURAL MIC 11 1(1 AN granted by the Chippewas to the United States by a treaty contracted at La Pointe, ^Yisconsin, in 1842 and a supplementary treaty in 1854, while the Menoniinees had already yielded their claim to the country east of the lower Menominee Eiver in 183().^ Thus, with the addition of sundry minor grants, did the United States possess itself of much of the soil of Michigan with whatever it might contain. Those who suppose that the Indians were commonly robbed of their lands should read these treaties Avhich are the foundation of all land titles in the State. Previous to the settlement of these lands, it was necessary to survey and subdivide them. Unlike the states of the East and South, Michigan happily was comprehended within the excellent scheme of land survey provided by the old Congress of the Con- federation in 1785, and thus was spared the hap- hazard and costly practice obtaining in the older commonwealths. The Congressional plan, first ap- plied to the famous "Seven Eanges" of Ohio, con- templated the bisecting of the future state east and west by a "base line," the division of the land into equilateral townships of thirty-six sections of one square mile each in area, the designation of the town- ships by their position north or south of the base line and their range east or west of the meridian 'Eoyce: "Indian Land Cessions in tlie United States," (Bur. 'of Amer. Ethnology, 18th Annual Kept.) ; Washing- ton, 1896-97. THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 129 line, and of the sections by successive numbers within the township. Of the surveyed portions of the terri- tory plats, maps and records were to be kept, so that it would be relatively easy to locate authoritatively any tract of land in the surveyed area, and thus in the main avoid costly litigation and conflict of title. Subsequently provision was made for the subdivision of sections into fractional portions; and while the description of tracts of land by "meets and bounds" is occasionally met with in ]\Iicliigan, much of the land is located under the old Congressional plan of 1785; and the Auditor-General of the State has earnestly sought to make the practice universal in order, among other things, that the identity of all lands subject to taxation shall be beyond question.^ In 1920, Auditor-General 0. B. Fuller estimated the total number of descriptions of property on the tax rolls of Michigan at some 1,500,000. Of the 300,000 descriptions of property on which taxes are annually returned as delinquent, he states the number of these that are erroneous to be from 15 to 20 per cent of the total, partly due to error in the caption of the plat, and partly due to indefinite description of the property. He lias knowledge of faulty descriptions only in cases in which property is returned as de- linquent for taxes, but he believes that in the south- ern— and therefore the oldest — counties of the State 40 per cent of all property is described by meets and bounds in spite of the form of description ap- ' Hinsdale: "The Old Northwest," ch. XIV. 130 RURAL MICHIGAN proved by the United States survey, although the tendency is believed to be steadily in this direction.^ The records of the General Land Office at Wash- ington indicate that the survey of lands in Michigan began in 1826. The meridian line was located at longitude 84 degrees, 22 minutes, 24 seconds; and the base line at 42 degrees, 2G minutes, 30 seconds. Their point of intersection on the boundary between Jack- son and Ingham counties became the starting-point for running the lines of the "Congressional'" town- ships into which much of the State has been divided, and which in many, but not all cases, constitute the unit of local government in the rural sections. Next came the location of the section lines, along wliich today in many instances rural highways have been established, sometimes along the "quarter-line" in- stead, thus giving to the countryside of Michigan a checker-board arrangement, in some respects more convenient than esthetically pleasing. On these lines the surveyors set corner-posts and quarter-posts, notched and inscribed to indicate their exact position, while "meandering stakes" marked the course of streams and the shore-line of lakes. Through de- fective surveying, corners of sections and townships did not always "close*' accurately, and the traveler by road still encounters strange "jogs" or deflections from the direct course, caused by the necessity of correcting a defective corner, or of setting a boundary on a new meridian if the nominal requirement of a township six miles square was to be even approxi- iQ. B. Fuller, Auditor-General: Letter of Sept. 20, 1920. THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 131 mately adhered to. At a few places in Michigan, where grants by the French and British governments had been made previous to the American occupation of the land, the system just described was not em- ployed. In connection with the linear survey, notes were taken of the main physical features of the land surface: the timber, soil, moisture, streams, lakes and swamps; and special pains were taken in the Upper Peninsula to ascertain the rock and mineral formations, specimens being sent to Washington with their accompanying field notes, as indicative of the mineral resources of the region. It was while en- gaged on this combined linear and geological survey that Douglass Houghton lost his life in Lake Superior in the autumn of 1845, and it was a party of his surveyors that discovered the presence of iron ore near Negaunee in 1844. In some instances, through carelessness or fraud, grossly inaccurate surveys were perpetrated, necessitating the repetition of the work. The life of a United States surveyor in the pioneer period was hard and laborious and not devoid of unpleasant, even dangerous, features. The deputy surveyor was accompanied by chainmen and axmen to assist him in his work. Life was in the open, exposed to storms and mosquitoes and flies. Camp equipage, provisions and instruments must be packed to the place where they were required. Food must be prepared as best it could. Beds were made od spruce and balsam boughs, with boots perhaps for pillows. There was no "eight hour day." Notes, Fig. 3. Percentage of increase or decrease of total population of Michigan by counties (1910-1920). (For explanation of shading see Fig. 4.) 132 CD Ml f/^yyy^ 5 TO 1 5 Pea cent ^$$^ (6 TO 25 »za cr»»T y^^^ 26 TO 50 i»CB CEfcT 50 PER CENT 4HD OvfH Fig. 4. Percentajro of increase or decrease of rural population of Michigan bj' counties (1910-1920). Rural population is defined as that residing outside incorporated places having 2,500 inhabi- tants or more. 133 134 RURAL MICHIGAN ilie loss of wliich miglit be irreparable, must be carefully recorded and preserved. Sickness and ac- cident must be endured as best they might. Yet these men were the pioneers of civilization in Michi- gan, as they forced their way through the dense forest and across the morasses and water-courses of the inter-morainal depressions, as they labored in the shadow of giant trees and the deep silence of the wilderness, and slept to the howling of the wolf and the hooting of the owl — if they slept at all. They were laying the foundations of rural life in Michi- gan.^ The United States lands having been surveyed, their sale or other disposition by the Government was in order. At various points in the State land offices were opened according to the center of gravity of the business : at Detroit, White Pigeon, Ionia, Sault Ste. Marie, and Marquette, where last all land office business for the State has been centered with the discontinuance of all other offices at less strategic points. The Marquette office still (1919) has 73,000 acres of United States land at its disposition, mainly in the northern section of the State, the largest holdings being in Schoolcraft and Chippewa counties and on Isle Eoyale. In the pioneer period, the journey to the "local'' land office was often long and arduous, yet it was rarely undertaken, for did not two hundred dollars possess a man of a quarter 'An interest injj account of tlie life and work of a U. S. purveyor is found in "Midi. Pioneer and Hist. Soc. Collec- tions," V. XXVII, 306, written by C. S. Woodard of Ann Arbor. THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 135 section of fertile soil — its fertility attested by the vigorous growth of stalwart trees that only time and prodigious labor could remove? In the great specu- lative year of ISSG more than four million acres of these Michigan lands were sold by the Government, computed to be one-fifth of the total United States' sales of that year. The panic of 1837 brought punish- ment to many who had speculated too wildly in Michigan real estate, particularly the purchasers of town sites in platted cities which, it was hoped, were destined to make their buyers rich out of their rapid increment of value. Eventually, however, most of Michigan's 36,000,000 acres passed out of public into private ownership, much of it by sale, 2,551,000 acres by homestead entry, and still other large quan- tities by grants of various sorts; 1,021,000 acres to the State for the benefit of its primary schools; 750,- 000 acres to the State and thence to the corporation which constructed St. Mary's Ship Canal; 500,000 to the State itself for internal improvements (1841) ; nearly 400,000 to the company which built the canals joining Portage Lake with Lake Superior; 100,000 acres for the construction of the ship canal con- necting Lake La Belle on the Keweenaw Peninsula with Lake Superior (1866). Land, also, was forthcoming for the construction of the "military" road from Fort Wilkins on Ke- weenaw I'oint to the Wisconsin-Michigan line by way of Houghton. At a time when it was thought necessary that capital should be interested in rail- wad building through large grants of lands by the 136 RURAL MICHIGAN federal government to the state for that purpose, Michigan Avas not forgotten. From 1856 a series of acts of Congress conferred on the State those lands bestowed on the companies which bnilt the railroad lines now ^forming portions of the Chicago and jSTorthwestern and the Duluth, South Shore and At- hmtic railroads in the Upper Peninsula, and the Grand Eapids and Indiana, the Pere Marquette and the Lansing-Mackinac sections of the Michigan Cen- tral railroads in the Lower Peninsula. The grants were of the riglit of way and of alternate sections on both sides of it, and by 1880 had amounted to luore than 3,000,000 acres. It thus appears that no inconsiderable fraction of the area of Michigan was freely relinquished by the national government, primarily to the State, but eventually to the private concerns interested in ex- ploiting its natural resources. The construction companies receiving these bonus lands from the State have in turn disposed of them wholly or in part. These grants have, therefore, to a considerable extent become incorporated in the common general mass of farm lands. In the southern peninsula, the Grand Eapids and Indiana, and the Pere Marquette rail- roads have thus wholly disposed of their land grants, save such portions as they may have chosen per- manently to retain. In the Upper Peninsula the Chicago and Northwestern Railway still retains nearly 200,000 acres of its land grant; the Detroit, Mackinac and ]\Iarquette Land Company now pos- sesses some 150,000 acres of the lands originally THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 137 granted to the railroad of that name now comprised in the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway system, while the latter retains some 60,000 acres of the old Marquette, Houghton and Ontonogan Eailroad grant. The St. Mary's Mineral Land Com- pany, present holders of the St. Mary's Ship Canal land grant, still is in possession of some 92,000 acres. All these holdings are mainly of timber and mineral lands. In the southern peninsula, the Michigan Central Eailroad still possesses some 11,000 acres of the old grant to the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw section of its present system, which carry a price of $2 to $10 an acre. The grants of land by the United States for edu- cational purposes in Michigan were likewise very extensive. According to the famous Ordinance of 1787, section number 16 of each surveyed township was bestowed on the State in aid of primary educa- tion. In this manner approximately 1,021,000 acres came into the possession of the State.^ These lands were disposed of, first by the Superintendent of Public Instruction and then by the Commissioner of the Land Office after 1843, along with other lands granted to the State for educational purposes. At first the minimum price of school lands was set at $12 an acre, later reduced to $5, then to $4. Accord- ing to Knight, the average sale price of two-thirds 'This is the niiinlu'r of aores rpjjortcd l)y tlio Commis- sioner of the General Land OfRco. Knifjlit in "Mich. Pioneer and Hist. See. Collections," VII, 28, gives the total num- ber of acres patented to the State at 1,067,397. 138 RURAL MICHIGAN of this grant disposed of before the year 1885 was $4.58 an acre. The university lands sold at some- thing over $11 an acre on the average. Of these school lands the State still (July 1920) owns 8,066.15 acres. In addition to the school lands, grants were also made by the United States to the University, the z\gricultural College and the normal schools. Through purchase, also, these became incorporated mainly in the agricultural lands of Michigan. A much larger contribution of acreage resulted from the act of Congress of 1850, which conveyed to Ar- kansas by name and other states by inclusion "wet or swamp lands" within their borders. Out of this legislation Michigan derived by patent from the United States 5,655,689.56 acres, likewise largely dis- posed of for the benefit of the primary schools. The average price of improved farms in Michigan in 1921 is placed at $91 an acre by the statistician of the Cooperative Crop Eeporting Service. This represents an increase of $4 an acre over the pre- ceding year, although the downward tendency of prices of farm products was beginning to manifest itself in land valuations in some localities.^ How- ever, in a state where soil and climatic conditions vary so markedly, with differences in market and transportation conditions, extreme variation in the valuations placed on agricultural lands are to be expected. The appraisers for the Federal Land Bank of St. Paul have found that, in evaluating lands, each farm presents a distinct problem in itself, particularly ^ "]\Iich. Crop Kept.," Lansing, March, 1921, 4. THE OCCUPATIOX OF THE LAND 139 in the less developed sections. One of these ap- praisers found the highest priced land to be in the southeastern counties of Monroe and Lenawee, his valuations running as high as $200 an acre with in- stances of sales at a higher figure. Yet he found some lands in those same counties worth not over $10 an acre. The least valuable farm lands, as might be expected, were in the northern jDortion of the Lower Peninsula (the Upper Peninsula was out of his juris- diction), where the most worthless land was ascribed to Muskegon, Lake, Kalkaska and Eoscommon counties. In this region the valuations were $5 to $15 an acre for uncultivated tillable land, and $30 to $40 an acre for the best grades of cultivated lands. Starting with a base line of $0.00 for some land in every county, his colleague finds his maximum valua- tion for land to be $200 an acre in Oakland, Wayne, Macomb, Genesee, Branch and Gratiot counties, $250 in Saginaw County, $150 in St. Clair, Lapeer, and Midland counties; $100 in Huron and Isabella; $80 in Alcona County, $70 in Alpena, Gladwin and Clare counties; $30 in Roscommon County; $50 in Oscoda County, and $40 in Montmorency County, while the fruit-raising county of Grand Traverse in the same latitude attains values of $100 an acre. The ap- praiser for the LTpper Peninsula finds the most highly developed agricultural counties having, con- sequently, the highest range of land values, to be Menominee, Delta, C^hippewa and Houghton, in which his valuations range as high as $100 an acre, although he concedes that sales occasionally occur 140 RURAL MH'lltaA}^ in excess of that price. Tliis is not essentially in- consistent with the opinion of the Assistant State Leader of County Agents in tlie Upper Peninsula, who reports the highest land vahu'S to be reached in Menominee County at $150 an acre. It is in the Upper Peninsula and the northern half of the Lower Peninsula that approximately 12,000,000 acres of cut-over lands are located, whose price is an object of interest to the seeker after cheap raw lands capable of development by hard labor into productive agricultural holdings. One railroad company gives the minimum price for its cut-over lands at $7 an acre. A land company op- erating in the neighborhood of Chatham and Trenary southeast of Marquette has sold its holdings at an average price of $17.90 an acre. Another company, Avith 10,000 acres at its disposal, has placed a price of $15 to $20 an acre on its holdings. Another con- cern, operating between Keweenaw and Huron bays, has sold eighty "forties" at prices ranging from $10 to $15 an acre. It should be understood, however, that the sales of these lands go with reservations of mineral and frequently many other rights and privileges which impair the title and of themselves reduce the value of the property. ... In a state where land values vary so markedly as in Michigan, an average price for farm land as a whole is not very significant; however, the Fourteenth United States Census found the average acre value of land alone in Michigan to be $50.40. (See Appendix A.) These prices refer to lands from which the forest THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 141 has been removed, "cut-over," which composed nearly one-third of the State's area.^ These are largely un- productive stump tracts, increasing, it is estimated, at the rate of 100,000 acres each year.^ At a time when it is difficult to retain Michigan farmers on improved lands in the most favorably situated sec- tions of the State, these northern cut-overs have not proven very attractive to those in quest of land to till. Of late, however, there has been a consider- able influx of grazers, chiefly from the depleted ranges of the West, to whom free pasturage for a period of years with the final option of purchase at a low price is given. The abundant summer forage, in- sured by seldom failing summer rains, the presence of water and favorable proximity to the Chicago market have interested a considerable number of these grazers; and when the problem of winter feed- ing has been squarely met through the growth of winter forage by the grazers themselves, an increas- ing demand for these stump lands may be looked for. Aside from these deforested regions are consider- able tracts of wet lands, only Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas exceeding Michigan in the possession of such areas. ^ The counties in the Lower Peninsula below latitude 41 degrees are credited with ' Estimate of F. Roth, Professor of Forestry, Univ. of ^licli., "Rpport of the Public Domain Commission," Jan. 9, 1920, p. 5.55. ^Tanette: "Michigan's Millions of Idle Acres," Detroit, 1920. p. .32. * Miller and Simons: "Drainage in Michigan," p. 17. 142 RURAL MICHIGAN 2,1'''5,000 acres of reclaimablo wet lands. Beyond this line to the Straits ol' Mackinac these are esti- mated at 661,000 acres, while the Upper Peninsula is 25 per cent swamp, or 2,598,000 acres, according to the authors of "Drainage in Michigan." Like the cut-over tracts, these wet areas present a problem to those who would extend agriculture to the idle acres of the State. Much wet land has hitherto been reclaimed by local drainage operations, but for much of that which remains. State aid and management would seem required. Thus the great Taquamenon swamp in the eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula, said to cover 500,000 acres, much of it otherwise fertile clay, will require the removal of a rocky ele- vation in the lower course of the Taquamenon River before its drainage can be accomplished ; and this is a task better proportioned to the resources of the State than of a local drainage district. Th-at the State has considerable tracts of land which, as hitherto utilized, cannot yield a livelihood to their possessors and pay the taxes assessed, is indicated by the re- version to the State since 1893 of 2,300,000 acres. Of this amount, 445,798 acres were re-sold, of which there again reverted to the State 190,598 acres.^ The number of acres now (1920) in arrears for taxes is stated to be 3,000,000.- This is one-twelfth of the total area of the State, and is indicative of the effect of poor soil and other adverse conditions on agriculture. However, it is also significant of nu- ' Janette, supra, pp. 14, 16. ''Ihid., p. 12. THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 143 merous wild-cat operations by private agencies and of a defective public policy on the part of the State government itself. No one doubts that there is much excellent agricultural land in Michigan, but this is often segregated in tracts of moderate propor- tions, without any trustworthy indication of its true extent and general desirability for the home-seeker. The State is at present without a comprehensive and detailed classification of its lands, and it remains to be seen whether the soil survey now in progress under the auspices of the Michigan Agricultural College, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and the United States Bureau of Soils is really to be of very much help in determining the relative desira- bility, ultimate productiveness and most economi- cal use of each parcel of land. The legislation of 1917 made provision for a soil classification of this character, but for reasons variously set forth, the work, then assigned to the Geological Survey of Michigan, was not proceeded Avith, and the present survey is under quite diff^erent auspices and lacks the cooperation of all agencies that might naturally be expected to partici])ate. If the various types of land are clearly differentiated and classified, it should have the effect of more chjsely approximating land prices to worth as related to productivity in the eco- nomic sense of the term. With one-third of the area of the State in unpro- ductive cut-over lands, and these in the hands mainly of a few large owners, the problem of their disposi- tion remains unsolved. Marquette County is one of 144 RURAL MICHIGAN the most developed in the cut-over section ; yet with an area of l,li)G,800 acres, it has only 900 farmers and these own only 90,000 acres, 500,000 of wliich are tillable. Many of the large land holders employ agents to promote the sale of their cast-off real estate. These rough lands do not appeal to native American farmers ; and it is, therefore, necessary to interest recent arrivals from Europe, whom necessity and a less fastidious standard of living have prepared for the hardships of this pioneer agriculture. Stumps have to be removed, the virgin sod turned under, fences and buildings erected — a procedure that has been repeated in Michigan during five generations at least, and which must continue for still other genera- tions before the State is beyond the pioneer stage throughout the two peninsulas. The mechanical agencies are now more effective, but the human factor may still be quite without capital and perhaps without the New World experience that fits him fully for his task. The process of creating such a pioneer agri- cultural community may be illustrated by reference to the settlement of "Aura" between Keweenaw and Huron bays, Baraga County. The land was under control of Charles Hebard and Sons, Incorporated, lumbermen of Pequaming. "In the spring of 1914," writes W. J. Colenso, secretary of the Company, "we put our Point Abbaye lands on the market, and by early summer six or seven families had built houses and began cultivating the soil. We sold these lands on contract, requiring twenty per cent of the pur- chase price as the first payment, and the balance in THE OCCUPATIOy OF THE LAND 145 five equal annual payments with interest. To date have sold eighty forties, or 3,200 acres on Point Abbaye. This locality is called Aura, and is located about four miles from this village (Pequaming), and the settlers are all Finns. A large school has been built there by the L'Anse township, and they have a large attendance. These farmers have gotten together and purchased a tractor which will be used in clearing and cultivating the land. This country is rapidly developing into a first-class farming district. We still have about 120 forties of cut-over lands on Point Abbaye to dispose of."' The company did not extend financial assistance to these settlers, so far as is known, wlio are described by J. H. Jasberg, gen- eral colonization agent of the Mineral Eange Rail- road, as quite penniless and able to succeed only by outside work, particularly in the woods in winter. The company built a road into the settlement and sold lumber to the settlers, it is said, at a figure below the market price. This firm is credited with marked liberality in its dealings with employees, and it is likely that the Aura settlers have been afforded rather more favorable consideration than normally elsewhere in the district. It has become manifest to some observers, however, that successful colonization of these cut-over lands requires very liberal terms as regards payments of interest and principal, a carefully elaborated system of financial credits for the purchase of equipment and live-stock, and adequate provision for the installation of improvements and community conveniences and ad- 146 RURAL MlCHIGAJs vantages. Some preliminary work has been done in this direction, but no definite project has as yet (October, 1920) been undertaken. As yet the idea of exploitation rather than that of reconstruction is the common conception, and the State has done very little to promote a different policy. The United States Census of 1910 indicates that the number of farms operated by their owners was 172,310; by managers, 1,961 ; and by tenants, 32,689. This signifies that something less than one-fifth of the operators were tenants. Ten years later, before the publication of the results of the fourteenth cen- sus as related to farm tenure, a study made by the ]\[ichigan State Farm Bureau indicated that tenancy of farms in Michigan had increased 2 per cent in the interval. This survey covered 52,561 farms in thirty counties. In these thirty counties the number of rented farms was 9,637, while farms operated by their owners numbered 42,92-1. The increase in farm tenancy the Bureau attributed to the inade- quacy of long-time rural credits which permitted the purchase of farms without assuming intolerable burden of debt, a disproportionate rise in the price of country real estate as compared with economic value, lack of cooperation "which takes .the extreme elements of chance out of farming," and the greater attractiveness of city life. Of the thirty counties, it was found that tenancy was actually increasing in eighteen, unchanged in six and decreasing in six. The counties surveyed were said to be well distributed throughout the State. The survey elicited the fact THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 147 that tenancy is much more prevalent in the Lower than in the Upper Peninsula. The percentage of rented farms in the two peninsulas is given as 21 and 8 respectively. In 1921, the statistician of the Cooperative Crop Eeporting Service found that approximately 18 per cent of the farms of the State is rented, of which 15 per cent is on shares and 3 for cash. The aver- age size of theso farms is §8.5 acres with a value of $7,750. The average cash rental paid was $175 per annum, which averages something over five dol- lars an acre.^ The Fourteenth United States Cen- sus indicates that, in 1920, the numbei- of farms operated by owners had fallen off 12,901 during the previous decade ; while the number of farms operated by tenants had increased by 2,033. The number of farms operated by managers had increased by 358. (See Appendix A.) As compared with the southern peninsula, land holdings in the north of Michigan are much larger and ownership is concentrated in a few persons and corporations. The situation is set forth by the Bureau of Corporations of the United States De- partment of Commerce in its report on the lumber industry of July 13, 1914. The investigations of the Bureau led it to the conclusion that of the Upper Peninsula's area of over 10,080,000 acres, about 56 per cent was held by ninety owners. Thirty- two owners held 47 per cent of the area ; thirteen 37 per cent, and one, the Cleveland Cliffs Iron »"Mich. Crop. Kept.," March, 1921, p. 4. 148 RURAL MICHIGAN Company, owned 14 per cent. The last mentioned corporation, with its subsidiaries, was credited with holding 1,515,392 acres, a tract of land which, if blocked off in a single area, would comprise sixty- six townships whose circumference would amount to 195 miles. There were twelve holders of over 100,000 acres each, nineteen of 40,000 to 100,000; twenty- seven of 15,000 to 40,000; and thirty-one of less than 15,000 acres each but still possessing over 60,000,000 feet of timber. These ninety holders of land in the Upper Peninsula possessed 5,999,036 acres, which comprised 56.3 per cent of the whole area.^ These extensive holdings were promoted by the large grants of land conveyed by the federal gov- ernment in aid of various works of internal improve- ment, roads, railroads and canals, with lavish gen- erosity and with little consideration of the prospec- tive value of the rights bestowed. Thus the rail- roads of this section received grants from Fort Wil- kins on Keweenaw Point to the Wisconsin state line, 221,013 acres were patented to the builders, and 762,803 acres in the northern peninsula alone in aid of canal construction. In 1850, Congress had bestowed on the states tracts, designated "swamp lands," within their borders, on condition of their being reclaimed; and Michigan thus came into possession of 5,655,689 acres to June 30, 1914. These lands were in turn disposed of in large amounts in aid of the construction of roads and railroads. Thus in 1881, the just completed '"Lumber Industry," II, 188-190-198. THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 149 Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette Eailroad, joining Marquette with the Straits of Mackinac, received from the State 1,32G,G88 acres lying in the eastern counties of the Upper Peninsula ; and of this grant the Upper Peninsula Land Company — a subsidiary of the present Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company — came into possession of some 700,000 acres. A group of holders in addition to the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Com- pany also became the owners of another very large aggregate of these swamp lands. There have been no very considerable alterations in the general situa- tion as regards land tenure in the Upper Peninsula since their report was prepared. Present-day pur- chasers or lessees of undeveloped tracts in this section must deal with one or another of these large land- holders. Of these undeveloped lands, more than 10,000,000 acres are in the northern peninsula. Much of the acreage not here in farms is in the pos- session of one or another of these large land-owners. While it is their policy to dispose of holdings except where these are required for mineral or lumber opera- tions, provided their terms can be met, there has been no systematic plan of land colonization yet under- taken by them. The influx of immigrants had very little direct encouragement or direction from the State itself. In creating the Public Domain Commission in 1909, the Legislature made provision for an immigration commission. The secretary of the Public Domain Commission was permitted to act as immigration commissioner. The organization thus established loO RURAL MICHIGAN was directed to collect, compile and publish in- formation likely to prove attractive to settlers within the commonwealth, but was given slight resources or machinery for accomplishing important results. In December, 1918, an agent of the com- mission was stationed in New York for the pur- pose of directing newcomers towards Michigan, but to the end of the fiscal year just preceding the outbreak of the World War, he appears to have persuaded only twenty-four • farm laborers to seek a domicile in this State. The War caused a dis- continuance of even this effort, and the commis- sion lacked faith in its efficacy. The sugar com- panies have maintained agents in New York for the purpose of directing immigrants to the beet fields and factories of Michigan, but quite without avail. The attitude of the commissioner was apologetic and evinced little faith in the work the statute set for him to do. It was undoubtedly a fundamental error to combine the office of Immigration Commis- sioner and Secretary of the Public Domain Commis- sion. No effort was made to secure a commissioner with special experience and aptitude for such work as the law contemplated. Nor were the resources placed at the disposal of the commissioner at all adequate for liis task. The State has never had a comprehensive soil classification; and, therefore, the Commissioner of Immigration was unable closely to define and discriminate parcels of land in wliich home-seekers might be concerned. It was quite impossible for the commissioner to indicate to a THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 151 land-seeker definitely the location of tracts of each type of soil, the character of the drainage, soil-mois- ture, subterranean water, climate, economic and so- cial environment, and such other information as would determine for the inquirer whether or not that location was for him desirable. There remained, therefore, in the view of the commission, little more than the poor expedient of general advertising of the resources of the State directly and through the agency of development bureaus. To obtain such detailed information for the whole State or for any large portion of it will require years. The basis of Michigan's homestead exemption law is found in an article of the second state constitu- tion adopted in 1850 and attributed to Eev. John D. Pierce, better known for his connection with the early school system. Its inclusion in the legal system was characteristic of the reforming tendencies that centered about the middle point of the last century, and it remains essentially unchanged, a part of the constitutional law of the commonwealth. "Every homestead of not exceeding forty acres of land," runs the second section of Article XIV, "and the dwelling house thereon and the appurtenances to be selected by the owner thereof and not included in any town plat, city or village," or in lieu of this a certain amount of urban property "shall be exempt from forced sale on execution or any other final process from court." This exemption does not apply in case of mortgage or other lawful alienation of title, but in such cases the previous consent of the 152 RURAL MICHIGAN wife, if the owner be a married man, must be secured to the document. "The homestead of a family, after the death of the owner thereof," stipulates the third section, "shall 1)e exempt from the payment of his debts in all cases during the minority of his chil- dren"; and another section protects the same privi- lege of the owner's widow during the period of her widowhood. Thus does the State seek to relieve its inhabitants from the liability to eviction from the family homestead, a proceeding prejudicial to family life and the well-being of the community. THE HUMAN FACTOR IN AGRICULTURE Historically speaking, the Indians were the first agriculturalists of Michigan. This population has in historic times belonged mainly to three Algonquin tribes: the Chippewas (or Ojibways), the Ottawas and the Pottawatomies. Of these the Chippewas and the Ottawas dwelt chiefly in the Upper Peninsula and the northern portions of the Lower Peninsula, and to them may be added a few Menominees ad- jacent to the river called by their name. The Pot- tawatomies are associated more especially with the southern sections, but there has been, in fact, con- siderable intermingling of tribes throughout the two peninsulas. The census of 1910 showed the Indian population of Michigan to be 7,519, and that it had been increasing. Their number in 1920 was 5,614. The most considerable numbers were in Baraga, TEE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 153 Emmet, Isabella, Mackinac, Chippewa and Leelanau counties, all in the north; although counties as far south as Allegan, Saginaw, and Cass made a fair showing. The presence of missions, schools and reservations, together with the distribution of game (for the Indian is still a huntsman) seems to determine the location of this Indian population. This same census also disclosed that among the Chippewas, 109 were farmers, and 286 farm laborers in 1910; that of the Ottawas, 109 were farmers and 278 farm laborers; and that among the Pot- tawatomies 35 were farmers and 63 farm laborers. While neither quantitatively nor qualitatively is the Indian a present important agricultural factor in Michigan, the pioneer farmers of European stock had to reckon with him in many ways. While the Michigan Indians seldom were dangerous, except sometimes when in liquor, they frequently were an- noying. Even if their labor was not prized, they might on occasions keep an ill-provided family from starvation with their berries, corn and maple sugar, venison and fish. Indian agriculture was crude. It was exemplified by the squaw, not by the men. "They were excellent judges of land," writes C. A. Weissert of Hastings, "and cultivated the prairies or the black soil of the river flats. They planted their corn not in rows but haphazardly, the product being softer and whiter than that brought in by the whites. To pre- serve it the Indians smoked it and then buried it in the earth." He tbiiiks that this "probably was the 154 RURAL MICHIGAN original maize commonly raised by the Indians in this country." ^ Weissert was writing of Barry County in 1911, and he remarks that "traces of their garden-beds were visible until recent years." In- deed, evidences of their primitive agriculture were seen in many other points of the State before being obliterated by the tillage of the whites. Even yet the steel point of the plow sometimes turns up the primi- tive stone hoe and other stone and copper implements of these pioneer tillers of the soil in Michigan. Yet contemporary opinions of the Indian's agricultural importance do not seem to be flattering. One state- ment reports that he is too much inclined to loaf, that his methods remain primitive, ami that, even as a farmer, he often produces less food than he consumes. The national government has sought to do something to correct these tendencies. In the first of the last century, one Trombley is said to have been main- tained as an agricultural instructor for the Indians near the present site of Bay City.^ Various treaties with the Indians entered into by the United States had promised some provision for Indian education, and at length, in 1891, an act of Congress established an Indian school in Isabella County, which was located on the property of an old Methodist mission adjacent to Mt. Pleasant. Agriculture is included in the course of study of this school, whose 320 acres of land afford opportunity for its practical study. ^"Mich. Pioneer and Hist. Soc. Collections," XXXVIII, 662. ="'Mich. Pioneer and Hist. Soc. Collections," V, 275. THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND l53 Of the 150 graduates since 1905, 24 are reported to be farmers. The present Congressional appropriation is on the basis of an enrollment of 350 students. The larger number of these Indians of Isabella County are stated to be good farmers. The first Europeans to establish themselves in Michigan were the French. The motives of their coming were the propagation of the gospel among the heathen and the fur trade. The first settlements were at such strategic points as Sault Ste. Marie, tSt. Ignace and Mackinac, and Detroit. These spread along the Detroit and St. Clair and about the head of Lake Erie, and eventually appeared in the valley of the St. Joseph Eiver, while detached posts were established on the Upper Grand, Kalamazoo, Shia- ■wassee and other streams. In their settlements there was little significance for Michigan agriculture. Their proper environment was the forest and the water-courses; their implements the paddle and the rifle. In the period following the American Revolu- tion, however, a considerable number of French- Canadian farmers settled in southeastern Michigan, usually in compact 'groups of farms all fronting on one or another of the rivers of that section. The French were a peculiarly sociable folk and these water-courses afforded a ready means of inter-com- munication. In a country, too, where springs were scarce and wells were drilled only with much labor in the refractory clay soil, the P^corse or the Rouge were a convenient substitute for the town pump. So, side by side, the Canadian French held their farms 15G RURAL MIVIIKIAN of eiglity, one hundred and twenty, one hundred and sixty or two hundred French acres (embracing some four-fifths the area of an American acre), each on a narrow river frontage .of twenty-three to fifty-eight rods. Eventually there were several hundreds of these French farms (442 in 1805) extending eight or ten miles, sometimes farther, up the Rouge, the Eaisin, the Iilcorse, the Clinton and Huron rivers, with still others on the Detroit and St. Clair. As a farmer, the Frenchman here was very unlike the Yankee soon to appear. He saw no reason for aggressive energy in clearing the land and putting it to agricultural uses. His tillage was strictly limited. His interest in horticulture was greater, and apples and pears, peaches and cherries were grown in con- siderable quantities for home consumption and for export by themselves or in the form of cider. As a husbandman, the Frenchman was quite as thriftless as his Indian friends. He is charged with habitually depositing his barnyard manure on the ice of river and lake or of removing his out-buildings when the accumulations became insurmountable, rather than spreading them over the fields: and some state that he threw away the wool sheared from the backs of his sheep rather than spin it into yarn — a practice which, however, was undoubtedly exceptional. Ac- counts seem generally to agree that, if his farm buildings were shabby and his agriculture not suf- ficient for home needs, the Frenchman's heart was light, his loyalty certain, his piety complete, his hos- THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 157 pitality unstinted/ His children were more numer- ous than his cattle, and today there are in Michigan approximately 100,000 inhabitants reporting French as their mother tongue. The total immigration into the State seems not to have been extensive. Families were large generation after generation. During the past century, however, there has been some innuigra- tion from Canada, from the eastern states, and from France itself. Inquiries regarding motives for their coming to ]\Iichigan elicit the "rentier" system in Quebec, whereby the eldest son of the family is en- gaged to work the homestead and provide for his parents, necessitating that the other children seek their fortune elsewhere; or that it was the attrac- tiveness of work in the woods or surface labor about the mines (one does not find many underground workers among the French) ; or it was to escape military service in the occupied portions of Alsace and Lorraine that brought the normally non- migratory Frenchman overseas and to Michigan. Not many of these have gone into farming, nor are they regarded as an agriculturally important stock. Ob- servers, even among the French themselves, state that they are too conservative, too easy-going. With exquisite humor James Hoar of Lake Linden relates how Farmer Buckwheat from the thither-side of Torch Lake engaged the reverend father of the parish to employ priestly rites for the banishment of the grasshopper, and when results did not approximate '"Census of 1910, Population by Mother Tongue," 980. 158 RURAL MICUIGAN expectations, refused the fee. Observers say that the more hardy Finn is replacing the French farmers in the Upper Peninsula. In the Lower Peninsula he has ceased to be a distinguishable factor in rural life. If the Indian and the Frenchman were first on the ground, it was the Yankee who dominated the institutional growth of Michigan; and who, in so doing, manifested scant regard for his forerunners in the region. There was no. accident about his com- ing. He entered the territory usually, though not always, by the water route which, after 1825, ex- tended from Lake Champlain to Detroit. Not a few came hither from the Genesee Valley in western Xew York by the same avenue of approach ; and others re-migrated from the western reserve of Ohio, which the foresight of Connecticut had set aside along with the southern shore of Lake Erie as a boon to her Revolutionary veterans and as a condition of her cession of sovereignty in that quarter to the United States. If by the same token Massachusetts had not retained any portion of the soil of southern Michi- gan, her progeny were there in due time. There were instances of overland journeys both to the north and the south of Lake Erie from western New York into southern Michigan ; but normally the immigrant made his ingress by Erie Canal boat and lake steamer to Detroit, perhaps to Monroe or even to the Lake ]\Iichigan ports of the west shore. Beyond the roads were very bad : one might fare better on the rivers or within the open forest. Gradually and not slowly J-- THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 159 the southern counties filled up from Lake Erie to Lake Michigan with these masterful people of the stock that had converted colonies into a nation and whipped Indians and French, British and Hessians in the process. These were to renew the battle with the wilderness and convert it by the millions of acres into farms and homesteads and into desolate wastes. In 1830 Michigan Territory had a population of less than 30,000. In the ensuing ten years it aug- mented at the rate of nearly 20,000 each year. It was during this decade that the foundations were laid of institutional life. The town meeting, a heri- tage from New England, became definitely a part of the governmental system as community after com- munity appeared, mushroom-like, in the Michigan woods. A territorial enactment of 1827, greatly re- sembling an early pronouncement of the IMassachu- setts general court, made provision for popular edu- cation ; but it remained for the Constitution of 1835, embodying the ideas of Isaac E. Crary, to determine the fundamental elements in the public school sys- tem: common school and higher education, state directed and natiou-illy assisted, with public libraries but at first without free tuition. The Yankee was a Puritan and as such he did not forget to illegalize Sunday sports, gaming and merchandising; and even today it is without the law in Michigan to indulge in Sunday baseball, theatrical performances, racing, or to operate a place of business. All this applied to the State as a whole, but when adopted, Michigan was predominantly rural, and the town meeting has IGO RURAL MICHIGAN continued to be an important and interesting feature of rural life even to the present time, wherever the population is mainly of this same Yankee stock or has come under strong Yankee influences. On the first Monday in April in these sections of the State ]\Iichigan farmers still gather within their township at the town hall or school-house, or, if the day is favorable, in the open air in the yard, for the purpose of arriving at a decision in regard to the building or improvement of public roads and bridges, and it may be for the enactment of ordinances and the consideration of other aifairs of local concern. It is genuine democracy similar to that which framed measures against the tyranny of George III or exists in the smaller cantons of Switzerland. As pertains to county government, the example of New York is most closely adhered to. The township supervisors who assess the farmer's property for pur- poses of taxation meet jointly at the county seat to attend to the administrative and legislative affairs of the county as a whole, while the farmer's deeds and mortgages are recorded with the county register of deeds who produces an abstract of title for a fee. The county surveyor may be called in to run a line or establish a corner, and the county drain commis- sioner lays out the drainage ditches that run from farm to farm into the natural water-courses. Eural justice is administered in the first instance and in cases of minor importance by one of the four justices of the peace of the township; the constable is the same innocuous official that time and literature have THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 161 found him to be elsewhere. Michigan state police, created by the legislature in 1919, is extending its watchfulness into the rural districts for the appre- hension of thieves, often of urban domicile, and other law-breakers who trouble the peace in rural Michigan. The township board of four ex-offieio members administers township affairs in accordance with the resolutions of the town meeting, corresponding to the selectmen of New England. The township board of health should attend to public health and sanita- tion within the township where other higher authority does not enter, and it has charge of rural cemeteries in most cases, although cities and villages often locate their cemeteries well without their borders and thus serve rural as well as urban dwellers. The record of rural births and deaths is kept by the township clerk, with whom chattel mortgages are recordecl. The township may have made provision for fence viewers, pound-masters, destroyers of noxious weeds and inspectors of fruit-trees. These institutions of local government have a familiar New England influence in the copper country or Marquette as in Marshall or Lansing. It worked effectively also in the realm of finance, for it was New England capi- tal that developed the copper and iron mines of the Upper Peninsula and the first railway lines of the Lower Peninsula. Most ubiquitous of the foreign whites in Michigan are the Germans. They came early, almost as soon as the Yankee element, and their coming was en- couraged by the abortive revolutions of 1830 and of 162 RURAL MICHIGAN 1848 in the Fatherland. They settled in Wayne, Macomb, Washtenaw and Saginaw counties before Michigan became a state, and then in Berrien, St. Joseph, and St. Clair counties, in Clinton and Leelanau, and in Marquette County by the Lake Superior shore. In 1910, they composed one-sixth the population of Berrien County, one-sixth of Monroe, one-fifth of Huron, one-seventh of Mason, one-fifth of Washtenaw, one-fourth of Manistee, and one-fourth of Saginaw. These are counties of the southern peninsula, and mostly of the southern half of it. They have never constituted such a large pro- portion of the northern peninsula, although the popu- lous county of Houghton contained (1910) more than 5,000. The aggregate of these people, born in Germany or the children of parents born there, was quite 425,000 in 1910. Or if they are differentiated on the basis of mother tongue, their number in the Thirteenth Census (1910) was 396,513. That would make them about one-seventh of the State's popula- tion. Revolutionary disappointments were not the only occasion for the German migration to America and to Michigan. Compulsory military service expatri- ated some of these folk, while burdensome restraints and the difficulty of securing land attracted still others to the freer American life and to good farms on easy terms. A south German farm would cost, as Andrew Tenbrook of Ann Arbor has pointed out, perhaps two hundredfold the price of a Michigan homestead, and if the Michigan acquisition were in THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 163 a wilderness where hardship and hard labor was the rule of daily life, the German could work and so could his entire family, for that had been the prac- tice in Bavaria and Saxony and would be no novelty here. Intensive agriculture