298 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



Mr. Willits: I would like to have some farmer inform us whether Mr. 

 Steckert's farm is a characteristic plains land farm; I don't mean the poor- 

 est, but an average as the plains land runs, — whether there is any quality in 

 his soil that is better. 



Mr. Palmer : I would ask Mr. Hubbard Head to answer President Willits. 

 He is intimately acquainted with the place and well acquainted with farms 

 in all parts of the county. 



Mr. Hubbard Head: I would say that the farm of Jacob Steckert is bet- 

 ter than the plains will average. It is a gravel mixed with clay loam and 

 sand. It is on a side hill, and the high land in Crawford county and sur- 

 rounding it is better land than the plains, — the level lands. His farm will 

 average better than the general low plains land. 



Mr. Webber: What was the timber originally on the land? 



Mr. Hubbard Head : Jack pine. 



Mr. Webber: No hardwood? 



Mr. Hubbard Head : No, sir. There is probably in the neighborhood of 

 10 acres river flats. 



Mr. Willits : What is the difference between land on which jack pine 

 grows, white pine land and hardwood land? 



Mr. Frederick Barker: I think Mr. Hubbard Head is mistaken about the 

 character of the timber on that land. I saw that land fifteen years ago, 

 before there was any timber cut from it. In addition to the jack pine there 

 was a good deal of scrub oak, some poplar, and in places considerable white 

 birch. On some portion of it the timber was nearly all oak grubs and oak 

 trees up to the size of twelve inches in diameter, they were rather short, not 

 over thirty-five feet high. I was also there the first summer Mr. Steckert 

 commenced his clearing and staid over night with him. 



Mr. Hubbard Head : I helped Mr. Steckert do his first chopping on that 

 farm. Along the river bottom there was some birch, cedar, white pine,, 

 considerable tamarack, and all that kind of timber, and on the uplands, on 

 the ridge, there was some poplar that grew to be from one to six inches 

 through, the majority of them being not over two inches through. The 

 lightest land we find in Crawford county is where we find scrub oak. That 

 appears to be lighter land than the jack pine land; there was not much of 

 any hard wood, and bnt a very small portion of the land had poplar on it, 

 most of it being jack pine land. 



Mr. Willits: Will you please describe what jack pine is? 



Mr. Hubbard Head: It is spruce pine; some call it pitch pine. I never 

 saw any of the timber growing excepting in Virginia and here. 



Mr. Willits: What does it indicate as far as soil is concerned? What is 

 the difference between that and white pine land? 



Mr. Hubbard Head : I could not say as to that. You will find it growing 

 at very high altitudes and you will find it growing on very low lands. 



Mr. Beal: There are three kinds of pine in Michigan, white pine, Norway 

 pine and scrub pine, gray pine or Barksiana pine. In 1875, in collecting- 

 timber for the Centennial, I inquired of fifty or more persons around the 

 country as to what they meant by jack pine; they generally meant this scrub 

 pine. They apply the term jack pine to inferior looking pines of any sort. 

 They also call it buckwheat pine, and perhaps, several other names. 



Mr. Webber: Jack pine is the Pinus Banksiana. 



Mr. Willits : I would like to know if this scrub pine indicates a light soil ? 



