EAST SAGINAW INSTITUTE. 9 



As late as 1860 the general impression in regard to the Saginaw Valley, 

 shared by many residents and a large majority of outsiders, was that while the 

 timber was valuable, that by reason of the swamps and marshes, the sterility 

 supposed to attach to lands in pine districts, the liability of frosts, the lack of 

 drainage, and the miusual difficulty in clearing, it could never become even a 

 moderately productive farming district. This doubt and the misrepresenta- 

 tions in regard to the Saginaw Valley has kept the farming interest, never too 

 prone to prosper in a lumber country, far behind what it should be at this time. 

 But with all this slow progress these facts have been fairly and firmly proven, 

 that the soil throughout all this range of country drained by the Saginaw river 

 and its tributaries is, as a rule, excellent for farming purposes. And among 

 some of the pine tracts, as is the case on the Cass, the Flint, the Tittabawassee, 

 Chippewa and other streams, is found some of the most productive lands in the 

 State. 



As lands are cleared and opened to the light and heat of the sun they 

 improve every year, and in the broader clearings untimely frosts are so marked 

 an exception to the general rule that there is no further fear of that dread bug- 

 bear. As one proof of this I remember, as some of you will, the then few 

 scattering people of Gratiot county appealed to the people of the State for aid 

 — I think in 1859. They claimed that the frosts of the fall before had 

 destroyed their crops to such an extent that they had nothing but browse to 

 feed their cattle, and that they were in destitute circumstances. You gentle- 

 men have just held an institute at Alma in that county. Would you, from 

 what you saw, believe this? It is to-day a veritable garden, the peer of any 

 county in the State, with rich farmers able and willing to respond to like calls 

 should they come. 



In conclusion, I ask your indulgence in any shortcomings as your chairman, 

 and again we welcome you to our midst, and trust the hospitality and courtesy 

 ■of our people will make your stay pleasant and that the time spent will be 

 profitable to all. 



Most of the discussions of the Institute will be found in connection with the 

 papers which called them out. 



The incidental discussion on potatoes and potato rot is united with that fol- 

 lowing the article on the same subject by Mr. Crozier. 



Mr. Lewis' article on " Gumption " gave a good deal of amusement. Among 

 •other good things, he said that a barrel of slaked lime was one of those things 

 which no farmer should be without; that it was just the thing with which to 

 begin operations in the spring, sprinkling the cellar, whitewashing the fences, 

 chicken house, cow stable, etc., dosing various insects, and washing the fruit 

 trees. By all means, keep a barrel of slacked lime always on tap. 



Hon. Wm. L. Webber, in a paper on the Dairy Interests of the Saginaw Valley, 

 ■showed that this Valley constituted about one-fifth of the Lower Peninsula of 

 Michigan, or 8,000 square miles, and maintained that for agricultural purposes 

 there were no better 500,000 acres in any State in the Union. About one- 

 tenth of this region was within the limits of Saginaw county. Of this half mil- 

 lion acres, one hundred thousand could be spared from crops and timber for 

 pasturage. On this, 25,000 cows could be kept, and at a low average, they 

 would produce 4,000 pounds of milk apiece per year, or a total, at one cent a 

 .pound, or two cents a quart, of $1,000,000 worth of milk per year that ought 

 lo be produced in Saginaw county. 



Mr. Webber spoke of the desirableness of an increase in the number of 



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