was the necessary regime of old Germany, where every rod of ground must do its bit in the maintenance of a large and increasing population. The habit of thrift and industry learned in the old home was steadily maintained in the American home, and German farmers have habitu- ally been regarded as good workers in Michigan, They excelled as truck-gardeners, and while German cookery did not always commend itself to the Yankee palate, their sauerkraut and kohlrabi became domesti- cated in many a home devoid of all other German associations. It would have been well if the Old World German practice of preserving the forest cover on hilltops had been retained here to the advantage both of our uplands and lowlands. The Germans were religious and communities congregated here and there throughout the State: Lutherans in Ann Arbor, Eoman Catholics in Westphalia, Clinton County, Mennonites at "Holy Corners," Kent County, while Moravians, United Brethren and Dunkards might arouse curiosity by rites unfamiliar to the native churches. For German women to work in the field was normal overseas but attracted disapprov- ing attention here, where standards of life and think- ing were different. However, this responsibility for the common income raised the family from poverty to affluence and furthered the economic well-being of 1G4 RURAL MICHIGAN the whole State. It coiihl not exliibit itself in min- ing as in agriculture, and the mining industry of the northern peninsula has never had a large German element attached to it. Thus the iron mining county of Iron, in 1910, had a German population of only 750 in a total of more than 15,000 inhabitants. Gogebic County numbered 1,430 Germans in a popu- lation of 23,333. On the other hand, the "Green Garden" settlement of Germans near Marquette is one of the most attractive agricultural communities in the State, and the corn and cabbages, apples and plums, grown within sight of Lake Superior in the season of 1920 would have done credit to the best agriculture of a more southern latitude. When ]\Iichigan had been ten years in the Union, there appeared on its western shore southwest of Grand Eapids a colony of Hollanders. Eeligious differences in the mother-land had caused this band of pilgrims to come overseas and, after some investi- gation, they established themselves in their Michigan "Canaan," where, as the Moses of their exodus. Pastor Van Eaalte notes, fruit-raising, with general farming, might prove a desirable form of agriculture. Although some of the immigrants settled in Iowa, the major portion of them came to Michigan. They included heads of families, persons of the middle classes and of rural experience. They were very religious and have been tenacious of their faith and, to some extent, of their language to the present time, although readily assimilated to the common life of the State. They held education in high esteem, as THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 165 was manifested by the founding of Hope College as an academy in 1851 and as a college in 1866. They became a highly respected element in the population of Michigan. The settlement began in privation and extreme suffering like that of the Pilgrims of 1620; but their industry and sobriety subdued the wilder- ness and made of central western Michigan one of the most highly developed farming areas of the State. Even in point of numbers the Dutch element became important. The United States Census of 1910 makes the foreign whites reporting Dutch as their mother tongue to number 92,694 (p. 979). This population is centered heavily in Kent and Ottawa counties. Of Kent's population in 1910 (nearly 160,000), ap- proximately one-fifth was born in Holland or the children of parents born in that country. This represents, no doubt, a considerable urban popula- tion. However, the statement still applied to some 7,000 of the county's inhabitants living outside of Grand Eapids. In Ottawa — a more definitely rural county — the proportion of direct Dutch descent was still greater, one-third of the population in 1910 being of Holland birth or parentage for both father and mother. Allegan County also showed a strong Dutch element. The Finnish element in the rural population of Michigan is very largely, although not exclusively, in the Upper Peninsula. The Finns seem to have been attracted hither chiefly by the opportunity for work in the woods and mines. Finland is, however, primarily an agricultural and not a mining country, a 1(U; RURAL MICHIGAN land suitable to stock-raising and forest industries. The Finn is an excellent dairyman, aiid in northern Michigan, as iji old Finland, \vhatever he does he is very likely to own a milch cow or two and to care for them A-ith what the Yankee would consider quite absurd solicitude. Finland is a country of dense forests and is extremely well watered; so is — or was — the northern peninsula of Michigan, where the Finn feels very much at home, a sentiment enhanced by climate and topography. Most Finns here have once worked in the mines; but many have come out of the earth to earn a livelihood from its surface. The Finn is hardy, conservative and clannish. His standard of living normally is not high. He is fit for pioneering, and competent observers believe, probably correctly, that the agricultural future of the northern section of the State is chiefly in his hands. He is of one of the least assimilable stocks in rural Michigan, but he is educable, and such a project as the Otter Lake Agricultural School in Houghton County has effected an improvement in his husbandry. He is by nature refractory and must be handled tactfully. The Finn is very different from some of the other elements in the rural population, taciturn, unemotional, seemingly devoid of humor. He represents the Asiatic Turanian type, with a language wholly unrelated to the native tongues of western Europe; and some of his presumed natural uncommunicativeness and sullenness may be attrib- uted to linguistic shortcomings rather than to a will- ful resolve to say or do nothing pleasant. In the Old THE VCCUPATION OF THE LAND 167 World, ethnologists discriminate several types of Finns each with its own Finnish habitat: one type less "heavy-headed" and obtuse than the other. Both types seem to be represented in America. Finland is a tri-lingual country, Russian and Swedish being domiciled there with the vernacular. In Michigan, it is not easy at once to determine whether one is dealing with a Finn or a Swede. The name is Swedish and Swedish may be readily spoken by the person in question. The slightly almond eyes and general appearance of the features help to resolve the doubt in favor of a Finnish prime relationship, although here, as in Finland, there may be an inter- mingling of these stocks by marriage. Normally the Finn was temperate even before the adoptioii of prohibition, contrary to common opinion, as was shown by his vote in favor of constitutional prohi- bition. In the copper country, for example, mining locations with a large Finnish element, and certain rural precincts almost wholly Finnish in composi- tion, were overwhelmingly in favor of the prohibitory amendment, leaving it to urban constituencies of definite American and aristocratic tendencies to tip the balance to the contrary, side. How far the Finn leans to socialistic doctrines is not easy to determine, although the strike of copper miners in 1912 showed that these views were frequently held, even in rural, as distinct from mining, locations. A similar ten- dency in Finland has been attributed to the system of land tenure in large estates, to opposition to the tyranny of the one-time rule of the Czar, and per- 168 RURAL MICHIGAN haps also to a close connection between Finnish and German higher education and philosophic thought. Tendencies acquired in the Old World may have persisted in iVmerica through a failure thoroughly to assimilate the Finn in this country and to his subordinate position in economic life. It is believed that education, proprietorship, and the breaking down of isolation will counteract his interest in Marxian doctrines. On the other hand, the Finn's willingness to dwell in isolated communities and to perform hard labor under rough conditions adapts him to rural life in the undeveloped portions of the State, and it must be remembered that these areas are still very extensive. The fact that these Finnish farmers are at the outset often ill provided with capital increases their readiness to settle on cut-over lands, when those in a more favorable financial situation would prefer to purchase improved farms. With little capital save their physical strength, they are credited with great reliability in meeting their financial obliga- tions. The agent of one large land company in the Upper Peninsula informs the writer that he has en- dorsed promissory notes on behalf of many Finnish clients of his, aggregating some $30,000 in amount, and never lost a dollar in any transaction. Bearing in mind the conditions under which the Finn lives in the Old World and the tenacity with which he retains his habits, one is not surprised to find transferred to American soil practices from eastern Europe. Thus one sees in northern Michi- gan instances of those curious combinations of house TEE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 169 and barn with some question as to which portions are occupied by man and which by beasts, although the impression should not be created that Finns com- monly live in this manner. They are likely sedu- lously to exclude the outer air from their dwellings, and cases of tuberculosis are especially frequent among them. Adjoining the farm-house is probably the bath-house, where the bather steams himself thoroughly by throwing water on heated stones in the center of the floor, and perhaps terminates the process by a roll in the snow outside. His live-stock is as well housed as himself, and, although his thrift may cause him to shear his sheep at least twice in the year, involving a winter as well as a summer clip, he seeks to make amends by withholding the shorn brute from all contact with the outer air, a procedure which is said often to result in serious respiratory difficulties, but one which he is loath to abandon. The wool so derived is frequently carded and spun at home and knit into mittens and socks. There still is considerable demand for the old-fashioned spin- ning-vvneel, thought to be a relic of a well-nigh forgotten art practiced by our grandmothers, but still in use in many localities of northern Michigan. The Finn, like the German, is musical, but what he regards as music the American commonly frankly spurns, because the native American is prone to mis- understand Finnish art as well as Finnish character. Finnish music seems usually to run in the minor key as if consonant with the normal minor mood of the race. The annual "saengarfests" held at various Fig. 5. Density of total population of Michigan by counties (1920) (For explanation of sliading see Fig. 6.) 170 Fig. 6. — Density of rural population of Michigan by counties (1920). 171 172 RURAL MIC IJ WAN points in the Lake Superior region where Finns con- gregate for the purpose, merit more attention than they have received. Testimony is not lacking from authorities as to the capacity of the Finn for assimilation into Ameri- can life. They point to the supreme test of assimi- lability, the frequent inter-marriages between those of Finnish and of native American stock. The Finnish farmer is the most teachable of any national element and his capacity for cooperation is notable. If a Finnish farmer loses a horse or a cow, it has been observed, his neighbors make up a contribution that compensates the loss of the animal. They are mutually very helpful in time of trouble. Coopera- tive business enterprises are common among them. At the little Finnish settlement at Eock in Delta County, there has been conducted a cooperative store, flour-mill, creamery, insurance society, and pure- bred bull association. This case is not imique by any means. It is striking that more than one-fourth of the Finns in the United States — numbering more than 200,000 when classified by their mother tongue — dwelt in Michigan in 1910, and presumably do so still. At that time an excess of 11,000 persons in Houghton County were born in Finland, with large numbers in Marquette, Gogebic and the other coun- ties adjoining Lake Superior, a much smaller pro- portion in the southern counties of the Upper Pen- insula and a very trifling but widely scattered Finnish population in the Lower Peninsula. While THE OCCUPATION' OF THE LAXD 173 it cannot be stated definitely what proportion of the Upper Peninsula Finns are in agriculture, the num- ber is large and is increasing, for the Finn has a very strong inclination to the land and towards forest industries, and testimony is general that he is forg- ing ahead of other racial stocks in the agriculture of the northern peninsula. The Scandinavian element in the State has not been as large as in Minnesota or Illinois, for example. The census of 1910 showed that in Michigan there were 16,454 inhabitants who spoke Danish as their mother tongue, 17,891 speaking Norwegian, 64,391 speaking Swedish. How this Scandinavian popula- tion distributes itself between town and country can- not be stated definitely. There are both urban and rural communities having a large Scandinavian ele- ment. They are proportionally numerous both in the city of Marquette and in some townships of ]\Iar- quette County. As farmers they seem to be uni- versally regarded with much favor. Their farm- steads are commonly neat and well maintained. They are in a high degree literate and are of a deeply religious character. A Swede will not willingly labor on Midsummer Day, the day of St. John the Baptist, which is for him a religious holiday. A wedding is not an occasion for hilarity : it is a solemn religious event, obsen^ed with prayer and pastoral disserta- tion. Topographical and climatic conditions un- doubtedly directed Scandinavian migration towards the northern boundary of the United States. In these respects the Upper Peninsula is said greatly to 174 RLUIL MWlllUAN resemble Sweden, where also mining is an important pursuit. At present, however, there are few Swedish miners, agriculture and urban callings having drawn most Scandinavians out of the mines, except in Gogebic County. They are a very readily assimilated racial stock and, unlike their neighbors the Finns, are soon lost in the general mass of Americans. It should be noted, however, that among the number of those in Michigan who speak Swedish as their mother tongue, there are numbers (how many can- not be stated) of Swedish-speaking Finns, who, in the opinion of some observers, possess in a high de- gree the tendency to go to extremes in belief and conduct that is associated with the Finnish type. The Bohemian population of Michigan has never been large, and niimbered only 10,130 according to the census by mother tongue of 1910. In recent years, however, it has become a much more important factor in the rural districts of some parts of the State. It was attracted thither by the introduction of the cultivation of the sugar-beet and thus is a particu- larly important element in the population of the territory adjacent to Saginaw Bay. In southern Gratiot and Saginaw counties, these Czechs are steadily taking over farms formerly possessed by more familiar American types. T. P. Steadman of Elsie writes as follows in regard to these newcomers who have fallen under his observation : "As a aren- eral thing, they are honest and reliable financially. They are good workers and usually law-abiding, al- though they sometimes fight among themselves. THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 175 They are good farmers and are quite quick to take up American methods. Their standard of living is, of course, much below that of the native-born Ameri- can, although the second generation mark a distinct improvement in that particular. During the war they were law-abiding and patriotic. They bought liberty bonds quite freely and are holding them quite as well at the present time as the native-born Ameri- cans. They seem to be little concerned as to political matters, local or general. In this they are distinctly different from German communities which I liave known. They patronize savings banks quite freely and rely greatly upon the banker whom they have learned to trust." Steadman is of the opinion that one-fourth of the farms in the vicinity of Bannister and Ashley, Gratiot County, have come into the pos- session of Bohemians. They are very well adapted for developing the rougher lands of the State. Their Slavic congeners, the Croatians, Slovenians and Poles, are also settling in small communities in upper Michigan. The negro population of Michigan is relatively sparse, particularly in the rural districts. The total in 1910 was only 17,115, being six-tenths of one per cent of the whole population. More than one-third of this numl)er belonged to the urban county of Wayne, and only 4,959 were represented as rural. Outside of Wayne County, only Washtenaw and Cass counties had a negro population exceeding one thou- sand, Avhile some of the counties of the northern sections of the Lower Peninsula were almost wholly 17() RURAL MICHIGAN without this element. The populous counties of Houghton, Marquette, and Gogebic on the south shore of Lake Superior, had respectively sixty-one, eighty- three and six negro inhabitants, indicating that min- ing does not attract colored folk. Nor did such dominantly rural counties as Clinton and Gratiot, with thirty-eight and ninety-two negroes numbered in tlieir census, indicate that agriculture is a popular vocation for negroes in this State. Even the popu- lous county of Saginaw contained only 343 negroes. In the rural county of Cass the situation is peculiar and interesting. Here the 1910 census showed a negro population of 1,414. Booker T. Washington has described the negro community in Cass County after a brief visit to it in 1903.^ He ascertained that it was composed of the descendants of escaped slaves who sought refuge among the Quakers of that section about 1840 and thereafter, to whom also came num- bers of manumitted slaves and free negroes. They engaged in agriculture. They became a well-estab- lished, intelligent, law-abiding community. In Calvin township, the negroes became the larger part of the population and a considerable element in Porter and some other townships. In the quality of their agriculture, he found they compared very favorably with their white neighbors and presented a marked contrast to most southern communities of negroes with which he was familiar. Their standing and relationship with the whites he describes as excellent. They have good land, good buildings, ^ The Outlook, LXXIII, 292. THE OCCUPATIOX OF THE LAND 177 modern equipment, schools, churches, bank credit and hold otHce quite without distinction of race. They are situated in the southernmost tier of coun- ties, close to the boundarj- of Indiana, in one of the oldest and best-developed agricultural counties of Michigan. The impression one receives from a study of the settlement of Michigan, as of other American states, is primarily of a group of communities whose mem- bers are associated together by a common origin, by religious afliliations, or by a common language and national relationship. Besides the large racial ele- ments already noted, there are in rural ]\Iichigan communities formerly Belgian, Lithuanian, Polish, Croatian, Eussian, English and Scottish in nation- ality. With the non-English-speaking stocks here represented, the problem of assimilating them into common American life has not been solved. Studies conducted by Gilbert Brown of the Department of Psychology in the Northern State Normal School indicate how completely isolated, socially and intellectually, many of these rural enclaves have remained to the present time. For the purposes of this investigation Brown employed the rural census blank used by the College of Agriculture of the Uni- versity of Wisconsin. The collation of the informa- tion so obtained brought out such facts as the fol- lowing : In one community of ten families including seventy-eight persons, of whom thirty-three were born in Finland, two in Sweden, and forty-three in the United States (all the parents being born in 178 KDRAL MICHIGAN Europe), the Finnish language was spoken in nine homes and Swedish in one. The language of the newspapers read in these homes corresponds to the foregoing classification. Only a "cheap grade of farm Journal" formed the magazine-reading in six homes, while no magazines were taken in four homes. All these people had church aMiations, but this was Avith a foreign-language church. No societies were repre- sented in these homes, but in all cases there was membership in the Grange. The only community events attended by these people were represented by two school socials during the period under review. There were four children of school age not in attend- ance. All fathers in this community, except one, could speak English, but none could read or write it. All mothers in the community, except one, cannot speak English, and none can read or write it. This is undoubtedly but one of many instances. Brown believes that there are at least seventy-five such com- munities in the Upper Peninsula, which is doubtless a conservative estimate; and the Lower Peninsula has its quota. One agent of a colonization company, who has looked over the situation in Michigan with a view to a systematic attempt at establishing farmers on the less developed lands of the northern part, emphatically objected to this segregation by national groups of new settlers in rural districts. He believes it feasible so to organize a scheme of colonization that nationally non-related individuals will be associated together, and by this very situation will be much more quickly merged in the common life of the THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 179 State. Perhaps this is true, but surely the presence of people in the same locality, kindred in speech, re- ligious connection, economic and social status, has encouraged and comforted the members of the group in their new and strange situation and rendered them less ready to leave their rural homes for urban life. Either way has its advantages and disadvantages, which it is not the purpose of this book to discuss in detail. Here the problem is only recognized as it exists. The question as to what contributions have been made to agricultural practice in Michigan by the sev- eral European stocks is not readily answered. While the existence of some procedure within a certain group may suggest its foreign antecedence, only very careful investigation can determine the facts beyond question. The writer's observations have suggested a number of rural customs unfamiliar at least in the older more thoroughly Americanized sections of the State: For example, the practice observed among Finnish and Swedish farmers of exposing hay and grain in the fields on long narrow racks or about stakes, to facilitate drying and curing. L. M. Geismar, an Alsatian by birth, introduced among the farmers of the copper country the Alsatian practice of sheep-raising, Avhereby capitalists in town provide the means for acquiring small flocks of sheep, which are turned over to small farmers for care and main- tenance on an agreed basis of compensation and division of the returns. That Finnish farmers shear their sheep twice or more each year and not infre- 180 RURAL MICHIGAN qiiently spin their own yarn and work it up into mittens and socks is understood to be derived from a custom of old Finland. Those who have partaken of a meal at the table of a Finnish or a German- American farmer are at once confronted with dishes and flavors to which the Yankee palate is unaccus- tomed. Equally odd appeared the wooden shoes of the Hollanders of west IMichigan and the two-wheeled cart that sometimes still moves upon our country road. In settlements of newcomers from Europe, these roads are frequently private ways with bars up at intervals, although in appearance they are public thoroughfares of inferior construction. There are undoubtedly many strange customs of this order in rural Michigan awaiting study and description as opportunity presents itself. For statistics of population, see Appendices C, D and E, and also Figs. 3-6. CHAPTER V AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES, PLANTS AND CROPS OF MICHIGAN The statistician of the Michigan Cooperative Crop Reporting Service states that the average value of the tame hay crop of ]\Iichigan for the past fifteen years is $44,514,000; of corn, $41,540,000; of oats, $31,760,000; of wheat, $19,4 '29,000; of potatoes, $18,334,000; and of beans, $17,184,000 (six-year average). Charts prepared by the same agency indi- cate that corn is one of the three leading crops in all counties of the Lower Peninsula except Presque Isle and Alpena in the northeastern section; while it appears in this class only in Luce and Menominee counties in the Upper Peninsula. Similarly oats is the leading crop in Presque Isle, Alpena, Oscoda, Alcona, Ogemaw, Iosco, Sanilac, and St. Clair in the southern peninsula; and in all counties of the Upper Peninsula save Luce, IMenominee and Keweenaw. Potatoes are shown to occupy a position not lower than third in all counties of the Upper Peninsula, the northwestern counties of the southern peninsula, together with Lapeer and Oakland towards the south- east. For statistics of farm crops, see Appendix F. 181 183 RURAL MWIIIGAN HAY The marshes and prairies provided native grasses that have served as forage both for the pioneer and for farmers of tlie present day. Even now one fre- quently observes in regions peopled by Finns cocks of marsh hay gathered with much persistency even miles from home. With the removal of the forests, the cut-over country also provided great stretches of grass-land for pasture, if not for a native hay crop. In the Lake Superior country, clover is now growing in places in great profusion in a wild condition. In the cultivated sections, clover and timothy hay have for years been the standard, but more i^ecently alfalfa has steadily progressed as a favorite source of hay and is grown as far north as the Lake Superior region. It cannot as yet be regarded as the dominant hay crop of the State. Statistics regarding alfalfa in Michigan are not available. In 1920, hay main- tained its position as the State's most valuable crop, its value being placed by the Bureau of Crop Esti- mates at $38,004,000. This represents a yield of 3,149,000 tons, which was 150,000 tons less than the sixteen-year average. The average yield was 1.3 tons to the acre.^ While definite information regarding the quantity of hay of different types grown in the State is not available, the United States Monthly Crop Report for January, 1919, gives the percentages of the vari- >"Mich. Crop Rept.," Lansing, Jan., 1921, 7. AGRICULTLEAL INDUSTRIES 183 ous kinds of hay produced in Michigan, as follows: Clover, 27; timothy, 26; clover and timothy mixed, 35 ; alfalfa, G ; millet, 2 ; other tame grasses, 1 ; grains cut green, 1; wild hay, 2. There has undoubtedly been an increased yield of alfalfa in the interval and, in the opinion of the statistician of the Bureau of Crop Estimates, it may now amount to 8 or 10 per cent. Chippewa County in the eastern Upper Peninsula has for years been a leading commercial producer of hay, and its yield in 1921 was 52,210 tons. The largest producers of hay, however, are such well-developed agricultural counties in the Lower Peninsula as Gratiot, Sanilac, and St. Clair, each yielding more than 100,000 tons. One occa- sionally, also, finds farmers who have grown millet, vetch, sweet clover and other forage crops not regu- larly at home in Michigan. Some efforts to grow such imported species as lupine, serradella, spurry- grass have sporadically been undertaken. GRAIN CROPS Wheat was the most important money crop in Michigan for very many years. Indeed, even when its cash return was trifling and did not cover the cost of production, habit and the belief that this crop was a prerequisite to successful seeding of hay caused farmers annually to set aside a portion of their tilled land for wheat. It has been the staple crop chiefly of the southern section, and the Thirteenth Census showed few counties whose wheat production 184 RURAL MICHIGAN ran into six figures outside of the four southerly tiers, where alone was a county yield of at least one-half million hushels. Here the clay and clay-loam soils were favorable to its growth^ and the climate was considered to be so, although the freezings and thaw- ings, light snowfalls and occasional icing of the land surface, were in reality frequently detrimental to the growing crop. Winter wheat was commonly groAvn, although spring wheat was sometimes planted in the pioneer period. In the Upper Peninsula, as might be expected, it has been more common to plant spring wheat, although the abundant winter snows have demonstrably been favorable to winter wheat, when the crop has been sown sufficiently early, usually in August, to gain a good start before winter has set in. In the pioneer days, wheat was often planted year after year on the same field without rotation, a prac- tice which brought its inevitable result of depleted soil and diminished product to the acre. At first yields ran from thirty to forty bushels to the acre, but in the eighth decade thoy had fallen off to half this quantity or less, attributed to non-rotation, non- fertilization, greater severity of the winters and the increase of insect pests; so that wheat, which was at one time regarded as the surest of all cereal crops, suffered seasons of quite complete failure in the late nineties, and farmers began to consider whether it was desirable to plant it at all.^ Production has by no means ceased, and the yield for the State in 1920 was 13,795,000 bushels of winter wheat and 480,000 ^ "Kept. Mich. Bd. Agr.," 1876, 390. c erf m -a o (.1 S be > AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 185 of spring wheat. In the pioneer era^ wheat was planted on the newly cleared field among the stumps on the vmplowed ground which was lightly dragged in preparation for receiving the seed. The crop has never been cultivated, as in some parts of Europe, except in a few instances for experimental purposes, although a special wheat-cultivator is said to have been invented in Oakland County.^ Standardization of types of wheat was not secured for years and many varieties were grown, such as Eeed Chaff, Bald, Mediterranean, Club, Soules, White Flint, Eed Amber, Tappahannock, Blue Stem, Boughton, Lancaster, while the Diehl and Treadwell were considered especially choice sorts.^ In 1877, the Fultz wheat was referred to as a new variety, the seed for which was introduced by the United States Department of Agriculture. It is described as hav- ing white chaff and stiff straw, growing to medium height, and as the earliest variety then grown. It was a red wheat, with a berry bright, plump and hard, and was said to be the heaviest kind then known, one farmer reporting a bushel that weighed sixty-five pounds. It was reported to be well adapted to heavy rich soil.3 The Gold Medal resembled the Fultz, but was a white wheat of fine quality. The Clawson, introduced from New York after the Civil War, be- came a favorite variety. It is described as a red chaff, bald wheat, hardy, a strong grower, standing •"Ropt. Mich. Bd. Agr.," 1889, 449. ''Ibid., 1877, 141. ^Ibid., 141. 186 • RURAL MICHIGAN up well, of soft straw, not apt to rust, with long heads, bowing down, filled with a large, white, plump berry, surpassing in beauty all other kinds while standing in the field ready for the reaper. The most recent variety of wheat to win favor among Michi- gan farmers is that known as Eed Eock, reported to have had its origin from an individual kernel selected from a white Plymouth Rock wheat, and which was planted at the Experiment Station of the Michigan Agricultural College in the autumn of 1908. This i^ a bearded red wheat having also a red chaff. The qualities claimed for Red Rock wheat are exceptional winter hardiness, high yield, extra stiff straw, and those characteristics that yield a bread far above that usually produced from Michigan-grown wheat.^ This wheat is reported to have withstood ice condi- tions during the winter better than other varieties, to have righted itself well after lodging, to be un- usually rich in protein content, and to outweigh the official standard bushel of sixty pounds. It has been grown in the Upper Peninsula with very satis- factory results. Climatic conditions in the southern portion of the Lower Peninsula are favorable to the growing of corn ; but to the northward the season is normally too short and the temperature too low for the suc- cessful maturing of the grain, although at intervals fully ripened corn is secured as far north as Lake Superior and corn for forage is commonly produced throughout the State. The light sandy soil fre- J'^Rept. Mich. Bd. Agr.," 1917, 659, AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIEf? 187 quently occurring in some of the northern counties is likewise unfavorable to corn culture. The firm quality of the soil and moderate height of the stalk does not require the deep planting characteristic of the prairie states, and IMichigan corn is sown in hills by a corn-planter, the hills being placed equidistant to permit cultivation in either direction without alternating the reach of the cultivator, if grain rather than forage is sought. Corn was grown by the aboriginal inhabitants of Michigan, who, as one pioneer describes it, planted the seed not in rows but haphazardly, the grain being softer and whiter than that brought by the whites. To preserve corn, the Indians are stated to have smoked it and then buried it in the earth. To prepare it as food, the squaws pounded the kernels in a mortar made by burning a bowl in the end of a log or in hollowed blocks of stone. It was eaten in the form of soup or cooked with venison or other meat.^ This is the true Indian corn, bv which desisrnation it is commonlv referred to by the early settlers rather than "maize," by which it is known to Europeans. The immigrant whites also relied on corn for food for man and beast, and sometimes made extremely long journeys to obtain a few bushels of seed for sowing among the stumps or girdled trees or after the first breaking of the virgin soil. A chain dragged back and forth across the field was a primitive corn-marker before the advent of the three or four legged home-made *"Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections," XXXVIII^ 662. 188 RURAL MICHIGAN device that even yot fnnftions in that capacity. Some farmers insisted tlie seed must be in the ground by the fifth of May, while May tenth came to have ahnost the force of a Biblical injunction, althougli good crops were secured I'roiM dune plantings. The number of kernels to bo placed in each hill was re- duced to a poetic formula : "One for the blackbird, one for the crow; One for the cut-worm and three to grow." Frost had to be reckoned with in the pioneer era, even more than now, for the heavy timber impeded the free movement of the atmosphere and the ground deep with humus might be damp and cold. If corn was good for folks, it was also well liked by "friends in feathers and fur," and it required constant vigi- lance to save its tender shoots from the deer and its grain in the ground or the shock from the pigeon and the wild turkey, the squirrel and the raccoon. What escaped these claimants to the first fruits was ground in a hand-mill, a half-bushel in an evening, says one narrator; or even a large coffee-mill might be pressed into service. In the pioneer period, more concern was manifest in corn as human food than as provender for live-stock, at a time when pigs ran freely in the woods and were nourished by its acorns and beech-nuts. Corn has continued to be an important element among Michigan field crops. In 1904, the yield was AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 189 37,000,000 bushels produced on one and one-quarter million acres, and its value was $19,235,000.^ The average yield for that year was given as 28.6 bushels to the acre, while for the decade, 1895-1901, it was 32.13 bushels. Among the corn-producing states, only Iowa exceeded Michigan's product to the acre, as reported by the State Board of Agriculture.^ An additional value to the Michigan corn crop accrued from the general use of the stalks as fodder and for industrial purposes. The Michigan Corn Improve- ment Association was organized in 1904 with the ob- ject of promoting the production of more and better corn in this State. An annual exhibition of prize corn was planned in connection with the farmers' "round-up"' at the Michigan Agricultural College, cash prizes being offered for the best exhibits. At that time many varieties of corn were grown in the State with little attention to purity of type. A list of varieties in 1906 included Hathaway, Pride of the North, Hackberry, Mortgage-lifter, Huron Dent, Reid's Yellow, Leaming, Shenandoah Valley, Min- nesota King, and Golden Ideal, which were said to be grown in Michigan in "fairly pure form." ^ Other varieties of that year included White Dent and White Cap Yellow Dent, of which several good types were said to exist in the State. The Giant Cuban was grown as ensilage corn. The dent corns also included Calice, Eed, Strawberry and California Calice; while ^"Rcpt. Mich. Bd. Agr.," 1906, 293. ''I hid., 1900, 293. '-Hid., 295. 190 RURAL MICHIGAN among the flint corns, there were reported Smut-nose, King Philip, Yellow, and White.^ The census of 1910 showed a production of 52,906,812 hushels of corn. The counties yielding more than 1,000,000 bushels were Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Eaton, Gratiot, Hillsdale, Ingham, Ionia, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kent, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, Saginaw, St. Joseph, Shiawassee, Tuscola, Van Buren, Washtenaw ajul Wayne. The premier corn county was Lenawee with a yield 'of 3,053,197 bushels. It will be observed that these are all south- ern and the oldest agricultural counties in the State. By 1920 the yield had advanced to 65,000,000 bushels, at the rate of 40 bushels an acre. In that year 34 per cent of the State's acreage went into ensilage, the average yield being 7.8 tons to the acre. The quality of the crop in 1920 was rated at 92 per cent, 15 per cent better than the ten-year average.^ Wheat and corn among the grains figure largest in the calculations of Michigan farmers, but all standard species grown in northern latitudes should be produced on the farms of the State, most of them on any farm in any season. In 1920, 9,702,000 bushels of rye were grown on 660,000 acres. By this date a hardy prolific variety of rye, known as "Eosen," and established by the Michigan Agricul- tural College, was rapidly making its way into popu- lar favor. "Rosen rye," writes F. A. Spragg, plant- •"Rept. Mich. Bd. Agr.," 1906, 295. 2 "Crop Kept, for Mich.," Lansing, Nov., 1920. AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 191 breeder at the Michigan x4.gri cultural College, and J. W. Nicolson, then extension specialist, "is a stiff- strawed, large-headed variety, which when pure ordinarily has four full rows of grain on over 99 per cent of its heads."' Eosen rye, these writers ex- plain, "was selected and improved from an envelope of Kussian rye furnished in 1909 by Mr. Eosen, a student from Eussia at the Michigan Agricultural College." The rye, after satisfactory tests at the College, was distributed as seed to farmers through- out the State and has maintained its high reputation.^ The Finnish farmers of Houghton County are stated ly the agricultural agent to have grown a similar type of rye for years. Although the average yield to the acre in 1920 was given at 14.7 bushels, the Eosen variety has produced from 45 to 60 bushels. Barley has never been a popular grain crop in Michigan, having a production of only 6,240,000 bushels in 1920, grown on 240,000 acres. The fifteen- year average is 25.2 bushels to the acre. ]\Iost of this is spring planted ; but the Michigan Agricultural College, using selections derived from the United States Department of Agriculture, has developed a type of winter barley adapted to the climate of the State. This was distributed to growers through the Michigan Crop Improvement Association. Yields exceeding fifty bushels to the acre have been attained.^ The most widely grown variety of barley in ]\Iichi- ^ Spragg and Nicolson : "Rosen Rye," Mich. Agr. Coll. Ext. DivV. I'.ull. No. it July, H)I7. '^ Michigan Farmer, CLV, 1G7. 193 RURAL MICHIGAN gan, according to J. F. Cox, is the common six-row type, with the Wisconsin Pedigree as the highest yielding strain. He (k'scribcs this as "a bearded type well adapted to Michigan." A black barbless type of barley has also l)een introdnced, described as an ex- cellent yielder and drought-resisting.^ The climate of ]\Iichigan is regarded as especially favorable for the growing of oats, both in respect to moisture and length of season, with relative freedom, especially in the northern sections, from prolonged hot dry periods. The clays and clay-loams are well adapted to this crop. Its relation to other crops, clover, timothy, alfalfa, and sweet clover, also favor- ite forage crops of the State, also encourages the production of oats. The average yield, 1905-1919, was 33.1 bushels to the acre. The tendency to raise oats is increasing. The southeastern counties of the State lead in oat production northward to the "Thumb" district.- In 1920, 56,430,000 bushels of oats were produced on 1,425,000 acres, a yield that averaged 39.6 bushels an acre. Fields of buckwheat are encountered on many Michigan farms, although they are usually small. In 1920 this grain recorded an output of 609,000 bushels from 42,000 acres, which was 4.4 per cent of the United States crop. Not all farmers attempt to raise clover seed, and the yield in 1920 all told was reported at 120,000 ^Michigan Farmer, CLIV, 451. ''Mich. Agr. Coll. Bull.: Cox: "Oats in Michigan," 1920, 3. AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 193 bushels on 80,000 acres. In the Lake Superior coun- try, clover seed is represented as difficult to secure in good condition because rain is likely to occur in the harvest time. It is grown in marketable quan- tities in Ontonagon County. VEGETABLES Michigan produced nearly 29,000,000 bushels of potatoes in 1919, and 35,700,000 in 1920, which was 8.3 per cent of the United States crop. They are of predominant importance in certain portions of the State, particularly in the central counties of the northern Lower Peninsula and in Marquette, Me- nominee, Delta and Houghton counties in the Upper Peninsula. Thus, in 1919, the counties producing more than 1,000,000 bushels in the southern penin- sula were Mecosta, jMontcalm, Osceola, together with Oakland in the southeastern section ; while in that year Houghton County led the Upper Peninsula with a yield of 650,000 bushels, followed by Menominee, Delta, and ]\farquette counties. Montcalm's product of 2,381,730 bushels led the State. With potatoes, as with other products of the soil, the tendency has been to eliminate many varieties in favor of a few types of approved quality. The report of the Michigan Board of Agriculture for 1868 lists fifty-five varieties of potatoes with the yield of each as determined ex- perimentally. In this list the now long-forgotten Chenery topped the production record with 353 bushels to the acre. The average yield in 1920 was 194 RURAL MICHIGAN 111 bushels an acre, but in the newer sections of the State much hirger yields have been recorded. Yields of 400 bushels to the acre in the Upper Peninsula have been maintained for several years in succession, and 500 to 600 bushels have been reported. In 1920, a farmer near Marquette gathered sixty-five potatoes from one hill, more than fifty of marketable size. The cool moist climate of this area and of the neigh- boring region of the southern peninsula is favorable to this crop. J. ^^'ado Weston enumerates the varieties of potato best adapted to this territory as the Irish Cobbler, Early Ohio, and Triumph, for early kinds, and Green Mountain, I'ural, and Russet Burbank for late types. Michigan pioneers soon discovered the potentiali- ties of the potato crop. Thus a pioneer farmer of the Grand Traverse region planted potatoes among the logs on the virgin soil by merely gashing the earth with his ax, placing the seed in the opening and re-covering the hole with turf. These primitive methods of culture produced results far above ex- pectations and demonstrated the capacity of the north country for potato production.^ The total output of the State in 1882 is reported to have been 11,078,796 bushels on 113,745 acres. The price for potatoes in that year ranged from 63 cents in April to 47 cents in October.^ The production varied little from this quantity during that decade. The price ranged well below $1 a bushel, dropping to 15 cents ^"Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Roc. Collections," 38, 304. ^"Rept. Mich. Ed. Agr.," 1892, 401. AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 195 in 1888, but the average for the ten-year term was about 50 cents. To improve the quality of the crop, there exists the Michigan Potato Producers Association, which, starting as a series of county organizations chiefly for educational purposes, was reorganized in 1920, primarily for the purpose of inspection and certifica- tion of seed potatoes, with attention to exhibits, education and legislation in relation to the industry. In 1920, the Association reported the inspection of 269 acres of seed potatoes, of which 192 acres passed inspection and were certified. Approximately 25,000 bushels of certified seed potatoes were for sale in Michigan in that year. In this work of inspection and certification, the Association cooperates with the Michigan Agricultural College, which provides the inspectors. Two field and one bin inspections are made. The standard for certification adopted by the Association requires that a field must not show at the first inspection moje than 10 per cent of black scurf, wilt, blackleg, leaf-roll, curly dwarf, spindling sprout, mosaic or hills weak from other causes, or more than 15 per cent of all diseases combined. At the second inspection a field is disqualified if it shows more than -1 per cent of any one, or more than 8 per cent of all combined of the diseases named above. Fields are disqualified if they show more than 10 per cent of varietal mixture at the first inspection, and more than 1 per cent at the second. Fields infected with late blight or tip-burn, or in- fested with leaf-hoppers, Colorado beetles or with 196 RURAL MICHIGAN other pests to such an extent as to make identifica- tion difficult are disqualified. To pass the bin inspection, potatoes must show freedom from scab, black-scurf and late blight, not have over 10 per cent of light or 2 per cent deep infection of wilt, and be free from other diseases and from frost-injury. Potatoes in the bin must show not over 1 per cent of varietal mixture and must conform to varietal type, be uniform, symmetrical, smooth, and practically free from serious cuts, fork punctures, bruises and other mechanical blemishes. There are also limitations on weight. Potatoes are sold in clean bags holding one hundred pounds and bearing the certification tag of the Association. For the purpose of introducing certified seed potatoes into new localities and of determining results from the use of such seed, the Association furnishes certified seed to growers for such demonstrations, and it publishes lists of growers of certified seed, which, in 1920, bore thirty-seven names, of whom eight were in- the Upper Peninsula.^ Michigan beans, grown in the southern counties, have an established reputation and have been a highly favored money crop. The output in 1910 was 5,282,511 bushels, chiefly from the counties of Clin- ton, Eaton, Genesee, Gratiot, Huron, Ingham, Ionia, Isabella, Kent, Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Mid- land, Montcalm, Saginaw, Sanilac, Shiawassee and Tuscola, each of which produced more than 100,000 bushels. There is a tendency for the counties impor- ^ From statement and pamphlets furnished by the Secre- tary of the Mich. Potato Producers Assoc. AGRICULTURAL IXDUSTRIES 197 tant in the bean crop to coincide with those producing largely of corn, but the two lists also show interesting differences, indicating a somewhat more northerly trend of bean production, although the crop is not regarded as a safe venture in the northern counties. How^ever, on the Lake ^Michigan shore of the Upper Peninsula, excellent yields of beans have been secured year after year. A hardy rust-proof type was developed at the experiment station at Chatham and, when sown in the northern latitude, has given very satisfactory results. Anywhere in the State the bean crop is attended with much uncertainty, and this, together with unsatisfactory market conditions, has somewhat discouraged bean culture, so that in 1920 the production fell off from the 1910 figures to 3,575,000 bushels, grown on 275,000 acres and hence averaging a product of 13.5 bushels an acre. In 1921, by a cooperative arrangement between the Farm Bureau and the United States Department of Agri- culture, a laboratory was established at Saginaw for the study of bean diseases with a view to their eradication. Peas as stock feed and for canning are grown in both peninsulas and are occasionally met with as an important local crop. The abundance of rich muck lands and the com- paratively cool, moist summers of Michigan are favorable to the growing of celery.^ The industry has developed largely in the territory about Kalama- zoo, Muskegon, Decatur, Grand Ifaven, Vriesland »"Rept. Mich. Bd. Agr.," lOl.J, p. 32.3. 198 RURAL MICHIGAN and Hudsonville; while the celery grown on the Taquamenon Swamp near Newberry in the Upper Peninsula, though not large in amount, is very highly prized because of its flavor and crispness. Celery is also grown in truck-gardens about such large market towns as Detroit, Grand Eapids, Bay City and many other cities of the southern peninsula. The Bureau of Crop Estimates of the United States Department of Agriculture gives statistics of the commercial acreage and production of celery in Michigan as follows: 2,935 acres with a yield of 168 crates pro- ducing 2,465 cars of celery. By counties the acreage ran thus in 1919 : Counties Acres Allegan 150 Bay 25 Berrien 35 Cass 40 Kalamazoo 790 Kent 400 Lenawee 140 Muskegon 144 Ottawa 730 Van Buren 200 Washtenaw 30 Total 2,684 These statistics are undoubtedly not complete, since they represent the acreage for Luce County in AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 199 the Upper Peninsula as zero, while other reliable sources of information indicate a shipment of 100 dozen stalks six days of each week from October 1 to January 1. The acreage is small, but is said to be readily increasable with favorable labor conditions. Michigan celery is grown on the heavy well- drained muck-lands of which the soil is very deep, 20 to 30 feet, with a subsoil of hard stiff clay. Three or four feet of good top soil are said to be sufficient for the growing of celery, provided it is well-drained and strong. Black ash and elm muck-lands are best for celery production. The marketing begins about July 1 and continues until midwinter. The Kalama- zoo, Grand Haven and Muskegon districts grow early celery, starting their marketing about July 1, con- tinuing until October. The Grand Haven and Muskegon crops are shipped across the lake to Chi- cago, while the Kalamazoo product is sold largely in other cities throughout the United States. De- catur, Vriesland, Hudsonville and other smaller sec- tions where the crop is grown more extensively begin shipping later and aim to dispose of it before freezing weather. In 1920, Michigan ranked fifth among the states producing sugar-beet seed. The output that year was 515,000 out of a total of 6,770,000 pounds. The states exceeding Michigan were Idaho, Montana and California. The average yield to the acre in Michi- gan was 765 pounds, which falls considerably short of California's yield of 1,200, but not much below that of Idaho, placed at 800 pounds. Wliilc the 200 RURAL MICHIGAN growing of sugar-beet seed in Michigan is at present confined to tlie southern peninsula, its growth in the Upper Peninsula is advocated, as the heavy snowfall permits the seed-producing beets to be left in the ground during the winter, without lifting and re- planting them in the spring in readiness for the second year's growth in which the seed is obtained. Frost seldom penetrates the snow covering in the northern sections of the State and vegetables are not likely to suffer injury from freezing. There are other problems, however, connected with the growing of sugar-beet seed that have as yet not been solved. The United States Bureau of Markets reports an average yield of sugar-beet seed in Michigan for 1919 of only 430 pounds, and in 1920 of 715 pounds. In 1919 Saginaw County produced the largest quan- tity of sugar-beet seed, the reported output being 105,000 pounds, followed by Lenawee County Avith 43,500 pounds, Montcalm with 35,000, Gratiot with 34,000, Isabella with 32,000, Clare with 30,000, Huron with 18,000, Tuscola with 10,000, and Bay County with 9,000 pounds. FRUITS The profusion of fruit-growing in the vicinity of the Detroit River, which aroused the admiration of Cadillac, also attracted the favorable comment of the Jesuit Father, Nau, who, in a letter descriptive of his field of labor, under date of October 2, 1735, speaks of "this stretch of country" as "the finest in AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 201 Canada. There is scarcely any winter, and all kinds of fruit grow there as well as they do in France." ^ Many years later another observer recounts how, along the Kiver Eaisin, "everywhere, in the wild- Avood and in the glade, on the river's edge, and as far away under the over-arching trees as the eye could see Avas a wealth of grape-vines. Everywhere hung clusters of rich, purple fruit; everywhere, with a wild luxuriance that far surpassed the stories their fathers had told of the vineyards of sunny France." And it is related how at one point a man walked for eighty rods on grape-vines without touching the ground. These wild vines, in the hard cold season of 1875, are stated to have been the only grapes that matured sufficiently for the requirements of the local vintage, although by that time cultivated varie- ties had been introduced.