FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 305 



effect. AVhcvo there is deconijiositioii of vegetable matter, where there is a 

 decay of logs and grass and roots abundantly going on, there you will find bil- 

 lions diseases of all grades, from the dumb ague up to the almost inevitable 

 fatal congestive chill. Now physicians tell us that a genuine case of ague is 

 seldom seen, that congestive chills caused purely by malaria are never met 

 with, and some M. D.'s even go so far as to say that there is no such thing as 

 a bilious fever, about which, had they practiced here thirty or forty years ago, 

 they would not have been so skeptical. There must always be moisture in con- 

 nection with dead vegetable matter, or there is but little poison evolved. Where 

 decomposition goes on so slow as it does in dry matter, it does not affect the 

 atmosphere to any great extent. These are facts in chemistry; it is reasonable 

 to conclude, therefore, that if we keep these low lands drained, — if we keep 

 this rank vegetable growth from decaying, by depriving it of moisture, and 

 annually cut it off and convert it into the wants of husbandry, we thereby beau- 

 tify our farms, enrich our granaries, and most important of all, secure to our- 

 selves and our families that greatest of all blessings, good health ; and according 

 to the old philosophers, good health alone is man's imperial bliss. Now all 

 this has been the experienced result in our own community of our practical 

 system of drainage. The result has certainly justified the means, and the 

 expense of the enterprise has been the best paying investment that any com- 

 munity could possibly engage in. It is difficult to estimate the expense of 

 sickness, and it is impossible to compute the loss of a single life, so laying aside 

 all considerations of profit and loss, it pays in a hygienic point of view. Such 

 is the concurrent testimony of all observers, and the verdict of every physician's 

 ledger. 



If then the wealth of a whole people is so greatly benefited by drainage, 

 (which no one attempts to deny), then would it not be just, right, and lawful for 

 the whole people to aid, by taxation, in reclaiming some of the large tracts of 

 low lands which can never be drained by individuals or by the aid of the town- 

 ship drain law. (The kind of drainage to which I allude is the deepening and 

 straightening of all streams the two termini of which are within the county.) 

 Take Portage Creek in Mendon and Spring Creek in Nottawa, and similar 

 streams in nearly every township in the county, having a continuous chain of 

 marsh, miles in length, the undertaking would be too expensive for individual 

 owners to bear. I ask you here to consider the propriety of securing to your- 

 selves such legislation as would authorize the board of supervisors of this (or 

 any), county to appropriate from the general fund of the county a sum not to 

 exceed one thousand dollars in any one year, to be used in connection with a 

 fund collected from the land owners, thereby providing ample means to carry 

 on a general system of drainage very much needed, and when once in success- 

 ful operation would never require repairs, and a vast amount of land which now 

 abounds in vermin, reptiles, quagmires, and biliousness would soon become 

 valuable, and the increased value upon the assessment rolls would soon replace 

 the appropriation. I leave this suggestion for your earnest consideration, and 

 having gone briefly over the subject and touched some of the leading features 

 connected therewith I leave it with you, hoping that your interest in humanity 

 will induce you to push forward the work already begun until you have reduced 

 every marsh to a cornfield and every swamp to a meadow. 



After a vote of thanks to the State Board of Agriculture for appointing an 

 institute at Centerville and to the members of the college faculty for their lec- 

 tures and addresses, responded to by Pres. T, C. Abbot, the institute was 

 declared adjourned. 



