BANCROFT INSTITUTE. 269 



Prof. Johnson : It is hardly practicable or necessary unless for coarse 

 ^ wools. Open sheds may be useful for them. In winter shelter should be pro- 

 vided for all. Breeding sheep need a good deal of exercise, but fatting sheep 

 need very little. 



4th. Can the English sparrow be got rid of ? 



Prof. Cook : The English sparrow certainly drives out more useful birds. 

 I know no better method of fighting than trapping and eating. 



5th. What will cure a shoulder gall of long standing ? 



Dr. Grange: Excision — i. e., cutting it out. 



6th. Do the patent laws need modification ? 



Pres. Willits: There has been a great deal of clamor against our patent 

 system, some of it entirely unjust and some with good grounds. There are 

 those who even go so far as to advocate the entire abolition of the system, but 

 it seems to me to serve as a most powerful stimulus to the development of 

 useful devices and it is only right that the man who withdraws himself from 

 other work for the purpose of studying out problems for the benefit of the 

 race, should have some property in his ideas that will give him a cash return. 

 The foundation princiiDle of the system is that a man may have as clear a 

 property right to his ideas as to his horse, and that he is as much entitled to 

 protection in the enjoyment of the one as of the other. 



It is undoubtedly true that many swindling schemes grow out of these laws, 

 but did you ever know a man to be bitten in this way by buying of a regular 

 dealer ? The greatest trouble arises from the penalty for infringement being 

 placed too high. If no more could be collected than the regular royalty, or 

 if no one could recover costs unless judgment were rendered for as much as 

 $20.00, there would be very little chance to swindle farmers or any one else. 

 Bat a better defense even than that would be tlie exercise of good sound 

 common sense and to buy only of people who are known and of established 

 reputation. 



On the conclusion of the final session, 



Mr. Warren, in well-chosen and feeling words, expressed the gratification 

 of the citizens of Three Oaks at the visit of the representatives of the Agri- 

 cultural College. The spirit and life of the institution had come among 

 them, though the buildings remained at Lansing. The speaker added that 

 the people had honored their visitors with the largest audience that had ever 

 assembled within four walls in Three Oaks. 



BANCROFT INSTITUTE. 



OFFICERS. 



President— "£>. S. Burnett. 



Committee of Arrangements—^. Gr. Phillips, P. O. Carruthers, L. D. Obert, T. M, 

 Euler, E. S. Burnett, J, W. Martin. 

 Comrnittee on Ifusic— Martin Wood, Mrs. H. M. Billings. 

 Committee on Exhibits — E. L, Lyman, 

 Question Box — In care of E. S. Burnett. 