^ When American settlers began to enter the Michi- gan territory after the War of 1812, they found a varied assortment of native fruits already established there. Some of these are strictly indigenous, such as the wild plum, wild crab-apple, wild cherry, and many varieties of berries, such as the wild strawberry, black, white and red raspberry, blue- berry, huckleberry (high-bush and low-bush). The salmon-berry, variously styled also the white-flowered raspberry, and, in the Lake Superior country, the thimble-berry, produced its attractive white flowers on its broad-leaved stem, and then its delicate pale red * "Jesuit Relations," LX\aiI, 283. ^"Rept. Mich. Bd. Agr.," 1875, 81. 202 RURAL MICHIGAN fruit, in the region north from Houghton Lake in the southern peninsula and throughout the northern peninsula and on Isle T^oyale; and it remains a popu- lar element in the wild fruit resources of the north- country even now. Enormous quantities of these wild berries are still consumed locally and exported. In both peninsulas, also, the tiny delicious winter- green was a favorite for gathering in the early spring, both for the diminutive red berry and the leaves. It must have been the French voyageurs, the mission- aries, or some Johnny Appleseed who established the apple in Michigan, but it is reported in many widely separated sections of the territory and the State by the pioneers: along the Detroit River, in Huron, Eaton, St. Joseph, Shiawassee, Lenawee, on Scales' Prairie in Barry County, in the Saginaw Valley and in the vicinity of Escanaba in the Upper Peninsula. Along the Detroit River, in the Grand Traverse region and elsewhere appeared the pear, whose intro- duction is credited to the French of the early eigh- teenth century. Nurseries were established in the southeastern settlements even before Michigan became a state, and in the first decade of statehood. Throuijh their agency improved varieties of fruit were introduced. Among the varieties of apples thus brought into Michigan at the outset of its history are the Baldwin, Bellefleur, Tart Bough, Canada Red, Snow, Rhode Island Greening, Fall Pippin. Sunmier Pippin, Green Newton Pippin, Porter, Rambo, Golden Russet, Tal- man's Sweet, Green Sweet, Esopus Spitzenburg, AGRICULTURAL IXDUSTRIE.^ 203 Swaar, and Twenty-ounce apple.^ Varieties of pears inehuled the Bartlett, Biiifum, White Doyenne, Flemish Beauty, Seekel, and Stevens' Genesee.^ Of peaches, there were the Early Anne, Sweetwater, Royal Kensington, Prince's Eed, Eareripe, Orange, Pound, Barnard, Early York, Malta, and Red-Cheek Melcoton/ Efforts to grow apricots and nectarines failed through unfavorable climatic conditions. Among the cherries, the Amber Heart, Black Heart, Black Tartarian, May Duke,. Ox Heart, Carnation, and ^^^lite Tartarian ; and among the plums, Coe's Golden Drop, Duane's Purple, Green Gage, Bleekers Gage, Hulings Superb, Smith's Orleans, Washington and Yellow Gage, are noted. J. C. Holmes, who was both practically and officially connected with this early period of Michigan horticulture, concedes that many varieties of early fruits at first introduced into Michigan proved unsuitable, but others on the lists just recorded are still standard varieties for the State. Fruit-culture was quite generally distributed throughout the settled portions of the State in the period before the Civil War. There is abundant testi- mony that the removal of the forests, by exposing the land surface to frigid air currents, made the cul- ture of the less hardy varieties, such as the peach, increasingly difficult and the return much more un- certain in the inland counties, and by the war era ^ Listed in a paper by J. C. Holmes, read before tbo Mich. State Pomoiogical Soc at R^f^tle Creek, Feb. 25. 1873; "Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections," v. X, p. 73. 204 RURAL MICHIGAN the Lake Michigan shore had definitely become the great "fruit-belt" of the State. Commercial peach- growing in Berrien County is dated as far back as 1835 with the first shipment of the fruit from St. Joseph in 1840.^ Grapes soon appeared in the vicinity of Grand Haven^ on .the western shore, al- though the wild variety had grown with the most extraordinary profusion near Lake Erie in the south- eastern section of the southern peninsvila. While exceptionally severe winters, such as those of 1873 and 1875, which iced the surface of Lake Michigan, were quite disastrous to fruit-trees even in the far western counties, the normal mild winter and cool growth-retarding temperatures of the lake shore country were so advantageous to the fruit-growers that the industry naturally settled itself in that dis- trict, and has remained its dominant agricultural interest to the present time. By 1884 a very large fraction of the State's total output of fruit was credited to the three southwestern counties of this region, Allegan, Van Buren and Berrien, which pro- duced one-ninth of the apples, two-thirds of the peaches, and three-fifths of the grapes grown in Michigan, as calculated from the return of the State census of that year.- By 1899, the State production of orchard fruit was reported in the United States census returns as 9,859,862 bushels, and ten years later at 15,320,104 bushels. Among the several species of these fruits, '"Kept. Mich. Bd. Agr.," 1888, 283. =" Thirteenth U. S. Census— Abstract. 411. AGRICULTURAL IXDUSTRIE^^ 205 apples had a yield in 1909, according to the same source, of 12,332,296 bushels, while the yield in 1920 was 16,500,000.1 Peaches produced 1,686,586 bushels; pears, 666,023 bushels, while in 1920 the yield was 1,100,000; plums, 181,188 bushels; cher- ries, 338,945 bushels; while quinces, always a low yield in Michigan, recorded 13,481. Grapes, which produced 41,530,369 pounds in 1899, rose to 120,- 695,997 pounds in the decade following.- The distribution of this production by counties in- dicates the areas in which the fruit crop bulks largest in the agricultural economy of the State. The counties yielding more than one-half million bushels of orchard fruit in 1909 include Allegan, Berrien, Kent, Oceana, Van Buren and Grand Traverse, arranged in the order of their relative importance. Allegan County in that year had an orchard crop of more than one million bushels. Among central and eastern counties, which rank high in field crops, the fruit counted for relatively less; thus, Genesee County produced only 143,800 bushels of orchard fruit; Lenawee, 254,514, and Hillsdale, 186,917 bushels. That hardy fruits comprised the main crop of these same counties is indicated by Genesee's out- put of 130,568 bushels of apples; while Lenawee's apple yield was 230,581 bushels, and Hillsdale's, 164,432 bushels. Hardy fruits, like apples, plums and cherries are well distributed throughout the 'Thirteenth U. S. Census— Abstract. 411. ='U. S. Dept. Agr.: "Monthly Crop Reporter," April, 1921, 206 'RURAL MICH 10 AN State and as far north as the Lake Superior shore in the Upper Peninsula where very abundant yields occur. The north Michigan counties made a very small showing in the fruit returns for the Thirteenth Census, but in the interval, numerous young orchards have been set out in this section and these give prom- ise of very satisfactory yields henceforth. While peaches and grapes make a showing at many points, particularly in the southern peninsula, many miles from the lake shore, these are usually points of good elevation and consequent air drainage. However, they are not unknown even as far as the Lake Su- perior shore-line, where, at Marquette, a very hardy variety of peach, named from that city, has had quite accidental origin but seems destined to persist and at least to provide good budding stock for a more favorable peach latitude but where climatic conditions still demand exceptional hardiness. Berries and cherries, both wild and cultivated, are found in many parts of the two peninsulas, but certain sections have emphasized the production of one or another of them. Thus the region of Grand Traverse Bay has been described as the "original home of the North Michigan cherry," while On- tonagon County in the extreme northern portion of the Upper Peninsula and St. Joseph County in the extreme southern part of the Lower Peninsula have been famous in the production of strawberries. There is a large local demand for the output, yet rail ship- ments from some sections are heavy in the height of the season. In 1909 the aggregate strawberry pro- AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 207 duction for Michigan was ascertained by the federal census to be 14,218,708 quarts. Of this total, Berrien County produced more than three million. Van Buren County more than one million, and Wayne County, 1,425,320 quarts. These counties have excellent markets for this fruit close at hand. The raspberry output of the State in the year was 8,381,943 quarts, with Berrien County here leading also with its crop of 2,849,794 quarts, and with Sanilac also a heavy producer. While in the Upper Peninsula the com- mercial berry crop is small, there is a remarkable in-gathering of the wild red raspberry, blueberry, and "thimble-berry," a portion of which is con- sumed locally while thousands of crates are sent to Chicago and other southern urljan markets during the season. The State's cherry crop in 1909 is rep- resented by 338,945 bushels, with Grand Traverse County's 40,000 bushels leading and with large out- puts from Allegan, Benzie, Berrien and Oceana, all on the Lake Michigan shore. NUTS Among the indigenous forest trees of Michigan were many bearing edible nuts, such as the hickory, oak, butternut, walnut, beech, and the hazel-busli. While nut-growing forms no part of systematic agri- culture in the State, the natural output has a place in the domestic economy of the southern peninsula and of the southern counties of the northern penin- sula, where, near the Lake Michigan shore, the 208 RURAL MICHIGAN butternut grows freely and yields profusely. The Thirteenth Census (1909) gave the output of nuts of all kinds in Michigan at 961,137 pounds. Coun- ties with relatively large outputs were Allegan, Clin- ton, Ionia, Iosco, Lapeer, Oakland, St. Joseph, and Wayne, all of which exceeded 40,000 pounds. Oak- land led with 75,917 pounds, followed by Calhoun with 07,435 pounds. In the Upper Peninsula only Chippewa County made any visible showing with its paltry 100 pounds (possibly beechnuts) although the situation in Delta County adjacent to Big Bay de Nocque would seem to have warranted high expecta- tions in relation to butternuts. The chestnut is not common in Michigan and seems to be at home only in the southeastern counties, and its artificial plan- tation was undertaken some years ago by the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway along its right-of-way north of Adrian. Sporadic attempts at the introduction of nut-bearing trees have occurred in Michigan, looking to the addition of the filbert, the almond, the pecan and the Persian and Japanese walnuts to the native nut-trees. The results are understood not to have been greatly encouraging.^ State law has made provisions for the planting of nut-bearing trees along the highways and the legis- lature of 1919 laid such a duty on the broad shoulders of the State Highway Commissioner. - Interest in the commercial growing of nuts has led to the or- ganization of the Northern Nut Growers Association ^Michigan Farmer, Sept. 25, 1920, 367. =*?. A. 36-1919. AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 209 (1910) for the purpose of promoting an intelligent interest in nut-culture and of scientifically investi- gating the problems and the introduction of new varieties. In the membership of this association are several residents of Michigan. The use of nuts in the diet prescribed at the famous Battle Creek Sani- tarium has undoubtedly done something to enhance public interest in nut-culture. SPECIAL CROPS The wet lands in the .southwestern portion of the southern peninsula have been quite extensively used for the growing of mint. In 1919 the assistant truck crop specialist of the United States Department of Agriculture estimated the production of peppermint and spearmint in INIichigan by counties as follows : Peppermint: Spearmint: County Acres County Acres Allegan 300 Allegan 550 ^o"- Berrien 395 Berrien 290 Cass 520 Cass 50 Gratiot 50 St. Joseph 80 Muskegon 30 Van Buren 750 St. Josepli 550 Van Buren 625 Total 1720 Total 2470 The major portion of the commercial mint crop in the country is grown in this section of Michigan and in northern Indiana, and, according to the expert just mentioned, the higli tide of production 210 RURAL MirillGAN was reached in 1914, wlieii the two states yielded some 600,000 pounds of mint. Then the production fell off until 1919, when the output was 225,000 pounds. Mint, when harvested, has its essential oil removed by distillation. Mint is said to produce normally 30 pounds to the acre, but yield? are .said to vary from 10 to 80 pounds. The mint is cut with a scythe and, after the oil is extracted, the straw is used as a stock food.^ The commercial growing of mint in Michigan is said to date from the year 1830. In 1847 the price of ])eppermint oil has been given at $1.25 a pound, while in 1919 prices are reported to have varied from $3.50 to $G.(i0 a pound. In the record pro- duction year of 1914, mint oil sold at about $1 a pound, according to the expert of the Department of Agriculture. The industry seems to have suffered occasionally from over-production and from mo- nopoly, and as far back as 1888 the c(mipetition of Japanese oil was taken notice of, although in 1886 St. Joseph County, Michigan, was credited with a production of 70,000 pounds of peppermint oil, one- fifth of the world's outpiit." The oil is used for con- fectioners' and medicinal purposes. In 1920, the experimental growing of peppermint in the Upper Peninsula was undertaken by the Land Commissioner of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad, with apparently satisfactory results. In this instance, ^ On mint-culture in Midi., see Kept. State Bd. Agr., 1888, 452. ''Ibid.. 4rA. AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 211 the plot was located in a portion of the Seney Swamp east of Marquette ; but it has been claimed that mint will do well on dry lands, if the soil is sufficiently rich. Since South Bend, Indiana, is at the center of the mint-growing territory of Indiana and Michi- gan, the mint-growers in that area have been or- ganized for their mutual advantage, with official headquarters in that city.^ In 1909, the value of ginseng produced in the State was, according to the Thirteenth Census, $13,794. Of late the culture of goldenseal has become of commercial concern in the Upper Peninsula, where one grower estimates the yield to the acre in the quadrennium at $20,000 to $25,000. CROPS FOR MUCK-LANDS In Michigan agriculture, muck and sandy lands present special difficulties. It is recognized that muck-land farming presents peculiar problems : of drainage, of fertilization, of discovering crops suited to such lands. As stated by Ezra Levin, of the State Department of Agriculture, who has an estab- lished reputation as an expert in this department of agriculture, "there are two types of muck-farming in Michigan: extensive and intensive." Extensive muck-land agriculture "is concerned with celery, i"Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections," v. 18, 51.5. See also Van Fleet: "The Cnltivntion of Pepj)ermint and Spearmint," U. S. Dept. Agr., Bull. 604. 1917; Henkel: "Peppermint," U. S. Dept. Agr., Bull. 00, 1905. 213 RUh'AL MICHIGAN onions, cabbage and lettuce. Less than one-half of one per cent of the total area of muck and peat lands in Michigan is given over to intensive farming. Not very much more than that is being extensively farmed.'^ Levin believes that "the de- velopment of swampy lands in Michigan will come through extensive farming." The problem, then, is to bring about a safe system of agriculture for these swamp lands. He proceeds to point out that two factors in relation to muck-lands must constantly be kept in mind : frost and the quality of the soil. The crop rotation for such lands "has to do with cattle — either dairy or beef cattle — as a pivot, alsike and timothy or white sweet-clover hay, corn or sun- flower form silage, and sugar beets — the sugar beets and hay as cash crops."^ Hay, Levin holds, constitutes an excellent cash crop for muck-lands, since it removes nitrogenous elements of which the soil already possesses an ex- cess supply.- He points out, however, the value of green-manure. While small grains are regarded by Levin as subject to special risks as muck-land crops, the order of preference among thom he gives as follows : oats, spring barley, rye, winter barley and wheat. Levin further recommends for grain cul- ture on muck-lands: 1. "Heavy seeding, at least one and a half times the amount of seed that the highland farmers use in the vicinity; 2. Applying acid phosphate or potash, or both; 3. Thoroughly 'Letter of Oct. 25, 1920. ^Journal of the Amer. Peat 8oc., No. 3, July, 1920, 297. AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 213 rolling the seed-bed." ^ He further states that "buckwheat and millet are considered important muck crops in subduing the sod. It cannot be said that those are profitable as a regular part in the rotation." Levin is also quite sure that sugar-beet culture offers the best prospect of success in muck- farming. It must be understood, however, that Lev- in's conclusions are not universally accepted. CROP IMPROVEMENT PROGRESS One of the most striking features of Michigan agriculture has been the gradual elimination of a great number of mongrel varieties of grain and the progressive standardization of types to a few varieties of approved quality and character. In 1918, J. F. Cox, of the Michigan Agricultural College, recommends among the red varieties of wheat suit- able for bread-making, the Eed Rock, or, in lieu of that, Egyptian, Shepherd's Perfection, Mediterra- nean, and Eed Wave, among such excellent types as are available. Among the white wheats adapted for pastry flour and breakfast foods, he mentions Plymouth Pock, White Pock, Dawson's Golden Chaff, and American Banner as leading varieties.^ The Michigan Agricultural College is stated to have begun the distribution of pedigreed grains from its breeding plats in 1909.^ Several of the varieties ^Jmi/rnal of the Amer. Peat Soc, No. 3, July, 1920, 298. 2"Rept. Midi. Bd. Agr." 1918, 652. ' MS. article by A. L. Bibbins, Secretary, Mich. Crop Improvement Assoc., 1920. 214 RTRAL MICIIKIAN of wheat just noted were among the first released by the College. To systematize this work of grain improvement throngh cooperation with the Michigan Agricultural College, a number of farmers, in 1911, organized "The ]\Iichigan Experiment Association." "The plan generally followed," says Bil)bins, secre- tary of the Crop Improvement Association, "was to allow any member of the Association to obtain from the station plat an amoimt of grain varying accord- ing to the supply, from one peck to one bushel. The member was then required to sow this seed beside his own variety and report his results to the secre- tary of the Association." The Association recognized the impossibility of securing a single type of any grain adapted to all portions of a state so varied in conditions of soil and climate as Michigan ; but the type adapted to particular conditions might be ascertained. Thus, as Bibbins states, it was de- termined that the Worthy oat is suited to rich heavy soil, and this is said at present to be the most ex- tensively grown variety in Michigan. Coincidentally, it was ascertained that the Alexander oat is appar- ently best adapted to sandy loam types of soil. Simi- larly Rosen rye was first distributed by the College through the members of this Association. It had been the function of the Michigan Experiment As- sociation to determine experimentally suitable varie- ties of grain. To develop its work among the farm- ers of the State and carry out a more extensive scheme of crop improvement, a reorganization was effected in 1917, under the designation of "The AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 215 Michigan Crop Improvement Association." "This organization/' writes its secretary, "includes in its activities the testing out of improved varieties and methods in cooperation with not only the farm crops department (of the Michigan Agricultural College), but also with other departments closely related with successful crop production, such as plant pathology, bacteriology, etc.'' The Association does not confine its attention to varieties of grain developed at the College, however, but is concerned with types origi- nated on the farms of the State and elsewhere. Agents of the Association make inspections of such grain just before harvest and then after the seed is in storage. Ninety-nine per cent of purity, practical freedom from noxious weeds and disease, conformity to a prescribed standard of germination, color and weight a bushel are required for approval by the Association. After inspection, the Association pub- lishes a list of farmers having approved seed for sale. Marketing of pure seeds is now also effected through the Michigan State Farm Bureau, through cooperation with the Michigan Crop Improvement Association. Through various agencies of publicity, the county agricultural agents, the grain exhibit in connection with farmers' week at the Michigan Agri- cultural College and otherwise, the character and advantages of improved types of grain are brought home to the agricultural population. While farmers are traditionally conservative, such demonstrations are not lost. Thus, the sowing of the initial one bushel of Rosen rye in Jackson County in 1912 ex- 210 RURAL MICHIGAN tended among the farmers of the State until in 1918 it was estimated by the Crop Improvement As- sociation that Si per cent of the rye in Michigan was of the pure-bred variety. The Michigan Crop Improvement Association now (Jan. 4, 1921) has five hundred members, twenty of whom reside in the Upper Peninsuhi. During the period from 1910 to 1920, the plant- breeder, F. A. Spragg, of the Michigan Agricultural College, is credited with contributing to Michigan agriculture such new plant varieties as Worthy oats, Alexander oats, Eosen rye, Red Rock wheat, American Banner wheat, Michigan Two-row barley, Michigan Black Barbless barley, and Robust beans. ^ The new white sweet clover was also introduced into the State in this period. Corn variety tests were undertaken to establish local standardization of the grain. It is also claimed that wheat variety tests conducted throughout the State in recent years have established the outstanding excellence of Red Rock and Egyptian of the red wheats, and the American Banner of the white wheat. Variety tests for oats have shown, it is asserted, the Worthy, Wolverine, College Suc- cess and College Wonder to be "outstanding." In southern Michigan, Cox enumerates the Johnson, the Strube in the Saginaw A^alley, and the White Bonanza, New Victory and Swedish Select as excel- lent types over a wide territory. Among the six-row barleys, Wisconsin Pedigree is placed in the lead, while of the two-row types, the Michigan Two-row • J. F. Cox in TJie Michigan Farmer, Feb. 5, 1921. AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 217 is the best producer. The Michigan Black Barbless barley is said to out-yield other kinds in adverse years and yields high in favorable seasons. Eight years of experience with Eosen rye left its supremacy unchal- lenged. Tests were also conducted in relation to soybeans to determine the types best adapted to Michigan. Bean tests have placed the improved Eobust variety in the lead as a hardy disease-resistant type. Northwestern varieties of alfalfa were tried out and it was demonstrated that the Grimm, Cos- sack and Baltic were of outstanding excellence for Michigan. Evidence accumulates that Michigan farmers are increasingly particular regarding the quality of the seed they plant. April 29, 1921, the Michigan State Farm Bureau reported that, during the preceding winter, fifty thousand Michigan farmers had bought seed through their seed department. The department stated that it had put out three million pounds of seed of "known origin, adaptability, purity and per- cent of germination." It claimed to have increased the registered Grimm alfalfa acreage of the State by 500 per cent, and it handled 750,000 pounds of ]\Iichigan-grown clover seed and retained it for Michigan users, it reported. As evidence of the in- creasing diversity in field crops, it was then stated that the department was handling sweet clover and vetch, for which there was reported a good demand, and millet and Sudan-grass were also on their list. Twelve carloads of "ITubam" (annual white sweet clover) were reported to have been sown in the 218 RURAL MICHIGAN season of 1920, and it was anticipated that there would be 1,000 acres planted in the season of 1921. It was claimed that this new crop would revolutionize crop rotation and the productive power of the soil.^ ' Mich. State Farm Bur. News Serv., April, 29, 1921, 2. CHAPTEE VI ANIMAL INDUSTRIES OF MICHIGAN Blois' Gazetteer of 1838 estimated the number of neat cattle in Michigan at 149,350. Of horses the number was 23,430; of sheep, 37,806; of hogs, 181,825. The total amounts to 392,411. A glimpse of the place of live-stock in Michigan agriculture in the middle of the last century is ob- tained from a survey, the results of which are pub- lished in the collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society for 1887. Of Shiawassee County, it is said that ''raising stock has become quite a business. Besides the cattle slaughtered at home, the amount sold and taken out of the county for each of the years 1852 and 1853 was not less than $10,000. Almost every farmer has a flock of sheep, and wool-growing has become an important business, the amount sold in 1853 exceeding $10,000. Nearly every farmer raises or makes his surplus amount of butter and pork."^ The township of Napoleon, Jackson County, with a population of 301, produced "80,000 pounds of wool, 800 barrels of pork, and 700 barrels of beef."^ Wayland Township, Allegan ' "Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections," XII, 388. 'Ibid., 396. 219 220 RURAL MICHIGAN County, witli its population of 331, produced "1,350 pounds of pork, 247 pounds of wool sold, 3,825 pounds of butter made." ^ From Ann Arbor came the report that 'Sve raised and disposed of in the year of 1853 in our county 1,000 head of fat cattle, 2,000 hogs fatted, 1,000 store hogs, 10,000 sheep-pelts, and 200,000 pounds of wool." ^ For statistics of live- stock see Appendix G. One of the most striking evidences of the advance registered in Michigan agriculture has been the re- placement of mongrel live-stock by pure-bred types of a few standard varieties. Thus in the census of 1920, 1,293 farms reported 2,779 head of pure-bred horses, including 478 Belgian, 45 French Draft, 14 Hackney, 1,63 G Percherons, 59 Shire, 205 standard bred, 123 Clydesdale, and 219 of other types. The same census showed 62,800 pure-bred beef breeds of cattle, and 46,533 head of dairy breeds. Of the beef breeds, there were enumerated 1,519 Aberdeen- Angus, 1,825 Hereford, 1,067 Polled Durham, 11,712 Shorthorns, and 144 of other types. Of the dairy breeds, 291 were Ayrshire, 429 Brown Swiss, 3,369 Guernsey, 32,702 Holstein-Friesian, 8,296 Jersey, 1,446 all other breeds. The total number of pure- bred sheep reported from 2,639 farms were 21,342, comprising 24 Cheviot, 72 Dorset Horn, 1,910 Hamp- shire Down, 100 Leicester, 268 Lincoln, 4,998 Merino, Ubid., 400. ^ "Thirteenth Census of the U. S. Abstract with Supple- ment for Mich.," 1910, 336. AXIilAL IXDUSTRIES 221 2,800 Oxford, 2/267 Eambouillet, 7,942 Shropshire, 42 Suffolk, 919 other breeds. The swine numbered 33,527, reported from 7,656 farms. Of these the Berkshire breed had 1,618, the Chester- White, 7,869, the Duroc-Jersey, 12,842, the Hampshire, 1.023, the Poland-China. 8,739, the Spotted Poland-China, 219, the Tamworth, 135, the Yorkshire, 376, and all others, 676. Statistics of pure-bred live-stock are given in Appendix H. The Michigan Improved Livestock Breeders and Feeders Association was org:anized in 1890. and its membership fluctuates from 200 to 300. although its annual meetinsrs at East Lansinor orenerallv brincf out twice or thrice these numbers. The object of the Association is declared in its constitution, "to promote the interests of breeders of the various breeds of improved livestock in Michigan," and "any per- son interested in improved breeds of livestock may become a member of this association by paying one dollar into the treasury." The annual dues are one dollar. The secretary states that, when this Asso- ciation was established, there was not sufficient in- terest in particular breeds of live-stock to organize separate societies for them individually. In the interim, however, separate organizations have been created for horses, sheep, swine and cattle, and vari- ous varieties of each species, although thev are affiliated with the general parent organization. At their annual conferenc-e held at the 5lichigan Agri- cultural College during the winter, discussions take 223 RURAL MICIIIGAN place relating to problems connected with improving live-stock, protection from disease, market conditions, and the like. SHEEP The number of sheep in Michigan in 1878 is given at 1,670,790, producing 8,666,467 pounds of wool, an average of 5.19 pounds a head. By 1884 the num- ber had increased to 2,453,897, yielding 13,827,542 pounds of wool. Thence the number declined and reached 1,260,295 in 1897-8, producing 8,207,594 pounds of wool. In the latter year, however, the amount of wool to a head of sheep was 6.51 pounds, indicating, with the similarly increased output of the year immediately preceding, an improvement of the wool-producing types of sheep in the period.^ In the years Just given, the counties showing the largest number of sheep in the order named were Washtenaw, Eaton, Jackson, Calhoun, Lenawee, Ingham, Branch, Livingston, Oakland and Hills- dale.^ Washtenaw's quota was then 79,059, while Hillsdale possessed 46,519 sheep, representing the extremes of the ten counties mentioned. Not only did Washtenaw County excel in the number of sheep, its yield of wool to a head (7.79) was in excess of the State's average. Several counties showed a still larger average product but the total number of sheep was small. It will be noted that the counties excelling in the number of sheep owned were all '"Kept. :\Iicli. Bd. Agr.," 1900, 202. UbicL, 204. AXIMAL IXDUSTKIES 223 southern, the oldest agriculturally of the State, where sheep-raising had long been a well-established busi- ness. The ten counties enumerated had nearly one- half the sheep and wool output of Michigan. The severe drought tliat afflicted the range country east of the Rocky Mountains in Montana and adja- cent territory in the summer and autumn of 1919 forced large shipments of cattle and sheep into more favored regions. The cut-over country south of Lake Superior, well supplied with succulent grasses and brush, received large consignments of animals. The United States Department of Agriculture and the Tapper Peninsula Development Bureau promoted this migration, and very considerable numbers of sheep found their way into the northern peninsula of Michigan. The movement was continued in 1920, but with the return of more favorable conditions in the seasons of 1920 and 1921, the tide fell off. Its recession, however, left the northern counties of the State much better stocked with sheep than had for- merly been the case, and the ten million acres or more of cut-over lands of Michigan were being seriously considered as a new range for the live-stock industry.^ In addition to this large-scale sheep ranching in the northern range country, there has been developing a small-scale intensive sheep business participated in by farmers, chiefly of Finnish nationality and of limited means, financed by townsmen on a profit- sharing basis. Of the breeds of sheep represented in Michigan ^"Yearbook," U. S. Dept. Agr., 1919, 401. 224 RURAL MICIIIOAN during this period, the Oxford Downs are said to have been imported in about the year 1883. It is stated by one breeder of this type that up to 1887, "there were less than half a dozen flocks of pure- bred Oxfords in Michigan."^ The popularity of the breed seems to have increased. The breeders, cen- tering in Genesee County, organized an association, and by 1899, the estimated number of pure-bred Ox- fords in the State is placed at 2,500.^ The lowest average yield of wool to a head up to that date is given at 8.5 pounds. One flock is credited with an average of 11.5 pounds a head, while this record had been exceeded in some instances, it is claimed. Other breeds of sheep in the State during the period under review included the American, French and Delaine Merinos, Shropshire, Hampshire, Southdown, Cotswold, Lincoln, Leicester and Horned Dorset. In popularity the Shropshire is reported as leading, and although at that time the Merinos are said to have composed the chief flocks of the State, they were giving place to the Shropshire breed. ^ Michigan had 2,224,000 head of sheep on January 1, 1920, valued at $11.80 a head, with an aggregate farm value of $2G,243,000. In 1919, these sheep produced 9,554,000 pounds of wool, weighing on an average 7.4 pounds. The total number of fleeces was 1,291,000.* Flocks of sheep on Michigan farms ^"Rept. Mich. Bd. Agr.," 1899, 398. '■"fbid., 400. ^Ibid., 1892, 365. * "Yearbook," U. 8. Dept. Agr., 1919, 669-672. The re- turns of the Fourteentli U. S. Census show that there were ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 225 normally are small, probably averaging 25 to 30 head. In 1920 a very bad situation in relation to the wool market reacted adversely on the sheep in- dustry of the State. The Bureau of Crop Estimates, however, found that the number of lambs at the close of the year had increased as a result of slow market- ing, so that the net loss of sheep stood at only 4 per cent, and the total number of head was found to be 2,135,000 in February, 1921. The estimated valua- tion of 14,000,000 was not much over half that of the preceding year. Classified with reference to breeds, the Cheviots numbered 1.1 per cent of the aggregate; the Cots- wold, 2 ; Oxford Downs, 6.9 ; Rambouillet, 6 ; Shrop- shires, 46.8; Southdowns, 2.8; Tunis, .1; others, 4; jSTondescript, 4.1 per cent.^ With increasing stringency, the statutes of the State seek to protect sheep and other live-stock against the depredation of dogs. Dogs are required to be licensed and wear a tag, and they may be killed on view when attacking live-stock or trespassing in rural districts on private property. The proceeds of the dog tax are primarily for assignment, on order of a city council or township board, to the owners of sheep killed by dogs. Since sheep suffer also from the depredations of wolves and coyotes, a large bounty of $35 (until 1921) was provided for their destruc- in Michigan (Jan. 1, 1920) 1,209,191 sheep on hand on farms, and that 7,835,558 pounds of wool were produced in 1919. Of mohair, 1,617 pounds were produced in Michigan in 1919. ^"Mich. Crop Kept.," Bur. Crop Estimates, May, 1920, 6. 226 RURAL MICHIGAN tion, which, however, did not prove very eiTective. It has been necessary in certain districts to call in the systematized efforts of the United States Bio- logical Survey to reinforce whatever may be done by the State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Commis- sioner's department in ridding the State of these noxious animals in the interest of the sheep in- dustry. The problem of these destructive pests is admittedly difficult. According to the expert in- vestigations of the United States Biological Survey, coyotes made their way into Michigan some ten years ago and are now thought to number one thousand individuals. Since they enter mainly from Wiscon- sin and Minnesota, the task of dealing with them is at least a tri-state problem. They have penetrated nearly to tlic Straits of Mackinac (January, 1921) and are likely to cross the Straits over the ice and become at home in the southern peninsula as well. Timber wolves have entered the State from Canada over the ice of Lake Superior and were in 1921 considered to number some five hundred individuals. Both wolves and coyotes have caused considerable damage to sheep and to a less extent to other do- mestic animals, as well as to deer and other wild life. It was recommended that the present ineffective bounty on predacious animals be abolished and that local wardens, or deputized hunters, operating under the immediate direction of the regular force of dis- trict wardens of the State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Commissioner's department, should be regularly employed to destroy the varmints, and that the op- ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 227 erations of this force should be supervised by an expert of the United States Biological Survey, it was so ordered in 1921. It is believed that this pro- cedure would well-nigh rid the State of these predatory animals which otherwise are likely greatly to discourage the sheep industry in the Upper Penin- sula.^ HOKSES AXD MULES Horses were introduced into ]\Iichigan by the early French, "hardy, strong, of quiet disposition, some of them quite speedy." An amalgamation of this type with the breeds introduced by the American settlers is said to have taken place. The horses introduced by the eastern immigrants are described as of moderate size, being fifteen to sixteen hands high and weighing 1,000 to 1,200 pounds. English thoroughbred stallions crossed with native mares im- proved the strain, contributing the carriage and driving horses of later days. About 1854 the Morgan and Blackhawk horses were introduced from New England, it is stated. Hamiltonian and other trot- ting blood was similarly brought in. During this period also draught horse breeds, mainly of English blood, entered the State. Then came Percherons from France. Next came Clydesdales and English types. In 1892 the Percheron type is said to have been rather more popular than the Clydesdale and UL S. Bur. F^iol. Survey: "Special Rcpt.— :\Ii jhioan In- vestigations— Predatory Animal Control," 1020-1921: J. S. I-igon, Predatory Animal Inspector. 228 RURAL MICHIGAN P^iiglish shire animals. By this date also other types, SulTolk Punch, and Belgians, were in evidence. The Belgians have made excellent records here and are found in large numbers on the well-known "Prairie Farm" in the Saginaw valley.^ Cleveland Bays and French coach horses were also represented in Michigan. It was averred that "the common horse has seen its best days. Electricity has killed him, and henceforth he will not pay his breeder unless the American public can be induced to follow Paris fashion to eat him."' The intervening thirty years since the foregoing was written have hardly vindi- cated the prophecy. In 1893, Michigan numbered 530,294 horses, valued at $40,659,072, averaging $76.67 each.- The Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture for 1919 informs us that, on January 1, 1920, there were 6-10,000 horses in Michigan, whose farm value was $60,800,000, at an average price a head of $95. To this may be added 4,000 mules, at an average price of $99 a head, with an aggregate farm value of $396,000.^ The increas- ing use of automobiles and tractors is displacing horses and mules, and the Bureau of Crop Estimates finds the number of colts and young horses less in 1920 than in former years. The decline in the total number of horses in that year is 4 per cent, equivalent to 26,000 head. The average price a head in 1920 * Michigan Farmer, CLIII, 806. ="-Rept. Mich. Bd. Agr.," 1892, 373, 375. = "Yearbook," U. S. Dept. Agr., 654. ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 229 is estimated at $93, which is also a decline of $2 for the year. SWINE The statistics of the United States Department of Agriculture show that on January 1, 1920, there were in Michigan 1,450,000 sw^ine. Their average price a head was $22, and their aggregate farm value $31,900,000.^ In the case of swine as of other animals, the year 1920 registered a decline in num- bers, but of only 1 per cent, due to a retardation of marketing caused by adverse market conditions. The indicated number of swine in the State on January 31, 1921, was, therefore, 1,435,000 head, valued at $20,520,500, a loss of more than $11,000,000 during the year. The relative number of the several important breeds of swine in ^Michigan were distributed by the Bureau of Crop Estimates as follows : Berkshire, 8.4 per cent; Cheshire, 1.2; Chester-White, 24; Duroc-Jersey, 29.4 ; Hampshire, .9 ; Poland-China, 25.7; Tamworth, .2; Kazorback, .2; others, 4.6; non- descript, 4.7 per cent.- Returns to the Secretary of State's office in 1892 showed the total number of swine in Michigan to be 301,812. These were distributed widely throughout the State, each farmer maintaining a few animals. The most popular breeds were then stated to be the Poland-China and Berkshire. However, other breeds, * "Yearbook," U. S. Dept. Agr., IfllO, 676. ^"Mich. Crop. Kept./' May, 1920, 6. 230 JU'UAI. MirillflAN now little heard of, were found in Michigan in the middle period. Thus the Essex hog, described as "a small boned black liog with generally an erect ear, and distinguished by the softness of the skin and fineness of the hair, with fine-grained and de- licious meat,"' is said to have been introduced into ^lichigan about 18()8/ Somewhat later appeared the Duroc-Jersey, or "Jersey Red," which experiments at the jMichigan Agricultural College in the late eighties seem to demonstrate as a superior breed, and which has become a favorite in the State.^ CATTLE Again, in 1892, a general review of live-stock con- ditions in the State was presented in the Eeport of the Michigan Board of Agriculture for 1892. It was recognized that "cattle-growing has not been conducted on so extensive a scale in this state as in some of the western states, but all farmers grow more or less cattle. N^early all milk their cows and manufacture the milk into butter, or contribute to cheese-factories, and grow the calves on skim milk." ^ The writer further explains the breed of cattle most in demand "up to a very late date had been that which included cows that were fairly good milkers, and that would ijroduce calves that would grow into good beef cattle. For a few years past more atten- ^"Rept. Mich. Bd. Agr.," 1892, 381. ''Ibid., 384. ^Jhid., 357. ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 231 tion has been given to dairy breeds and now many farms are stocked with this class of cattle exclusively. Nearly all the improved breeds of cattle have been introduced and kept in the state, although some breeds have so far made little showing. In many sections of the state there are large feeders of cattle which consume the coarse products of the farm, as well as purchased grain, at a fair profit, and leave a large quantity of manure. The num1)er of cattle in the state at last report was 643,452." ^ The number of milch cows in Michigan, January 1, 1920, was 873,000, at an average price a head of $96, with a farm value of $83,808,000. To this are to be added 773,000 head of other cattle, having an average price a head of $42.80, and a farm value of $33,084,000.2 The Bureau of Crop Estimates in its report on live-stock for 1920 notes a 2 per cent decline in the number of milch cows during that year, which is equivalent to 17,000 head. The decline in numbers and of price, put at $26 a head, is attributed to the lessening in demand for dairy l^roducts. The decline in the numbers of cattle other than milch cows was found to be 6 per cent, while a loss of 34 per cent in price was announced. Of the total number of cattle in Michigan, the Bureau of Crop Estimates (May 1920) reported that Aberdeen-Angus amounted to 1.7 per cent; Ayr- shire, .5; Brown Swiss, .6; Devon, .1; Dutch Belted, .1; Galloway, .7; Guernsey, (i.l; Hereford, 4.1; '"Kept. Mich. Bd. A;,n-.," 1892, 357. * "Yearbook," U. S. Dcpt. Agr., 1919, 659. 233 RURAL MICHIGAN Holstein, 40; Jersey, 11.1; Polled Durham, 1.4; Eed Polled, 1.7; Shorthorn (Durham), 23.9; others, 1.8; nondescript, C.2. This illustrates the very evident preference of Michigan farmers for the Holsteins.^ POULTRY The Census of 1910 reported that Michigan had 9,967,039 fowls of all kinds. Their value amounted to $5,610,958. The number of chickens and Guinea- fowls was 9,724,713, and of turkeys, ducks and geese, 202,778. BEES AND HONEY The United States Census indicates the production of honey on farms in Michigan in 1909 to have been 2,507,810 pounds. As these statistics are under- stood not to have been obtained from beekeepers within cities and villages, where also considerable quantities of honey are produced, they must be re- garded as inadequate. The same source of informa- tion reports a production of 28,524 pounds of wax in 1909. The value of both honey and wax was placed at $296,742. The latest available informa- tion regarding honey production in Michigan is from the State Apiary Inspector, who estimated (Feb- ruary 1921) that the output of extracted honey is 8,000,000 pounds; of comb honey 2,000,000 pounds; ^"Mich. Crop Kept.," Lansing, May, 1920, 6, ANIMAL INDUSTRIES 233 and of bees' wax 500,000 pounds. The beekeeping industry is well distributed throughout the southern peninsula but chiefly in the "Thumb" section and has made a good beginning iji the northern region, where conditions have been found very favorable, owing to the large amount of wild vegetation which yields subsistence for the little workers.^ The beekeepers of Michigan are organized in a State association which is interested in their social and educational affairs. There are thirty-five county societies, while the marketing of their product is in charge of the Michigan Honey Producers Exchange. The home market is excellent but is said to be in- adequately supplied. In the view of the State Apiary Inspector (1921), beekeeping is now passing into the hands of specialists, the general farmer having relinquished the business very largely. There are reported to be from 8,000 to 10,000 beekeepers in the State. ( An estimate of the Michigan State Farm Bureau puts the number of beekeepers in Michigan at 15,000, possesvsing 150,000 colonies of bees.) ]\Iichigan possesses several kinds of native and cultivated plants well suited to the bee industry, including the clovers, white and yellow, alsike, and the white sweet clover; while in the northern counties, the raspberry, milkweed and firewood are the chief ^ See Michigan Farmer, Aug. 13, 1921, pages 9-137. Cf. Cliap. IX. Anioiif,' tlie plants siiilal)le to hoes in the north- ern cut-over area, the State Apiary Inapeetor notes alsike and white clover, wild red raspberry, blackberry, fire-weed, bassvvood, boneset and aster, 234: RURAL MICUUIAN sources of honey. There are also goldenrod, Spanish needle, asters and boneset; also buckwheat and bass- wood, producing honey of a definite and much prized flavor, and the dandelion and fruit blossoms.^ ' Michigan Farmer, Mar. 12, 1921, 3. CHAPTER VII TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING In the annals of the pioneers of Michigan, an ever-recurring note is the remoteness of the settler's market, the difficnlty of getting there and the reac- tion of this situation on prices and production. Ob- viously, roads when they existed were bad, excep- tionally so in a country of swamps, bogs and marshes. The rivers were useful, but, although early territorial and state statutes dignified most of them by the designation "navigable," it made considerable dif- ference what vessels sought to navigate them and how far one ventured up their tortuous channels. Daniel Ball endeavored to transport flour regularly from Owosso to the mouth of the Saginaw by water, but was not long in relinquishing the attempt. The Grand, Saginaw, Huron, St. Joseph and Kalamazoo served well the first inhabitants of the State, when /oads were fathomless in mud and the rail head was at Pontiac, Ann Arbor and Hillsdale. The Upper Peninsula streams were little used save for lofirijinff operations, since most of them were short and rapid, particularly on the Lake Superior side of the divide. In south Michigan, ])efore the middle of the last century, the patient slow-moving oxen commonly 23.5 23G lilJRAL MICHIGAN took wheat and corn to the mill and returned with flour and meal and sundry articles of family use from the country store or even from Detroit or Grand Eapids. "When winter came and the sleighing was good," relates Edward W. Barber, a pioneer of Vermont- ville, Eaton County, "father yoked the oxen, hitched them to a rough sled, drove to Marshall, twenty- eight miles distant, purchased a load of wheat at forty-four cents a bushel, had it ground and was home again in four days." This illustrates the market facilities of pioneer Michigan. "It was some years before a mail reached us once a week unless the river was high," says R. C. Kedzie of his Lenawee home of the second quarter of the last century. "We were twenty-five miles from a mill, store, post-office, doctor, minister and civilization in general and par- ticular. Our roads were merely trails through the woods marked by blazed trees, and our only bridge over the river was a canoe." In going to mill, "the bags of wheat were carried over the river in the canoe, the horses were unharnessed and made to swim the stream, the harness piece by piece was ferried over, then all parts put together again, the grain loaded up and the driver could then go to Monroe to get his grist ground."