FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 347 



I'omovccl, or possessed of inferior facilities for transportation. What are our 

 facilities? In the southern half of tlic State is the broad net work of rail- 

 ways, which gather up the products of the soil and hurry them to the seaboard, 

 Our comnionwealtli has at its base, trunk lines whose moans of transportation 

 are unlimited ; that can take the yearly crop at almost a moment's notice and 

 in few hours deposit it among those who offer their gold in exchange; and 

 besides possessing these means it must be remembered that the hundreds of 

 miles whicli intervene between us and our marketo, grow to be thousands to 

 the hurt of our western brothers. Some of you may think that the offices to 

 be expected from railway corporations may not always be kindly, and so I will 

 remind you that five-sixths of our boundary is on the great lakes, with innu- 

 merable harbors where vessels of greatest capacity can ride, from whence the 

 products of our industry can be sent to the markets of the world, without let 

 or hindrance of the railway monopolies in other States. I have considered this 

 fact of facility of transportation as affecting Michigan at large, the Saginaw 

 valley having her part in common with the other portions of the State ; but it 

 is well to call attention of those seeking new homes, to the truth that the local 

 markets of Saginaw valley will command all the products of our soils for years 

 to come. With enterprising and growing cities already demanding more than 

 we can produce, with the limited acreage under cultivation ; with villages 

 springing up on every hand which will some day deck the broad areas of waving 

 grain as diamonds in a golden setting, we have but little need to consider the 

 markets abroad, only as they affect our children, for our home markets will be 

 our best markets for vears. 



Markets affect the value of farm products after they are harvested. There 

 is another cause, however, equally potent in its effects upon profits of agri- 

 culture, which is not affected by caprice, but is as sure as the rising and the 

 setting of the sun. 



It is probably safe to say that the sales of the different parts of the globe 

 do not materially differ from each other, but the productions of the soil vary 

 in a great degree. This difference in growth of vegetation is due to the effects 

 of climate ; and observation has shown that those countries where there is an 

 equable temperature and a humid atmosphere, are best adapted to agricultural 

 purposes. It is quite true there are other and peculiar conditions adapted to 

 specialties, but for the general requirements of the husbandman, the raising 

 of grains and of fruits, and for the pasturage of cattle, the climate I have 

 described is superior. 



And here is a coincidence, as Mr. Weller would say : Saginaw valley is 

 blessed with just sucli a condition. In the latitude comprising this valley there 

 is a mean temperature in January of 22°, and for the entire winter months 

 20°, for July 71°, and for the entire summer of 70°. 



From observations made and recorded throughout the country Dr. Winchell, 

 of the Syracuse University has been enabled to show that the mean tempera- 

 ture of this portion of the State is the uniform temperature of Ohio to a limit 

 of three hundred miles ; and that Thunder Bay island is possessed of a mean 

 temperature uniform with that of Peoria, Illinois. 



I would refer you in this connection, to tlie report of President Marston, of 

 the Bay county Agricultural Society, in which it is stated that of fifteen varieties 

 of wheat on exhibition at the fair of 1877, all of them exceeded the statutory 

 weight per bushel, with the exception of one, which fell short only four ounces, 

 while the others were in excess from one to three and a half pounds. 