^ When Captain Scott of Clinton County went to Ann Arbor for seed- wheat in 1834, he traveled with an ox team. "Not having bags to put the wheat in, it was put loose in the wagon- box. On the way home, the wagon got mired cross- ^ "Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections," XXIX, 529. TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 237 ing the swamp, and we had to spread down our blankets and carry the wheat in pails and put it on the blankets, and when we got the wagon out, load up again." ^ The father of L. D. Watkins of Manchester, that same year, required six days to transport his family and effects the fifty-nine miles to "Fairview Farm." ^ For the convenience of the first travelers, woods- men and farmers, a remarkable network of paths interlaced through the forests and prairies, wrought by the feet of the deer, the Indians and their ponies. Some of these well-marked routes bore special desig- nations, as the Canada trail down the Huron Valley to the Ontario shore of the Detroit Eiver, the "Nesh- inguak" between Detroit and Saginaw, while other foot-ways ran to the Grand Biver Valley, between the Grand River and the Kalamazoo, even to far away Mackinac, Joining lake with lake, stream with stream, camp-site with camp-site. The pioneer soon learned their utility, and, if he paused to note the beauty of the physical environment through which they passed on the line of least resistance, he also was glad that he could so readily advance through a wilderness that, without these primitive thorough- fares, Avould have greatly restricted his movements and have retarded the penetration by the whites of the inner reaches of the country. However, the old trails were narrow and unsuited for wagons and sleighs. The settler must almost at ^Ibid., XVII, 412. == Ibid., XXII, 262. 238 RURAL MICHIGAN once become a builder of roads. The national govern- ment led the way in this work, for reasons of its own, primarily of a military character, and constructed roads from Detroit to Chicago (early in the second quarter of the last century), from Detroit to Fort Gratiot at the mouth of Lake Huron, to Saginaw Bay and into the Grand Eiver Valley. These na- tional thoroughfares have left a considerable impres- sion on the pioneer literature of the State. "When the four-or-six-horse stage-coaches" entered Saline on the Chicago Eoad, "with a grand flourish of wliip and tin horn blowing and prancing horses, nearly every person in town would be at the tavern — all business at a standstill — to see, as a great' event, with almost as much of a curiosity as a menagerie, who had come or who were going . and the horses changed." ^ Perhaps the deepest impression of all was im- planted by the horrible roads that joined Detroit with its hinterland, through a welter of mud and marshes, until a plank-way relieved the unhappy situation in which travelers had formerly commonly found them- selves in traversing this section of the State. Occa- sionally the stage departed from the established route altogether and sought a more passable way over the forest floor among giant trees whose enormous tops had spaced the trunks at ample distances from each other. "The roads were almost always poor and often terrible," writes W. J. Beal. "People frequently went on foot from place to place or rode in lumber ^"Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections," XXXV, 394. TRAlsS^PORTATIO^' AXD MARKETING 239 wagons, sometimes over a road of poles on stringers a quarter of a mile long without dirt or gravel on top. This was corduroy road, long to be remembered by anyone who has ever ridden over such a thing in a wagon without springs." ^ These difficult conditions in respect to transpor- tation reacted adversely on market conditions and the price of the products of the pioneer farms. In early Eaton County, meat sold at four cents a pound and eggs at three cents a dozen. An Ottawa County reminiscencer quotes the local price of wheat as fifty to sixty cents a bushel, of pork as $2.50 to $3 a liun- dredweight, and of flour as $2.50 to $3 a barrel. In his home town the price of horses was $30, of cows, $8, of oxen, $30. This reacted on land values, which here ran at $4 an acre in addition to the government price of $1.25. The assessed valuation of four townships in this county is stated to have been $19,081." At Vermontville, potatoes are said to have sold for a shilling a bushel in 1839. Since whatever was produced before the advent of the rail- road must be consumed in the locality, there was likely to be a surplus that must be disposed of at prices which now seem absurdly low. It was other- wise in the northern peninsuUi where much of the population was engaged in mining and lumbering, and required largo importations of food-stuffs and manufactured articles to satisfy the local require- ments. Beef came hither on the hoof on shipboard, 'Ihid.. XXXTT, 246. 2 "Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections," IX, 264. 240 RURAL MICHIGAN and hay was transported from Detroit to the copper country in the period following the Civil War. To ameliorate transportation conditions was the great desire of the settlers. The territorial council chartered companies for the purpose of improving the navigation of certain rivers by removing obstruc- tion and straightening the water-courses. Other companies undertook the construction of plank-roads, or turnpikes. Tlie territorial and state governments established highways between such important points as Pontiac, Ann Arbor and Adrian; Monroe and Ypsilanti ; Mount Clemens, Saginaw and Sault Ste. Marie; Niles, Kalamazoo and Saginaw, Marshall and Grand Eapids, Coldwater and Berrien. Blois' Gazet- teer of Michigan for 1838 describes forty-two mail routes in the State, indicating that there was weekly mail service between Detroit and Lapeer, Detroit and Utica, Detroit and Howell, Maumee and Jones- ville, Ypsilanti and Plymouth, Saline and Grass Lake, Jonesville and Marshall, Coldwater and St. Joseph, Ann Arbor and Pontiac, Ann Arbor and Ionia, Marshall and Coldwater, Marshall and Cen- terville, Pontiac and Ionia, Mount Clemens and Lapeer, Adrian and Jonesville, Adrian and Defiance, Ohio; Michigan City, Indiana and Grand Haven; Battle Creek and Eaton, Kalamazoo and Saugatuck, Ionia and Saginaw. Thrice in the week, it appears, the mail passed between Toledo and Adrian.^ Mitch- ell's Tourist Map of 1835 describes three principal ^"Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections," XXXVIII, 594. TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 241 stage routes in jMichigan. Of these one ran from Detroit through Ypsilanti^ Saline, Tecumseh, Jones- ville, Coldwater, Niles, La Porte and Michigan City to Chicago. The schedule called for a stage over this route three times each week. A second stage line Joined Detroit with Monroe, Toledo and Lower Sandusky, also with a thrice-a-week stage. Twice in the week the stage ran from Monroe through Adrian to Tecumseh. The same map indicates steam- boat lines on the adjoining Great Lakes between Buffalo, Detroit, Fort Gratiot, and Chicago. The steamers touched at the coast villages, and ascended or connected with steamers that ascended the larger rivers, such as the Grand and the St. Joseph. Blois gives the registered tonnage for vessels on Lake Erie in 1836 at 24,045, represented by 45 steamboats of an aggregate tonnage of 9,016, and 211 other craft. The steamer Illinois of 755 tons, built in 1838 at Detroit, is credited with the maximum ca- pacity for her day.^ It thus appears that, at about the time Michigan gained statehood, immigrants and merchandise could pass between Michigan and the Atlantic sea- board by a route which involved on the westward journey a short steamer run up the Hudson to Albany, a canal passage of three or four days be- tween Albany and Buffalo, a ride of forty hours by steamer from Buffalo to Detroit, and thence a stage or wagon journey into the interior. If the facilities for reaching the inner portions Ubid., 595. 243 RURAL MICHIGAN of the State were arduous and inadequate, the rail- road quickly suggested a remedy for the delays and losses which the frontiersmen suffered because of these conditions. The first charter granted to a railroad in Michigan was that of the Detroit and Pontiac Eailroad under date of July 31, 1830. Up to 1837 nineteen other railroad companies were char- tered with an aggregate capital of $10,000,000. If charters could have built railroads, a contemporary suggestion that the horse would soon become a su- perfluous animal might readily have become a reality. The actual work of railroad-building did not follow immediately on the grant of charters. Article XII, section 3, of the Michigan Constitu- tion of 1835, under which the first State government was organized, declared that "Internal improvement shall be encouraged by the government of this state; and it shall be the duty of the legislature, as soon as may be, to make provision by law for ascertaining the proper objects of improvement in relation to roads, canals and navigable waters."^ This section was the constitutional expression of an ardent popular desire. Governor Mason in his message of January 2, 1837, definitely brought the subject to the fore. He declared that Michigan was "amply competent to construct her own internal improvements." He would have the State undertake the construction of a trans-state canal beween the lakes to the east and west of the southern portion of Michigan; and he suggested that the headwaters of several streams ^ "Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections," XXXVIII, 597. Cm i-i PL, Oh 0; 02 0) o ■*-> o so bfl TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 243 having their rise near the center-line of the State might readily be given canal connections and hence establish additional trans-state waterways. Indeed, the sanguine temperament and exuberant imagina- tion of the youthful governor, reflecting well the temper of his fellow citizens, hardly placed bounds to any conception of internal development that might be brought forward at the moment. The legislature acted promptly. "The subject of internal improve- ment," declared its committee which took the matter under advisement, "is one which is occupying the intelligence of the age." Internal improvement was "the great lever which is opening the sealed-up foun- tains of national wealth and civilization." Michigan seated "by nature in the very lap of wealth and power" should not be laggard in seizing her oppor- tunity. She was not laggard. Under the direction of a State Commission of Internal Improvement, the construction of three railroads was undertaken : the Northern, joining the St. Clair and Grand River; the Central, joining Detroit with the mouth of the St. Joseph River; and the Southern, con- necting Lake Erie with southern Lake Michigan. Private enterprise had already established a rail- road between Maumee Bay and Adrian, which served the needs of passengers and freight in that direction, and had instituted construction on the central line west from Detroit. The Commission on Internal Im- provement eagerly pressed its own projects until financial difficulties forced the cessation of work and finally the sale of the publicly owned railroads that it 244 RURAL MICHIGAN had extended to Kalamazoo and to Hillsdale but could not continue beyond these points. The sale to private corporations was effected in ISiG, and six years later, private enterprise had extended the central and southern lines to Chicago, thus for the first time given an eastern rail connection with Lake Erie and the east. The Michigan Southern Kail- road consolidated with the old Erie and Kalamazoo — the first railroad opened in Michigan, — and with the line joining Detroit and Toledo, the beginnings of Michigan's present railway system were definitely secured. Within three years after the Michigan Central and the Michigan Southern railroads reached Chicago in 1852, they were linked up with the New York Central and the Erie railroads of New York State by lines to the northward and the southward of Lake Erie, thus giving southern Michigan an eastern market and rail connection with the eastern seaboard. The establishment of all-rail transportation be- tween Chicago and the ocean, by its saving of time and money, stimulated immigration into the North- west. This and reduced freight charges increased the aggregate of production, then chiefly agricultural, in this region. Eingwalt, quoting Henry C. Carey, ascertains the cost of traveling from New York to Chicago in 1838 to have been $7-1.50. The Com- mittee on Internal Improvement of the Michigan Legislature stated (1837) that the rate for passengers by stage in Michigan M-as six to eight cents a mile, and for merchandise between Detroit and Marshall TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 245 $2 a hundredweight. In 1854 the cost of carrying freight by wagon was estimated to be fifteen cents a ton-mile.^ It was the steam railway that wrought a fundamental change in the situation of Michigan agriculture as related to transportation and markets. Clearly an inhabitant of Jackson County, for ex- ample, could not have prospered unless he could dis- pose of his surplus wheat and live-stock beyond the bounds of his own neighborhood. Detroit was his best market, as it had at least water transportation to the seaboard. However, to get to Detroit with a load of grain or live-stock was costly, until, in the forties, steam wrought a fundamental change. Eing- walt, quoting Williams' "Traveller's and Tourist's Guide," gives the passenger fare from Boston to Chicago in 1851 as $23. The fare from Boston to Detroit was $1G. From New York to Chicago, according to Carey, the fare was $17. A railway convention held in Cleveland agreed on passenger fares between Xew York and certain western cities for the year 1855. In this agreement were included the New York Central, the Xew York and Erie, the Pennsylvania, and the Baltimore and Ohio railroads. By this agreement, fares like the following were established : Between Xew York and Sandusky, $14.65 ; Xew York and Cleveland, $13 ; Xew York and Detroit, $15; Xew York and Chicago, $22; Xew York and Toledo, $10.^ ^"Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections," XXXVIII, 603. ^ Ibid., 604; quoting "The Michigan Commercial Register and Citizen's Almanac for 1855," 41. 24G RURAL MICHIGAN Doggett's "Railroad Guide,'* as quoted by Eing- walt, gives the freight rates in Michigan for 1848 at $0.0844 a ton-mile for first-class freight. For second-class freight the rate was $0.0650. The Michi- gan Central Railroad in 1848 charged $6.04 to carry a ton of wheat from Detroit to Kalamazoo. For a ton of merchandise, the charge was $11.64. The price for ten barrels of flour was $6. In 1850, this same railroad charged $4.40 to transport a person the same distance of 146 miles. Doggett's "Railroad Guide" for 1848, according to Ringwalt, reports the average passenger fare for the 241 miles of Michigan railways at 3 cents a mile. These are significant facts in relation to the settlement and development of the Northwest. Time is also an important factor. Quoting Wil- liams' "Traveller's and Tourist's Guide," Ringwalt gives the time required for a journey from Boston to Detroit in 1851 as forty-three hours, and from Boston to Chicago as fifty-four hours. The Michigan Central and the Michigan Southern railroads had then not been completed, nor were their eastern con- nections established. After their completion, Roberts, in his "Sketches of the City of Detroit" (1855), writes that the establishment of the direct line to St. Louis, Missouri, via the Michigan Central and the Joliet and Northern Indiana railroads, made it possible to set down passengers in St. Louis forty- eight hours out from NeM^ York.^ Statistics of the commerce of Detroit in 1854 con- ^ 'Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections," XXXVIII, 605. TRAX^rORTATION AXU MARKETIXG 247 tained in "Sketches of the City of Detroit," make the shipments from that city by way of the Great Lakes and the Canada Great Western Railway (now the Grand Trunk), to include 337,000 barrels of flour, 897,000 bushels of wheat, 587.000 bushels of corn, 228,000 bushels of oats, 2,000,000 pounds of wool and a very large quantity of other commodities.^ In 1854, the Michigan Central Railroad is reported to have carried through Detroit 451,689 passengers. The influence of this railroad on the development of the interior of southern Michigan is legitimately in- ferred. The author of the "Sketches" tells us that the population of that section of the State tributary to the Michigan Central was, in 1855, 216,852; that the number of acres of improved land was 844,309 ; and the products of this district in 1854 included 3,137,875 bushels of wheat, 3,450,946 bushels of corn; 943,330 bushels of other grains; 1,078,244 bushels of potatoes ; 86,760,889 feet of lumber. There are said then to have been 298 sawmills and 93 flour- mills in this section. The State and the railroads grew together. Be- tween 1840 and 1845 Michigan increased by 90,000 in population; 95,000 were added in the next five years, 110,000 in the next five years, and nearly a quarter of a million between 1855 and 1860. The present railway system of Michigan had its inception in these two great trunk lines begun under public auspices and completed by private enterprise. The decade following their completion in 1852 saw ^Ihid., 606. 248 RURAL MICHIGAN the establishment of another trans-state route, the old Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Eailroad, which reached Grand Rapids in 1857 and Grand Haven on Lake Michigan in the following year. The main line of the Grand Trunk was formed out of several elements, the easternmost of which date from the eighth decade of the last century, at the close of which this line reached Chicago. The first constituent line of the Pere Marquette was opened from Saginaw to Flint in 1863, and the system, which now has its ramifications throughout a large portion of the southern peninsula, was gradually built up out of some fifty different entities, through numerous reorganizations and financial performances that left the company with a dubious record.^ These units with their connections and feeders are the main elements in the railway system of the Lower Peninsula. The development of raining and lumber- ing in the Upper Peninsula led to railway extensions in that direction, consummated in the ninth decade of the last century, with the construction of the Michigan Central to the Straits of Mackinac (1881), and the Grand Rapids and Lidiana (now a part of the Pennsylvania system) a year later where a con- nection was established with the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette line (now a part of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad). The Ann Arbor Railroad reached out towards northern Michigan by a route deflected somewhat more toward the north- ^Ivey: "The Pere Marquette Railroad Company," Lan- sing, 1919. TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 249 west, joining Toledo, Ohio, with Frankfort on the Lake Michigan shore in 1889. All these railroads which had their terminus on the Lake Michigan shore have established car ferries, thus opening up through routes with railways in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. In the Upper Peninsula railroad construction had its inception in the short line connecting the lake port of Marquette with the iron mines about Ne- gaunee and Ishpeming, which was opened in 1857. Out of this as a nucleus has developed the present Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic system, which represents a series of consolidations such as are char- acteristic of the larger Michigan railway companies. One element in this "South Shore" system reached L'Anse on Keweenaw Bay in 1872, while another was projected easterly to the Straits in 1881. Eleven years later the gap between L'Anse and the copper country on the Keweenaw Peninsula was filled in, connecting with the local lines there already estab- lished. Then the line extended easterly to Sault Ste. Marie, and westwardly to Duluth. Meanwhile, one element in the line of the Chicago and North- western had joined the ]\Iarquette iron range with water transportation by way of Lake Michigan, when Negaunee and Escanaba were connected in 1864; and a direct route to Chicago was established when the gap between Escanaba and Green Bay, Wisconsin, was filled in in 1872. Tjater the Northwestern Line reached out to the towns of the Menominee and Gogebic iron ranges in the southwestern portion of 250 RURAL MICHIGAN the Upper Peninsula, while the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul entered the same territory and reached into the copper country through its connection with the Copper Eange Eailroad and the South Shore. The "Soo Line" Railroad was constructed east and west through the southern portion of the Upper Peninsula, and eventually this line and the "South Shore'' fell under the control of the Canadian Pacific. These railways, with their branches, and numerous short independent lines built by lumbering and mining companies for their own local requirements, provide the railway system of the northern penin- sula of Michigan. By 1850 Michigan had 350 miles of railroad, which, according to Romanzo Adams, was five times the mileage of Ohio. Steadily year by year, the remoter portions of the State were brought into relation with this railway network, until in 1918 the total railway mileage was 9,035, of which 6,762 miles were in the Lower and 2,273 in the Upper Peninsula.^ In 1886 came the electric street railway, first in- troduced into Michigan, it is claimed, on the streets of Port Huron in that year. Four years later the ■ era of the inter-urban railway was inaugurated with the establishment of the line from Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor. At first the motive power was the "Porter enclosed steam motor," changed to electric traction in 1896.^ This new service, according to Junius E. ^"Rept. Mich. Railroad Commission." 1918. 78. = "Mich. Pioneer & Hist. Soc. Collections," XXXV, 261. TRA'ST^PORTATIO'N AVD MARKETING 251 Beal, was much appreciated by the farmers, as well as by town-dwellers along the line, and the rate afforded them of seventeen rides for one dollar brought patronage that was a surprise to the pro- moters of this pioneer enterprise. This line was extended to Detroit on the east and to Jackson on the west and in a few years much of the southern territory of Michigan was made accessible to electric inter-urban railways. The northern part of the State in both peninsulas, where population is less dense, is not so fully provided with electric rail- ways, but short lines were constructed in the Upper Peninsula nearly as early as in the Lower, and while there are no long trunk-lines in this region, the min- ing ranges are supplied. The total trackage in 1918 was 1,717 miles for the State. To forestall possible electric competition, the Ann Arbor rail- road installed motor-cars on its steam line in May, 1911. Several individual combination passenger and baggage cars, each having its own motive equip- ment, using at first gasoline and then kerosene as fuel, were put into operation, and since they make stops at cross-roads as well as municipalities, gave a service much appreciated by the rural population along the line. Rising costs have of late discouraged the company and there has been talk of its discon- tinuance. The Constitution of Michigan permits municipali- ties to furnish electric power to consumers without their boundaries to an amount not exceeding 25 per cent of that granted within the municipal limits. 252 RURAL MIC III a AN To wliat extent farmers have availed themselves of the opportunity all'orded to ohtain electric power for farm use is not apparent, although there are in- stances of their having done so, for example, at IMarquette and Iron Eiver. The Consumers Power Company, the largest private electric power corpora- tion in the State, serving a wide territory in the southern peninsula, reports considerable rural serv- ice where power lines have been extended from cities and villages into the rural districts adjoining them. Eural consumers are also served from certain trans- mission lines where the voltage does not exceed 10,000 volts. This company also has consumers at many resorts in the Lower Peninsula. For rural exten- sion the regular city rate is charged by this company, except for resort business, where there is a minimum charge of $13 a year, which is deposited before the current is turned on and which permits consumers to receive current at the regular city rate. Both for public and private lines, the problem of rural service is of high overhead cost in relation to the amount of power furnished. It seems necessary to arrange with consumers for the construction of the trans- mission lines into their territory, with a surcharge to cover depreciation and taxes on the extension. If Michigan were an "Old World" country, her products would be going forward to market by water, quite as much as by rail ; but, while the State possesses a magnificent system of water communi- cations adjacent to her borders, little effort has been made to develop internal avenues of transportation TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 253 by water. When the State was in its infancy, bright dreams were entertained of such an inland canal system linking up her river systems and affording a ready means of trans-state shipments by water. An abortive effort was made to join the Saginaw and Grand Eiver basins in this way, the evidences of which are still said to be traceable in the vicinity of Bad Eiver, Saginaw County; and a much more ambitious plan of canalization was undertaken^ in- tended to unite Lake St. Clair with the mouth of the Kalamazoo Eiver. At the same time companies were established for the purpose of improving river navi- gation, and the State made similar efforts on public account. From time to time, agitation has been in- stituted to interest the people of the State in this or that internal waterway project, and the subject occa- sionally is brought forward even now. The physical conditions are most favorable on the Saginaw-Grand Eiver route, and in former times advantage was sometimes taken of the spring freshets which sub- merged the low country of the region and thus made possible the movement of logs between the two water- courses. Farmers along the shores of the Great Lakes and on the larger islands still send forward a portion of their produce to market by boat, as in the case of Manitou and Beaver Islands of Lake Michigan, and the settlements on the "Garden" Peninsula and on Huron Bay in the Upper Penin- .sula, adjacent to Lake Michigan and Lake Superior respectively. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 afforded 254 RURAL MICHIGAN Michigan a direct and relatively cheap means of transportation to the .seaboard. The traffic carried on the Erie Canal in 1837 amounted to 667,151 tons. By 1845 it reached 1,038,700 tons. It reached 3,159,33-1: tons in 1852, and continued above this mark for several years, and exceeded 3,000,000 tons in most years of the last three decades of the cen- tury. Then a decline set in, until an upward turn manifested itself as late as 1920.^ Meanwhile the St. Mary's Ship Canal had been opened in 1855, and this waterway became of vital importance to the economic progress of the northern peninsula. Wiseacres had opined that its traffic would never warrant the cost of its construction, but it mani- fested its usefulness from the outset and, by a steadily increasing tonnage, developed a traffic which, in 1916, aggregated almost 92,000,000 short tons. As late as 1920, its tonnage of freight amounted to 79,- 282,496. A better conception of the significance of these figures can be obtained when it is noted that the 1920 traffic of the Panama Canal was 9,374,499 tons. In 1919 the Suez Canal passed 16,013,802 tons of freight. This indicates that the Michigan water- way exceeds threefold the combined commerce of the two world-renowned waterways. This enormous water-borne commerce of the Great Lakes is promoted by exceptional docking facilities for bulk commodities, such as ore and grain, a type of vessel specially designed for their economical ^ "Rept. of Superintendent of Public Works, New York," Albany, 1919, 462. TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 255 handling, and by remarkably low freight rates. In 1920, the rate on iron ore from the head of Lake Superior to points on Lake Erie was $1.10 a ton, and on copper $.35 a hundredweight; while the rates on grain from Lake Superior and Lake Michigan points to the eastern lake terminals prevailed be- tween three and four cents, with occasional descents below, and ascents above these points according to fluctuations in the demand for cargo space.^ Not only has the extension of the facilities of the United States post-office to the rural portions of the State greatly alleviated the isolation and monotony of rural life, but it has also materially affected rural market conditions. On December 21, 1920, the post- office department reported 1,800 rural mail routes in operation in Michigan. Their mileage was 49,545. There were also 147 star routes, aggregating 1,565 miles in length. During the fiscal year of 1920, the rural mail routes in Michigan carried approxi- mately 5,121,780 pieces of parcel mail, weighing an approximate aggregate of 18,765,876 pounds. It is manifest that the service put at the disposition of the farming population by the post-office has been availed of to a very considerable extent. There was a time M'hen outlying communities received their letters and papers by a weekly carrier on foot, sledge or horseback, a service in which the Indian had fre- quently an important part, as he made the long difficult journey from Detroit to the Straits of * "Annual Kept, of the Lake Carriers' Assoc, 1920," Detroit, 1920, 214, 217. 256 RURAL MICHIGAN IMackinac, or reached tlie iniiiing settlements on the Lake Superior shore from some point in Wisconsin, in the season wlien the lakes were closed to shipping. Then it was that postal rates ran at twenty-five cents a letter and the receiver paid, if his available supply of cash met the postal requirements. The telephone system of Michigan^ which has greatly quickened communication throughout the two peninsulas and between country and town, in 1917 possessed 1,072,()51 miles of wire, and utilized 43,128 instruments, which gives a ratio of one telephone to 140 persons. In the ratio of telephones to popula- tion, Michigan was less well served than her neigh- bors, Ohio, 1 to 102, Indiana 1 to 162, and Illinois 1 to 172. In 1917, 603,254,645 messages and talks occurred over tlie lines of the Bell system, while 296,575,452 messages and talks took place on the "independent" lines of the State, the total thus amounting to 899,830,097 telephone communications. This very strikingly indicates the place telephone transmission has acquired in modern life. How much of this service belongs to the strictly rural districts can scarcely be determined, but the census returns for 1920 indicate that 97,874 farms in Michigan reported telephones and that these represented 49.8 per cent of all farms in the State. The census report for 1917 indicates that the systems and lines having an annual income of less than $5,000, which were 1,298 in number, employed 46,941 miles of wire and 53,928 telephones, and that the number of messages and talks over these lines was 57,840,250. The total TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 257 investment in these lesser lines was then $1,511,373, and their gross receipts, exclusive of the assessment of mutual companies, was $277,744.^ The major portion of these smaller companies was doubtless as- signable to the rural districts. The rural population has greatly appreciated the many advantages accru- ing to them from telephone service, so much so that occasionally they have independently promoted their own neighborhood systems without reference to the larger systems under corporate control. A farmer living on such a rural neighborhood telephone line near Flint, explained its construction by the less cost and less delay in its installation. Tn this instance the farmers bought the poles, wire and equipment and furnished the labor tliemselves. The cost is given for each of them as $15 cash in addition to labor. The line connected with the Bell system at Flint, the annual cost for the connection a party being $8.00 a year, later raised to $12.00. The general market situation may he regarded as favorable. Both peninsulas arc in easy reach of the great Chicago stock and grain market, while other live-stock markets exist in Detroit, Toledo, Cleve- land, Buffalo, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and lesser places, all very accessible by rail or water to the producers of Michigan. The home market is extensive, for the State has lumbering, manufactur- ing, mining and marine industries that call largely for food supplies. More than half the population of the State are city dwellers and hence consumers of 'U. S. Census of Electrical Industries, 1917, — Telephones. 258 RURAL MICHIGAN farm products. In 1909, according to the Eeport of the State Board of Agriculture for 1914, the manu- facturing industry of Michigan employed 271,071 persons, who received in salaries and wages $153,- 838,000. Similarly, the lumber industry then had 35,627 wage earners, and the mining industry 42,133 employees. On June 30, 1912, the'officers and employees of the steam railroads numbered 45,252, receiving salaries and wages of $32,635,516. In 1913, according to this report, the electric railroads em- ployed 9,195 persons who received $6,510,297.^ City dwellers are consumers of farm products, and the census of 1920 showed that Michigan contained fourteen cities with a population ranging from 10,000 to 25,000, and fourteen cities whose population ex- ceeded 25,000. The greatest urban market was that of Detroit, whose population had increased 113.3 per cent in the decade and numbered 993,678. Xext in rank was Grand Eapids with 137,634, and Flint with 91,599. Several Michigan cities have established municipal markets which enable farmers to dispose of their products directly to urban consumers. Such a mar- ket is maintained by the city of Flint, which was established November 6, 1920. Since the first of the year 1921, the Market Master reports, all avail- able space has been utilized by farmers, demonstrat- ing their interest in this facility for disposing of their products. There are accommodations for 125 wagons. During the winter the market was opened ^"Eept. Mich. Bd. Agr.," 1914, 475. TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 259 on Wednesays and Saturdays, but with the coming of spring a daily service was instituted. Sales are restricted to actual producers^ except in the case of products not locally grown. Thus some baked goods have been sold by non-producers. Producers are free to establish prices without restriction. Sales to middlemen, although favored, had not taken place to any extent up to May, 1921. The effect of the city market was manifested, it is reported, in the reduced prices charged by retail stores on market days. Meat sales ranged from three and four tons to eight and ten tons each market day from November 1 to April 1, when they terminated because of the approach of warm weather. The Market Master reports that farmers realized on their sales from 100 to 200 per cent in advance of returns under other conditions. Thus one farmer, after disposing of 100 hogs in the municipal market, estimated his "benefit" at $1,000. Another farmer reported returns on the sale of seven- teen hogs at $135 above current shippers' quotations. Beef, selling at $96 on the market, was worth only $35 to local butchers, it was stated. Favorable market prices attracted large numbers of buyers daily. Regulations enforced at the Flint municipal market relate to sanitation and inspection of weights and measures, as well as to quality and wholesome- ness of products. Identification of the vendors with addresses is required. Vendors make formal appli- cations for stall space at the market, paying a rental charge for the accommodation. A daily market re- port is issued. That for April 30, 1921, relates how 260 RURAL MICHIGAN "the first offering of asparagus appeared today and sold quickly. Supplies of eggs, green onions, rhubarb and potatoes were heaviest, with butter, apples, and poultry coming next. Demand was heaviest for eggs, asparagus, rhubarb and poultry. Potatoes were not wanted, and other vegetables M'ere almost entirely lacking. Apples of very ordinary quality sold well, the supply being light. One farmer was selling tomato and lettuce plants for transplanting, also home-grown radish-seed and grass-seed. Dahlia bulbs were also offered. . . . Butter was slightly weaker, most sales made at 50.'*^ Then follow price quotations for commodities sold on the market. This market reporter is posted in the market and is mailed to some fifty local producers.'- The Detroit Board of Commerce adverts to the opinion of transportation experts that Detroit ranks ninth among the transportation centers of the United States, although ranking fourth in population and third as an industrial center ; and it believes that this situation demonstrates "the desperate need of the Michigan metropolis for better means of ingress and egress, for materials and passengers." ^ The Board puts the num.ber of industries in Detroit's industrial district at 3,000, of which 1,411 have pri- vate railway sidings, having a combined capacity of 17,184 cars. The city is served by fifteen railroads, ^ For a description of the farmers' market in Ann Arbor, see The Michifinn farmer. Aiifj. 27. 1921, p. 3-175; Burd: "The Value of a Farmers' Curb Market." '^Detroit and World Trade, Detroit, 1920, 35. TRA^'SPORTATION AND MARKBTlNCf 261 of which ten are classified as major systems, includ- ing the Michigan Central, New York Central, Pere Marquette, Wabash, Grank Trunk, Detroit, Toledo and Ironton, the Detroit and Toledo Shore Line, Pennsylvania, Canadian Pacific, and the Detroit United Eailway. The line last named is an electric system with wide ramifications. The Canadian Pacific has only passenger service into the city, while the Detroit and Toledo Shore Line provides only freight service. There are five terminal railways to assist the local distribution of freight. The railroads which enter the city have twenty-eight freight-houses and sixty-two sets of team tracks, with a combined capacity of 2,989 cars. These are the terminal and shipping facilities available to shippers not pos- sessed of private trackage."- Four lines of lake steamers make Detroit their home port or port of call. These lines are desig- nated the Great Lakes Transit Company, the Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Company, the White Star Line, and the Ashley and Dustin Line. These lines operated thirty-seven vessels in 1920, whose total freight capacity was 122,500 tons. The distribution of freight by motor truck, both inter-city and intra-city, is said to be dominated by the Detroit Transportation Association, of 400 to 500 members, operating 2,000 motor and 500 team trucks, whose aggregate capacity is 7,000 tons.^ It is estimated that about half of the mileage of im- ^Ibid., 37. mid., 40. 202 RURAL MWIIIGAN proved highways in ]\Iiehigaii is comprised in those pntering Detroit, and these roads connect the city with the other large population centers throughout the southern portion of the peninsula. It is apparent that Detroit's transportation facili- ties, as here described, have great significance for jlichigan agriculture. The Detroit Board of Com- merce reports an aggregate freight tonnage entering the city by rail in 1918 at 32,700,774,169 pounds; by electric railways at 184,796,000 ; by steamships at 3*78,582,000; while the highway tonnage by trucks is estimated in 1918 at 87,640,000 pounds. It does not appear what proportion of this in1)ound tonnage is attributable to the products of Michigan farms. M-AEKETING ASSOCIATIONS AND KEGULATIONS The development of Michigan's transportation as indicated in the foregoing pages suggests that this first condition of a market for farm products has been fairly adequately solved. Latterly the farmers' chief problem has been one of selling their output at a remunerative price, and to this end various agencies have been called into service. The statutes of the State forbid monopolistic arrangements for the purpose of enhancing prices. However, saving of consumption costs has been effected through coopera- tive purchasing, and better sale prices have been sought through sales associations, such as those estab- lished by grape-growers and potato-growers, and TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 263 through the agency of the newly created Michigan State Farm Bureau. The Michigan legislature of 1015 authorized the State Board of Agriculture, which also has control of the Michigan Agricultural College, to appoint a State director of markets. It was the duty of this official to investigate the production and marketing of farm products, and he was given compulsory powers in the securing of the necessary evidence. The director was also to assist in the organization of cooperative and other associations for improving the relations among producers and consumers, and afford them such services under adequate rules and regulations as relate to standardizing, grading, pack- ing, handling, storage and sale of products within the state of Michigan, not contrary to law, and enforce such rules and regulations by actions or pro- ceedings in any court of competent jurisdiction. This official should also give information to Michi- gan producers regarding market conditions elsewhere in the Union, and he should provide auction markets for the disposal of farm products. Through bulletins he was to give information to producers and con- sumers in order to facilitate mutual business connec- tions. It was expected, also, that he would investi- gate and report to the Public Utilities Commission delays and inadequate service in relation to the transportation of food supplies. Similarly, he was to keep the attorney-general informed regarding com- binations to restrain trade and fix the prices of food- 204 RURAL MICHIGAN stuffs. He might assist in the prevention of waste of perishable food-stuffs. This act seems comprehensive enough to effect real reforms in the marketing of farm products. In reality it amounted to very little. The oflficial ap- pointed to the position had little faith in the efficacy of the measure, and confined his attention very largely to the formation of cooperative selling agen- cies among certain groups of farmers, deprecating any effort at assisting in direct marketing between producer and consumer, chiefly on the ground that 85 per cent of farm products, as he stated, was not susceptible of such market operations, since they involved manufacturing and other intermediate treat- ment. The act had not provided an appropriation for the maintenance of this department and eventu- ally the position was allowed to become vacant and to remain so. Through a cooperative agreement be- tween the extension department of the Michigan Agricultural College and the United States Bureau of Markets, some features of the work comprised in the act of 1915 were continued. In a small way the standardization and certification of farm products was undertaken, but more particularly the institu- tion of selling organizations among farmers along the lines of such products as potatoes, grain, live- stock and fruit was fostered after the establishment of the Michigan State Farm Bureau, in association with this organization. The grapes in the southwestern counties of Michi- gan are marketed by small local associations on a TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 265 F.O.B. basis. There is a tendency towards their federation, thus eliminating competition among them. These local associations are usually stock companies which own their own offices and market the grapes of their members commonly on a basis of a daily pool of varieties. Most of them are said to handle other fruits as well and to buy baskets, twine, spray material, posts, hay and feed for their members. Few of the individual associations actually sell the grapes, according to the report by the United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Mar- kets, but confine their activities to inspection and loading, keeping accurate accounts of the amounts of each variety delivered daily. The usual practice is to give each member 75 or 80 per cent of the estimated market value of each day's hauling and to pro-rate the surplus among the members when the books are balanced at the close of the season. The returns to stockholders depend, it is stated, on the particular arrangement entered into by each asso- ciation.^ Grape-juice factories in this region, in Van Buren County, buy on a standard contract that guarantees to the grower the daily market price on bulk stock with a fixed minimum. At Benton Harbor and St. Joseph an active street market has been developed, in which farmers dispose of their product from the wagon to the highest bidder. If the owner thinks that he can secure a higher price for his grapes by an express or freight shipment to »U. S. Dopt. Agr., Bull. 861 : "Marketing Eastern Grapes," Washington, Sept. 13, 1920, 40. 266 h'URAL AIICHIGAN an outside market, he refuses the hids and passes on to the railway station. This method of marketing Michigan grapes contrasts with the sales through the local associations, and it is questionable which yields the higher return to the producers, although in the opinion of the investigators already quoted, the re- turns to those using the associations seem, in the end, to be larijer. Michigan grapes are of excellent quality and are favored in the markets. Table stock is usually put up in four-quart baskets. Baskets are packed in the field directly from the vines. These grapes enter into competition with those from Xew York, and, since they are said to be packed with less attention to the appearances, sell slightly under the New York prod- uct, although quite equal to it in quality. The Concord is the principal market variety. The distri- bution of the Michigan crop is very extensive: east to Massachusetts and New Jersey, south to Florida and Texas, west to Idaho and Wyoming, and in 1918 shipments are said to have been made to thirty-one states and one hundred sixty-nine cities. The great Chicago market is close at hand with convenient water transportation from the southern Lake Michi- gan ports. Much of the output goes west and south. ^ The Michigan Potato Growers Exchange, organ- ized in the summer of 1918, was one of the most ambitious enterprises as yet undertaken in the State. It constituted a central selling and purchasing agency for a large number of local cooperative asso- 'lUd., 40. TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 2G7 ciations of farmers living in the northern counties, the potato belt of the Lower Peninsula, and was ex- tended to the potato territory of the Upper Penin- sula. Its name is somewhat misleading, for, although its main reason for existence is the sale of potatoes through a cooperative arrangement, it also handles other bulk farm products, such as hay, beans, grain, apples, and vegetables; and it purchases on account of its members supplies for the farm, including feeds, fuel, poison and implements, amounting in 1920 to nearly $1,000,000. At the outset, twenty- eight local cooperative organizations were federated under a plan which involved the exclusive handling of certain farm products on a contractual basis of payment for the service rendered, guaranteed with a promissory note, so familiar a feature of present- day cooperative agreements of this character. Simi- larly, the individual member of each local pays his membership fee of ten dollars and signs a binding contract, likewise made more effective by giving his promissory note, in no case as yet forfeited, as. an assurance of good faith and loyalty to the associa- tion. Xotes c.nd fees afford working capital, the unused surplus of which is returned to members at the end of the year. The by-laws contemplate vari- ous associated activities for the central association, such as the grading and standardization of product, collection of information in regard to outside market conditions, adjustment of traffic difficulties and settlement of transportation problems. At the end of the first nine months of its existence, the Michi- 2G8 RLliAL M mil Id AS gan Potato Growers Exchange had more than fifty local associations comprised within its organization, and this number had been doubled by the spring of 1920, while in January, 1921, the member.ship com- prised 12-4 locals, twelve of whicli are in the Upper Peninsula. To June 30, 1919, the Exchange had handled 2,227 cars of potatoes and other farm produce and the first year's business amounted to approximately $2,000,000. Sales had been made in more than half the states of the Union and foreign business was in contemplation. The business trans- acted in the second year amounted to approximately $5,000,000, 2,158 cars of potatoes being handled, to- gether with 1G8 cars of apples, 174 of cider apples, 31 of peaches, 12 of onions, 3 of carrots, 18 of wheat, 3 of buckwheat, 1 of corn, 102 of rye, Gl of beans, 2 of peas, 17-4 of hay, IG of straw, 1 of posts, 2 of wood, 74 of cherries and 113 cars of cabbage, and also large quantities of fruit, vegetables and other products in less than carload lots. The Exchange operates on a commission basis, amounting to ap- proximately 2.5 per cent, and its operating income comprised, at the end of the fiscal year 1920, $119,484. Its operating expenses were $95,71 G. The reserve thus arising from the operations of the Ex- change was placed at the service of the purchasing department.^ In the early spring of 1921, a temporary agreement between the Michigan Potato Growers Exchange and the Michigan State Farm Bureau was effected. ^Micli. State Farm Bur., 'News Service, March 26, 1921. TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 269 By the terms of this agreement^, "the highly special- ized potato and other commodities marketing ma- chinery of the Potato Growers Exchange" was "made available to the farm bureau locals and to cooperative associations of farm bureau members now aflfiliated with the elevator exchange, in return for hay and grain sales service from the farm bureau elevator exchange." The two exchanges reciprocally took out memberships and business operations were to be con- ducted in each exchange as in the case of other members.^ To promote favorable market conditions for Michigan fruit, a considerable number of local selling associations has been formed, including the Michi- gan Fruit Growers Exchange, the Fenville Fruit Ex- change, South Haven Fruit Exchange, Benzie Fruit Exchange, Benton Center Fruit Association, Bangor Fruit Growers Exchange, Berrien County Fruit Association, Fremont Cooperative Produce Company, Hart Cooperative Company, Mason County Fruit and Produce Exchange, Milburg Fruit Growers Associa- tion, Saugatuck Cooperative Fruit Association, and the Shelby New Era Cooperative Association. The plan of organization of such an association may be illustrated by reference to the South Haven Fruit Exchange. The South Haven Fruit Exchange was organized in 1914, and in 1920 had approximately 125 mem- bers. It is a joint stock company, each member being limited to two shares of stock. It has a pack- •Rept. Mich. Potato Growers' Exchange, 1019-1920, etc. £70 RURAL MICHIGAN ing-hoiise and siding with a capacity of fourteen cars and situated adjacent to a vessel dock. The Excliange also operates its own cider and vinegar plant to which low-grade apples are sent. A contract has been entered into with a cannery for the utiliza- tion of low-grade peaches. Stock at par is $100 a share and a neAv member pays an additional premium of $50. This premium is for good will, increased value of buildings and equipment, and the like. Partial payments for stock and premium are per- mitted. Each member signs a crop contract agree- ing to deliver at the Exchange peaches, pears, quinces, apples, at "tree-run/' which are there sorted, packed and shipped, or made into vinegar as market condition and quality require. Net returns are paid to growers, after cost of handling and 5 per cent sell- ing charges. Profits are returned to growers on basis of fruit delivered to the Exchange. Growers, on delivery of fruit, are provided with a receipt and later a card showing the grading thereof. Finally comes a statement of net returns. Growers may draw money on account as soon as they begin delivering. The Exchange has a storage with a capacity of 5,000 barrels. It handles feeds, fertilizers, spray materials, flour, and whatever can be purchased in quantity to advantage. The Exchange owns 30^000 crates for fruit. The longest distance any member hauls to the Exchange is fourteen miles, the average being three to four miles. ^ ' Ftatoment of James Nicol, President of the South Haven Fruit Excliange. TRANSPORTATION AND MARKETING 271 The Michigan Fruit Growers Exchange has its headquarters at Benton Harbor. It has some 1,200 members, and during the 3'ear 1920 handled 1,200 cars of fruit. The constitution of The Michigan Fruit Packers Federation, adopted February 6, 1918, describes the organization as "a cooperative association formed for the purpose of mutual help and without capital stock, and not for pecuniary profit.'' Its object is stated to be "to promote the mutual interests of the pro- ducer and the consumer of fruits by (a) improving the conditions under which Michigan fruits are grown, harvested and marketed, (b) Fostering efforts directed towards the adoption of uniform standards in connection with the handling of fruits from farm to market and particularly as regards grading and packing, (c) Securing the best obtain- able conditions and services as regards transporta- tion, storage and refrigeration, (d) Collecting and disseminating timely information as to supply and demand, carlot movements to markets, and prevail- ing prices in diiferent wholesale markets, (e) Cor- recting trade evils and abuses, by discouraging all customs and practices not in accordance with sound business principles, (f) Extending and developing markets for Michigan fruits and specifically en- deavoring to open new markets, (g) To rent, buy, build, own, sell, mortgage and control real and per- sonal property as may be needed in the business, (h) Striving to increase by judicious advertising or otherwise the demand for the consumption of Michi- 272 RURAL MICHIGAN "Rept. Mich. Bd. Agr.," 1859. 332 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES 333 county, township or district agricultural societies was specifically recognized by the statutes, which should have the power to possess real estate for the furtherance of their objects, and to issue bonds for the purchase of land and the erection of buildings; and a tax levy in aid of such societies was authorized, whose proceeds were to be apportioned by the county boards of supervisors. These early statutes for the promotion of Michi- gan agriculture are in effect today, and the county fairs, which were a principal activity of these socie- ties, are still very popular throughout both penin- sulas both for the urban and the rural population. At the ninth annual fair of the Berrien County Agricultural Society, held at Xiles during three September days of 1859, there were 648 entries, in- cluding 72 horses of class A, and 50 horses of class B ; 7 of trotting horses ; 4 entries of Durham cattle ; 15 of Devon cattle; 32 of "natives and grades"; 17 of sheep ; 7 of swine ; 14 of poultry ; 24 of field crops ; 72 of vegetables; 32 of fruit; 4 of cooperage; 23 of farming implements; 3 of manufactures of grain; 14 of manufactures of leather ; 12 of horseshoes and shoeing; 4 of domestic manufactures; 46 of domestic manufactures — ladies; 17 of needle and shell work; 16 of painting and drawing; 67 of bread, preserves; 5 of flowers and house-plants; 16 of dairy products; 45 of miscellaneous articles.^ "The third day," says the secretary's report, "the fair opened with a grand exhibition of horses, followed by an exhibition of »"Rcpt. Mich. Bd. Agr.," 1859, 323. 33-i RURAL MICHIGAN cattle arranged in classes. At 2 o'clock P. M, an able address was delivered by Hon, Francis W. Shear- man of Marshall. Then followed a trial of trotting horses and female equestrianism. . . . The pre- miums awarded amounted to over $500 which were all paid in cash." The society owned seven acres of ground within the city limits of j^iles "enclosed with a substantial fence," and "handsomely fitted up." In the same year there were 870 entries at the Hillsdale County fair, 952 at the St. Clair County agricultural fair, and the Washtenaw County fair numbered l,fi52 entries in that year. Among the exhibits at this fair in 1859 was a pair of oxen weigh- ing 4,000 pounds and a cow "said to give sixty-five pounds of milk a day."' The Ann Arbor Local News of October 18 notes that "the general interest in wool-growing was manifest in the large and choice assortment of sheep exhibition." The sheep were chiefly of the Spanish Merino, Silesian and South- down breeds, the paper reports. Then there was a floral and a fine art display, in the latter depart- ment appearing "E. H. Crane's revolving, self-setting game and rat-trap." The paper observes that rat- catching is surely a "fine art," as pursued by this device which when set would "catch a rat, kill him, throw him away in a box and set itself for another, and so continue to do until it has caught fourteen." In the implement exhibit at this fair, there caught the attention of the assembled farmers "Rirdsall and Brokaw's combined Clover-thresher, Huller and Cleaner," which "threshes, hulls and cleans from AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIEli 335 four to six bushels per hour, and wastes not a kernel." The agent for the thresher also had on exhibition "Hallock's Combined Cross-cut and Circular Saw- mill, . . . made simple and strong, easy to operate and not liable to get out of order.'' U. B. Daley of Salem exhibited "a one-horse clover-picker," while Messrs. Dow and Covert were on hand with their "eight-horse power threshing machine,"" of light draft and run "first by two span, then by a single span, and finally by a single horse." Forsbee's Pat- ent, Cast Iron Cultivator, constructed on the jointed parallelogram principle, costing only ten dollars, had five teeth and a coulter and could be set at va- rious widths. A. D. Hoffman of Belleville had on exhibition "a model of his late patent hand-power cider mill, a new thing," and "one of those ingenious improvements which are objects of interest to every farmer." The machine was built in two sizes, whereby with one "a man can make a barrel of cider in two arid a half hours, with the other two barrels in the same time," and a ten-year-old boy could operate either. "The celebrated Buckeye ]\Iower that carried off the first premium of the TJ. S. Agricultural So- ciety at their trial in Syracuse in 1857, was on ex- hibition." "Cook's Sugar Evaporator" was another "success" of the fair, which "produced the nicest sirup from the cane in al)out thirty minutes." Equally notable was the vegetable exhibit. It contained a specimen of the "California pie-melon," which weighed, it was understood, thirty or forty pounds on occasion, "keeps two years without diffi- 336 RURAL MICHIGAN culty and makes a pie difficult to distinguish from apple." There were speeches and band-music, and "it was a goodly sight to see the sturdy yeomanry thus gathered together, and happily nothing occurred to mar the pleasure or dim the splendor of the day," for the eight thousand or more who were in at- tendance.^ This was not the first fair held in Ann Arbor. Twenty years before a "state fair" had been called there for the autumn of 1839, and thither appeared, it is said, only two exhibitors on the grounds which lacked everything but space that a fair requires. After issuing the announcement of the event, the president of the agricultural society had forgotten the appointed date and hence omitted the necessary preparations. About 1870 the State Pomological Society held its first fair on the grounds of the Kent County Agricultural Society.^ Today the West IMichigan State Fair, held at Grand Eapids, shares interest with the Michigan State Fair at Detroit as the dominant event of the year in Michigan agriculture. Much of the descrip- .tion of either fair today, as well as the local fairs, might be taken from the accounts of similar events seventy years ago. with such modifications and addi- tions as the passage of the years would suggest. Electricity, farm motors, talking machines, social work, governmental activities are represented now as contrasted with the earlier epoch. The Grand ^"Rept. Mich. Bd. Agr.," 1859, 585. ''Ibid., 1870, 349. AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES 337 Eapids fair of 1920 "was a regular fair — the big West Michigan show hekl in Grand Rapids, Sep- tember 20-24, judged by any standards, crowds, noise, midways, hot-dogs, big pumpkins, fine stock, patchwork quilts, commercial exhibits, small boys under foot and daring aviatress overhead." ^ Time has seen the elimination of many village fairs, which a generation or more ago had place in rural com- munities of the State. Even these miniature events had keen interest for the people of the country-side, as some middle-aged folks can still plainly recall. All the family went. The children's shoes must be neatly blackened in a row, the evening before, against the early hour that all must rise and go wagon-wise to the great event in town. There. Taffy, Punch and Judy, and the antics of a clown vied in popular in- terest with the products of domestic skill and the field and pasture. Counties still have their annual autumnal fairs, even those by the Lake Superior shore, and the agricultural displays at the Houghton or Escanaba fairs in the Upper Peninsula show a remarkable variety and quality of the products of the northern farmsteads. For the purpose of extending State aid to agri- cultural fairs in Michigan, the legislature of 1915 established the Michigan Agricultural Fair Com- mission, on which the State Board of Agriculture, the Michigan State Agricultural Society, the Michi- gan State Grange, the Ancient Order of Gleaners, the Michigan State Association of Farmers Clubs, ^ Michigan Farmer, Oct. 9, 1920, 440. 338 RURAL MICHIGAN and the West Michigan State Fair Association were to have representation. This commission was to de- termine the financial assistance to be rendered fairs thioughout the State and an initial appropriation of $50,000 was provided to this end, a sum raised to $75,000 in 1919. The ]\Iichigan State Grange of the Order of Pa- trons of Husbandry was incorporated by an act of the legislature in 1875. At the same time provision was made for the incorporation of county and subordinate granges, which incorporation is enjoined among local granges by the constitution and by-laws of the order. The State Grange is affiliated with the National Grange, and is in turn affiliated with county and subordinate granges. The work of each grange is ritualistic in accordance with the ritual appropriate for the grade of each in the order. For the granges of each class a corps of officials is provided consist- ing of a master, overseer, lecturer, secretary, steward and other officers, some of whom receive compensa- tion in accordance with the declared preference of the organic law for low salaries, interest and profits. The declared object of the order as expressed in file preamble of its constitution is "for mutual in- struction and protection, to lighten labor by dif- fusing a knowledge of its aims and purposes, expand the mind by tracing the beautiful laws the Great Creator has established in the Universe, and to en- large our views of creative wisdom and power." The order takes its position on the principle that "the soil is the source from whence we derive all that AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES 339 constitutes wealth. . . . The art of agriculture is the parent and precursor of arts, and its products the foundation of all wealth." The Grange exists to promote knowledge of these natural laws that under- lie production and to strengthen and encourage its membership through their mutual association. Aside from the social and educational aspect o'f its work, the Grange in Michigan has promoted cooperative marketing through its local and central organizations, and has also seen established under its a?gis several farmers' mutual fire insurance companies, and has directly fostered the organization of a life insurance company, whose insurance in force, December 31, 19-20, amounted to $11,382,405.56. One-half the number of policy holders are farmers. Its annual meetings afford the State Grange an opportunity for formulating and espousing policies with reference to taxation, marketing, education and production in which the farmers of the State are presumed to be especially interested. The State Grange has thus taken favorable action in relation to a State income tax and a tonnage tax for mines, favored acts in aid of agricultural education both locally and at the Michigan Agricultural College, promoted prohibi- tion and women's suffrage and, at one time, a State warehouse for marketing farm products. By no means all the farmers or all farming com- munities of the State are affiliated with the Grange. The 638 subordinate granges of Michigan in 1920 had 41,567 members, enrolled as reported by the secretary. Nor is membership uniformly distributed 3-10 RURAL MICHIGAN throughout tlic two peninsulas. Of the aggregate number, ninety-one granges are located in the Upper reninsula,with the counties of Delta, Chippewa and Marquette in the lead. The largest Grange member- ships are in the counties of Allegan, Branch, Eaton, Kent, Lenawee and Muskegon, each of which has more than one thousand members, Lenawee leading with 3,019 in 1920. The Grange Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Michigan, Limited, whose secretarial office is at Ros- common, employs the executive committee of the State Grange as the final court of appeal in case of disputes concerning the adjustment of losses. This company was organized in 1913 and reports (April, 1921) nearly six million dollars of insurance in force. The company writes what is designated the "rodded'' and the "unrodded" classes of insurance. In 1920 it reported losses of $13,376.62. Officers are elected and amendments to the by-laws are made by members voting by mail from their own granges. The com- pany operates on the "advance assessment" plan, and in case of loss pays three-fourths of the value, except with live-stock killed by lightning, when full value is allowed. The Patrons Mutual Fire Insurance Company, whose office is at Lansing, is also closely associated with the Grange, although the latter is not finan- cially responsible for it. The company writes three classes of business : the "roddcd" and the "unrodded" on the annual assessment plan, each policy being assessed on the anniversary date; and in the third AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES 341 class, a policy is written for a term of one, three or five years and the premium is paid in advance. In this class are received all types of property permis- sible under the Act of 1919, the company confining its membership to the Grange; and, in order that insurance might be continued, it was required that members' dues be paid in the subordinate Grange. The same requirement now obtains for classes 1 and 2. Only members of the company have a vote in its affairs, although formed imder the auspices of the Michigan State Grange. In April, 1921, this com- pany reported some $24,000,000 of insurance in force, and losses were running at the rate of about $50,000 annually. On December 31, 1920, 8,130 policies were in force. The Ancient Order of Gleaners has been operat- ing in Michigan for upwards of thirty years, and in 1921 it had eighty thousand members in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The organization's life insurance department has paid out some seven million dollars in benefits and reported assets in April, 1921, of $1,347,680. Its Cooperative Mutual Fire Insur- ance Company, conducted as are other mutual in- surance companies, carried risks of twenty-four mil- lion dollars. In April, 1921, there were reported 990 local "arbors" in Michigan. The counties having the largest number of members were then Tuscola, Sani- lac, Huron, Lapeer, St. Clair, Genesee, Saginaw, Isabella, Montcalm, Gratiot, Oakland, Midland, Liv- ingston, Shiawassee and Mecosta. The Gleaner Clearing House Association is or- 342 nuRAL MICH in Ay ganized nntler the "Cooperative Law" of 1917, for the enactment of which the Order claims the credit. This statute provides that "any number of persons, not less than five, desiring to become incorporated for the purpose of conducting any agricultural, dairy, mercantile, manufacturing or mechanical business in the State of Michigan upon a cooperative plan or in accordance with the principles of co- operation, may associate themselves as a cooperative corporation, company, association, society or ex- change, and by complying with the provisions of this act, they and their successors and assigns may become a body politic and incorporate." Section 10 states that "the stock, property, aifairs and business of every corporation organized under the provisions of this act shall be managed by a board of not less than five directors, who shall be stockholders, and shall be chosen annually by the stockholders at such time and place as shall be provided by the by-laws of said corporation." The directors choose the presi- dent, secretary and treasurer and other officers. The amount of stock held by an individual may be lim- ited by the by-laws of the corporation. The by-laws are required to provide for the payment of divi- dends (not to exceed 7 per cent), accumulation of re- serve fund, and the division of profits on the co- operative plan among members doing business with the corporation ; and they may provide for coopera- tive dividends to non-members. Distribution of profits must be annual or at a shorter interval. Under this act, the Gleaner's iVssociation owns and AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES 343 operates twenty-six elevators and buying stations in Michigan, and also two in Ohio. The business is managed and financed from the central office at Grand Eapids. The authorized capital stock is $1,000,000. On December 31, 1921, the reported value of the land, buildings and merchandise owned by the asso- ciation was $467,809.-19. The equipment was valued at $38,991.76. The total capital assets were given as $506,801.25 ; and the total current assets as $497,- 720.92. This made an aggregate of assets of $1,004,- 522.17. During the year the association is reported to have handled about $6,000,000 worth of farm products. The shares of stock are for ten dollars each and are all owned by farmers. Even the gen- eral manager owns only one share. Each stockholder has but one vote regardless of the quantity of stock held.^ The Michigan State Association of Farmers Clubs, "believing that the social, moral, intellectual and financial condition of the farmer is advanced by local organization of Farmers' Clubs, and that the organization of other local clubs will be promoted by a central or state association of clubs already in existence," has adopted a constitution which pro- vides for a president, vice-president, secretary, treas- urer, and six directors. The annual meeting is held in Lansing at a date determined by the executive committee. Each member club is required to pay to the State Association dues amounting to fifty cents for the family membership thereof, the aggregate of * Statement of Grant Slocum, President, April, 1921. 344 RURAL MICHIGAN which must not fall below five dollars a club. The membership roll of the State Association in 1920 names sixty-three local clubs chiefly in the east- central and southeastern counties of the southern peninsula (Clinton and Shiawassee counties lead- ing). The aggregate reported membership of the local clubs amounted to 3,178. It was expected that the State Association would serve as a clearing-house for ideas related to agriculture and would enable the united membership to promote its interests more ef- fectively. A glimpse of the subjects in which the federation is concerned is obtained in the resolutions adopted at its annual meeting of 1920. These in- clude a recommendation of increased State aid for rural schools and the consolidation of rural school districts; approbation of the Michigan State police, particularly for its activity in enforcing the dog- license law, control of automobile traffic on the pub- lic highways and the enforcement of the prohibition law, and the general protection of property; and a recommendation that the force be continued and ade- quately supported; and a similar resolution in re- gard to the Livestock Sanitary Commission was adopted. Ample legislative appropriations for the Michigan Agricultural CollU. S. Dept. Acrr. Bull.. Circ. H., Jan., 1921; Status and Results of Home Demonstration Work — Nprthern and Western States, 4, 14. 368 RURAL MICHIGAN veritable angel of mercy to the distressed and af- flicted. Prenatal instruction is not omitted. The salvaging of garments out of castoff clothing and the utilization of food material is explained. The women of the rural district and small towns greatly appreciate the instruction they receive in the art of millinery and dressmaking, the fashioning of pat- terns and forms, and the adoption of approved styles. There is provision for office consultation and home visitations, involving thousands of miles of travel by automobile and otherwise. Particularly promising of permanently valuable results is the boys' and girls' club work, for habits and ideas inculcated in youth, at an age when sus- ceptibilities are keenest, are most likely deeply to impress the subject. Boys' and girls' clubs con- template an organization of five or more young people in a group for the purpose of carrying out some definite project. Such a club is said to be "standard" when it has a local club leader in charge during the year, when it has a local organization with officers and prescribed duties, when there is a definite year's program of work, involving at least six regular meetings, whose record and that of prog- ress of each member is kept by the club secretary, when a local annual exhibit is held or a public dem- onstration is given by the club demonstration team, when at least 60 per cent of the membership complete the project and file a final report with the state club leader, when a judging team is competitively chosen and an achievement day is held during the year. EDUCATIONAL ENTERPRISES 369 Eecognition of partial or entire achievement of these conditions is manifested in a club charter and a "national seal of achievement." A definite program of work for the clnb, called a "project," may relate to the growing of a field of corn or other crop, the care and marketing of live- stock, such as calves, pigs, poultry, or rabbits, handi- craft, domestic arts including garment-making, cook- ing and canning, the provision of school lunches, care of a garden, and other undertakings simple and defi- nite in character, carefully planned and fully brought to completion, with an historical account of the whole proceeding. Obviously such enterprises closely re- late themselves to school and farm work jointly, al- though they may also be undertaken by urban chil- dren, when extensive areas of land are not required. The work is new but has progressed rapidly in Michigan. The statistical exhibit prepared by the State Department of Public Instruction shows that, in 1914, there were 1,960 club members enrolled; a year later, there were 3,460. In 1916, the number was 5,9-20; 1917, 16,480, showing the influence of the war appeal; and in 1918, 31,000. The most recent figures show a membership of 22,260 in 1127 clubs. The total value of products was $216,025.35. In 1921 this work was being maintained in twenty counties. For years the officials of the Michigan State Fair have provided a free sojourn at this exhibition at the Fair's expense, with a view to bringing the boys in contact with this instructive agricultural institu- OfV rO RURAL MICHIGAN tioii and for the purpose of special teaching in agri- culture. The boys are selected competitively, the examination covering both eighth grade and agri- cultural subjects. This service is extended to the most distant counties of the State, and, although its cost is high, its benefits are deemed by Fair officials to warrant the outlay. The annual event at the Michigan Agricultural College, known as "Farmers' Week," attracts large numbers of farmers to the institution to observe ex- hibits of farm products and processes, and to listen to addresses and discussions of a wide variety of topics related to agriculture. For a few weeks each Avinter, also, short-courses of instruction are given at th3 College, especially designed to meet the practical needs of men and women directly from the farm or desiring brief scientific instruction in relation to agricultural and rural problems. These winter short-courses involve studies in agriculture, horti- culture, dairying, beekeeping, farm mechanics, farm management and other departments, which should have the result of reducing agricultural knowledge to system and the improvement of methods. Two of the State's normal schools likewise have undertaken agricultural instruction in somewhat the same manner. Not only do the normal schools give courses for the training of teachers for rural schools, but the Western State Normal School at Kalamazoo annually gathers together farmers and persons inter- ested in rural life and rural social work to hear addresses by some of the country's most distinguished EDVCATIOXAL ENTERPRISES 371 leaders in agricultural progress, in what is desig- nated "the rural life conference." In addition to training rural teachers, the Central Michigan Nor- mal School at Mt. Pleasant has special meetings of farmers to discuss topics of common interest, as spraying and the wool market situation. There is also a week's course for farmers and, in the summer, a week's training course for boys' and girls' club workers. Farmers' week at this school is featured by exhibits, such as seed testing, soil testing, feeds, and grains. There is a program of addresses by agricultural experts of state and national reputation, with demonstrations and discussions by persons di- rectly connected with agriculture in Isabella County and elsewhere. In 1912 the legislature authorized county boards of supervisors "to appropriate and raise money by tax to be used for cooperative work with the Michi- gan Agricultural College in encouraging improved methods of farm management and practical demon- strations and instruction in agriculture." The next year, the legislature authorized county boards of su- pervisors to create the oflfice of farm commissioner, subject to a referendum to the voters, for the pur- pose of improving agricultural practices within the county ; but this provision of law was rendered prac- tically inoperative by the Smith-Lever Act of the United States. In 1907 legislation had authorized the establishment of county schools of agriculture, manual training and home economics, and such a school has for some years been maintained by Me- 372 RURAn MIC in a AN 110111 iiiec County in the Upper Peninsula. The Me- nominee County Agricultural School domiciles its ])U])ils and gives instruction in agriculture, includ- ing botany, farm crops, soils and soil fertility, hor- ticulture, gardening, insect and orchard practice, animal husbandry, live-stock types and breeds, stock- judging, dairying, poultry, farm management, manual training including farm mechanics, mechani- cal drawing, carpentry, girls' handicraft, forging, and farm machinery, drainage, domestic economy, in- cluding cooking, serving, dietetics, sewing, laundry- ing, home decoration, household chemistry, home nursing and millinery, together with academic stud- ies. During the winter term, short-courses are of- fered for the benefit of students wlio are unable to remain throughout the year, while a three-days' ses- sion, or farmers' institute, in the early spring, pre- sents a variety of meetings under the leadership of persons prominent in agricultural practice and in- struction. This school purposes to be a sort of ag- ricultural college for the Upper Peninsula. A simi- lar school for a time existed in Chippewa County in the Upper Peninsula, but for reasons related to its location primarily, failed to satisfy its supporters and in the summer of 1921 was discontinued. An early statute of the State (1819) had provided that, where, in any county "the inhabitants thereof have organized and established or may hereafter or- ganize and estal)lish a society for the encouragement and advancement of agriculture, manufactures and the mechanic arts," and where the society has raised EDUCATIONAL EXTERPRISES 373 as much as $100 for the promotion of its objects, the county board of supervisors is permitted to levy a tax in further aid of the work of such a society, for the purchase of premiums, "the diffusion of valuable agricultural, manufacturing and mechanical knowl- edge," or otherwise to promote the objects of the society. In many counties of the State, agricultural societies or farm bureaus have been organized and have become the recipients of county financial aid in the promotion of their work. Later (1855), a State statute made provision for the incorporation of such county, town or district agricultural and horticultural societies. AGRICULTURAL JOURNALS Most Michigan farmers do not attend schools of agriculture, but very many obtain knowledge of im- proved agricultural processes through the columns of the agricultural papers published within the State and elsewhere. Of Michigan's agricidtural press, the oldest periodical is "The Michigan Farmer and Live- stock Journal," whose history is nearly coincidental with that of the State. This paper, in 1843, suc- ceeded "The Western Farmer," founded at Detroit several years previous. Down to 1893, when the paper was taken over by M. J. Lawrence and Brother of Cleveland, Ohio, proprietors of "The Ohio Far- mer" (whose firm name became the Lawrence Pub- lishing Company two years later), there were many changes in the ownership, place of publication, and 374 RURAL MICHIGAN form of the paper. In its development, also, "The Michigan Farmer" has absorbed several other pub- lications in the field of Michigan agriculture. It has grown in size and influence and now has over 80,000 Michigan farmers as subscribers besides many from without the State. ^ "The Michigan Business Farmer" was first pub- lished as a four-page market letter in 1913. The paper became consolidated with "The Gleaner" and in 1921, following a period of rapid growth, reported more than GO, 000 subscribers throughout the State. Like^^The Michigan Farmer," it is a weekly pub- lication at the present time. Its place of publication is Mt. Clemens, near Detroit.^ "The Michigan Patron" was first published at Adrian, Michigan, in 1901. After various vicissi- tudes, the paper was taken over by the Michigan State Grange, in 1917, becoming its official organ. The dues of members of the Grange include a pay- ment as subscription to "The Patron," which was then sent to every Grange family in the State. It is a monthly periodical with an issue of 24,000 copies in March, i921.3 In the Upper Peninsula, at Menominee, is pub- lished "The Cloverland Magazine," whose origin was in 1903, in the periodical then styled "The Sugar Beet News and Northwestern Farmer." Its present * From a statement by Burt Wermuth, associate editor, April. 1921. ^'^tatement of G. M. Slocnm, publislier. March. 1921. ' Statement of J. W. Helme, managing editor, March, 1921. ED UCA TIONAL EN TERPltl 8ES 3 7 0 title dates from 1915, after consolidations with other publications had been effected. It now reports a cir- culation of nearly a third of a million in the terri- tory between Sauit Ste. Marie and Minneapolis.^ It is a monthly magazine, attractively presented, and is devoted heartily to the progress, chiefly agricultural, of the cut-over territory in the Great Lakes country. Its relations with the Upper Peninsula Development Bureau are close and harmonious. At Sault Ste. Marie is published a weekly edi- tion of the "P]vening News" of that city, which, through a cooperative arrangement with the county agent and the Chippewa County Farm Bureau, car- ries much agricultural news and comment, relevant chiefly to the eastern end of the Upper Peninsula. There are, in addition, a number of "small town" weeklies whose designation and contents indicate the rural appeal of the publication. THE RURAL CHURCH Among the pioneer farmers of Michigan, religious observances had motives not purely derived from piety, although the isolated situation in the primeval wilderness undoubtedly intensified the meditations of the settlers and turned them more definitely in the direction of things supernal. The camp-meet- ing brought men and women together, to visit and to be entertained, to sing and to become informed, as well as to give vent to sentiments of devotion and 'Statement of R. M. Andrews, editor, May 11, 1921. 376 RURAL MICHIGAN spirituality. Dcmonstratious of the worshipers might take forms that, to the undevout, seemed grotesque and ridiculous, but this did not detract from their appeal to the country folk whose daily life was one of drudgery and severest toil. The cir- cuit-rider, making his round of many miles, on foot, on horseback or by boat, gathered and disseminated the news at a time when newspapers were seldom encountered, and at the same time ministered to the religious life of his scattered flock for a meager recompense save of hardship. His worldly goods were bound up in his saddle-bags and included his Bible, his hymnal and his church discipline with a few clothes and personal belongings. His cash returns might amount to $100 per annum, but en- tertainment was free, if rough and meager. Services were held in the homes of the settlers, sometimes in the school-house, the court-house, or a barn. Epis- copal visitations were attended with great difficulties and there are records of amusing, if trying, experi- ences of reverend gentlemen deposited in muddy abysses on the "highways" that should have conveyed .them to their expectant flocks in the interior. Even yet there are remote communities in which such pioneer conditions still obtain to a degree. There are still clergymen who eke out a precarious liveli- hood by farming, or other pursuits tliat have more reference to the necessities of this life than of the next. There is Eev. William Maltas, a former Methodist circuit-rider, now associated with the Episcopal Church in ChipiJewa County of the Upper EDUCATIONAL ENTERPR18Eii 377 Peninsula, who mingles farming with his priestly functions, moving from station to station, fourteen in number, early and late and tirelessly, and who is credited with remarkable success with his rural par- ishioners. He is not an isolated instance of agri- cultural clergymen of this diocese. There, too, is the Eev. Fr. William Gagneur of the Society of Jesus, whose ministrations, like those of his black- robed predecessors, are chiefly to the red men of his large missionary parish north of the Straits, to which he has given unstinted service for a generation. From the outset, divers religious communities es- tablished themselves within the borders of the ter- ritory. Some of these had characteristics especially 'distinctive. The Moravians, of German origin, settled on the Clinton River late in the eighteenth century, having obtained their lands from the Chip- pewa Indians. They interpreted the Scriptures most literally, as illustrated by their selection of wife or husband by lot. Mormon missionaries appeared early among the farmer folk of the southern counties, and in the fifth decade of the last century, under the leadership of "King'' James Strang, established themselves on Beaver Island of Lake Michigan, where they mingled agriculture with fights with the hos- tile fishermen of the lake and from whence they were at length forcibly dispersed, some of their descendants still being found on Drunnnond Island of Lake Huron. More acceptable were the Quakers who early appeared in Calhoun, Jackson, Lenawee, Oakland and Cass counties, sober and industrious 378 RURAL MICHIGAN as belonged to their tradition ; while their Teutonic congeners, the Mennonites and Dunkards, were also settled within the State. The Mennonites' eight organizations in Michigan in 1916 still reported 509 members, while the branch called "Eeformed" added 108 additional members. At "Holy Corners," Kent County, they periodically washed each other's feet in "the bucket of peace" until a narrow con- servatism and rural simplicity and piety gave way before the forces of modernity. The Israelite House of David, near Benton Harbor, is a communistic religious society, not restricted to Michigan, which possesses a fine park and zoological garden, and lives by agriculture and manufacturing and the income of their tourist business. A portion of their agricul- tural supplies is derived from High Island, Lake Michigan. The observer notes their unshorn tresses, while their belief in perpetual existence without death for the sinless is a cardinal element in their religious life. They are credited with exceptional thrift and acumen. It scarcely requires comment that the salaries paid to the ministers of the gospel in Michigan as well as elsewhere are meagre. The census returns of 191') place the average salary of a minister of the ^lethod- ist Episcopal Church in Michigan at $1,1()0, which readily suggests that pastors of rural parishes obtain an income considerably short of this figure. Num- bers of states make a far worse showing than Michi- gan and some make a better report. The average of Baptist salaries stood at $995 in Michigan; while EDUCATIOXAL EXTERPRI8ES 379 the Congregationalists did better with their average contribution to the shepherd of the flock of $1,219. Episcopalian rectors received on an average $1,517, while Eonian Catholic priests performed their holy offices for an average stipend of $745. The Presby- terian average salary was $1,503. Even if the parish house and other emoluments are added to the pastoral income, it is evidently quite necessary in the poorly supported rural parishes that clergymen augment the family income by resort to agriculture or other adventitious pursuits. Thus one clergyman in the Upper Peninsula (Eev. Wm. Poyseor) is credited with being one of the largest and most successful producers of maple sirup in the State, as well as a valiant defender of the faith. His tappings run to 2800 trees per annum, and he ships his product to fourteen states. The Young Men's Christian Association has a county-wide organization in the counties of Gogebic, Houghton and Iron in the Upper Peninsula, and Charlevoix, Antrim, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Os- coda, Alcona, Iosco, Mason, Huron, Tuscola, Sanilac, Montcalm, Gratiot, Ottawa, Kent, Ionia, Clinton, Shiawassee, Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Allegan, Barry, Eaton, Livingston, Oakland, Van Buren, Cal- houn, Waslitenaw, St. Joseph, Branch, Hillsdale, and Lenawee in the Lower Peninsula. Usually lacking the equipment and facilities that pertain to a city association, the small towns and rural districts cov- ered by this work carry out projects of study and recreation under the general direction of a county 380 RURAL MICHIGAN socretcary associated with a county committee of twenty to twenty-five residents, and, when practi- cable, local associations were also estal)lished. As de- scribed by the state secretary in charge of rural work, "county Avork of the Young Men's Christian Association is an effort on the part of an organized group of Christian men to develop Christian char- acter in the lives of men and boys in the various communities of the county. It works with the home, the school, the church and otlier constructive agen- cies. ... Its aim is to stimulate boys and young men to be physically fit, mentally alert, socially straight, and religiously definite." The "Christian Citizen- ship Training Program" is employed, being carried out under local leadership supported by public opinion. Undoubtedly, the migration of young people from the rural to the urban districts has adversely affected the condition of the rural church. "The loss to the country church," writes Eev. C. H. Harger, "is as real, and as great as is the loss to the farms and to the country towns; for among these young people Ayere the coming constituents and members of the small town country churches. It has taken many of the small town churches twenty years to overcome the inherited indifPerence of parents, the influence of early environment, and develop in some of these young people an interest in religion. Those who took with them to the cities a Christian experience and the purpose to live clean and useful lives, it is notice- able, benefited by the change. Not a few of this EDUCATIONAL ENTERPRISES 381 class have been singled ont and advanced from places of common labor to positions of responsibility and* large trust. "It is also noticeable that not a few of those who have returned, ' have been demoralized by their ex- periences in the city. They have formed objection- able habits which they did not have before. Many have lost their former energy and have become in- dolent; they have lost the spirit of thrift and have become spendthrifts; all are dissatisfied with the old surroundings, and they are all anxious to get back to the factories and to the places of pleasure and pastime in the cities. No matter whether these re- main in the country or return to the city, in their present state of mind they are mentally, and there- fore physically, incapacitated for efficient work on the farm ; they are lost to the country." ^ The writer is by no means hopeless regarding the rural church. Eural life is favorable to religion. But it is required that the rural church progress with the developing mind of the rural population. "It seems to me an opportune time for the country church to get a new hearing and to demonstrate again as during the war that it can serve the people on week days as truly as on Sunday." Harger points out that the agencies that are serving country life, such as the extension workers of the ^lichigan Agri- cultural College, should not be ignored by the clergy- *TTar21, 9. See also The Michigan Farmer, July 23, 1921. 382 RURAL MICHIGAN man of a rural parish or his church people. The rural church should promote boys' and girls' club work and serve the whole community as a social center. It will thus gain a new and stronger hold on the countryside which will serve it well in its religious ministrations. Each summer the Michigan Agricultural College holds a conference for the benefit of rural clergymen and their wives, for discussion and instruction cal- culated to enrich their rural work. In 1920, the Michigan Congregational Conference, for example, paid the transportation and local expenses for a group of fifteen of its pastors and their wives, to enable them to attend this conference, and the out- lay was deemed to be well spent. CHAPTEE XII GOVERNMENTAL WORK FOR COUNTRY LIFE The legislature of 1921 gathered together into one department the several governmental agencies of Michigan which had functions directly related to agriculture, placing the department under a com- missioner with a salary of $5,000 a year, empow- ered, with the approval of the State Administrative Board, to appoint assistants and employees and de- termine their compensation. To this new depart- ment were at once transferred the Department of Animal Indiistry, the State Food and Drug Commis- sioner, the State Veterinary Board, the Immigra- tion Commission, the Commissioner of Immigra- tion, and the State Director of Markets, The powers and duties of the State Board of Agriculture in re- lation to the inspection and regulation of orchards, vineyards and nurseries, and apiaries, the testing of agricultural seeds, the analysis of commercial fer- tilizer, the testing and examination of insecticides, and the analysis and testing of commercial stock foods, the investigating and improving of marketing conditions, were likewise intrusted to the Depart- ment of Agriculture of the State. The offices of State Inspector of Orchards and Nurseries, and of 383 o 84 RURAL MICHIGAN Apiaries were abolished and their functix)ns be- stowed on the Department. It also takes over the duties of the Department of State in the collection and publication of statistics and other information relating to agriculture. The control of all lands and other property vested in the State for the purpose of holding agricultural fairs devolved on this new department. x\n annual state fair at Detroit was authorized, which was placed immediately under the direction of a Board of Managers of State Fairs of twenty memliers, appointed by the governor and senate. The income should constitute a per- petual revolving fund to defray Fair expenses. The Michigan Agricultural Fair Commission was at the same time abolished. (See Fig. 7.) It M'as made the duty of the State Department of Agriculture "to foster and promote in every possible way the agricultural interests of the State of Miclii- gan; to cooperate with agricultural agencies in the different counties of the state and of the federal gov- ernment; to foster direct trading between the pro- ducer and the consumer; and to prevent, and assist in preventing, by all available means authot-ized by law, the sale of unimproved land and lands not suit- able for agricultural development within the state by fraud, misrepresentation or deceit and the pub- lication of false or misleading statements or adver- tising matter designed to affect such sales." The creation of this new department is in line with the suggestion of the United States Secretary of Agriculture in 1919, who urged the establishment >^1 III! ■ffii < ul 1- u > CHIEF VETERINARIAN AS5T. VETERINARIAN 05 c 60 o • r- ( tsi 'S ci O O l-H 385 386 RURAL MICHIGAN of such departments in all states, whereby the coop- eration of the various bureaus of the federal depart- ment with state agencies would be much easier and more effective.^ It was his view that the agricultural colleges would confine their attention to educational work and the state departments of agriculture to regulatory and administrative duties, and with whom the federal bureaus would be associated in matters related to quarantines, the control of animal diseases, orchard and nursery inspection, seed inspection, feed and fertilizer control, statistical inquiries, the pro- motion of rural finance, distribution and marketing along approved lines. ^ ^U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull., Jan., 1919: "Need of Strong Departments of Agriculture in the States," 7. ^ The tentative scheme of organization of the Depart- ment of Agriculture (July, 1921) provides fur four bu- reaus: agricultiu'al development, woods and drugs, animal industry, and dairying, each having a director at its head. The Bureau of Agricultural Development couiprises the divisions of immigration, settlement, agricultural fairs, agricultural statistics, land problems, drainage, orchard and nursery inspection, apiary inspection. The Bureau of Foods and Drugs comprises the divisions of food inspec- tion, drug inspection, weights and measures, fertilizer in- spection, feeding stuffs, insecticides and fungicides, seed in- spection; chemical laboratory (State Analyst and Chief Chemist, for the Department of Agriculture). The Bureau of Animal Industry comprises all veterinary activities (Chief Veterinarian and Assistant Veterinarian; Examina- tion Board of Veterinarians; Stallion Board, Slaughter- liouses, meat inspection ; cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture. Bureau of Animal Industry; state farms and herds; appraisals). The Bureau of Dairy- ing comprises inspection of market milk, creamery and cheese factories, condensed and powdered milk factories; ice-cream plants. At the head of the Department of Agri- GOVERNMENTAL WORK FOR COUNTRY LIFE 387 Eeplacing the Livestock Sanitary Commission, the legislature, in 1919, created the Department of Ani- mal Industry, in charge of a commissioner appointed for a six-year term, and reassigned to the Depart- ment of Agriculture in 1921. On the recommenda- tion of the Commissioner of Animal Industry, the governor was directed to appoint a state veterinarian, also for a six-year term. This official must be a graduate of an institution qualified to confer the degree of veterinary surgeon and competent to diag- nose, treat and control diseases of live-stock. Gen- eral charge of the protection of the health of the domestic animals of the State from contagious and infectious diseases was given to this commissioner. It followed that quarantine was subject to the com- missioner's direction. The presence of contagious and infectious disease among animals was required to be reported to the Commissioner, whose office is in Lansing. In case the destruction of diseased live- stock became necessary as a protective measure, the Commissioner was to appraise its value and on this basis the owner was entitled to recover from the State the sum thus determined, with restrictions of amount as to tuberculous cattle. The observance of quaran- tine regulations was definitely enjoined on the own- ers of animals exposed or infected. At the same time, the importation of such live-stock was pro- culture is a commissioner, while liis subordinates include a deputy commissioner, chief clerk (general office work for the Department of Agriculture, bookkeeper, stenog- raphers). 388 RURAL MICHIGAN hibited. The representative of the Department of Animal Industry in each county was to be the county agent. The practice of veterinary surgery, medicine or the grant of a license by the State Veterinary Board, which consists of three members with stipulated dentistry is unlawful in Michigan except following qualifications. Such a license is grantable only on an examination following a regular course of in- struction in an improved veterinary college. There is provision for the reciprocal licensing of veterina- rians from other states and provinces on the basis "of equality of educational standards and mutual recog- nition/' equal to those determined by the statute. Practitioners living outside of Michigan but ad- joining its boundary are permitted to practice in Michigan after obtaining a license and provided reci- procity is granted. All Michigan licenses are re- vocable for cause after a hearing of charges. In 1913, the legislature ordered that "no person shall feed to animals or fowls the flesh of an animal Avhich has become sick, or which has died from such cause, or offal or flesh that is putrid or unwholesome," reckoning such an offense a misdemeanor with an attached penalty of not to exceed $100 fine or ninety days in jail or both. The administrative work of the old Dairy and Food Department, established by the legislature in 1893, was assigned to the new Food and Drug De- partment in 1917. The commissioner of this depart- ment has "charge of the supervision and enforcement GOVERNMENTAL WORK FOR COUNTRY LIFE 389 of all laws of this state relating to the dairy and food, drug and liquor business, weights and meas- ures," and other duties proscribed by law. Among the statutes thus falling to the Food and Drug Com- missioner to enforce are those prohibiting the adul- teration and misbranding of foods, with special pro- visions relating to the adulteration and misbranding of butter, cheese, lard, fruit, jelly or fruit butter, buckwheat flour, vinegar, maple sugar and sirup and sausage, whose purity is protected by law. A series of statutes, under the administration of this depart- ment, is designed to protect the purity and sanitary qualities of milk and milk derivatives, and to es- tablish standards of fat-content. The percentage of milk-fat required for butter is 80, of cream 18, and of milk 3. To put an end to short-weight milk con- tainers used in the retail trade, it was required that bottles or jars should have "clearly blown or other- wise permanently marked in the side of the bottle, the capacity of the bottle and the word 'sealed,' and in the side or bottom of the bottle the name, initials or trademark of the manufacturer and designating number, which designating number shall be differ- ent for each manufacturer and may be used in iden- tifying the bottles." The use of all other containers is prohibited under penalty and forfeiture of bonds to the State, while return shipments of milk con- tainers over a common carrier are required to be received washed and cleansed. The use of the Bab- cock test by licensed testers is subject to regulation designed to secure a fair average sample of the milk 390 RURAL AfW/flOAN tested. An act of 1917 authorizes the appointment of local medical milk commissions "for the purpose of supervising the production, transportation and delivery of milk which it is intended to use for in- fant feeding and sick-room clinical purposes, under whose supervision certified milk may be sold in cities, villages and townships. The sale of butter under a State brand or registered trademark which is not now used is provided for, tlie issuance of the brand being under the control of a State commission. The brand is required to carry the words, 'Michigan But- ter, License iSTumber ', and the words, 'State But- ter Control.' " Milk by-products, such as skim-milk, whey and buttermilk, to be used for feeding purposes for farm animals must be pasteurized before being returned or delivered to any person. For the fruit trade, an act of 1917 regulates the size of baskets. The standard for grapes and other fruits and vegetables is the two-quart, four-quart and twelve-quart climax basket, whose dimensions are definitely prescribed ; while the standard basket or other containers for small fruit, berries and vege- tables, is of the capacity of one-half pint, pint, quart or its multiples, dry measure, also with fixed di- mensions. An act of the same year determines the grades for apples. "Michigan standard fancy" ap- ples consist "of hand-picked, properly packed apples of one variety, which are well-grown specimens, nor- mal in shape, uniform in size, of good color for the variety, and which are free from dirt, insect in- jury, fungus disease, bruises and other defects, ex- GOVERNMENTAL WORK FOR COUNTRY LIFE 391 cept such as are necessarily caused in the opera- tion of packing." Inferior grades are designated "Michigan Standard A," "Michigan Standard B/' and "Michigan unclassified." Containers of apples offered for sale must have the name of the packer and other relevant information displayed on the surface, while the apples on the inside face of the package when offered to view must fairly represent the con- tents throughout. The size of fruit and vegetable barrels is likewise definitely prescribed. The State Food and Drug Commissioner is also State Superintendent of Weights and Measures, whose standard is required to conform to that adopted by the United States Bureau of Standards. In addition, counties, through their boards of super- visors, and municipalities may employ a sealer of weights and measures, and sixteen counties and twenty cities do. An act of 1863 specifies the weight a bushel of various kinds of grains and other com- moditieSv unless a different weight is contractually agreed on, which for wheat is 60 pounds ; rye, 56 pounds; shelled corn, 56 pounds; corn on the cob, 70; corn-meal, 50 ; oats, 32 ; buckwheat, 48 ; beans and clover seed, 60 ; timothy seed, 45 ; barley, 48 ; pota- toes, 60 ; onions, 54 ; peas, 60 ; cranberries, 40 ; Michigan salt, 56 ; mineral coal, 80 ; and orchard- grass seed, 14. Definite specifications for the con- struction of platform and other scales are published by the Department. For the purpose of acquiring information regard- ing the proihu'tion of farm ))ro(lucts in Michigan, 392 RURAL MICHIGAN a cooperative agreement has been entered into be- tween the State anc^ the United States Department of Agriculture, which together bear the necessary expense. Some 2,600 reporters gather the informa- tion locally, reporting either to Lansing or Wash- ington. The county and township reporters mail their results directly to Washington where they are tabulated. The field agents report to Lansing, the tabulation of which is then forwarded to Washing- ton. The results, as finally ascertained by the Fed- eral Crop Eeporting Board, are telegraphed to Lan- sing for publication. About 200 reporters are sta- tioned in the Upper Peninsula. In addition to the regular force special agents report particular crops in which each is interested, as for beans, maple products, honey bees, potatoes, live-stock, fruit, prices, mills and elevators. This service for some years was maintained as a bureau in the Department of State but the legislature of 1921 transferred it to the new State Department of Agriculture. Fur- ther legislation of this session assigned a new, but greatly desired, function to the township and (out- side of Detroit) city supervisors, who are required to collect information regarding farm products at the time of making their assessment rolls in the spring of each year. On blank forms prepared by the Commissioner of Agriculture, the supervisors henceforth will obtain statistics showing the total number of acres in each farm, the acreage of each crop sown or planted, the acres of tillable land used exclusively for pasture, the acreage of new lands GOVERNMENTAL WORK FOR COUNTRY LIFE 393 brought under cultivation for the first time, the num- ber of growing fruit-trees and vines of bearing age, the number and classes of live-stock, and such other data as may be required. This information is, when possible, to be secured through a personal interview with the owner or operator of the farm. Eeturns are made to the State Commissioner of Agriculture for publication. Under the direction of the department of farm management of the Michigan Agricultural College, classes in farm accounting have recently been held for adult farmers in various counties of the State, and instruction and assisting in the problems of farm management have been afforded by the staff of this department by direct visitation and by corre- spondence. The general aim is to direct farm ac- tivities along lines that shall be most profitable eco- nomically. Through questionnaires, the department seeks to gather information directly from farmers which will indicate the kind of farm practices now being employed and out of which may come sug- gestions for a more economical system of farm op- erations. There is cooperation in this work between the College and the Grange, the farm bureaus and the farmers' clubs. The Michigan State Grange is reported to have made a considerable appropriation for the investigation of farm practice and the en- couragement of farm accounting and improved methods. A feature of this work has been the dis- tribution at low cost of farmers' account-books, pre- pared and sold by the College. Some three thousand 394 RURAL MICHIGAN copies of these books are stated to have been thus disposed of to July, 1921. It is hoped thereby to standardize farm accounting methods. CONSERVATION POLICIES As a part of the governor's scheme of reorganiza- tion of the State government, the legislature of 1931 established the Department of Conservation, directed by a commission of six members, who should "be selected with special reference to their training and experience along the line of one or more of the principal lines of activities vested in the Department of Conservation and their ability and fitness to deal therewith." This commission was to appoint a Di- rector of Conservation at a salary of $5,000 a year, and such assistants and employees as might be re- quired under the act. The State Administrative Board was to determine the number and compensa- tion of these additional employees. The powers and duties hitherto belonging to the Public Domain Com- mission, the State Board of Fish Commissioners, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission, the Michi- gan Cxeological and Biological Survey, the Michigan State Park Commission, and the State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Commissioner, were transferred to the new Department of Conservation. It was made the duty of this Department "to protect and con- serve the natural resources of the State of Michigan ; to prevent the destruction of timber by fire and other- wise; to promote reforesting of non-agricultural GOrER\ME\TAL WORK FOR COUXTRY LIFE 395 lands belonging to the state; to guard against the pollution of lakes and streams within the state; and to foster and encourage the protecting and propaga- tion of game and fish. On behalf of the people of the State, the Connnission of Conservation may ac- cept gifts and grants of land and other property for any of the purposes contemplated by this act." The investigation of the undeveloped natural water- power of the State was also made the duty of the Commission of Conservation, as well as to make a report to the governor and legislature before Janu- ary 15, 1923. The first appointments to the Conservation Com- mission were not wholly reassuring as to the char- acter of the work that was destined to be accomplished l)y it; and it is still too soon to pass judgment on this mooted point. It was hoped that somewhere in the act provision had by implication been made for a soil inventory, and, if not here, then in the act creating the Department of Agriculture. This, too, remains a matter of doubt. A backward step was taken by the Conservation Commission when it dis- continued the work of the topographical and biologi- cal survey previously conducted bA> the Michigan Geological Survey. Michigan cannot hope for ef- fective work in this department until scientific and administrative ability wholly replaces political con- siderations in the making of appointments to the Commission itself and in all departments of its work. To this new Department of Conservation, therefore, falls primarily the duty of promoting the 39G RURAL MIVlUdAN conservation of the State's natural resources. Whether it will he ahle to accomplish anything of note remains to be seen. That the legislature failed specifically to recognize the great importance of a land inventory and soil classification is disappointing. It is true that such a soil survey is now under way under the a-gis of the oMichigan Agricultural Col- lege cooperating with the United States Bureau of Soils ; but the plan of the work does not seem to con- form to advanced conceptions of what such a sur- vey ought to be; nor in the work as now carried on is full use being made of all the scientific res(5TH=ces, personal and otherwise, available in the State, through cooperation of its expert talent from its in- stitutions of higher learning, the Geological Survey, and elsewhere. It is evidently too great and broad an undertaking for one investigator or department to have in charge without full cooperation with all available agencies for obtaining the largest results. Such forest policy as the State may be said to have dates from the year 1899 when the legislature created the Michigan Forestry Commission of three persons, including the Commissioner of the State Land Office, whose duty was described "to institute inquiry into the extent, kind, value and condition of the timl)er lands of tlie state; the amount of acres and value of timber that is cut and removed each year and the purpose for which it is used ; the extent to which the timber lands are being destroyed by fires, used by wasteful cutting or consumption, lum- bering, or for the purpose of clearing the land for GOVERNMENTAL WORK FOR COUNTRY LIFE 397 tillage. It shall also inquire as to the effect of the diminution of timber and wooded surface of this state in lessening the rainfall and producing droughts, and the effects upon the ponds, rivers, lakes and the water-power and harbors of the state, and affecting the climate and disturbing and de- teriorating natural conditions."' It must make a study of second-growth timber, the protection, condi- tion and improvement of overflowed and stump lands. The Commissioner of the State Land Office was directed to withdraw from entry 200,000 acres of state tax homestead lands, and the Commission was authorized to receive conveyances of land from pri- vate sources. The Commission was to set before the legislature a forestry policy for the State, and the act carried an initial appropriation of $2,000 a year for inaugurating this work. The amount of this appropriation may be taken as the due measure of the importance of the work which the Forestry Com- mission had been set to perform as held by the com- bined legislative wisdom of the day. In 1901 the legislature placed lands m Roscommon and Crawford counties under the Forestry Commis- sion to be held as a permanent forest reserve. In 1903 the State Land Commissioner was made Forest Commissioner, whose "orders shall be supreme in all matters relating to the preservation of the forests of this state and to the prevention and suppression of forest fires." By the same act township supervisors, mayors of cities and presidents of villages were made local fire wardens. The Forest Commissioner was 398 RURAL MIC II I a AN directed to appoint a chief fire warden. His sal- ary, as might be expected, was only $500 a year. His duty was to enforce the provisions of ''this act throughout the state." Provision was made for in- vestigation and inquiry regarding the forests of the State and their protection from fire through the chief warden and his deputies, and such additional assistants as in an emergency might be necessary. With its usual niggardliness in such matters, the legislature put the daily wage of fire wardens at $2, one-third chargeable to the State and-Jie residue to the local municipality, but it set forth emphatically the responsibility and penalties for the careless or malicious setting of fires in woods and grass lands, provisions which, if they had ever been enforced, would have done much to solve the forest fire prob- lem in Michigan. An act of June 4 of the same year definitely designated lands in Crawford and Roscommon counties, described as "delinquent state tax, homestead, swamp and primary school lands," as a forest reserve under the control of the Forestry Commission, which was to place them in charge of a Forestry Warden and his deputies, for the purpose of protection and reforestation. The tract amounted to some 34,000 acres, and Filbert Roth, later head of the Department of Forestry of the University of Michigan, was appointed Forestry Warden. The reforestation was undertaken in 1904, the running of fire-lines in 1905. Restraining trespassers and disposing of dead and down timber was instituted. GOVERNMENTAL WORK FOR COVXTRY LIFE 399 In his annual report^ Eoth set forth with clearness and emphasis the forest requirements of the State, the harm wrought by wasteful methods of manage- ment. His own policy with reference to the forest reserves was used, but as this proved unsatisfactory, a nursery at Higgins Lake was established. In 1907 the office of State Game, Fish and For- estry Warden was created out of the former offices of Chief Warden and Game and Fish Warden, which, unlike the Forestry Warden, was charged with gen- eral protective work throughout the State. It was obligatory on the deputies of the Game, Fish and Forestry Warden "to familiarize themselves by per- sonal investigation with the locality and the condi- tion of the cut-over lands, prairie lands and other districts in their respective counties where tires are most likely to start and spread, aiid to take such precautions as they shall deem reasonable and proper to prevent the starting or spreading of fires in such districts, and in doing so, may enter upon lands and remove or destroy brusli, rubbish and other danger- ous combustible material, wherever necessary." This provision of law, if it had remained more than a dead-letter, would have done much to relieve Michigan of the perennial losses from forest fires. The State Game, Fish and Forestry Warden has be- come the State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Com- missioner, but the fires burn as frequently and as fiercely as ever. The Forestry Warden became the State Forester, but he cannot obtain results without 400 RURAL MICHIGAN resources. The fatal flaw has been defective person- nel or defective resources for such personnel as was capable of achieving anything. In 1909 the Public Domain Commission was cre- ated. The Secretary of State, Auditor-General, the Commissioner of the State Land Office (after 1914 the Superintendent of Public Instruction), and per- sons appointed by the governor from the Regents of the University of Michigan, the State Board of Agri- culture, and the Board of Control of the Michigan College of Mines on nomination of these bodies them- selves, composed the 'T. D. C," as common parlance styled it. The office of Immigration Commissioner was attached to this new body, which in 1915 also acquired the appointment of the State Game, Fish and Forestry Warden, whose designation later be- came the State Game, Fish and Forest Fire Com- missioner. There was also to be a State Forester to have charge of the forests, and a Chief of Field Division to attend to cases of trespass and in general look after the real estate operations of the Commis- sion. The secretaryship of the Public Domain Com- mission might have become an office of great impor- tance in the work of conservation which evidently had been in the minds of the sponsors of these altera- tions in the organic acts related to this subject. But scarcely any will claim that the secretaryship was ever held Ijy any one of aggressive tendencies or possessed of a well-defined progressive policy, so the position has continued to be largely clerical. Since the creation of the Michigan Forestry Com- GOVERNMENTAL WORK FOR COUNTRY LIFE 401 mission in 1899, and its siipplanter, the Public Do- main Commission, definite areas of land, now aggre- gating 157,064.74 acres, have been set apart as State forests in the northern counties of the southern penin- sula and another on the Lake Superior shore of the northern peninsula. Fire-lines have been run, steel watch-towers have been erected, a small fire fighting force has been organized in relation to both the State and private forests, a small tree nursery for growing seedlings has boon established at Higgins Lake in Crawford County, plantations of several varieties of evergreen trees (at present white, Norway, Jack and Scotch pine) have been instituted in various State forests, amounting in 1920 to 9,124 acres. Exchanges of State lands with the United States and with pri- vate owners have been consummated for the purpose of consolidating present holdings; but the net result is egregiously inadequate in comparison with the demands of the existing situation. There are ten to twelve million acres of cut-over and undeveloped lands requiring attention, which it seems physically impossible to re-stock with a new forest-cover by arti- ficial means. Nature would accomplish very much unaided, but her efforts are frustrated by the lack of fire control and the utter inadequacy of the meas- ures taken. The efforts of the Public Domain Com- mission up to 1921 have been largely of a routine character. The laws relating to the burning of slashings and forest waste that constitute a fire men- ace, and to the malicious or careless starting of forest and grass fires, remain unenforced in most instances, 402 RURAL MWinCIAN nor have the penalties been applied. It would not be historically correct to say that nothing has been accomplished, bnt the achievement is pitifully dis- proportioned to the necessities of the existing situ- ation. Undoubtedly :Michigan has lacked a constructive conservation policy and plan. The various activities under this head that the legislature has from time to time sought to create have l)een disorganized and unrelated. One boardjms dealt with fish propaga- tion, another with fish protection. The same agency was charged with game and with forest protection, although in the opinion of experts the work calls for differentiation between 'these two functions. The work assigned to the immigration commissioner was neglected. There was no organized cooperation be- tween the Michigan Agricultural College, the Uni- versity of ]\Iichigan and the IMichigan College of Mines, the State Geological Survey in the prosecu- tion of the State soil survey instituted in 1915 by the Agricultural College and resumed in 1920. There are drainage projects transcending the boundaries and resources of local drainage districts which might better be carried out by a State drainage department, but there is no such department. There is no com- plete survey of the inland waters of the State and their fish and other resources. Inadequate provision has been made for re-stocking the waters of the State with fish. There has been no mobilization of the abundant intelligences in undertaking a compre- hensive solution of these problems. GOVERNMEXTAL WORK FOR COUNTRY LIFE 403 ROADS The present highway system of Michigan comprises a network of about 75,000 miles^ constructed by townships, good roads districts, the counties, and the State. This is the order in which the adoption of road construction by the several kinds of districts was placed on the statute book. It will be observed that these districts represent an area successively larger than that covered by the earlier type, answer- ing to the growth of the State and the expansion of local interests. As a unit of road work the town- ship antedates statehood, and its road officials are the commissioner of highways and the overseer or overseers of highways. The voting of road taxes rests directly with the voters in their annual town- ship meetings or with the to^vnship boards. Two taxes are levied: the road repair tax is on taxable property within the township outside of incorporated villages; the highway improvement tax is on all property within the township including incorporated villages. Good roads districts, of which there are (1920) only three in the State, comprise a union of township and municipalities for road work. The act of the legislature of 1909 which estab- lished the present county road system was revolu- tionary in its effect, for it created a larger unit of road construction with an organization competent to carry out a comprehensive highway policy under ample financial support. As the law now stands, a board of county road commissioners, of throe mem- 404 RUIx'AL MICJIIGAN hers, elected at the autumnal elections in the even- numbered years, directs the county road system, which is financed by the county supervisors with State aid Acting only as an "administrative board/' the county road commission appoints a superintendent, or engi- neer, who is in direct charge of the highway work which the commission has undertaken. The com- mission adopts as part of the county system such roads within the county outside of c^ies and vil- lages as it may determine, and also roads within municipalities by agreement therewith. The tax for the county road is voted by the board of supervisors. The State assists highway construction and main- tenance through grants in aid to road districts, as just described, based on the character and dimen- sions of the road, and itself constructs and main- tains what are designated "state trunk-line high- ways," which are main through routes within the State, charging a portion of the cost to the counties traversed in accordance with a schedule in the case of federal aided roads based on the relation between trunk-line mileage and assessed valuation. This work is financed through the State's moiety of the tax on automobiles, the general property tax levied by the legislature, the sale of bonds, and the State's quota of the federal grant in aid of highway con- struction. The State Highway Commissioner and his corps of experts, with whom are associated an advisory board, administers the State Highway De- partment, Avliich prepares plans and specifications, determines the amount and recipients of State aid, GOVERNMENTAL WORK FOR COUNTRY LIFE 405 lets contracts, and performs a variety of duties. Tlie act providing for the construction of liigliways by this department was enacted in 1919 and, up to June 30, 1920, 592 miles of trunk-line road were placed under construction by the State which, it was estimated, would cost nearly $10,000,000. It should be understood that trunk-line roads are not necessarily improved, but of the 5,500 miles in Michi- gan, 2,392 were improved up to the end of the fiscal year of 1920. At the same time, a total of 335 miles of federal-aided road had been placed under con- struction, to cost $5,633,000. The State Highway Department constructs bridges on State trunk-line highways, and 154 of these of more than thirty-feet span had been completed and G2 others had been placed under construction, to cost some $2,000,000.^ The State also maintains trunk-line highways and requires similar action on the part of districts re- ceiving State reward under penalty of a deduction of the cost of maintenance from any reward moneys that may accrue to such a delinquent district or of having the work done directly by the State and charged against the district. Many districts have instituted a regular patrol system. From May 1 to December 31, 1919, the State participated in the maintenance of 4,878 miles of trunk-line and federal aided road, at a total cost of $1,263,740, of which amount the State contributed 62.1 per cent.^ ' "Eighth Biennial Rept. of the State Highway Commis- sionor." T.ansing, 1920, 7, 8. Ubid., 14. The "Covert Act" of 1915 provides a method bj- which the owners of GO per cent of tlie land fronting on a highway whicli it is desired to improve may petition for its improvement, whereon the county road commission or the State Highway Commissioner cooperates in the drafting of specifications and the letting of contracts. Such roads serve as feeders to main highways or links in incomplete systems, and have been constructed beyond \vhat was anticipated when the act was first adopted. Seven classes of roads are recognized by the law, in accordance with which the reward the State allows the road district responsible for construction is de- termined. Lowest in this classification is a road of class A — a sand-clay road, whose basic width of metalled surface is nine feet and whose grade does not exceed G per cent, except where circumstances warrant a departure from this maximum in accord- ance with specifications approved by the State High- way Commissioner. The reward is 25 per cent of the cost but may not exceed $3,000 a mile. To June 30, 1920, 201 miles of road of this class had been built. The six remaining classes have similar require- ments as to grade, contour, and basic width, but vary the State reward according to the materials used and the width of roadway constructed. Thus a road of class B is composed of gravel or burnt shale. A class C road is made in two courses; at the bottom, crushed stone or slag, and a top course of gravel or blast furnace slag. D class roads have a bottom GOVERN ME'SITAL WORK FOR COUNTRY LIFE 407 course of gravel or slag and a top of crushed stone. Of the gravel roads in class B, 3,415 miles had been built to June 30, 1920 ; while the roads in classes C and D were manifestly less favored, since only 286 miles of class C and 11 miles of class D had been constructed at the same date. On the other hand, there had been constructed 783 miles of the class E type, which is a macadam road with or without a bituminous binder, and properly bonded. The con- crete type belongs to classes B, C, D and E, while classes F and 0 are entitled to an additional $2,500 a mile and trunk lines may receive State reward to 50 per cent of their cost but not to exceed $15,000 a mile. The surface sands and gravels of Michigan yield abundant material for the construction and main- tenance of roads. The United States Geological Sur- vey reports for 1919 a production of 2,639,483 short tons of gravel, 539,800 of building sand, 204,045 of paving sand, and 67,916 of railway ballast, in addition to large quantities of sand used for manu- facturing and other purposes. There was undoubt- edly much material produced and used locally that did not appear in the record. In addition enormous quantities of waste rock from the iron and copper mines and from the quarries are available and are similarly employed. ^luch use also is made of the stamp-mill sand that is a by-product of stamp-mill operations along Portage Lake and Lake Superior in the copper region. 408 RURAL MICHIGAN DRAINAGE The preliminary report of the United States Cen- sus for 1930 rehitive to drainage in Michigan shows that on December 31, 1919, Hillsdale County had 204,165 acres in organized drainage enterprises. Similar figures for Jaeksoh County Avere 76,139 acres; for Lenawee, 275,535; Monroe, 251,387; Wash- tenaw, 193,284; and Wayne 259,667. This indi- cates that the percentage of each county in drain- age enterprises was as follows: Hillsdale, 53.4; Jack- son, 16.8; Lenawee, 58; Monroe, 68.6; Washtenaw, 36.5; and Wayne, 65.4. In Allegan County 58.8 per cent of the area is in drainage enterprises; in Barry, 40.3 ; in Eaton, 95 ; Ionia, ^79.1 ; Kent, 26.5 ; Montcalm, 33.1; and Ottawa, 71. In Berrien County the percentage was 33.7; in Branch, 48.3; Calhoun, 57.8; Cass, 20.3; Kalamazoo, 22.1; St. Joseph, 10.5; Van Buren, 44.1; Benzie-Charlevoix, .2; Chippewa, 1.8; Emmet, .5; Grand Traverse, .6; Manistee, 3.4; Missaukee, 8.4 The bulletin on Drainage in ]\Iichigan, a part of the Fourteenth United States Census, notes that drainage enterprises are confined largely to the most southerly forty-seven counties of the Lower Penin- sula. The total works completed by the drainage enterprises to December 31, 1919, comprise 16,023.8 miles of open ditches, 2,173.9 miles of tile-drains, and 33.1 miles of accessory levees. Under con- struction were 118.4 miles of ditches and 8.4 miles of tile-drains. These figures do not include drains GOTERXMEXTAL MORE FOR COUXTRY LIFE 409 or levees installed by individual farm owners, supplemental to the works of the enterprises, nor the works of flood protection or levee districts that had not undertaken the construction of ditches or tile-drains. There are three pumping districts for land drainage among the enterprises in Michigan. The Census found the principal crojis grown upon the drained lands to be wheat, corn and sugar-beets. The aggregate area of the farm land that was re- ported as provided with drainage is 3,156,632 acres. The area of farm land reported as needing drainage is given as 2,070,387. The area requiring drainage only is 579,813 acres, while that requiring both drainage and clearing is given as 1,490,574 acres. The total land in operating drainage enterprises, which include the completion of drainage works authorized or which had begun actual construction work on or before January 1, 1920, is 9,729,171 acres, which includes 7,182,352 acres of improved land, and which consti- tutes 55.6 per cent of all improved land in farms. The timbered and cut-over land in these enterprises is estimated at 2,195,562 acres, and of other unim- proved land, 351,257 acres. The area of land that is swampy or subject to overflow in these enterprises is 1,020,207. The area that suffers a loss of crops from defective drainage is put at 692,224 acres. The total assessed acreage is 15,766,478. The aggregate capital invested in or required for the completion of operating enterprises is $25,048,980. Michigan's first comprehensive drainage law was enacted in 1839, but the present county drain sys- 410 RURAL MICHIGAN tern was established by Act 254 of the legislative session of 1897. The Miller and Simons report on drainage of 1918 gave the number of county drain commissioners in the State as seventy, of whom sixty-three were serving in the southern peninsula and seven in the northern. Thirteen counties had no drain commissioiiers, namely Antrim, Crawford, Kalkaska, Oscoda and Otsego in the Lower Penin- sula; and Baraga, Dickinson, Houghton, Gogebic, Iron, Keweenaw, Mackinac and Schoolcraft in the Upper Peninsula. The report states that during the twenty years, 1898-1917, expenditures on county drains were made in sixty-three of the eighty-three counties of the State, while Alcona, Antrim, Craw- ford, Kalkaska, Leelanau, Montmorency, Ogemaw, Otsego and Oscoda in the Lower Peninsula, and Alger, Baraga, Delta, Dickinson, Gogebic, Hough+on Iron, Keweenaw, Luce, Marquette and Schoolciaft in the Upper Peninsula, had spent nothing for this purpose. Miller and Simons criticize the Michigan drain- age system as "piece-meal"' in design and execution, . lacking a well-planned outlet with a network of laterals. "Too often small drains," they observe, "constructed independently, without following any general plan have resulted in discharging the water from the individual drains into existing natural or artificial water-courses which already may be over- taxed; resulting in the flooding of the lower lying lands, thus aggregating the necessity for improve- aOVERXMEXTAL WORK FOR COUXTRY LIFE 411 ments of the water-courses. . . . The tendency in the construction of county drains in Michigan has too often been to limit the size and depth in order that they might be of a type readily constructed by teams and scrapers or, as in many cases, by hand." This necessitates reconstruction with all the legal performance that must accompany it.^ ]\Iiller and Simons compute that, under the pres- ent Michigan drainage law, al)out 9,300 drains have been constructed, whose aggregate length is approxi- mately 20,000 miles and cost approximately $18,- 000,000. The law provides for the payment of costs by the beneficiaries in not to exceed three install- ments, and the investigators compute that some 60 per cent of the drains has been paid for in one in- stallment and the remainder largely in not to ex- ceed two installments. Miller and Simons point out that the rights of property owners are amply pro- tected in the Michigan drain law, and that exces- sive costs have usually been avoided and litigation almost wholly so. On the other hand it has fre- quently, in a proposed drainage project, been impos- sible to secure the requisite majority of interested property owners' signatures to the petition request- ing the establishment of a drain ; and the inability of the drain commissioner, as against the petitioners, to determine the route and area of the drainage dis- trict, has operated to the detriment of a^ project that would better have been constructed on other * Miller and Simons: "Drainage in Michigan," 28. 412 RURAL MIL! Ilia AN lines and specifications than that which was pro- posed.^ The Michi«j-an draina<,'-e law is also criti- cized becansc of a lack of provision for adequate and definite estimates of cost in advance of construction. There is often a lack of competent engineering ad- vice before construction is uiylertaken, resulting in ineffective drains produced at nigh cost. The method of cleaning out drains is criticized as needlessly cumbersome; it is suggested that an annual main- tenance tax for this work should simplify the process and insure better results. The present law is criti- cized because it fails to provide for access to an exist- ing drain by a laud-owner whose land is not tra- versed by it, save by resort to the detailed pro- cedure laid down for the original construction of a project. Projects involving outlets of considerable extent, draining wet lands that can produce nothing until such outlets are established, sufi'er from the lack of provision for the issue of bonds by drainage dis- tricts whereby the expenditure can be deferred until production is instituted on the drained lands. It will appear from the preceding paragraph that .the county is the unit for drainage and reclamation operations in Michigan. There are drainage pro- jects, however, which greatly transcend county boun- daries and financial resources for their accomplish- ment. An example is the Saginaw basin and the dis- trict tributary to the Taquemon River of the Upper Peninsula. In the case of the Saginaw, evidently the drain commissioner of no one county is competent to 'lUd., 52. GOVERNMENTAL WORE FOR COUNTRY LIFE 413 determine the scope and execution of the project as a whole. Drainage operations on the upper reaches of the tributaries of this stream will most snrely affect the interests of the cities adjacent to the lower river; while if these municipal interests are to de- termine the whole project, the drainage of the low- lying overflowed lands above these municipalities is directly affected. Drainage operations involving the deepening of the channel of the Manistique or the Taquemon, which will require extensive channeling in solid rock, will involve a financial outlay doubt- less beyond the means of local drainage districts to provide. To meet the requirements of situations such as these, and to prepare plans and specifications for the larger drainage projects, apportion costs, ad- just differences, and develop a comprehensive drain- age system for the entire State with reference to the general good, seems to l^e the proper function of a state drainage department. Although its establish- ment has from time to time been broached, as yet the legislature has not taken the necessary action, unless it may be considered to have been comprised in the newly created departments of conservation or of agriculture.'- 'i The glacial topography of Michigan, as indicated in Chapter I, has created large tracts of land which can only be recovered to agricultural uses through artificial drainage. It is estimated that there are ' See Miller and Simons : "Drainage in IMichigan," Lan- sing, 1918, 58ff. This monograph was prepared with spe- cial view to the information of the legislature (session of 1919) which was expected to consider this subject. 414 RURAL MICHIGAN 4,400,000 such acres. The statute provides that "drains may be located, established, constructed and maintained, and drains and water courses may be cleaned out, straightened, widened, deepened and ex- tended, whenever the same shall be conducive to the public health, convenience or welfare.'' The super- vision of drainage operations is placed under the county drain commissioners, chosen in every county, if the requirements of law are observed, at the regu- lar November elections in alternate years. Before the act of 1897, drainage was an affair of the town- ships. The drain commissioner acts only on appli- cation of at least one-half of the freeholders of the land traversed thereby. The commissioner tenta- tively determines the location of the proposed drain, the right-of-way is secured by release or condemna- tion proceedings, and, when the required hearings and official determinations have taken place, a final order of determination is issued fixing the route of the drain and the boundaries of the special assess- ment district which must meet its cost, together with the apportionment of costs among the beneficiaries. The work is done on contract with the land-owners or the lowest responsible bidder, whoever he may be. When drains traverse more than one county, the statute provides for the appointment of special com- missioners to act with the regular county drain com- missioners in locating the drains and apportioning costs, and in case of a failure to agree, provision is made for an appeal to the State Highway Commis- sioner as arbitrator. Drainage of State swamp lands GOYERXMEXTAL WORK FOR COUNTRY LIFE 415 is now under the control of the county drain com- missioners. As a factor in development, the drainage of the Avet lands of Michigan is extremely important. Col- lating the results of studies by Miller and Simons and by Leverett, it is estimated that in the Lower Peninsula ll.C) per cent of the area is swamp and lake. In the northern peninsula 25 per cent of the area is estimated of the same character, but infor- mation is less definite here. This works out to 4,146 square miles of lake and swamp in the Upper Pen- insula. Leverett suggests that one-fourth of this is capable of drainage. Miller and Simons' estimate is similar to Leverett's, namely, 2,598,000 acres, which amounts to 24.6 per cent of the area of the Upper Peninsula. However, these investigators, in the ab- sence of sufficient data, did not estimate the reclaim- able wet lands. Leverett estimates that one-fourth of the wet lands of the northern peninsula are ca- pable of drainage. In the southern peninsula, Leverett estimates the lake and swamp area at 11.6 per cent, while Miller and Simons approximate this area, with their in- clusion of 2,175,000 acres, which works out approxi- mately 12 per cent of the aggregate southern penin- sula area. In the northern twenty-one counties of this peninsula, which is also the area of sandy waste lands, Miller and Simons estimate that there are 661,000 acres of reclaimablo wet land. During the five-year period, 1913-1917, fifty-seven counties of both peninsulas expended on the construction of 416 RURAL MICH 10 AN drainage projects $5,917,G10.50, and the area as- sessed for this work amounted to 3,214,500 acres. ^ Among these counties only three, Mackinac, Menomi- nee and Ontonagon, are in the Upper Peninsula, where, as yet, little artificial drainage has been under- taken. In his most recent report on the lands of the northern twenty-nine ctrftiitics of the Lower Peninsula, Leverett estimates their area of lake, swamp and wet lands at 4,3G5 square miles. The State Geologist calls attention to the fact that some 22 per cent of the soils of the southern peninsula are clay and thus susceptible of improvement through drainage ; and he also points out that of the lands capable of drainage, extensive areas may be unsuited to agriculture, because of the presence of a saudy bot- tom or sub-stratum. * "Drainage in Michigan," facing p. 25. CHAPTER XIII DEVELOPMENT OF MICHIGAN WASTE LANDS At a time when Michigan, as elsewhere, is suffer- ing from low prices of agricultural products, one occasionally hears a protest against any agitation for developing the waste lands^, whereby additional farm products will be sent to a market already over- crowded with unsalable commodities or those sal- able at unremunerative prices. The man of the north country must take a different view of this problem. He observes that, in the end, it is de- sirable to take the broad view of any economic ques- tion; that the development of national resources, wherever they are and of whatever sort, is the funda- mental American doctrine and normal reaction. Along this line America has grown great. If Michi- gan agriculture is now suffering, this is primarily due to defects of distribution rather than to over- production. The present situation is undoubtedly temporary and a normal basis of prices will be reached long before any large portion of the cut- over lands is brought under cultivation. Develop- ment is a very slow process, and the products of the new lands will only very gradually reach the outside market. Indeed, much of this product will be lo- 417 418 RURAL MICniGxiN cally consumed. Nor is it proposed to place all or any large proportion of the ten million idle acres nnder the plow. Large areas should be planted to new forests to replace the old ones that once occu- pied these lands. Other portions will go into ranches for grazing. Other parts will be employed in horti- culture, whose products will be locally absorbed with- out any a])preciable effect on the general market for farm products. Those who purchase northern cut-over lands are either of recent European origin, whose financial re- sources are too meager to allow them to buy improved farms; or they are ranchers who desire tracts much more extensive than could profitably be acquired in the more developed sections of the State. By all means the foreign population should be encouraged to get back to the land. Many cannot afford high- priced improved lands ; but with labor and sweat they will improve the rough stump areas, make a home in what was recently a wilderness, and develop taxable property where formerly lands went delinquent for the non-payment of taxes, thereby easing the tax burden for the entire State. The progressive improvement of cut-over areas diminishes the forest-fire and brush-fire danger. The source of the grasshopper pest is in these same tracts of wild grass and brush lands. Finally it should be recognized that the productivity of the farms in the older sections of the State is declining because of the too continuous cropping of the land and soil erosion. It would be better to turn to the virgin DEVELOPMEXT OF MICHIGAN WA;STE LANDS 419 soils of the north country, giving these over-worked farms of the south a rest, permitting them to re- turn to grass or forest for a period. If it is true that farmers cannot make a fair return on their investment in the older sections of the State, that may be attributed to the too high valua- tion which they place on their holdings. If they were to capitalize their net return at the current rate of interest, they would probably find that such is the case. It would seem to be better, then, that these farmers should reduce their capital investment in lands by purchasing greater acreage at less cost far- ther north. It is not too far north to obtain a high return of farm products to the acre. The Michigan Academy of Science held a sympo- sium on the idle lands of the State at the University of Michigan, ^ilarch 31 to April 2, 1920. On the thesis, "Michigan's undeveloped area represents one of the few great reserves of land suited to agricul- tural purposes, awaiting development," J. F. Cox of the Michigan Agricultural College pointed out that the agricultural progress of the northern cut- over areas had been liampered by the extreme vari- ability of the quality of the soil, leading to the selec- tion by settlers of lands too poor for agriculture, too remote from developed markets, as well as to the lack of skill in farm practice on the part of the settlers. He points out that, "generally speaking, the better f^andy loams, loams and clays of the entire cut-over country are well adapted to cloxer. grasses and 420 RURAL MIVnWAN other forase crops, wliich can be depended upon to furnish excellent pastures and meadows. .... The better types of soils are naturally seeded to June grass, alsike clover and timothy. The heavier loams, clay loams and clays, where second-growth is not too thick, carry good pastures throughout the sum- mer seasons. On the lighter loams, the pasture tends to dry up and run short. The light pine and hardwood soils and jack-pine plains are of little value for grazing purposes, except for a very brief period in late spring and early summer, when they offer light grazing. "After clearing, the loams, clay loams and clay can be depended upon to produce excellent crops of rye, barley, oats, spring wheat, root crops, peas and oats, and buckwheat. Winter wheat is gaining rap- idly in acreage, and bids fair to become a dependable crop on adapted soils. "Corn can be depended upon on the above-named soils for silage purposes in the lower part of Meno- minee and Delta counties, throughout the northern part of the Lower Peninsula and along the southern shore on adapted soils of the Upper Peninsula. Early varieties are dependable for grain, but these regions cannot be termed 'corn lands' in the sense that corn can compete with barley or oats as a feed grain. "The well-drained loams and sandy loams of north- ern Michigan, in general, are splendidly adapted to potatoes. It is well within the realm of possibility that northern Michigan will become one of the great- est centers of potato production in the United States. DEVELOPMENT OF MICHIGAN WASTE LANDS 421 "One of the problems of feeders, who have recently brought stock into upper Michigan, is to provide for winter feed. Summer pasturage is plentiful. The clearing of more land for the production of barley, rye and oats for grain feed, of silage, root crops and clover and timothy hay, and alfalfa to winter over stock, will make this business much more secure. "Certain areas of the Upper Peninsula can pro- duce all crops necessary to sustain a thriving dairy and livestock development. The Ontonagon valley, for instance, a great range of approximately 250,000 acres of strong clays and clay loams of high fertility, can produce the grass, grains and winter feed such as roots, peas and oats, or possibly sunflowers and early corn varieties for silage to maintain a profitable dairying or beef -cattle industry. "The same condition exists in Chippewa County, which has been a profitably farmed timothy and small grain region for a number of years. Great diversity of crops and proper drainage in both these regions is advisable. "In Menominee, Delta, Dickinson and part of Al- ger counties are large areas of loams, and less ex- tensive areas of clay loams, well adapted to farming which have been taken up to a comparatively small extent. Loams and better sandy loams of this region offer excellent conditions for potato growing. The rotation of rye or spring-seeded small grains with clover is well adapted. "In the northern part of the Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula considerable development has 422 I.' I If A L MK'HKIAN been accomplished on the better lands, but there still remain large areas of excellent land awaiting clearing. ^^ "In briefly stating the situation, the following facts stand out : "1. Michigan possesses a vast area of undeveloped land. "•2. For the mopt part this land is stump land or poorly drained land, which will require considerable time and expense to prepare for cropping. "3. Long-time loans at a low rate of interest would be of great help to individual farmers. "4. The soils are extremely variable. A compara- tively large acreage is well adapted to farming, and an even larger acreage can be termed unsuited for farming under present conditions. "5. The agricultural possibilities of this area are frequently misrepresented to the detriment of its development. "G. With proper crops, under the right conditions, a great development of successful farm communi- ties can be made, much to the benefit of the state. "•7. Forest fires cause great damage to incoming settlers, a great loss to standing timber and the young growth, and injury to soils through burning out of organic matter. More adequate forest-fire regula- tions to remove this menace is necessary. "8. A state agricultural and soil survey to prop- erly designate the value of land for farming, graz- DEVELOrJIEXT OFAIICHIGAX WASTE LAXDl^ 423 ing and forestr}' purposes and adequate fire control are necessary for the sound and reasonably rapid development of Michigan idle lands. "9. Settlers must in all cases be established on the good lands only and prevented by an interested state from dissipating their energies on land which cannot be profitably worked. In no case should they be permitted to be persuaded by the occasional igno- rant or unscrupulous land dealer to settle on jack pine and light blueberry plains and other inferior areas. . . . "10. Michigan's northern country has been repre- sented both as a great desert from an agricultural standpoint, and as 'cloverland/ a coming Eden. Somewhere between the two statements lies the truth. On the whole, Michigan has in her undeveloped northern country a region of great agricultural po- tentiality, which, if properly developed as farming land, grazing land and forestry land, in accordance with its fitness from a soil and climatic standpoint, will add materially to the wealth and prosperity of the state." ^ At this session of the Michigan Academy of Sci- ence, it was resolved that the proper procedure for the reclamation of Michigan's non-productive area should be as follows: "1. That an inventory be made of the land resources of Michigan by counties. This inventory should constitute a series of county reports, ^"Michigan Tfllo Land.'" Reprinted from tlie 22d Report, Mich. Acad, of Science, 1021, 21. 424 RURAL MICHIGAN accompanied by map? along the following lines : a. Nature of physical conditions, b. Present economic conditions, together with the record of present and past experiences in the use of the area. c. A classi- fication of the land according to its highest indicated use. "3. That in the study of the physical conditions of the land (a) first and chief attention be given to soil conditions, with a classification of soils which will recognize their genesis and which will give maxi- mum emphasis to their distinguishing qualities. (b) That climate bo adequately considered as a fac- tor in utilization; and (c) that topography, drainage, location, and the size of areas of unit characteristics be separately recognized and considered as factors affecting possible use. "3. That an intensive study of land economics be made for each area on the manner of present utili- zation of the land and the history of its use. In con- nection with this study there should be determined (a) extent of idleness of the land, (b) the different types of use to which land is now being put, and (c) the returns from the several uses and the place of these uses in an economy of the area. "4. That the land of Michigan shall be classified into a series of classes on the basis of return, or an- ticipated return, ranging from land suited to highest grade and most permanent agriculture through graz- ing and forest land to permanent waste land. "5. That the work of this survey be carried out with the fullest utilization of the scientific personnel DEVELOPMENT OF MICHIGAN WASTE LANDS 435 in the State and in consultation^ and if feasible in cooperation, with the proper federal agencies." ^ As compared with such highly developed agricul- tural states as Iowa and Illinois, Michigan possesses very large tracts of lands not yielding any products of economic importance. Such lands have been esti- mated to amount to ten million acres. To derive some sort of output of economic value from these unproductive areas is in part the purpose of three development bureaus that have been established, two in the southern peninsula and one in the northern. The Northeastern Michigan Development Bureau was incorporated as an association "not for pecuniary profit," January 31, 1910, and comprised within its interest the counties of Alpena, Alcona, Arenac, Bay, Cheboygan, Crawford, Clare, Gladwin, Iosco, Mont- morency, Midland, Ogemaw, Oscoda, Otsego, Presque Isle, Eoscommon, and Saginaw. The secretary's of- fice is at Bay City. The Western Michigan Develop- ment Bureau operates in a group of twenty counties in the western and northwestern section of the Lower Peninsula, as far south as Ottawa and Kent counties, and as far north as Emmet County, while extension to the Indiana line in 1921 was planned. Its Articles of Association, as amended May 1, 1912, set forth that the bureau is organized for the purpose of "the encouragement and advancement of agriculture, manufactures and the mechanic arts" in its territory. The secretary's office is at Grand Eapids. All the territory within the Upper Peninsula falls within ^Ibid., 2, 426 RURAL MICnjGAN the scope of the Upper Peninsula Development Bu- reau, described in its report for 1919, as "an insti- tution designed to contribute towards and assist in every way possible the growth, progress and de- velopment of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan ... by assisting in every way possible individuals, corporations and organizations within the Peninsula, and to reach out for greater expansion by attracting individuals and organizations from without." The secretary's office is at Marquette. The secretary of the Northeastern ]\Iichigan De- velopment Bureau describes the association as "an agricultural board of trade," and in its literature are featured the agricultural advantages, including fruit-culture, live-stock, and summer vacation aspects of the district. The secretary of the Western Michi- gan Development Bureau calls attention to the in- troduction of G51 settlers into this territory in one year, together with settlers' movables ; the promo- tion of good roads (claiming the origination of the West Michigan Pike, and a share in the starting of the Mackinac Trail) ; while many meetings among farmers were held, "for the purpose of inculcating better methods of farming." The three bureaus, having regard for the great acreage of cut-over grass- lands in their territory, have promoted grazing, es- pecially sheep culture, and have sought the intro- duction of sheep from the western ranges, especially in seasons of drought. The Upper Peninsula De- velopment Bureau (organized in 1911) has inter- ested itself in the settlement of cut-over lands, intro- DETELOPMEXT OF MICHIGAX WASTE LANDS 427 duction of sheep and cattle from the western ranges, the tourist business, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Waterway project, the destruction of noxious ani- mals, good roads, introduction of new industries, and whatever else may appear to promise the indus- trial and agricultural improvement of the country. All the development bureaus issue pamphlets re- plete with descriptive matter pertaining to their ter- ritory, praising their good qualities, emphasizing characteristic products and the possibility of pro- ducing crops as yet not characteristic of the region, their advantage in relation to fruit-culture, grazing, general farming, raw material, their scenic attractive- ness and recreational advantages, and whatever may appear to have interest for the prospective home- seeker in these less developed areas of the State. Eesults are hardly capable of a statistical presenta- tion, 3?et one gathers the impression that these ef- forts are not useless from the standpoint of attract- ing attention to the section and occasionally settlers also. The sandy lands of Michigan occupy millions of acres in all sections but predominant in the northern peninsula. Their area cannot be stated definitely until a comprehensive soil survey and classification lias been carried to completion. These were the old pine lands referred to in Chapter IT. Here the prob- lem is to determine what crops, forest or field, can lie grown profitaldy to such an extent that a liveli- liood from the land may be secured. Experimental work has been conducted by private agencies rather 428 RURAL MlCruaAN than by the Michigan Agricultural College, in the Upper Peninsula chiefly under the encouragement of the Upper Peninsula Development Bureau in co- operation with county agric-uTtural agents and the land commissioner of the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Eailway. In the Lower Peninsula, Edward E. Evans of West Branch has specialized in farm crops for sandy soils, producing and distributing seeds of many varieties. Sand vetch and, for the still lighter soils, the wood-pea have been found suit- able. For sandy soils in northern Michigan sara- della and sainfoin are also thought to have possibili- ties of useful culture, while lupines, although con- sidered as possibly useful, have not been demon- strated a valuable crop as yet. The yellow and white annual sweet clover, Swedish "golden rain" oats, broad bean, soybean, hidalgo-pea, lentil, and other imported types have been taken account of, but it is now too early for definite values to be assigned them for sandy lands in general, although in restricted areas in some instances good results appear to have been obtained. The energetic pursuit of this field of investigation may, in the next few years, determine positively what sandy soils are capable of accomplish- ing in the agriculture of Michigan. Near Grayling, Crawford County, in the sandy land area of the Lower Peninsula, the Northeastern Development Bureau, in cooperation with the Michi- gan Agricultural College, has recently undertaken experimental investigations of crops adapted to the DEVELOPMENT OF MICHIGAN WASTE. LANDS 429 light sandy soils of the region. The projects are described as having to do "with the nse of lime, potash, acid phosphate, with such crops as vetch, peas, oats, sweet clover, alfalfa, etc." The demon- strations are in charge of the extension department of the College and its soils department. The Grand Eapids and Indiana Eailway some five years ago began cooperative work at the demonstration farm at Howard City and demonstration plats at Cadillac and Big Eapids. Various clover, vetches, lupines, and the like, were tried out. This work was interrupted by the war. This bureau is particularly favorable to the annual white sweet clover, or "Hubam" which, with vetch, is regarded as the best soil-builder. Agriculture in the northern counties of the south- ern peninsula and the whole of the Upper Peninsula presents not only problems of soil and markets but also of climate. It has, therefore, been necessary to determine, from these points of view, what crops and methods must be employed if success is to be the reward of rural industry. Trial and experience seem to demonstrate that the climate is too cool for corn to mature over much of the area, except in an exceptionally favoral)le season and in the southern counties of the district. Beans likewise are not adapted, although under exceptional conditions good crops have been secured. On the sandy loams and medium loams, such crops as clover, beans, peas, rye, vetch, buckwheat, corn, potatoes, root-crops and small- fruit do well; while the heavier soils produce also 430 RURAL MICHIGAN crops of timothy, wheat, oats and harley.^ While climate and soil conditions are regarded .as favorable to the sugar-beet, its culture is confined to the south- western portion of the (!Tstrict, west of Lake TNIichi- gan. All root-crops seem to thrive here; while the almost unfailing rainfall of the growing season is favorable to forage crops and live-stock. However, with live-stock there remains the problem of winter feeding, which is not insoluble and perhaps not more serious than drought feeding in the southern coun- ties. Eecent success in the growing of sunflowers for ensilage may solve this problem, although expert opinion is not unanimous in regard to the value of the crop. On the heavy clays, principally in Chip- pewa County, hay does exceptionally well, and has been largely exported from the region. There being no large cities in the district, the absence of large local markets must be considered. Expert opinion seems to favor the region as a dairy section, and there is now a considerable traffic in milk and cream both local and by railway to urban markets within and without the district. In estimating the dairy possibilities of the region, the human factor must also be considered. The large foreign population, particularly Scandinavian and Finnish, is attracted naturally to dairying. Sheep- raising on the large cut-over ranges has been pro- moted in both peninsulas, but the consensus of expert local opinion seems to favor the industry in the hands 'Walker & McDowell: "Farming on Cut-over Lands of Mich.," U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull., 425, p. 4. o CO en a 3 o O C o _bjD .— H 'Sic CJ 5 o g w .£ "3 o .c f-i o -t-> CK ai +3 I-' «4-r -M o F^ O "o 'C o be -— < CO Oi M eB H^ iH a> +j -i-> O O) H DEVELOPMEXT OF MICHIGAN WASTE LANDS 431 of persons familiar witli the country rather than by incoming ranchers from the western ranges. Sheep-raising on a moderate scale by local farmers has made good many times. In weighing the agri- cultural possibilities of the region, it must be recog- nized that the proximity of the Great Lakes is a factor of great importance, causing climatic condi- tions to vary markedly within a few miles back from the shore line. This is to be considered in relation to fruit husbandry, which in areas adjacent to the lakes on suitable land has been remarkably success- ful. However, care must be taken in selecting the varieties of fruit. From the list of apples, the as- sistant state leader of county agents in the Upper Peninsula has selected the Wealthy and Northwest- ern Greening as, on the whole, the types to be favored here. The Secretary of the State Horticultural So- ciety favors the Macintosh Red. Berries, including currants, gooseberries, blackberries, red raspberries, and strawberries are universally, both in the wild and domesticated state, grown in the district. Plums and cherries produce on occasion in a very remarkable abundance, while pears yield not so well. Garden vegetables in wide variety do very well. In the opinion of the special investigators of the United States Department of Agriculture, who studied agricultural conditions and described them in a bulletin published in 191fi, "mixed farming rather than a highly specialized type is apparently well adapted to the majority of farms in this dis- trict." The study embraced 801 farms in the cut- 432 RVRAL EIWIIIGAN over divstrict of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, where the average investment for each farm was $(j,85G, and the family income $559. In addition, if free of deht, the family had what the farm could furnish for its living. If income is small, so are ex- penses among persons whose standard of living is not so highly developed as among the old American stock. Grouping the farms by size and family in- come, the investigation brought out the fact that, of the farms investigated, those having an area of 20 tillable acres or less, the family income was $213. Farms of 20 to 40 acres gave a family income of $339; of 40 to GO acres, $533; of 60 to 80 acres, $G22 ; 80 to 100 acres, $939 ; 100 to 140 acres, $1,179 ; over 140 acres, $1,586.^ This shows the steadily increased income with the addition of tillable area. The investigators observe that "the little farm well tilled may succeed, and frequently does succeed in this area, but the prospects are brighter for the larger farm if that larger farm has sufficient area under cultivation. Among the records there are those of quite a number of farms, having satisfac- tory labor incomes on less than forty acres of cleared land, but these farms have rich soil, exceptionally good livestock, and, as a rule, a considerable acreage of woods pasture. A family engaged in general farm- ing may make a fair living on a farm with forty acres under cultivation and should be able to make money with 80 to IGO acres under cultivation. The ^ "Farming on the Cut-over Lands of Michigan," etc., supra, 9, 10. DEVELOPAIEXr OF MICIIlGAy WASTE LANDS 433 rapid enlargement of the cultivated area on each farm, when it can be done economically, is the first and most important agricultural problem in this district and the one that has the widest and most general application." ^ It has been shown statistically that there is no labor income on farms with a large area unimproved. To operate such a farm involves a disproportionate outlay for taxes and interest on lands yielding small or no return. Thus in the 801 farms under investi- gation as above noted, whose average acreage was 108, it was ascertained that farms with less than forty tillable acres had a minus labor income, while only those farms possessing a tillable area of eighty acres or more had a labor income above $100. Mani- festly, then, it is uneconomic to hold large areas of unimproved lands, except where new and favorable developments can be anticipated. This is the ra- tionale of the vigorous campaigns for stump re- moval that has characterized some of the cut-over districts of the State since the war period. In the summer of 19"^ 1, it was planned actively to promote land clearing in the Upper Peninsula under expert guidance through the extension department of the Michigan Agricultural College. The Department of Agriculture investigators re- ported a lack of crop rotation on the newer cut-over farms under review, while the more successful of the older farms had developed it definitely. The rota- * "Farming on the Cut-over Lands of Michigan," etc., supra, !), 10. 434 RURAL MICHIGAN tion most successful was that of grains, legumes and inter-tilled crops. These were grown in a three- or four-year rotation. In the latter grain was the crop for the first year, for the second year, hay; the third year, hay or pasture ; and the fourth year, inter- tilled crops. The three-year rotation was in general use where pasture on undeveloped land was abundant. The clearing of cut-over lands obviously calls for much heavy labor, and this seems favorable to cer- tain sturdy European stocks inured and willing to labor under rough conditions and with low initial returns. During the early years of farm-making, there is opportunity for work in the woods during the winter and always for additional land-clearing opera- tions. Indeed, most farmers of the northern cut- over country are only part-time agriculturists, de- voting a fair proportion of their time to lumbering or other pursuits to augment the family income. In the farm economy, care must be taken not to grow more vegetables and small-fruits than can be taken care of at home, except where urban markets are available. On the other hand, the farm will pro- duce ample supplies of fuel from its timber and slashings, with fence-posts and stakes, not only for home use but also for shipment to outside markets. Lumber, stone, sand and gravel are usually locally accessible. At Escanaba, in the heart of the cut-over country, exists the factory of the A. J. Kirstin Company, manufacturers of stump-pullers. Some of these operate by man-power and some by horse-power, on DEVELOPMENT OF MICHIGAN WASTE LANDS 435 the clutch and drum principle. Selling at a price ranging from $100 to $400, these pullers are sold to a reported amount of about $1,000,000 annually. Three-fourths of this business is domestic and direct from factory to customer. About 10,000 machines are produced annually, the company reports; and the hand-power clutch and drum type predominate. These hand-power machines are chiefly used on small acreages. Experience has shown that usually the best combination is of explosives and stump-pullers, whereby the stumps are first riven to pieces and then removed by the puller. In addition to explosives obtained through com- mercial channels, the farmers of the cut-over area have obtained large quantities of ^'TNT" relin- quished by the United States Department of Agri- culture to the State Highway Department, and by the Highway Departments to the local farm bureaus for land-clearing operations. The reported contri- butions thus furnished 750,000 pounds. The price was very much less than that normally paid for ex- plosives, since, as salvaged war material, it was not distributed on a commercial basis. It proved a great boon to the stump country, but aroused some oppo- sition on the part of private concerns handling ex- plosives, and for this or other reasons, this source of supply was largely cut off in the spring of 1921. There remained large quantities of "government" picric acid, which it was planned to dispose of simi- larly when a safe method of handling had been se- cured. It is evident that land-clearing operations in 436 RURAL MICHIGAN Michigan, even with these facilities available, have a long future before them. It is recognized that the agricultural progress of Michigan, particularly in the undeveloped sections, is closely connected with adequate financial assist- ance. Outside the regular channels of banking, there is no agency specifically created for the purpose of affording financial aid to farmers or to rural develop- ment. There are at the present time no colonization companies, such as obtain in Wisconsin, for extend- ing financial assistance to settlers. A purpose to establish such enterprises has from time to time been expressed, but as yet without definite results. Up to March, 1920, the Federal Land Bank of St. Paul, which embraces in its operations the State of Michigan, had placed loans in this State aggre- gating $4,150,500, of which $1,366,600 was allocated to the Upper Peninsula. On December 31, 1920, there had been chartered in Michigan 121 farm loan associations, 3,440 loans had been made, involving the total loans of $6,475,000. This gave an average loan of $1,882.^ This was a year marked by a ces- sation of business on the part of the Federal Farm Loan Board, caused by the pendency in the Supreme Court of the United States of a suit involving the constitutionality of the Federal Farm Loan Law and the consequent discontinuance of the operations of the Federal Farm Loan Board. With the final de- cision of the court favorable to the act, it may be expected that the benefits of the law will manifest »Rept. of Federal Farm Loan Bd., Feb. 9, 1921, 5. DEVELOPMENT OF MICHIGAy WASTE LANDS 437 themselves in Michigan on a much larger scale than hitherto. Even cursory observation of the cut-over districts of Michigan makes clear the impossibility of develop- ing some of them agriculturally. The area of these lands in arrears for taxes in 1920 was stated to be three million. During five years the acreage re- verting to the State because of the nonpayment of taxes is given as 2,300,000.^ There are on the tax rolls 5,000,000 acres with an average value of $5 an acre. This is nearly one-seventh of the State. Of the lands which revert to the State as delinquent for taxes, some are re-sold, some are exchanged with private or public holders in order to consolidate the State's holdings; and some are transferred to the Public Domain (now Conservation) Commission to be held as public lands, some of them to be organized as State forests. The fact that these lands reverted because they were unable to produce returns equal to the tax requirements assessed against them, indi- cates that they will permanently remain public prop- erty, and the State intends to hold them as such. Of the lands which are re-sold at the annual tax sale, many acres revert, and revert again and again to the State, after this or that purchaser has discovered their worthlessness for agriculture, mining or other industry. The problem of the economic utilization of the cut- over non-productive lands within the State is peren- 'Janette: "Michigan'3 Millions of Idle Acres," Detroit, 1920, 12. 438 RURAL MICHIGAN nially discussed and remains obviously unsolved. At the outset, it must be understood that the character of these lands, except where experimentally ascer- tained, is not determined, and in few cases is a mat- ter of public record. Obviously then, the first atten- tion must be given to their classification after investi- gation by competent authorities, who have in view all the elements that enter into the determination of their economic importance. The cut-over areas contain some excellent arable land, capable of pro- ducing field and forage crops equal to the best sec- tions of the State; other tracts may provide range for live-stock through nati\e and cultivated grasses; while another portion will produce forest products more advantageously than field crops or pasture. It has been proposed that the State should resort to condemnation proceedings on the initiative of town- ships, counties or municipalities, to disengage the idle lands of the north country from the dead hand of their present possessors who are failing to make any economic use of them, while, fire-swept season after season, they constitute a general fire hazard and are steadily being impoverished by the same destructive agency. Thereon, the State should carry out a policy of reforestation for that portion of the area which offers itself as best adapted to this use, while other areas can be set aside for grazing pur- poses to all who may wish this accommodation. Co- incidentally, provision would be made by State or local administration for fire control through an ade- DEVELOPMEXT OF MICHIGAN WASTE LANDS 439 quate system of wardens, fire-fighting equipment, and removal of slashings.^ C. 0. Sauer has sketched a plan for a soil survey, which includes such data as would normally interest the homeseeker and purchaser of a farm. Of pri- mary interest, he points out, is the location of the markets accessible to the farmer, which should be plainly indicated on a sketch map of the region. The map also shows significant topographical and drain- age features. Geographical features should be de- scribed in terms of their origin. Local names of soils should be retained wherever possible. Soils should be related to slopes in the description of them. There should be a brief interpretation of the climate, in- cluding "the average length of growing season, fre- quency of unseasonable frosts, depth of frost action, amount and duration of snow-cover, distribution of rain during growing season, frequency of droughts and rainy 'spells' at critical periods, intensity of precipitation, occurrence of hail and violent wind- storms." Farmers' experiences of local weather conditions should not be ignored. Typical farm prac- tices should be described. There should be abun- dant photographic illustration. A map showing the actual use to which the land is being put should be included. Present or past forest cover should lie noted. Such a map is very significant to the stu- dent and inquirer. The history of the use of the land should be stated. ' "Michigan's Millions of Idle Acres," 44. CHAPTEE XIV STATUS AND TENDENCIES IN MICHIGAN RURAL LIFE A SUMMARY statement of census findings will afford us a measure of the State's resources and will show how near we have yet come to reaping the capabilities of the land. Between these results and a fair optimism lie the possibilities of the produc- tion of the State; and the figures of different periods show the tendencies. The aggregate population of Michigan in 1920 was 3,668,412, a decided increase from the returns for the previous decade which showed 2,810,173. Of the total, the one city of Detroit had 993,678, an increase of 113.3 per cent over the 1910 figure of 465,766. On the other hand, the population of Michigan in 1920 dwelling in the rural sections, rep- resented by places of less than 2,500 inhabitants, was 1,426,852, which was 38.9 per cent of the total popu- lation. Evidently Michigan had ceased to be pre- dominantly a rural commonwealth after the manner of its pioneer period. Only twenty years before, the rural inhabitants had numbered 60.7 per cent of the whole. Thus in a score of years the rural had yielded to the urban element in its composition. Of the 440 STATUS AXD TENDENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 441 eighty-three counties of the State in 1920, thirty- three, Allegan, Berrien, Branch, Cass, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Chippewa, Clinton, Eaton, Emmet, Gra- tiot, Hillsdale, Houghton, Ionia, Iron, Isabella, La- peer, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Manistee, Mason, Mecosta, Menominee, Midland, IMonroe, Montcalm, Ottawa, Presque Isle, St. Joseph, Shia- wassee, Tuscola and Van Buren, showed a larger rural than urban population, as the census employs the term. The most striking feature of the census returns, but one for which observers of rural conditions were prepared, was the drift from the rural to the urban communities. Between 1910 and 1920 Alpena, Alle- gan, Barry, Bay, Berrien, Branch, Cass, Cheboygan, Clinton, Eaton, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Gratiot, Hillsdale, Houghton, Ionia, Isabella, Kent, Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston, Manistee, Mason, Mecosta, ]\Ienominee, IMonroe, j\Iontcalm, Muskegon, Ottawa, Saginaw, St. Clair, St. Joseph, Schoolcraft, Shia- wassee, Tuscola, Van Buren, Washtenaw and Wex- ford showed a definite loss of rural population. Of the counties which had a positive increase of rural population, Gogebic, in the extreme northwestern portion of the State, led with its rural growth of 32.5 per cent, while Iron had 26.6 per cent of in- crease. These northern counties are in the formerly undeveloped l)ut now developing section of the State. The effect of the adjacent automobile industry on the rural sections of the counties containing them is not manifested in Genesee County, whose rural popula- 443 RURAL MICHIGAN tion increased 21.4 per cent in the decade; in Ingham, whose rural increase was 9.7 per cent; and Oakland, with a rural increase of lfi.7 per cent of population. The census of 1930 enumerates 196,647 farms in Michigan, of which the fifteen counties of the Upper Peninsula had 12,317. In the well-developed agri- cultural counties of the south are the largest number of farms. Kent County had 5,605; Lenawee, 5,083; Berrien, 5,444; Saginaw, 5,143; Allegan with 5,734 stood at the top of the column ; while Menominee led in the Upper Peninsula with its 2,106, followed by Houghton with 1,741. Many of these counties hav- ing a large number of farms are of relatively small area. Allegan's area is 833 square miles; Lenawee's 743 ; and Berrien's 569. This contrasts with the situation in ' Marquette County, the largest in the State, whose area of 1,870 square miles contained only 846 farms, and Mackinac's area of 1,044 square miles had 479 farms. Counties in the northern por- tion of the southern peninsula also show relatively few farms. Thus Eoscommon, in 1920, had 267 farms; Ogemaw, 1,281; Montmorency, 421; Oscoda, 278; and Crawford, 212. The Fourteenth Census (1920) ascertained that there were in Michigan in 1920 an aggregate of 196,447 farms out of 6,448,366 farms in the entire United States, which placed Michigan in the fif- teenth place under this head. The number of acres in Michigan farms wfrs 19,034,204, the rank being twenty-third. The number of acres of improved land was 12,926,241, while 3,217,100 acres were in STATU i^ A\D TEXDEXCIES IN RURAL LIFE 443 woodlands. Of other unimproved land, the acreage was 2,890,803. The average number of acres to a farm in Michigan was 96.9; the average number of improved acres 65.8. The value of farm lands and buildings is $1,437,862,310, the State's rank being fourteenth. The average value of land and build- ings to a farm is estimated as $7,313, at $75.58 an acre. The rank of the State in value for each farm was twenty-ninth, and in value an acre, sixteenth. Classified with reference to their size, there are in Michigan 12,744 farms under 20 acres. The farms ranging in size from 20 to 49 acres numbered 40,765 ; from 50 to 99 acres, 71,391 ; from 100 to 174 acres, 52,645; from 175 to 499 acres, 18,075; of 500 acres and over, 827. These figures clearly bring out the fact that Michigan farms average of only moderate size, a good acreage in the minds of the farming population appearing to be 80. Of the total number of farms, 34,722 were oper- ated by tenants, in which respect Michigan ranked twenty-fourth. There were 23,280 share tenants; 422 share-cash tenants; and 9,312 cash tenants. Of farms operated by their owners, Michigan ranked sixth, having 159,406. There were 72,866 owned farms free from mortgage (the rank of the State being here eleventh). Of the owned farms, 78,761 were mortgaged, in which respect the State ranked second. Thus it appears that 51.9 per cent of the owned farms were mortgaged. The farm mortgage debt in Michigan was $144,103,067 for 67,119 farms reporting this item. In the amount of its farm mort- 444 RURAL MICHIGAN gage debts only Wisconsin and Missouri exceeded Michigan. The average interest rate for farm mort- gages was six per cent. The average mortgage debt to a farm was $2,147. The vahio of all farm property in Michigan was reported at $1,703,334,740, of which land alone rep- resented $959,186,538, and the buildings $477,499,- 672. The implements and machinery were rated at $122,389,927 and the live-stock at $204,258,603. The value of all farm property for a farm worked out at $8,976, in which item the State ranked thirteenth. In value of all farm property Michigan ranked four- teenth, of land alone sixteenth, of buildings seventh, of implements and machinery fourteenth, of live- stock sixteenth." The total farm expenditures for labor were given as $31,944,861 for the year 1919, the State ranking eighteenth under this head. Out of this total, $24,875,549 were paid in cash, the balance going imder the heading of rent and board. The reported expenditures for fertilizers were $4,887,253, and $22,104,883 for feed. The number of foreign-born white farmers in Michigan in 1920 was 48,264, of which 2,034 were born in Austria; 13,393 in Canada; 1,142 in Den- mark; 2,203 in England; 3,947 in Finland; 264 in France; 9,745 in Germany; 3,280 in Holland; 933 in Hungary; 819 in Ireland; 298 in Italy; 654 in Norway; 2,479 in Poland; 1,538 in Eussia; 436 in Scotland; 3,088 in Sweden; and 371 in Switzer- land. STATUS AND TENDENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 445 Male persons operated 190,G71 farms; and fe- males, 5,776 farms. Of the owners, 153,872 were males and 5,534 females. Of the managers, 2,300 were males and 19 females. Of the tenants 34,499 were males and 223 females. Females operated 440,- 426 acres. The total area of organized drainage enterprises in Michigan was 9,778,269 acres. Improved farm land amounted to 7,754,161 acres, while timbered and cnt-over land comprised 1,663,345 acres. Other unimproved land was 360,763 acres. The total land area of the State was 36,787,200 acres. The area in drainage enterprises was 26.6 per cent. Swampy or wet lands or those subject to overflow in organized drainage enterprises was given as 1,037,361 acres. The cost of organized drainage enterprises was re- ported at $25,480,099. The census returns show the total value of all farm crops in Michigan in 1919 to have been $404,- 014,810, distributed as follows: cereals, $170,897,- 885; hay and forage, $105,280,992; vegetables in- cluding potatoes $65,096,550; all other crops, $62,- 739,383. The total value of live-stock products in 1919 was $111,076,235, as compared with $48,380,- 551 in 1909. Of dairy products the value was $71,074,727 in 1919, and $26,727,538 in 1909. Chickens and eggs returned a value of $34,960,771 in 1919 and $17,926,239 in 1909. Wool and mohair were valued at $4,623,778, as against $3,430,032 a decade earlier. Honey and wax had a value of $416,959 in 1919 and $296,742 ten years before. 446 RURAL MICHIGAN These valuations obviously should be considered in connection Math the high prices prevailing at the later date. The State ranked sixteenth as a producer of corn in 1919; fifteenth in wheat; twelfth in oats; eighth in barley; second in rye; fifth in buckwheat; and ninth in hay. In sugar-beets Michigan ranked sec- ond; sixth in maple sugar; fifth in maple sirup; fifteenth in honey. Michigan ranked tv/enty-first in swine; sixteenth in number of all cattle; thirtieth in beef cattle ; ninth in dairy cows ; fifteenth in num- ber of horses; thirty-seventh in number of mules; and twelfth in number of sheep. A comparison of the yields to the acre of im- portant farm crops, based on the reports of the Bureau of Crop Estimates of the United States Department of Agriculture, shows that Michigan pro- duced corn in 1920 at the rate of 40 bushels to the acre, while the yield in Wisconsin was 43.9 bushels, Illinois 34, Iowa 46, and New Hampshire 45. Michi- gan's yield of wheat ran 15.5 bushels to the acre as compared with Minnesota's 19.6, Ohio's 12,7, Kan- sas' 15.4, and New York's 23.3 bushels. The yield of oats was 39.6 bushels to the acre, as against 41 bushels in Indiana, 34 in South Dakota, and 39 in Pennsylvania. Of barley the acre yield in Michigan was 26 bushels, 31.7 in Wisconsin, 18 in North Da- kota, and 27.7 in Ohio. Similarly the State pro- duced rye at 14.7 bushels, as compared with a yield in Wisconsin of 16 bushels, 17 in Minnesota, and 17.5 in New York. Buckwheat yielded 14.5 bushels STATUS AND TENDEyCIES IX RURAL LIFE 447 to the acre, as compared with Ohio's output of 20.9 bushels, and Indiana's yield of 20 bushels. Potatoes yielded 105 bushels to the acre, while New York produced 125 bushels, Ohio 100, and Minnesota 95. The production of hay ran at 1.21 tons to the acre in Michigan, 1.70 tons in Wiscon- sin, 1.44 in Iowa, and 2.60 in Nebraska. Beans yielded 13 bushels to the acre in Michigan, 14 in New York, 8 in Colorado, and 10 in California. Of sugar-beets, Michigan's acre product was 8.67 tons, as against 10.70 for Colorado, 9.64 tons in Ohio, 8.66 in Wisconsin, and 11.57 in Utah. Other crops, like flax-seed, hops and tobacco, which are impor- tant in other noffthern states, are negligible in Michigan. As might be surmised from what has already been stated regarding the relative productivity of the sev- eral sections of the State, the southern tier of coun- ties make the largest aggregate showing of agricul- tural products. The Annual Summary of the Michi- gan Cooperative Crop Eeporting Service indicates that the counties producing more than 500,000 bushels of wheat include Gratiot, Allegan, Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo, Kent, Ottawa, Barry, Calhoun, Clinton, Eaton, Hillsdale, Ionia, Genesee, Lenawee, Monroe, St. Clair, and Washtenaw, all southern coun- ties of the southern peninsula. The counties pro- ducing more than 1,000,000 bushels of corn in- clude Gratiot, Mecosta, Montcalm, Huron, Saginaw, Sanilac, Tuscola, Allegan, Berrien, Cass, Kalamazoo, Kent, Barry, Branch, Calhoun, Clinton, Eaton, 448 RURAL MICHIGAN Hillsdale, Ingham, Ionia, Jackson, St. Joseph, Shia- wassee, Genesee, Lenawee, Livingston, Monroe, Oak- land and Washtenaw, also southern, but with a more northerly trend than appear in the list of wheat- producing counties. Eight southern counties pro- duced more than 1,000,000 bushels of oats: Gratiot, Huron, Saginaw, Sanilac, Tuscola, Clinton, Genesee and St. Clair. The large yields of rye and barley are also in this territory. While the only counties producing over 1,000,000 bushels of potatoes are also southern, large yields are reported for the northern counties. It should be understood, however, that, while the northern counties are usually larger in total area than those in the southern portion, their farm areas are much smaller. It is interesting to observe that, where northern counties make any showing iu the production of a croja, the acre yield runs higher frequently than for the most southerly counties, as, for example, in the case of potatoes, whose yield in 1920 was reported at 134 bushels to tlie acre in Houghton County and GO bushels in Branch County (taking the extremes of the State). The yield of oats in ]\Ienominee County was 27.3 bushels to the acre, and Hillsdale County 23.4 bush- els. The hay output in Chippewa County was 1.57 tons to the acre and 1.3G in Lenawee County. Corn yielded 39 bushels to the acre in Delta County and 36 in Clinton, but it should not be supposed that the aggregate corn crop is large in northern Michigan. Since the beginning of the State's history, agri- culture has received its greatest development in the STATUS A^D TENDENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 449 southern counties. The Fourteenth United States Census, however, reveals that it is liardly holding its own in this section. Quite uniformly in these coun- ties appears a diminution of the total acreage in farms and the acreage of improved farm lands. Thus in the decade, Oakland County showed a de- crease of total farm area of 14.8 per cent, while the area of improved farm lands decreased 16.5. Simi- larly the improved farm lands of Macomb County fell off 4.4 per cent; of St. Clair, 1.9; of Calhoun, 3 ; of Washtenaw, 3.9 ; Monroe, 3 ; of Lenawee, 2.5; of Wayne, 18.3; of Hillsdale, 3.4; of Living- ston, 6.5; of Berrien, 2.3; of Cass, 2.1; of Allegan, 7.5; of Barry, 2.5; of St. Joseph, 3.6; of Kala- mazoo, 7.2 ; of Branch, 3 ; and of Van Buren, 5.7 per cent. These are the oldest agricultural counties of the State, in part of which farming has continued for about a century. Even the central counties of the southern peninsula have a similar trend. Dur- ing the same period the area of improved farm land in Oceana County decreased 1.1 per cent; of Clin- ton, 2.3; of Shiawassee, 2.4; of Ionia, 4; of St. Clair, 1.9; of Sanilac, 4.5; of Bay, 17.8; of Eaton, 1.8; of Jackson 2.8; of Genesee, 6.8; of Ingham, 3.9; of Lapeer, 1.7; of Kent, 3.5; of Ottawa, 3.6. Undoubtedly in counties like Wayne, Oakland, Ingham and Genesee, there has been a tendency for the city to encroac-h on the country; but such an ex- planation does not apply to such predominantly rural coimties as Clinton, Branch or Eaton. Taken in con- nection that a similar decrease in the total farm 450 RURAL MICHIGAN area in these counties has occurred, it must be as- sumed that there is a retrograde agricultural move- ment in this section of the State. On the other hand, the counties in the northern portion of the southern peninsula and throughout the northern peninsula have displayed an agricultural advance in the decade. Thus Arenac County showed an increase of 31.1 per cent in improved farm lands; Clare County an increase of 22 per cent; Gladwin, of 34.9 per cent; Mason, 7.2; Manistee, 13.7; Lake, 7.3 ; Newaygo, 0.9 ; Montmorency, 30.2, and Ogemaw, 21. These counties are without large cities but with a much smaller proportion of their land in farms, because of the poverty of the soil or the presence of forest lands, public or private. Thus Arenac County has only 135,334 acres in farms, while Van Buren has 341,089 acres, and Branch County 308,805. Manistee County has 147,569 acres in farms, as against 308,805 acres in Branch County, although Manistee exceeds Branch County in area by 65 square miles. Although the farm area in these northern counties is proportionally less, the census returns indicate that it is materially increasing. An even more striking situation appears for the counties of the Upper Peninsula, where soil condi- tions on the whole are believed to be much more favorable than in the northern counties of the south- ern peninsula. Thus Gogebic County in the decade showed a total farm area increasing by 109.2 per cent, and an improved farm land area increasing by 107.3 per cent; but the acreages themselves were STATUS AND TENDENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 451 relatively small, 27,442 and 9,829 respectively. Similarly Houghton County in the copper country increased its farm area by 43.6 per cent, and its im- proved farm lands 58.1 per cent, the acreage of improved lands being 56,798. Chippewa County, relatively well developed agriculturally, had in 1920, 185,202 acres in farms and increased in the decade 5.1 per cent; while its 105,870 improved acres showed an increase of 33.4 per cent. Marquette Covmty, with 88,450 acres in farms, increased 30.4 per cent; and Menominee County, Avith 222,353 acres in farms, increased 32.8 per cent. Delta County's 142,137 acres in farms increased 26 per cent, while its 53,021 acres of improved farm land had increased 23.5 per cent. These figures confirm the opinion that the cut-over lands of the northern counties are witnessing the most definite agricultural advance; for here are good as well as poor soils at moderate prices avail- able to the farmer, often of foreign parentage, lack- ing capital but willing to labor and sustain the pri- vations of pioneering in a new country. If one compares representative counties in the three sections of the State having distinctive agri- cultural features, one perceives to what extent the northern counties lag behind the southern in agri- cultural development. Thus in the Upper Peninsula, Marquette County with an aggregate area, as reported by the census, of 1.196,800 acres, has only 88,450 acres in farms; Menominee Coimty, with 675,840 acres, has less than one-third of this area in farms; Delta County, with 748,160 acres, has less 453 RURAL EHCHIGAN than one-fifth in farms. In the northern counties of the southern peninsula, Arenac, with a total area of 239,360 acres, has 135,334 in farms; Gladwin, Avith 332,160 acres, has 154,633 in farms; and Clare, with 372,480 acres, has 186,581 in farms. Finally, selecting representative counties from the three southernmost tiers in the Lower Peninsula, Hillsdale County, with an aggregate area of 381,680 acres, has 362,815 in farms; Calhoun wiLh 443,420 total acres, has 407,958 in farms; and Eaton, with 365,440 acres, has 342,500 in farms. In the northern counties there are sections not included in the present farm acre- age that cannot reasonably be expected to serve any agricultural purpose. One large owner in this terri- tory is reported recently to have turned back to the State 22,000 acres rather than pay taxes on these unproductive lands; very much of the State's pres- ent holdings under the control of the Conservation Commission were acquired in this manner. On the other hand, there is a large but undetermined acre- age whose situation as regards soil, climate and drainage warrant high hopes of important agricul- tural productivity. Isle Eoyale in Lake Superior, at one time prized for its copper deposits but which in this respect proved disappointing, is now largely abandoned and unoccupied save by a few fisher folk. The United States still holds large acreage on the island, which is of itself good evidence of its non-availability for economic uses. Drummond Island, at the head of Lake Huron, is chiefly important for its timber re- STATUS AXD TEXDENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 453 sources. The best farming area is in the eastern section of the island. Its agricultural development is, however, backward. Beaver Island, in northern Lake Michigan, has had a more distinctive agricul- tural history. In the fifth decade of the last century it was the site of a IMormon colony, come hither from Wisconsin, which during the regime .of "King" James Jesse Strang, had established a flourishing agriculture there. Eventually the Mormons got into difficulties with their neighbors, chiefly the fisher- men of that part of the lake, and were dispersed after the assassination of their quondam "king." Some of their descendants are said to be residing still on Drummond Island but without any religious affiliation with Mormonism. Agriculture on Beaver Island today is reported to be in a degenerate state. Soil conditions on Beaver Island are variable, light sands and clays occupying its surface, with good arable land in the interior. The surface is quite level with a tendency to undulation. Some of the eleva- tions once bore such Biblical designations as "Mount Pisgah," in IMormon days, while the island had its "Sea of Galilee" and "Eiver Jordan." There is con- siderable swamp land on the island and artificial drainage is necessary. Agricultural conditions on the Manitou Island of Lake Michigan are reported to be above the average. One observer states that the farmers are up-to-date and that the yield of potatoes and other crops was, in 1919, above the average on the mainland. Here the Michigan Agricultural College has had a plan- 454 RURAL MICHIGAN tation of Eosen rye for the purpose of securing seed free from cross fertilization. Some of this rye has been offered for sale by the Michigan State Farm Bureau. High Island, near by, is largely in the pos- session of the religious society known as "The Israelite House of David/' situated near Benton Harbor, which reports the ownership of some 2,980 acres out of the 3,200 of the island. The island yields saw-timber, and the House of David has under cultivation some 200 acres, part of which is devoted to fruit and the remainder to the growth of vege- tables, which yield abundantly, it is stated, and are of fine quality. In Michigan agriculture, it must have become clear that no crop or feature predominates. Thus, the Crop Reporting Service of the United States De- partment of Agriculture shows that, in 1920, the State ranked first as a producer of rye, third as a producer of potatoes, fourth in buckwheat, third in apples, and fourth in pears. The growth of cooperation among Michigan farmers is one of the most striking features of recent agricultural history. The American farmer is nor- mally individualistic, but the force of circumstances has directed him along this new path. There were reported in May, 1921, 123 cooperative associations, memljers of the Michigan Potato Growers Exchange. At the same date, the number of cooperative cream- eries was at least 74. The membership of the Michi- gan Livestock Exchange similarly comprised 104 cooperative associations. The list of associated ex- STATUS AND TENDENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 455 changes includes 21 local associations, chiefly fruit.^ It was believed that there were about 100 live-stock shipping associations and cooperative elevators in the State.- The ■ "Directory of American Agricultural Or- ganizations," published by the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture in 1920, lists some forty-nine associations and societies among farmers, designed to promote their economic or social interests; but the list is far from complete, since there arc known to be a large number of cooperative associations, of a very local range, not included in this directory. As a business man, the Yankee farmer, who is still an element of great importance in Michigan agri- culture, especially in the southern peninsula, does not take kindly to cooperation, and it is apparently chiefly among the more alien elements that coopera- tion flourishes best. Habits of cooperation acquired in the old country persist on American soil. Thus, in Finland, in 1920, there were reported 023 coop- erative associations, which is indicative of a well- developed practice of cooperation among persons of Finnish nationality. Recalling that the Finnish population of the Upper Peninsula is large, in rural as well as urban areas, it follows that cooperative business arrangements among them are not infre- quently encountered. There were, in 1920, thirty- eight cooperative stores listed in the Upper Penin- "■ Monthly Crop Reporter, April. 1921, 40, 41. ' From a detailed Hat prepared l)y Hale Tenant, Ajjent in Marketing, Michigan Agricultural College, May 9, 1921. 456 RURAL MICHIGAN siila. A survey of twenty-six of these elicited the fact that the average membership of the associations reporting was 245, which would indicate a total membership of 9,310 for the entire number of stores. The total capitalization is given as $559,500, for twenty-five stores reporting. The total paid-in capital was put at $212,418 for these stores. The aggregate of sales was $3,821,158, for twenty-four stores. This gives an average annual business of $125,881. The turn-over of sales amounted to 14.2 times the paid-in capital. The overhead expense averaged 10.1 per cent, and ranged from 5 to 15 per cent. In all but four stores, only one vote was allowed to each member regardless of the number of shares owned. There was a nominal or small rate of interest on stock (5 to 6 per cent). Profits were divided on the basis of purchases by members. In addition to stores, there are cooperative creameries, insurance societies and grist mills, while the Finnish and other sections of the population were very willing to become members of the farm bureaus. The spirit of cooperation expresses itself socially as well as economically, mutual relief and help being freely ofi'ered and received. In the southern peninsula, cooperative stores are infrequently encountered, while there is a strong tendency to establish cooperative shipping associa- tions, elevators, and threshing outfits. Definite statistics are lacking. A distinctive tendency in Michigan agriculture STATUS AXD TEXDEXCIE8 IX RURAL LIFE 457 is the desire of farmers for the inspection and grad- ing of their products. Thus, the Michigan State Farm Bureau has reported great interest in the process of grading wool gathered into the wool-pool in its various warehouses throughout the State, and the fact that there are in reality definite grades of wool is becoming recognized by the farmers. A corollary is the recognition that prices should be adapted to gradations in quality. The inspection service of the United States Department of Agri- culture, Bureau of Markets, extends to a few points in Michigan, the chief inspection office being situ- ated at Detroit, while service is extended to Bay City, Flint, Grand Eapids, Jackson, Lansing, Port Huron, Saginaw, Battle Creek, and Kalamazoo, and requests for additional points of service are being pressed. Thus, the farmers of Chippewa County were desirous, in 1921, of having this inspection service for their export hay. Through this service, both shippers and purchasers have reliable and im- partial information on which to base a judgment in case of disputes between them, railroads have a fair basis for an adjustment of claims, and the consum- ing public is protected against loss and imposition. There is little tendency to work farms with lalwr that is transient and not from the farmer's family. Thus, the United States Department of Agriculture reports that, in 1920, the percentage of grain har- vest work done by transient labor drawn from without the county was 5 in Michigan, while in 458 RURAL MICUIGAN Kansas it was 31 per cent;, in North Dakota 41, and Washington 43 per cent.^ There has been, however, a large influx of country dwellers into the large cities, especially the centers of automobile manufac- ture, until the movement was checked by the adverse industrial conditions of the winter of 1920-1921. This had the effect of causing the abandonment of many farms to an extent which, in the summer of 1920, was truly alarming. An estimate of the State crop reporting service, based on an investigation conducted in April, 1920, through the public schools, was to the effect that 18,232 farms would not be worked that year, and that 11,831 farms were not operated in 1919. It was estimated that of the 214,565 farm-houses in the State, 30,300 (in 1920) were vacant, and tlmt some two-thirds of these were not occupied in 1919. The total number of men and boys on the farms of Michigan was given as approxi- mately 230,000, which represented a loss of 20,000 during the year preceding, and a still further drop from the figure of 276,000 of three years previous.^ Taking the average size of farms as 91.5 acres, there appeared to be an average of one man or boy to operate each 82.5 acres. The effectiveness of this force was still further reduced by the attendance of boys at school for a part of the time, while most of the men were above the age of fifty. It was obvi- ous that the superior attractiveness of urban life had done its work. > The U. .V. Monthly Crop Reporter, April, 1921, 45. ""Mioh. Crop Rept'., May, 19.20, 4. STATUS AND TENDENCIES IN RURAL LIFE 159 A year later the situation was radically altered. In April, 1921, the percentage of farm labor was, on the side of supply, 108 per cent of the demand. The farm labor supply was d-i per cent of normal, while the demand was 87 per cent of normal. The supply of farm labor was, in 1921, 123 per cent of the supply in 1920.^ In 1920, the average wages of farm laborers em- ployed by the month, as reported by the Michigan Crop Reporting Service, were $53 with board and $75 without board. In 1919, these wages were $42 and $60. Day wages for harvest labor were $4.10 with board, in 1920, and $4.95 without board. In the preceding year, these wages were $3.50 and $4.30. For other than harvest labor, the wages in 1920 were $3.30 and $4.15 as against $2.80 and $3.60 in 1919.^ The returns of the Fourteenth United States Census indicate the amelioration of the conditions of rural life that have taken place. In 1920, there were 82,437 automobiles on farms in Michigan ; to which are to be added 78,919 trucks and 5,584 tractors. There were 15,695 farms reporting gas or electric light, while 29,729 farms had water pumped into the house. Obviously there are many farms in Michigan which lack these conveniences. Half of the 196,000 farms still want telephone service, for example. The yields will increase with the growth of popu- lation. New lands will come under the plow. New 'Mich. Crop. Kept., April, 1921, 11. Cf. U. 8. Monthly Crop Report. April, 1921, 37. ^Ihid., Dec, 1920, 4. 4G0 RURAL MICHIGAN crops and animals — or at least new varieties and breeds — will come into prominence. The means of communication will be bettered and extended. The vast waterways and the water-powers will be de- veloped. Educational agencies will multiply in num- bers and effectiveness. The institutions of rural life will greatly increase and take on new meanings. The statistics show a steady development; this progress will proceed. New agricultural methods will come. We have every reason to expect that the rural life of Michigan will keep step with the urban life; the constructive forces of society in the future will make this possible. STATltiTlCAL APPENDICES 461 Statistical Appendices Appendix A — Farms and Farm Property. Appendix B — The Number of Farms in Michigan by Coun- ties, 1900, 1910 and 1920. Appendix C — Population of Micliigan by Sex, Color, and Nativity. Appendix D — Urban and Rural Population of Counties, 1920, 1910, and 1900. Appendix E— Urban and Rural Populations 1920, 1910 and 1900. Appendix F — Crops. Appendix G — Live-Stock and Live-Stock Products. Appendix H — Pure-Bred Live-Stock. 162 RURAL AlIVIliaAN APPENDIX A Fourteenth Census: 1920.— Farms and Farm Property* FARMS AND FARM ACREAGE JAN. 1, 1920 APR. 15, 1910 Number of farms. 196,447 206,960 Operated by : Owners 159,406 172,310 Free from mort- gage 72,869 88,705 Mortgaged 78,758 82,631 No mortgage re- port 7,779 974 Managers 2,319 1,961 Tenants 34,722 32,689 Operated by : White farmers... 195,714 Native 147,4.50 Foreign born... 48,264 Colored farmers. . 733 Land in farms: Total, acres Improved, acres. . Average acreage per farm : Total Improved 19,032,961 12,925,521 96.9 65.8 206,014 147,790 58,224 946 FARM VALUES JAN. 1, 1920 All farm property. $1,763,334,778 Land and build- ings 1,436,686,210 Implements and machinery . . . 122,389,936 Live stock 204,258,632 18,940,614 12,832,078 91.5 62.0 APR. 15, 1910 M, 088, 858.379 901,138,299 49,916,285 137,803,795 The number of farms in Michigan in 1920 was 196,447. These farms contained 19,- 032,961 acres, of which 12,925,521 acres were improved land. From 1910 to 1920 the num- ber of farms decreased 5.1 per cent; the total acreage increased 0.5 per cent ; and the im- proved acreage in- creased 0.7 per cent. In 1920, 51.7 per cent of the land area of the 5tate was in farms, and «>5 8 per cent of the farm land was im- proved. The number of white farmers in 1920 wa.s 195,714, of whom 147,- 450 were native and 48,264'foreign-born. Of the native white farm- ers, 115,624 were own- ers, 1,925 managers, and 29,901 tenants. Of the foreign-born white farmers, 43,219 were owners, 385 managers, and 4,660 tenants. The 733 colored farmers comprised 563 owners, 9 managers, and 161 tenants. The number of female farmers was 5,776, including 5,534 "„lrl''-'^^ ^fi ^' ^.. "u^'"'' ^^^ P""^^^ summaries, being statements of Tv.rfir 7 /T'' '"^J''^' *" correction, by the Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce. STATIf^TWAL APPENDICES 463 APPENDIX A— Continued VALUES JAN. 1, 1920 APR. 15, 1910 Average value per farm : All farm property 8,976 Land and build- ings 7,313 Land alone 4,883 Average value per acre : Land and build- ings 75.48 Land alone .... 50.40 MOnTQAGE DEBT 1920 Farms reporting amount of debt: Number 67,119 Value $420,108,1.')6 Amount of debt . . $144,103,067 Per cent of value 34.3 Average rate of in- terest paid, per cent 6.0 Average debt per farm $2,147 5,261 4,3,54 2,973 47.58 32.48 1910 68,655 $250,874,010 $ 75,997,030 30.3 $1,107 owners, 19 managers, and 223 tenants. The value of all farm property in 1920 was $1,763,334,778, as compared with $1,088,- 858,379 in 1910, an i i- crease of 61.9 per cent The value of land and buildings in 1920 was 436,686,210 ; of im- plements and machin- ery, $122,389,936 ; and of" live stock, $204,- 258,632. As compared with 1910, the value of land and buildings in 1920 showed an in- crease of 59.4 per cent ; of implements and machinery, 145.2 per cent ; and of live stock, 48.2 per cent. The average value of land and buildings per farm was $7,313 in 1920, as compared with $4,354 in 1910 ; and 1920, as against $32.48 in that of land alone per acre was $50.40 in 1910. The value of the 67,119 farms for which complete mortgage reports were secured in 1920 was $420,108,156, and the amount of the mort- gage debt was $144,103,067, or 34.3 per cent of the value. The aver- age rate of interest paid was 6.0 per cent. In 1920, 51.9 per cent of all farms operated by their owners were mortgaged, is compared with 48.2 per cent in 1910. i64 liUliAL MWUIGAN APPENDIX B Table Showing the Number of Farms in Michigan, bi" Counties, 1000, 1910 and 1920: From the Four- teenth U. S. Census county li>20, . . 19J0 1900 state total "^ 106.t)47 206,960 203,261 Alpona 932 386 5,734 1,275 1,481 1,392 653 3,315 3,216 973 5,444 3,222 3,646 2,572 1,306 1,186 1,569 1,248 3,323 212 1,305 429 3,710 884 278 6.217 1,326 1,641 1,440 412 3,428 3,233 1,245 5,252 3.378 3,761 2,556 1,460 1.499 1,399 1,302 3,497 248 1,128 235 3,902 743 Alwer 124 Allfoan 6,089 Aliieiia 1,187 Antrim 1,283 Arenac 1,186 Baraga 241 Barrv 3,570 Bay 3,193 Benzie 949 Berrien 5,094 Branch 3,475 Calhoun 4,100 Cass 2,609 Charlevoix Cheboygan Chippewa 1,295 1,164 1,036 Clare 852 Clinton 3,777 Crawford 228 Delta 868 Dickinson Eaton 118 4,190 STATISTICAL APPENDICES APPENDIX B— Continued 465 COUNTY Enxniet Genesee Gladwin Gogebic Grand Traverse Gratiot Hillsdale Houghton . . . . Huron Ingham Ionia Iosco Iron Isabella Jackson Kalamazoo . ... Kalkaska . . . . Kent Keweenaw . . . . Lake Lapeer Leelanau .... Lenawee Livingston . . . Luce Mackinac . . . . Macomb Manistee .... Marquette ... Mason Mecosta Menominee . . , 1D20 1,298 3,639 1,452 528 1,724 3,859 4.025 1.741 4.604 3,424 3.223 929 621 3.333 3,544 3,159 796 5,605 72 703 3.614 1,347 5,083 2.632 194 479 3,570 1,499 846 2.011 2.676 2.106 1910 1,457 3,896 1,395 257 2,031 4.205 4,298 1,033 4.728 3,508 3,602 958 381 3,456 3,736 3,372 842 6.276 36 732 3,808 1,444 5, .334 2.775 195 490 3,764 1,648 661 2.124 2,823 1,677 1900 1,134 4,501 769 80 1,722 4,i"87 4,391 362 4.871 3,815 4,052 743 231 3.436 3,860 3,308 679 6.554 22 625 4,051 1,395 5,662 3,082 144 394 3,852 1.311 513 1.885 2,970 1,430 4C^Cy RURAL MICHIGAN APPENDIX B— Continued COUNTY Midland . . . Missaukee . . Monroe . . . . Montcalm . . Montmorency Muskegon . . Newaygo . . . Oakland . . . . Oceana Ogemaw . . , . Ontonagon . Osceola Oscoda Otsego Ottawa .... Presque Isle Pvoscommon Saginaw . . . St. Clair . . . St. Joseph . . Sanilac Schoolcraft . Shiawassee . Tuscola Van Buren . Washtenaw . Wayne Wexford ... 1920 2,163 l,.3,5n 4,108 4,490 421 1910 2,246 1,439 4,321 4,678 466 2,036 2,373 2,836 3,1.30 4,03.1 4,993 2,.3r>7 2,806 1,281 1,283 917 371 2.310 2,574 278 344 573 551 4,296 4,603 1,0.56 1,080 267 249 .5,143 5,370 4,1.59 4,527 2,436 2,623 5,111 5,659 381 441 3,.359 3,577 4,658 5,244 4,662 4,952 3,550 3,837 3,858 4,775 1,583 1,779 1900 2,153 1,0.36 4,458 4,714 336 2,334 2,846 4,977 2,650 811 187 2,287 210 570 4,522 846 1,36 5,818 4,980 2,697 5,820 352 3,763 5,492 4.842 4,151 5,131 1,340 STATISTICAL AFFEyUWES 467 APPENDIX C Population of Michigan by Sex, Color, and Nativity Washington, D. C, July 19, 1921.— The Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce, to-day issued a prelimi- nary statement giving the composition of the population of Michigan according to sex, color, and nativity, as shown by the census taken as of January 1, 1920. The total population of the state, 3,668,412, comprised 1.928,436 males and 1,739,976 females. The correspond- ing figures for 1910 were as follows: Total, 2,810,173; males, 1,454,534; females, 1,355,639. During the decade the total population increased by 30.5 per cent, the male population by 32.6 per cent, and the female population by 28.4 per cent. The ratio of males to females in 1920 was 110.8 to 100, as against 107.3 to 100 in 1910. The distribution of the population according to color in 1920 was as follows: White, 3,601,627; Negro, 60,082: In- dian, 5,614; Chinese, 792; Japanese, 184; all other (Fili- pino, Hindu, Hawaiian, and Korean), 113. The corre- sponding figures for 1910 were: White, 2.785,247; Negro, 17,115; Indian, 7,519; Chinese, 241; Japanese, 49: all other (Filipino), 2. During the decade the white popula- tion increased by 29.3 per cent, while the Negro population increased by 251 per cent. The foreign-born white population numbered 726.215 in 1920, as against 595,524 in 1910. Tliis element constituted 19.8 per cent of the total population in 1920, as against 21.2 per cent in 1910. ■168 RURAL MICHIGAN APPENDIX D Urban and Rukal Population of Counties: 1920, 1910, AND 1900 [A minus sign (— ) denotes decrease.] County Michigan. Alger Allegan Alpena Barry Bay Berrien Branch Calhoun Cass Charlevoix Cheboygan Chippewa Clinton Delta Dickinson Eaton Emmet Genesee Gogebic Grand Traverse. . Gratiot Hillsdale Houghton Ingham • Ionia Iron Isabella Jackson Kalamazoo Kent Lapeer Lenawee Livingston Macomb Manistee Marquette Mason Mecosta Menominee Midland Monroe Montcalm Muskegon Oakland Ottawa Presque Isle Saginaw St. Clair St. Joseph Schoolcraft Shiawassee Tuscola Van Buren Washtenaw Wayne We.xford All other counties' Population 1920 Urban 2,241,560 1,426,852 Rural 5.037 6,805 11,101 5,132 47,554 29,982 6.114 48,788 5,440 4,284 5,642 12,096 3.925 18,056 12,784 8,169 5,064 94,106 25,372 10,925 10,578 5,476 18,689 57.327 10,846 7.689 4.819 48.374 48.487 137.634 4.723 11.878 2.951 9.488 9,694 30.637 8.810 4.. 558 8.907 5.483 11,573 4,304 46,084 49,163 19,.388 2,789 61,903 32,879 11,204 6,380 15,247 2,704 3,829 26,929 1,124,010 9,750 4,946 30,735 6,768 16,251 21,994 32,671 17,883 24,130 14.955 11,. 504 8,349 12,722 19,185 12,8.53 6,672 21,208 10,575 31,562 7,8.53 8, .593 23,336 22,685 53,241 24,227 22,241 14,418 17,791 24,165 22,738 45,407 21,059 35,889 14,571 28,615 11,205 15,149 11,021 13,207 14,871 11.754 25.542 26.137 16.278 40.887 28.272 9.342 38,383 25.130 15.614 3.597 20.677 30.616 26.886 22.591 53.635 8.457 265.809 1910 Urban 1,327.044 2.952 6.231 12,706 4,383 45.166 20.277 5,945 35,336 5,088 7,734 6.8,59 12,615 3.1,54 17,405 14,190 7.779 4.778 38.550 17.404 12,115 2.757 5.001 26.842 31.229 9.149 3.775 3.972 31.433 39.437 112, .571 3,946 10,763 7,707 12,381 32.411 9.132 4.519 10.507 2,.527 6.893 4.045 24.062 14.532 16.346 2.702 50.510 25.266 8.707 4,722 9.639 3.577 21,047 485,895 8,375 Rural 1,483,129 4,723 33,588 7,259 18,250 23,072 33,345 19,660 21,302 15,536 11,423 11,013 11,857 19.975 12,703 6,334 22,720 13.783 26,005 5,929 11,669 26,063 24,672 61,256 22,081 24,401 11.389 19.057 21,993 20,990 46,574 22,087 37,144 17,736 24,899 14,307 14.328 12.700 14,947 15,141 11,478 26,024 28,024 16,515 35,044 28,9.55 8.547 38,780 27,075 16.792 3.959 23.607 34.913 29.608 23.667 45.696 12,394 290.140 1900 Urban 952,323 2,667 11,802 3,172 40,747 16,004 6,216 27,452 4,151 6,489 10.538 3,388 12,929 13,412 4,092 5 285 13,103 13,616 9,407 "4'i5i' 20,317 16.485 8.491 3.231 3.662 25,180 24,404 87,565 3,297 9,654 2,518 6.576 14,260 30.248 7.166 4,686 12,818 5,043 3,381 20,818 9,769 12,533 42,345 25,530 3,550 4,126 8,696 4,009 21,887 295,460 5,997 Rural 1,468,659 5,868 36,145 6,452 19,342 21,631 33,161 21,595 21,863 16,725 13,956 9,027 10,800 21,748 10,952 4.478 27.576 10.646 28,701 3,122 11,072 29,889 25,714 45,746 23,333 25,838 5,759 19,122 23,042 19,906 42,149 24,344 38,7.52 17,146 26,668 13,596 10,991 11,719 16,007 14,228 14,439 27,711 29,373 16,218 35,023 27,134 8,821 38,877 29,698 20,339 3,763 25,170 35,890 29,265 25,874 53,333 10,848 268,074 ' Comprises all counties in which there were no incorporated places having 2,500. Benzie, Clare, Crawford, Gladwin, Huron, Iosco. Kalkaska, Keweenaw, Lake Ontonagon, Osceola, Oscoda, Otsego, Roscommon, and Sanilac, STATISTICAL APPENDICES 469 APPENDIX Ti— Continued Per Cent of [NCREASE IN Per Cent Urban in Total Population Rural Urban Rural popu- population population lation per 1910 1900 1910 1900 square mile: 1920 1920 1910 1900 to to to to 1920 1910 1920 1910 61.1 47.2 39.3 68 9 39.3 -3.8 1.0 24.8 50.5 38.5 70.6 4.7 - 19.5 5 4 18.1 15.6 &'.% 9.2 "1.33:6 -8.5 -7.1 36.9 62.1 63.6 64.7 -12.6 7.7 -6.8 12.5 11.6 24.0 19.4 14.1 17. T 38.2 -11.0 -5.6 29.2 68.4 66.2 65.3 5.3 10.8 -4.7 6.7 49.6 47.9 37.8 32.6 47.9 26.7 -2.0 0.6 57.4 25.5 23.2 22.4 2.8 -4.4 -9.0 -9.0 36.0 66.9 62.4 55.7 38.1 28.7 13.3 -2.6 34.8 26.7 24.7 19.9 6.9 22.6 -3.7 -7.1 30.3 27.1 40.4 38.4 -44.6 -17.7 0.7 -24.2 -18.1 22.0 28 0 40.3 ■■"4i:8' h'.i' ll!5 48.7 51.5 49.4 -4.1 19.7 7.3 9.8 8.1 17.0 13.6 13.5 24.4 -6.9 -4.0 -8.2 33.6 58.4 57.8 54.1 3.7 34.6 1.2 16.0 11.0 65.7 69.1 75.0 -9.9 5.8 5.3 41.4 8.6 27.8 25.5 12.9 5.0 90.1 -6.7 -17.6 37.1 32.4 25.7 33.2 6.0 -9.6 - 23 . 3 29.5 21.8 74.9 59.7 31.3 144.1 194.2 21.4 -9.4 48.2 76.4 74.6 81.3 45.8 27.8 32.5 89.9 6.9 56.0 50.9 45.9 -9.8 28.8 -26.4 5.4 18.4 31.2 9.6 16.9 283.7 9.5 -10.5 -8.1 -12.8 -4.1 40 3 19.4 13^9 ■ ■■26:5' 38.0 26.0 30.5 30.8 -30.4 32.1 -13.1 33.9 52.2 70.3 58.6 41.4 83.6 89.4 9.7 -5.4 43.8 32.8 27.3 24.7 18.5 7.7 -8.9 -5.6 38.4 36.7 24.9 35.9 103.7 16.8 26.6 97.8 12 0 21.3 17.2 16.1 21.3 8.5 -6.6 -0.3 31.1 66.7 58.8 52.2 53.9 24.8 9.9 -4.6 34.2 68.1 65.3 55.1 22.9 61.6 8.3 5.4 40. 5 75.2 70.7 67.5 22.3 28.6 -2.5 10.5 52.8 18.3 15.2 11.9 19.7 19.7 -4.7 -9.3 31.6 24.9 22.5 19.9 10.4 11.5 -3.4 -4.1 48.3 16.8 12.8 19.8 -17.8 14.9 3.4 -6.6 25 7 24.9 '■■■23!6 23 !i 17 2' 60.6 46.4 - 46.4 51.2 -21.7 -13.2 -21.7 5.2 19.9 66.9 69.3 73.3 -5.5 7.2 5.7 30.4 8.1 44.4 41.8 37.9 -3 5 27.4 -13.2 8.4 22.3 25.7 23.2 22.6 0.9 -3.6 -11.6 -6.6 23.1 37.5 41.0 47.4 -15.2 -18.0 -1.8 6.4 14.1 31.8 18.0 20.9 117.0 67.9 2.4 -1.9 -20.5 -6.1 22.2 31.2 ""VbA 36'7' 44.6 14.1 12.6 10.3 6.4 19.6 -6.7 -4.6 36.1 73.9 59.3 56.2 91.5 15.6 -1.4 1.8 32.3 54.6 29.3 21.8 238.3 48.8 16.7 0.1 46.1 40.7 36.1 31.6 18.6 30.4 -2.4 6.7 50.0 23.0 24.0 56.6 3.2 22.6 9.3 -1.0 -3.1 -0.2 13.8 61.7 ■■"52'.i' ■i9:3 46.4 56.7 48.3 46.2 30.1 -1.0 -7.2 -8.8 35.4 41.8 34.1 14.9 28.7 145.3 -7.0 -17.4 31.0 63.9 54.4 52.3 35.1 14.4 -9.1 5.2 3.0 42.4 29.0 25.7 58.2 10.8 -12.4 -6.2 37.1 8.1 -12.3 -9.2 -2.7 1.2 37.0 12.5 io^s' i2.6' i'.o '-'wk' 43.6 54.4 47.1 45.8 27.9 -3.8 -4.5 -8.5 32.1 95.4 91.4 84.7 131.3 64.5 17.4 -14.3 86.5 53.6 40.3 35.6 16.4 39.7 -31.8 -8.4 14.3 8.2 14.7 15.2 Inhabitants or more in 1920. These counties are Alcona, Antrim. Arenac, Haraga, Leelanau, Luce, Mackmac, Missaukee. Montmorency, Newaygo, Oceana, Ogemaw, 470 RiR \i. Mirnic! \^: o o o c 'N w O rH X tfi o 'A H w < ^ ^ M^ -H <1 Ph o ^H rj . CI rH O L-S M< rH • t~ • (2 . rH C<1 CO • L- . , • CO • Oi >H c _o "3 Q. O A- tH ■.* 00 d co' 2,241,560 993,678 137,634 210,829 372,480 179,991 225,476 121,472 1,426,852 286,645 1,140,207 11 CO rHrHCOOfClCO • t~ Ol rH CO CO ■ '■ • CO • 3D «! Pu b O c a P. o Q. C5 H-> O H Urban territory Cities and villages of: 500,000 inhabitants or more 100,000 to 500,000 inhabitants 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants 25,000 to 50,000 in- habitants 10,000 to 25,000 in- habitants 5,000 to 10,000 in- habitants 2,500 to 5,000 in- Rural territory Cities and villages of less than 2,500 in- habitants Other rural territory. in ,/ 0) »- ' uj fl w • q; ^ O p3 O 3 M £■ 1=. a. a go a" ft' .2 C — O' 1_ r "•- JH O br rH t. _ 3 H o t- O..S to S3_, . C xS—a ca .2 5- CIS c^ 2^ g o « .— Q, cc "o "I:; '^ o - .c ^ .s ^ Ji 3 .5 c 1/3 he tf) c C3 o O ft o r> bJD c ~4-> o s J3 o j:3 T1 m rt: rH r/] 0* C4 t/J o -t-J CO bo '3 % CJ fcJO J2 o ca rn m ^ -M etc 0 a o t- -M -t-i T .c c ■^ » CO !» bo ao -:« 71 S :3 o rt 3 n o o 3 3 o E-> U-rt a M n Of rt a o '■B CJ o >;^ ■^ a o P. P 0; 8 o o E CO n -u C3 ■a ft i be c .5 3 01 Q. s C3 ft C OJCO o £ 0) p. O) > OS CO 0^ M o p. to Ml to 1/3 o ^ o (h >. tri ■='«-5.5E"37r I «ic g a- "" ^ fc « "Si^^llBifc C ed s 3 CO C3 0; <3J ■6 4H o c 0; n <3 O o 3 Cfl CO 3 C ;C o E o J3 C<1 O' CO o « H 0) 0* iH t; lO J= -! cT -* O « .M .c ■yj (U 00 c O o STATISTICAL APPENDICES 471 Al'PENDIX F Crops — Fourteenth Census: 1920 VALUE OF CROPS 1919 All crops $404,014,810 Cereals 170,897,885 Other grains and seeds 23,442,687 Hay and forage 105,280,992 Vegetables 65,096,550 Fruits 26,129,793 Other crops 13,166,903 $1 iCREAGE AND PRODUC- TION OF PRINCIPAL CROPS Com acres bushels Wheat acres bushels Oats acres bushels Rye acres bushels Dry beans acres bushels Hay and forage. acres tons Hay crops acres tons acres Corn cut for forage, tons Other forage crops, including s i 1 age, acres tons Potatoes acres bushels Sugar-beets . . . .acres tons Apples trees bushels 1919 1,269,155 45,088,912 1,056,687 20,411,825 1,514,808 36,956,425 912,951 12,168,182 314, ^-73 4,332,317 3,644,952 6,345,510 2,866,726 3,172,012 418,031 566,932 360,195 2,606,566 280,538 23,929,560 106,450 1,025,550 5.615,905 5,843,271 1909 52,102,869 70,544,250 12,069,046 36,049,801 16,201,328 12,599,720 4,638,724 1909 1,589,596 52,906,842 802,137 16.025,791 1,429,076 43,869,502 419,020 5,814,394 403,669 5,282,511 2.715,447 3,634,196 2,625,193 3,247,282 Not reported 90,254 386,014 365,483 38,243,826 78,711 706,990 7,534,343 12,332,296 The value of all crops harvested in Michigan in 1919 was $404,014,810. Corn was valued at $67,633,- 385, wheat at $45,- 722,488, oats at $31,- 412,962, rye at $18,- 252,291, and dry beans at $17,329,268. The value of hay and for- ^ige was $105,280,992 ; of potatoes, $49,055,- 600 ; of sugar beets, $11,793,836; of ap- ples. $11,686,542 ; of peaches, $1,232,495 ; and of grapes, $5,793,- 575. As compared with 1909, the total value of crops for 1919 shows an increase of 165.6 per cent ; corn, 128.6 per cent ; wheat, 175.7 per cent ; oats, 69.7 per cent; rye, 362.7 per cent; dry beans, 78.4 per cent; potatoes, 394.8 per cent ; and sugar beets, 194.1 per cent. The acreage of corn in 1919 was 1,269,155, representing a decrease of 20.2 per cent, as compared with 1,589,- 96 acres in 1909. The acreage of wheat was 1,056,687 in 1919, as against 802,137 acres in 1909. an increase of 473 RURAL MICHIGAN APPENDIX F—Contmned ACREAGE AND PRODUC- TION OF PRINCIPAL CROPS Peaches trees bushels Grapes vines 1919 2,010,022 448,177 11.097,734 pounds 115,871,465 1909 2,907,170 l,fi86,5-6 11,913,576 120,695,997 31.7 per cent. That of oats was 1,514,808 acres in 1919 and 1,429,076 in 1909 ; of rye, 912,951 acres in 1919 and 419,020 in 1909 ; and of dry beans, 314,873 acres in 1919 and 403,669 in 1909. The average yield of corn per acre in 1919 was 35.5 bushels; of wheat, 19.3 bushels ; and of oats, 24.4 bushels. The corresponding figures for 1909 are 33.3 bushels of corn, 20.0 bushels of wheat, and 30.7 busliels of oats. In 1919, 3,644,952 acres were in hay and forage, including 655,784 acres in timothy, 1,852,789 acres in timothy and clover mixed, 120,299 acres in clover, 348,254 acres in silage crops, and 418,031 acres in corn cut for forage. The total production of hay and forage was 6,345,- 510 tons, of which 2,551,806 tons were silage. The total acreage in hay and forage in 1909 (not including corn cut for forage) was 2,715,- 447 acres and the total production 3,634,196 tons. There were 280,53-' acres in potatoes in 1919, as compared with 365.483 acres in 1909, representing a decrease of 23.2 per cent. The production was 23,929,560 bushels in 1919, as against 38,243,826 bushels in 1909. Tlie average yield per acre was 85.3 bushels in 1919 and 104.6 bushels in 1909. The acreage of sugar beets in 1919 was 106,450, as compared with 78.711 acres in 1909. an increase of 35.2 per cent. The production in 1919 was 1,025,550 tons, as against 706,990 tons in 1909, an increase of 45.1 per cent. The production of apples in 1919 was 5,843,271 bushels ; of peaches, 448,177 bushels; and of grapes, 115,871,465 pounds. STATISTICAL APPEX DICES 473 APPENDIX G Live-Stock and Live-Stock Products — Fourteenth Census: 1920 DOMESTIC ANIMALS ON FARMS JAN. 1, 1920 Horses 605.509 Colts under 1 year old 17,526 Colts 1 year old and under 2... 24,170 Mares 2 years old and over 284,014 Geldings 2 years old and over... 277,806 Stallions 2 years old and over . . . 1,993 Mules 5,884 Colts under 1 year old 290 Colts 1 year old and under 2 . . . 429 Mules 2 "years old and over 5,165 Asses and burros 145 Cattle 1,586,042 Beef cattle 329,901 Calves under 1 year old 100,592 Heifers 1 year old and under 2.. 3S,660 Cows 2 years old and over 50,617 Steers 1 year old and under 2 91,265 Steers 2 years old and over 43,928 Bulls 1 year old and over 4,839 Dairy cattle 1,256,141 Calves under 1 year old 263,911 Heifers 1 year old and under 2.. 165,364 Cows 2 years old and over 802,095 Bulls 1 "year old and over 24,771 Sheep 1,209,191 Lambs under 1 year old 359,175 Ewes 1 year old and over 809.125 Rams and wethers 40,891 Goats 1,607 Swine 1,106,066 Pigs under 6 months old 687,089 Sows and gilts for breeding 184,556 Boars for breeding 14,199 All other hogs 220,222 C0MPAnATI\T; FIGURES, LIVE-STOCK OS FAUMS JAN. 1, 1920 APR. 15, 1910 Horses 605,509 *6n2,410 Mules 5,884 *3,638 Cattle 1,586,042 •1,261,773 Sheep 1,209,191 *1, 545, 241 Chickens 10,913,645 9,698,401 Hives of bees 93,348 115,274 * Excluding spring colts, calves, and lambs. Of the 196,447 farms m Michigan in 1920, 186,354 reported do- mestic animals. Horses were reported by 176,- 259, mules by 2,852, cattle by 173,417, sheep by 35,454, and hogs by 138,170. Tlie number of horses on these farms in 1920 was 605,509, which in- cluded 563,813 horses 2 years old and over, 24,170 colts from 1 to 2 years old. and 17.- 526 colts under 1 year old. The value re- ported for horses was $56,433,765, an aver- age of $93.20 per head. The number of horses on April 15. 1910 (ex- cluding spring colts, in order to make a fair comparison with the figures for January 1, 1920) was 602,410. The number of mules in 1920 was 5,884. in- cluding 290 colts un- der 1 year old, 429 colts from 1 to 2 years old, and 5.165 mules years old and over. The total value was $661,115, an average of $112.36. The num- ber of mules in 1910 (excluding spring colts) was 3,638. The total number of cattle in 19 2 0 was 1,586,042, including 329.901 beef cattle and 1,256,141 dairy cattle. Beef cows numbered 0,617 and dairy cows 474 RURAL MICHIGAN APPENDIX G — Continued LIVE-STOCK PRODUCTS Milk gals. 382,822,631 352,858,180 Wool lbs. 7,835,558 11,965,405 Eggs doz. 55,986,999 59,915,851 Chickens raised 12,441,555 12,877,537 1919 1909 802,095. The value re- ported for cattle was $101,717,971. The number of cattle in 1910 (excluding spring calves) was 1,261,773. The 1,209,191 sheep reported in 1920 included 359,175 lambs under 1 year old, 809,125 ewes, and 40,891 rams and wethers. The sheep were valued at $13,688,- 379, an average of $11.32. The number of sheep in 1910 (excluding spring lambs) was 1,545,241. Of the 1,106,066 swine on farms in 1920, 687,089 were pigs under 6 months old, 1 4,556 sows for breeding, 14,199 boars for breeding, and 220,222 other hogs The value reported for swine was $19,621,714. The total production of milk in 1919 was 382,822,631 gallons, as compared with 352,858,180 in 1909. The production of wool in 1919 was 7,835.558 pounds; of honey, 1,321,447 pounds; of eggs, 55,986,999 dozen ; and the number of chickens raised was 12,441,555. The value of all dairy products, excluding home use of milk and cream, was $71,- 074,727 ; of eggs, $23,514,540 ; and of chickens raised in 1919, .$11,- 446,231. Domestic animal., kept in village barns, city stables, and elsewhere not on farms were reported as follows: Horses, 58,474 in 1920, as compared with 100,238 in 1910 ; mules, 894 in 1920 and 700 in 1910 ; cattle, 42,061 in 1920 and 47,385 in 1910 ; hogs, 23,970 in 1920 and 13,894 in 1910. STATISTICAL APPENDICES 475 09 s CD 0^ Ot~Omt^i-(tON05CO-^C<»CD^ S *« t>-t^'^t-ICCiOOC^rHOCOr-l'MCOr-<'*J«COaJC^COOai-* a ^ !-■<* » (N i-H c^ X !M_^i,';_^go_o_i> i-H in c-1 -»> cot^ ffi -* S ^ C^' r1 c-i d^ r-T rt" i-<' rH O M C-f x' r-T 3 CO t-l i-H '^J- CO z y V. .s ^ * •:cu*ir5r^i^i>co^ • •ooi-'iOi:d« .lo^o^ot^o '■£2 00 -r -4 t- M X 0 CO ^'^ l> >-" 0 t— 1— t ■-}< r-l r- 0 c ■<*• 1-1 r-l rH CO^ u-: c) cc rH R. iv r-l Tf ^H OiCi, o K s 5P o •S w oiorHint^ecOrH (MCD-^r-4ir2 •XCDOXC5-'*' 0 a CO tH if^ c^ tp « »o 7^ a 't '«t*rHOC-J'fi40i»^C0THT- CO QO ;0 'M I-'? *e 00 -M C-1 l>- r-l rH cc "* (M CO CO '^ O r-l Ci tC rH C^l 0 H ,-. « 3 «*-) 0 4 ^ ^ ^ 7 0 0 T3 a 3 ■tf he E 13 0 .2 cc ,_ -M a C5 m a> i_2 ca 1- «*'■< X ' ' • 9!] . .^ •r 1- .- 0 (- rri — French Dr Hackney . Percheron Standard I Clydesdale All 0 her ATTLF,, tot eej hrfeds, Aberdeen Hereford . Polled Du Shorthorn All other iiiri/ breeds Ayrshire Brown S\v Guernsev Holstein-F »4 ■» 0 a .a L )=: i C I 470 RURAL MICHIGAN s o h- ( PL, 1^ '- i-H J rH fQ o . O -M > M E J 3 f— ^ 5^ Ot3 Om Jd£ condition of rural, 3S0 conference at the Michigan Agricultural College, 382 Germans and. I(i3 Cider. 301 Circuit-rider, 376 Cities as markets. 25S Clays, area of. 41() of Chippewa County. 421 of eastern Upper Peninsula, 49 of Ontonagon County. 49 of Ontonagon Valley. 421 of Saginaw valley, 45 southeastern. 41 used in pottery. 113 Clerk, township, 161 Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Com- pany, 148 Climate, elevation and, 8, 9 fruit and, 204 topography and, 8. 9 Clinic, dental, Kent County. 327 state, 325 Clinton Woolen Mills, 305 Cloth, production of, Michi- gan, 305 Clover, annual white sweet, as soil-buiMer. 429 seed. 193 sweet, 216 Cloverland Magazine, The. 374 Clubs, bovs' and girls" stand- ard, 368 constitution of, 343 Michigan State Association of, 343 policies, 344 statistics, 344 Club-work, described, 368 leaders of, 364 statistics, 309 Coal. 99 distribution. 100 history. 99 Coast of Michigan, length of. 20 Coldwater. settlement of. 43 Collal)orators, 364 Colonization. 145 Commissioner of Agriculture, 383 of the State Land Office, 397 Communities, in Michigan, 177 Concord grape. 2(iti Condemnation, for idle lands, 438 Condensed milk, 297 Conservation. Director of, 394 in Michigan. 402 State Department of, 394 Consolidated Rural School Act, 352 Consumers' Power Company, 126 rural service of, 252 Cookery, early, 317 Cooperation, 273 among the Finns, 172 law for, 342 Michigan farmers and, 454 Cooperative associations, 273 Crop Reporting Service, 392 stores, etc., 455. 456 Copper, 88 by-products. 91 character of, 88 Country, 18, 50 Indian use of, 88 location of, 88 miners, 90 mining of, 89 production of, 90 stamping and smelting of, 89 Corn, 186 distribution. 190 frost and, 188 480 INDEX Corn, history, 187 Indian. 153, 187 in north country, 420 planting, 188 varieties. 189 yield, 18!) Counties, nid to ai?riculture, 371, 373 yield of farm crops in, 447, 448 County asent, ropres(>nts State Veterinarian, 388 agricultural agent, 3(!.'') drain coniniissloner, 414 government. New York and, 100 road commission, 404 schools of agriculture, 371 Covert road law, 4()(! Cows, dairy, statistics of, 297 Cox, J. F., quoted, 419,420 Coyotes, 220 Crawford County, forest re- soTVf in, 397 Creameries. 297 Cream, production of, statis- tics. 297 Credits, farm, 430 Crops, improvement of, 213 northern, 429 on cut over lands, 420 rank in, Michigan, 440, 454 reports on, 392" rotation of on northera farms, 433, 434 statistics of, 471 value of, 181. 445 yield of, 440. 448 Customs, European, in Michi- gan, 179 Cut-over lands, farming on, 4.34 grazing on, 420, 427 D Dairy and Food Department, 389 Association, 298 bureau in Department of Agriculture, 299 products, value of, 445 Dairying, northern, 430 Dances, 321 Davenport, quoted, 303 David, House of, on High Is- land, 454 Israelite House of, 378 Davis, C. A., quoted, 05 Deaths, recording of, 101 Deliates, early, 321 Deer, 115 destruction of, 119 Department of Agriculture, bu- reau of dairying in, 299 Michigan Agricultural Col- lege and, 3S(i secures agricultural statis- tics, 392, 393 State, 383, 380 TI. S. funds from, 304 Detroit, as market, 245, 258 Cadillac on site of, 591 commerce of, 247. 202 Grand Haven and Milwau- kee Railroad, history of, 248 industries in, 200 market milk and live-stock, 274. 275 motor truck lines to, 201 Packing Company, 270 railroads to, 201 roads to, 201, 202 steamship lines at, 201 terminals, 201 tractors manufactured at, 311 Transportation Association, 201 transportation to, 200 Development Bureaus, 425 of agriculture, 417 Director of Markets, 383 State, 203 Disease, 321, 322 Dogs, laws for, 225 Dolomite, 111, 112 Drag, early. 309 Drainage, 408 by counties, 408 criticism of, 411 crops and. 409 Michigan law for, 409, 410 Miller and Simons on, 410 state and, 412, 413 statistics, of, 408 U. S. census on. 408 Drains, making of, 414 on state syvamp lands, 414 IXDEX 481 Drummond Island, 452, 453 Mormons on, 377 Duluth, South Shore and At- lantic Railroad, 249 Dunbar Agricultural School, 372 Dunkards, 378 Duroc-Jersey hog, 230 Dutch, character of, 165 distribution, 165 in Michigan. 164 statistics, 165 B Eaton Rapids, woolen mill at, 306 Education, land-grant for, 348 pioneer. 347 vocational, 358 Electric power, furnished by municipalities, 251, 252 railways, 250 Elevation, climate and, 8, 9 in Upper Peninsula, 50 of Cadillac, 46 of central counties, 44. 45 of northern Lower Penin- sula, 46 Elevator Exchange, 282 Elk, 119 Elm, 78 Escanaba, butter-bowls made at, 315 other manufactures at, 315 stump-pullers made at, 434, 435 Essex hog, 230 Eureka, ridge near. 9 European influences, 179 Evans, E. E.. on sandv lands, 428 Explosives, use of, 435 Extension work, 364 Factories, wood-using, 80, 81 Fairs. 332 in Upper Peninsula, 337 of Berrien County described, 333, 334 of other counties, 334 State, 384 state aid for, 337 village, 337 Washtenaw County de- scrilied, 334, 335 West Michigan State, 336 Fanning-mill, 310 Farm bureau, 263 and forest products, 286 constitution of, 279 departments, 282 incorporation of. 287 membership, 282 membership statistics, 284 Michigan State, and Potato Growers Exchange, 268, 269 organization of. 278 purchases by, 286 work of, 282 Farmers, nationality of, 444 Week, 370 Farming, northern. 431, 432 Farms, aliaiidonnn'nt of, 458 acreage bv counties, 442, 443, 452 expenditures, 444 mortgages, 443 ownership, 443 rank of, 444 size, 443 statistics of. 442, 461, 463 tenancy, 14(t. 147, 443 valuation, 443 Federal Land Bank of St. Paul, 436 Feed, in northern Michigan, 421 Fence, manufacture of, 314 Fernow, quoted, (il Ferries, car. 249 Fertilizer, from peat, 101 from Sturgeon River Swamp, 54 Finland, Kia. 166 Finnish farmers and land clearing. 9 Finns, and prohibition. 107 and sheep-raising. 179, 180 and Socialism. 167 and Swedes, 1(!7 as farmer, l(i(> character of, 106 co'iperation among. 172 habits of. 16S. 1G9 honesty of. 1(>8 in cut-over country, 168 in Finland. 167 in Michigan, 165 482 IXDEX Finns, music of, 169 progress of, 173 statistics, 172 Fire, forest, law for, .39S state wardens and, .S9S, 399 Fish, abundance of, 122 liatcheries, 124 industry, 123 liinds of, 123 of Lake Superior, 123 output. 123, 124 Flail, 310 Flint, as market, 258 market at, 258 Flour, production of, 308 Food and Drug Commissioner, 3S3 Department, 389 pioneer, 317 Forester, State, 400 Forestry warden, 398 Forests! and settlement, 73 area, 71 burning of. 47 Commission, Michigan, 39C> commissioner, state, 397 department. Farm Bureau, 283 depletion, 72 devastation of. 70, 73, 82 effects of removal, 84 fire law, 398 fires, 84, 85 game and, 118 kinds of trees in, 71 Livingston on. 47 Michigan Forest Products Bureau. 2.S(i near Manchester. CO necessity of removal of, 83 of Clinton County. tiO of Detroit area, (iO of Eaton County, tiO of Kent County, Livingston on, ()7 of northern Lower Penin- sula, 40, 47 of Saginaw, 01 of Shiawassee Valley, 62 of southern counties, 61 of Upper Peninsula, 49 pioneers and. 69 railroads and devastation of. 74 reserves, 397 size of, 71 Forests, soil and, 38, 39 southeastern, 41, 42 State, 401 Tax Commissions record of, 72 uses of, 69 Watkins on, 60 Fox farms, 117 Freight, from Detroit, 247 French, and agriculture, 155 and Finns, 158 character of, 157 farms in southeastern Michigan, 155 immigration, 158 in Michigan, 155 methods of farming, 156 settlements, 155 Frosts, and forests, 9 clearings and, 9 elevation and, 9 near Great Lakes, 17 Fruit, 201 associations, listed, 273 -belt, 19, 204 distribution, 205 exchanges listed, 269 history of, 201, 205 northern. 431 sale of regulated, 390 selling associations, 269 wild, 201 yield of, 204, 205, 206 Furniture, pioneer, 318 Furs. 116 posts. 117 prices for. 118 trade in. 116 G Gagneur, Rev. W., 377 Game. 114 and agriculture. 116 extermination of, 117 farm near Mason, 121 forest and, 118 in Upper Peninsula, 116 of Lenawee County, 115 species of, 114 Games, 320 Garden-beds, Indian, 154 Geismar, L. M., and sheep- raising, 179 Finns and. 179. 180 on effect of northern exten- sion of State, 20 IXDEX 483 Genesee County, settlement of, 44 Geological Survey, of Michi- gan. 86. 394 Geology of Michigan, 6 Germans, as farmers, 1G3 distribution of. 162 immigration. 162 in Germany. 163 in Michigan, 161 in Upper Peninsula 164 religion of, 163 statistics, 162 Ginseng, 211 Glacial rivers, 7 Glaciation, effect of on soils, 37 Gleaners. Ancient Order of, 341 Clearing House Association. 341. 342 insurance, 341 law for, 342 statistics, 341, 348 Gold, 98 Ropes Mine, 98 Goldenseal, 211 Government, local. 160, 161 Grain crops, 183, 190 improved, distribution of, 21.5 new varieties, 216 on muck-lands. 212 standardization of, 213 weight of, 391 Grand Haven, temperature at. 19 Grand Rapids, and Indiana Railroad. sandy land experiments of, 429 as market, 2.58 population, 258 settlement of, 44 iJraiid Uivcr outlet. 7 Grand Trunk Railway, 248 Grange, farm accounting and, 393 insurance. 339. 340. 341 Michigan State. 338 Mutual Fire Insurance Company. 340 policies. 339 subordinate. 339 work of. 338 Grape. 201 hisf-ory, 201, 204 (irape, in southeastern Michi- gan, 201 marketing of, 264, 265 Graphite. IDS Grazing, northern Michigan and. 426. 427 Great Lakes and Michigan, 10 area of. 16 commerce on, 247 depth of. It) effects of. 11. 16, 17. 431 elevation of. 12 frosts and. 17 geological history of, 12 rivers of. 13 shore-lini> of, 20 temperature of. 16 Grinders, manufacture of, 318 Crist-mill, history, 306 Indian. 306 of whites. 306 Grits, production of, 308 Gypsum. 106 distribution, 107 production. 107 uses, 107 H Hail-storms. 26 distribution. 26, 27 lakes and. 26 Handles, manufacture of, 79 Hardwoods, (i3 Livingston on. 65 of Walnut Lake. 65 Ilarger. Rev. C. II.. on rural church, 380 Harvester, early, 310 Hay. 182 alfalfa. 182 crop. 182 harvesting of. 179 in Chippewa County, 183 kinds. 1S3 mint, 210 on ' .uck lands. 212 -press. 'M'A Health, rural. 324 rural work for. 326. 327, 328 State Board of. 324 township board of, 161 Hemlock. 77 pnxluction of. 77 48-i INDEX lliggins T.akc, tree nursery at, 399 High Island, 454 House of David and, 37.S Highway Department, State, 404. 40.") improvement tax. 403 Hoar, .Tames, quoted, 1.58 Holmes, J. C, horticulturalist, 203 "Holy Corners," 378 Home demonstration agent, 365, 366 Homestead Law, Michigan, 151 Honey, distribution, 233 plants Yielding. 233 statistics, 232 Horses. 227 history, 227 pure-bred. 220 statistics. 228 varieties, 227, 228 Horticultural Society, Michi- gan State, 345 Houghton, Douglass, State Geologist, 86 his work. 87 Houses, pioneer, 316, 318 vacant farm, 458 Hul)am, as soil-liuilder, 429 Hubbard. Bela. quoted. 319 Huller. clover. 334. 335 Humus, destruction of. 47 Huron Mountains, 8 Hygiene, bureau of, 324 Imlay Channel, 7 Immigration Commissioner, 149, 150, 383 Implements, at Washtenaw County Fair, 335 early, 311 farm. 308 historv of, 308 list of; 311 manufacture of. .311 not manufactured in Upper Peninsula. 314 Improved lands, southern counties, 449 Income, on northern farms. 432 Incorporation, act of 1903, 288, 289 Indians. 54 and whites. 153 as farmers. 153 corn of. 153 distribution of, 153 garden-beds of, 154 government and. 154 of Michigan, 152 opinions of, 154 school for, 154 statistics, 152 treaties with, 127 tribes. 152 Insanity, in rural communi- ties, 329 Inspection, of farm products, 456, 457 of wool, 457 Insurance. Grange, 339 Internal improvements, 242 Interurban railways, 250 farmers and. 251 health work on, 327, 328 Iron, analyses of, 95, 96 bog, 92. 96 charcoal. 93 deposits of. 91 discovery of. 87 furnaces. 92 history of. 91 iron, kinds of, 95 on Gogebic Range, 94 on Marquette Range, 93, 94 on Menominee Range, 94 quality of, 94 reserves, 96 situation of, 96 statistics, 95 transportation. 92 Islands, agriculture on, 452, 453 Isle Royale. 452 moose on. 120 Israelite House of David, 378 Jackson, manufacture of im- plements at, 312 settlement of, 43 JefEery, J. A., quoted, 40 Kalamazoo, settlement of, 43 Kedzie, R. C, quoted, 290, 320 INDEX 485 Kent County, health work in, 327 Kerosene, 318 inspection, 319 quality of, 318 Keweenaw Peninsula, 8 growing season in, 18 Waterway, 11 Kirstin Company, A. J., man- ufacturer of stump- pullers, 434, 435 Labor, farm, 457 statistics of, 458 Lake Algonquin, 12 Chicago, 12 Duluth, 12 Ontonagon, 12 Saginaw, 12 Superior. 12, 19, 123 Lakes, Great, 10 Lamps, kerosene, 318 Land, at Aura, 144, 145 cessions of, 127 classification of, 35, 3G, 143, 151, 424,438 clearing of, 144. 433 colonization, 145 cut-over, 140, 420 delinquent for taxes, 437 description of, 129 economics, 424 grants, 135, 138, 148, 149 grazing, 141 homestead entry of, 135 offices. 134 ownership of, 140, 147 prices, 138, 164, 239 reversion of to State, 142 sale of, 134, 384 sandy, agriculture on, 428 settlement, 144 speculation in, 135 State forest, 398 State tax homestead, with- drawn from entry, 397 statistics of, 445 survey of, 128 swamp, 138 tenancy, 140 tenure, 14(! Tiffin on, 30 United States, 135 wet. 141. 142, 415 worthless, 143, 144 Lapeer County, health work in, 327 Latitude, effect of, 20 extent of, Michigan, 20 Geismar on, 20 Leverett, Frank, 10 soil survey by. 31 Levin, Ezra, quoted, 211, 212 Libraries, 349 county. 349 Menominee County, 350 St. Clair County, 349 State, 349 Life, loneliness of pioneer, 319 Light, gas and electric, on farms, 459 Limestone, 109, 111 country, Upper Peninsula, 49 distribution. 111 uses. 111, 112 Live-stock, 219 destruction of diseased, 387 Detroit market for, 275 history, 219 marketing of, 275 products, 445, 473 pure-bred, statistics of, 475 Sanitary Commission, 387 standard varieties of, 220 statistics, 275 Livingston, B. E., quoted, 40, 47, 05, GO Loams, crops on, 420 of Upper Peninsula, 421 Loan-associations. 430 Loneliness, pioneer, 319 Longyear, H. M., quoted, 00 Longyear, J. M.. quoted, 9 Lowe, John, quoted, 123 Lower Peninsula, early agri- culture in. 41, 42 population and agriculture of, 40 Lumber, early production of, 307 use of, 79 M Machinery, farm, manufac- ture of. 80 Mail routes, rural, 255 Mails, early, 240 Malcolm, quoted, 319 Maltas. Rev. W., 370 Manitou Islands. 453, 454 48G INDEX Manufaotiiros. SO Maple, 75 sugar and sirup, .SOI. .302 Syrup I'roduccrs Assiieia- tion of Micliigan, 804 use of, 7.'5 Marhlo, 112 Markets, 2.57, 27S director of, 20.3 early, 235 niunicipal, 25S prices, 239 railroads and, 245 U. S. Bureau of. Inspection service in Michigan, 457 Upper Peninsula and, 239, 240 Marl, 109 Marquette, climate of, 19 peach, 20() Mason, (ianie Farm near, 121 Meal, production of, 30S Measure, of grains regulated, 391 Mennonites, 378 Menominee County Agricul- tural School, 371. 372 Merino sheep at Washtenaw County Fair, 334 Michigan, Acadeniv of Science, quoted. 419. 423. 424 Agricultural College, 213, 21(1. 3(iO. 370. 428 Agricultural Fair Commis- sion. 337. 384 Allied Dairy Association, 297 Business Farmer, The, 374 Canned Food Company, 300 Central Railroad, impor- tance of, 247 Corn Improvement Associa- tion. 189 Crop Improvement Associa- tion. The. 215 \- Experiment Association, The, 214 Farmer. The. 373 Fish Commission. 394 Forest Commission. 390 Forest Products Bureau. 286 I'>uit (irowers Exchange, 271 Fruit Packci's Federation, constitution (if. 271.272 Michigan. Geological Survey, 394 Honey Producers Exchange, 2.33 Impioved Livestock Breed- ers and Feeders Asso- ciation. 221 Livestock Excliange. 276 Maple Syrup I'roducers As- sociation. 303 Milk I'roducers Associa- tions, 273 Patron. The, 374 Potato (Jrowers Exchange, 266, 267. 208. 269 Potato Producers Associa- tion. 195 State Agricultural Society, 332 State Association of Farm- ers Clubs. 343 State Horticultural Society, 345 Sugar Beet Growers Asso- ciation. 294 Midget mills. 307 Midlings, production of, 308 Midsummer Day, 173 Milk-bottles, standards for, 389 commissions, 390 Detroit's consumption of, 274 handling of. 274, 275 market. 273 l)roduction of, 273, 297 |)roducts plants, statistics of, 297 puritv and standards of, 389 shipment of. 389 statistics. 297 Mills, grist. Indian. 306 saw. 307 woolen. 305 Minerals, 49. 86 Mineral springs. 107 Mining. Upper Peninsula, 87 Mint. 209. 210 Monopolv. law on. 287 Moose. 120 Moravians, 377 Mormons. 377 Motor cars, on Ann Arbor Railroad. 251 .Mountains. 7 INDEX 487 Mt. Pleasant, Indian school at, 154, 155 Muck, crops on, 211 Muck lands, 53 Agriculture on. 55, 56 in Lower Peninsula, 55 Muskegon, fox-farming at, 118 N National Canners Association, operations in Michigan, 300 Humus and Chemical Com- pany, 101 Negroes. 175 distribution. 175. 17G in Cass Count.v, 176 New England and township government, 160, 161 capital in Michigan. ItJl immigration from, 15S influence on Michigan, 159 New York, and county gov- ernment, 160 Immigration from, 158 Niles, settlement of, 43 Nipissing Great Lakes, 12 Normal schools, agricultural education at, 370 Northeastern Michigan De- velopment Bureau, 425 Northern Nut xford L>own shrc)). 224 Packing plants, at Detroit, 275 Papers, agricultural, 373 Park Commission, 394 Pasteurization. 390 Patrons Mutual Fire Insur- ance Companv, 340 of Husbandry, 338 Paynesville, temperature of, 10 Peach, history of. 203, 204 in nortliern ^lichigan, 206 ■■Marquette," 206 varieties of. 203 Pear. 202 varieties, 203 Peas. 197 Peat, 54 fertilizer from. 101 Peppermint. 209 Pere Marquette Railroad, 248 history of, 248 Petroleum, 108, 109 at Port Huron, 109 Pheasants. 121 Physicians. 324 Pine, importation of. 76 .lack, 64 r<'d. 64 standing white, 76 use of. 76 white. 4(i, 63 I'low. early. 309 Plums, varieties of, 203 Police, state, 161 I'ollution of streams, 395 Pomological Socictv, State, 336 Pontiac, settlement of, 43 Poplar. 7S Population. 159.440 automobile industry and, 441. 442 changes in, 441 increase of, 247 market conditions as af- fected by. 258 nationality of, 444 of cities. 2"5S of northern Lower Peuin- sula. 46 rural, 440 sex, 445 488 INDEX Population, table of. 466 urimn and rural. 468 Porcupino Mountains, 8 Portage Lako, canals of, 11 red stone. 103 Port Huron, macliinorv manu- factured at, 312 Post office, and rural life, 255 Posts. 81, 82 early trading, 117 Potatoes. 193 on northern soils, 420 Pottery, 113 Poultry, 232 Power, electric, furnished hy municipalities, 251, 252 Poyseor. Rev. W., as farmer, 379 Prairies. 39. 40 Preachers, in agriculture, 379 salaries of. 378 Precipitation, 25 Prices, early, 239 Primary school interest fund, 348, 349 Products, farm, value of, 445 Project, clul), 369 Pul)lic Domain Commission, 394, 400, 401 Puritanism in ^Michigan, 159 Sunday and, 159 Q Quakers, 377, 378 Quarantine, 387 R Railroads, 241, 242 charters, 242 Chicago and New York reached by, 244 Detroit, firand TIaven and Milwaukee. 248 early protects for, 243 effect of. 244 electric. 250 (irand Trunk. 248 history. 242 in Tapper Peninsula. 248, 240 Michigan Central, effect of, 247 Railroads, Pere Marquette, 248 rates. 244 sale of. 244 state and, 244 statistics of, 250 to Detroit, 261 Rainfall, 25, 26 Raspberry, 207 Rate-bill. 348 freight, by Great Lakes, 255 railroad. 244, 245 Rat-trap, 334 Red Cross, rural work of, 330, 331 Reforestation, 438 Reindeer, 120 Religious communities, 377 Reports, local agricultural, 392 Reptiles, 115 Rivers, 13 dams on, 15 drainage basins of, 14 flow of, 15 improvement of, 240 navigable, 235 of Lake Superior, 51 transportation on. 15 Roads, classes of. 406, 407 county system of, 404 early." 235, 238. 239 improvement of, 240 maintenance, 405 material for construction of, 407 of Michigan, 403 private, 180 repair tax, 403 stage routes, 240, 241 state, 405 taxes. 403 territorial and state, 240 to Detroit. 262 trunk-line, 405 Ropes Cold Mine, 98 Roscommon County, forest reserves in, 397 "Rosen," 190, 214 Rotation, crop, on northern farms, 433. 434 Roth, Filbert, Forestry War- den, 398 Rye. 190 Finns and. 191 "Rosen," 190, 214 INDEX 489 Saginaw, manufacture of im- plements at, 311 Saginaw Valley, U, 7 frosts in, 9 geological history of, 13 soils of, 45 topography of, 7 St. Clair County, health work in, 326 St. Joseph, fruit marketing at, 265 St. Mary's Ship Canal, 11, 254 Salt, 1U4 by-products, 106 reserves, 106 Sand, agriculture on, 48 experiments on, 428, 429 farming on, 428 Sandstone, 102. 103 in Upper Peninsula, 103 Portage redstone, 103 Sanilac County, health nurse in, 326 Sauer. C. O., quoted, 439 Sault Ste. Marie News, 375 Saw-mills, 307 output of, 74 Scandinavians, as farmers, 173 character of, 173 distribution, 173 in Michigan, 173 statistics. 183 Schneider. C. F., quoted, 24 Schools, agricultural, 351 comparison of districts, 355 cf)nsolidation of, 355 early. 351 laws for, 354 origin of, 159 pioneer. 347, 348 rural, 353 rural scliool acts of 1921, 35(1 Smith-Hughes Law and, 359, 360 teacherages for, 356 township. 351 Scouts, boj'. 358 Sears, G. W., on game, 115 Seed, handled by Farm Bu- reau, 282 standard. Farm Bureau and, 217 Seney Swamp, tests on, 54 Settlement, 42, 43, 150 character of in Michigan, 177 New England and, 158 of central counties, 44 of northern Lower Penin- sula, 46 of Upper Peninsula, 52 "Shakes." 322 Shale, 114 oil-bearing, 109 Sheep, Alsatian practice of raising, Houghton County, 179 breeds, 224, 225 distribution, 222 exhibition of at Washtenaw Countv Fair, 334 history, 219, 224 in Upper Peninsula, 223 on farms, 225 pure-bred varieties, 220. 221 -raising, northern, 430, 431 statistics, 222. 224 Sickness, 321, 322 Silos, manufacture of, 79 Silver, 97 Sirup, maple. 301-304 Slate, 101 Slavs, in Michigan, 175 Smith-Hughes Law, 358 -Lever Act, 363 Snow, distribution of, 28 Societies, agricultural, 332, 333. 373 incorporation of, 373 Soils, 31 character of, 35, 36 classification of, 151, 395 erosion and, 38 glaciation and, 37 moisture of and vegetation, 67, ()8 of central counties. 44 of Copper Range, 50 of Ja<'ks()n County, 43 of northei-n counties, 47 of northern Lower Penin- sula, 45, 46, 47 of Saginaw Valley, 45 of southeastern counties, 41 of southern counties, 43 surveys of, 31 timber on. 38 vegetation and, 59 490 INDEX Soo Line Railroad, 250 Sorghum. 20. 291 Soutti Haven Fruit Exchange described. 2(iy Spalding, quoted, 04 Spearmint, 209 Spinning, home, 304 wheels, used by Finns, 169 Spragg, F. A., plant-breeder, 216 Springs, 57 mineral. 107 Spruce, 78 Squirrels, 120 Stage routes, 240, 241 State Board of Agriculture, 383 Board of Control of Voca- tional Education, 359 Board of Education, Michi- gan Agricultural Col- lege under, 361 Board of Health. 324 Forester. 400 Forests, 398, 401 Game, Fish and Forest Fire Commissioner, 394, 399 Highway Commissioner, 404 Statistics, agricultural, 384, 392 Steadman, T. P., quoted, 174, 175 Steamers on Great Lakes, 241 Steamship lines, to Detroit, 261 Stone, for Viuilding, 102 Strang, "King," 377 Strawberry, 200 Streams, length of. 123 StumiJ-pullers. manufactured at Escanaba, 434, 435 Sturgeon River Swamp, utili- zation of, 54 Sugar, bouutv for production of. 290 companies, and settlement, 150 maple, 301-304 Sugar Beet News and North- western Farmer, The, 374 Sugar-beets in northern lati- tudes, 21 on muck lands, 56, 213 seed, 199 Sunday, Michigan and, 159 Sunflowers as ensilage, 430 Sunlight at various latitudes, 21 Sunshine, 24 Supervisors, crop reports of, 392 township, 160 Survey, land, 128, 129, 130 soil, 439 Surveyor, life of, 131 Swamp lands, drainage of, 414 milkweed, 10 Swine, 229 breeds of, 221, 229 statistics, 229 T Tanks, manufacture of, 79 Taquamenon Swamp, celery grown on, 54 Taxes, arrears of, 437 for highways, 403 Tax sales. 437 Teacherages, 356 Telephones, Michigan, 256 on farms, 459 rural, 256 statistics, 256 Temperature, Great Lakes and. 17 of northern and southern Michigan. _22 Tenancy, 146, 147 "Thimble-berry," 202 Thresiier. Birdsell, 334, 335 Threshers, manufacture of, 312 Threshing, grain, 310 machine, early, 310 Tile. 113 Timber, kinds of, 71 standing. 71 , o.c Time, of railroad travel, 246 Topography. 5 effects on agriculture, 8 of central counties, 44 Tornadoes. 29, 30 Town-meeting. 160 Township board. 161 government, 161 Tractors, on Michigan farms, 459 Trails, 237 INDEX 491 Transportation, 235. 230 by water, 241. 252, 253 by railroad. 241. 242 Travel, by railroad. 246 Treaties, English and Indian, 127 Tree nursery. 399 Trees. 39, 40 on prairies, 39 Truck, all-service, 313 on Michigan farms, 459 Tuberculosis, clinics, 325 Turkeys, wild, 115 on Game Farm, 121 Twilight of northern latitudes, 21 U United States and education, 358 Upper Peninsula, agriculture in, 422 character of, 50 climate of, 19 climate and agriculture in, 429 crops for, 421 Development Bureau, 425, 426 eastern, soil of, 48, 49 elevation of, 50 farm area of. 450 Finns in, 173 grazing in, 53 importation of food into, 239, 240 land ownership in, 147 manufactures in, 314 mining in, 52 precipitation in, 25 program of settlement for, 423, 424 railroads in, 248, 249 settlement of, 52 sheep in, 223 sunshine in. 25 tillable lands of, 52 tonic atmosphere of, 23 topography of. K western, character of, 49 winter in. 29 wood-using industries in, 81 yield to the acre of farm crops in, 448 Vegetables, 193 Vegetation, of Kent County, 07 of northern Lower Penin- sula, 47 soil and. 59 Vehicles, manufacture of, 79, 313 Veterinarian, State, 387 Veterinary surgeon, licensing of, 388 Vinegar. 301 Vocational education, 358 State Board of Control of, 359 W Wages, farm, 459 Wagons, manufacture of, 313 Walnut Lake, vegetation of, 65 Warden, fire, 398 forestry, 398 State Game, Fish and For- estry, 399 Washtenaw County, fair at, 334, 335 Water, distribution of, 56 in farm houses, 459 transportation by, 252, 253 underground, 56 Water-power, 125 companies, 126 development of, 395 of the Upper Peninsula, 126 statistics, 125 Watkins, L. D., quoted, 319 Wax, bees, 232 Weights and measures, 389 county sealers of, 391 State Superintendent of, 391 Western Michigan Develop- ment Bureau, 425 West Michigan State Fair, 330 Wheat, 183 Claw son, 185 Fultz, 185 Gold medal, 183 historv. 185 kinds of, 185 production, 184 492. INDEX Wheat, red rock, 186 standardization of, 213 standard varieties of, 213, 21(; ■Ulieeler, C. S., on game, 114, 115 Wild cherry, Upper Peninsula, 50 rice, 42 Williams, .T. L., 295 Wind, 9, 30. 31 -storms, 29 velocity of, 30 Winter, feed for, 421 precipitation in, 27 Wintergreen, 202 Wolves, 220 Women's Committee, Council of National Defense, 327 Wood, importation of, 79 use of, 7.S -using industries, 75, 80, 81 Wool, grading of, 457 hoine-si)uu, 109 manufacture of, 300 pool of by Farm Bureau, 2S3 yield, 222, 223, 224 Woolen mills, 305 "Worthy oat," 214 Yankees, 158 Yield, in northern counties, 448 of farm crops, 446, 447 Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, 379 County organization of, 379 University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 • Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. Form L-9-15m-3,'34 uc SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A A 000 279 964 i HD 1 1'^i'j, IFORNI^, LIF. la