150 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



on siuh expcriiiuiits |k rtniiiiiifr lo agriculture and horticulture as in tlioir judgment 

 will be most beneficial to the agricultural interests of the Upper Peninsula, and they 

 shall have full control of the management of said Experiment Station: Provided, 

 liowever. Tiiat the entire cost of said buildings shall not exceed tlie sum of $2,500. 



Sec. 5. Upon the adoption of plans and specifications by said board, they shall 

 advertise for a time not less tlian four weeks in such papers as thoy may select in 

 said Upper Peninsuda for ])roposals for constructing said buildings in accordance 

 with the plans ;md specifications. All contracts . for labor or inaterials to be used 

 in the erection and construction of tlie buildings provided for by this act requiring an 

 expenditure of more than $300 siiall be let to the lowest bidder or bidders, the 

 advertisement thus provided for to specify the time and place where the bids or 

 proposals made in pursuance thereof shall be opened; all bids or proposals thus made 

 shall be sealed and shall not be opened at any time or place other than that desig- 

 nated iu the advertisement; all or any bids or proposals received by said board 

 may be by them rejected and whether accepted or rejected shall after decisions 

 thereon by said board be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State. 



Sec. G. In letting contracts, said board shall not obligate the State to pay to 

 any contractor any money other than that to which said contractor may be justly 

 entitled by reason of labor or materials already furnished or supplied, and in no 

 event shall more than seventy-five per cent of the amount called for in any contract 

 be paid to the contractor named therein before the completion of his contract and 

 its acceptance by said board: Provided., That every contractor performing service 

 or work or furnishing materials under this act shall enter into such bonds with 

 sureties for the proper performance of his contract as shall be required by the board of 

 commissioners. 



Sec. 7. Each of the members of said board of locating and building commissioners 

 shall be entitled to receive his actual traveling expenses in the discharge of his 

 duties under this act. 



Sec. 8. And there is hereby appropriated for the purpose of carrying out the 

 ])rovisions of this act the sum of $5,000 and the same shall be incorporated in the 

 State tax as follows, to wit: For the year 1S99, $2,500; for the year 1900, $2,500, 

 and the sums when collected shall be placed by the Auditor General to the credit 

 of said Experiment Station fund and may be drawn by the treasurer of said board 

 upon warrants made by their secretai-y and approved by the jDresident of said board. 

 And the treasurer above mentioned is hereby required to give his bond to the 

 ]>eople of this State in the penal sum of double the amount that is liable to come 

 into his hands under the provisions of this act. The amount of said bond to be 

 determined by said board. 



Sec. 9. It shall be the duty of the secretary of said board to render semi-annually 

 to the Auditor General accounts current of all cash transactions and all moneys 

 received, with the proper vouchers^ and no money shall be drawn by virtue of this 

 act by said board unless they sliall have first filed with the Auditor General an 

 estimate and statement showing the purpose for which money is required, also have 

 made the semi-annual account of all moneys previously drawn. 



Late in July, 1S99, the State Board of Agriculture, obeying the mandate of this 

 law made a rapid survey of some of the agricultural sections of the Upper Peninsula 

 and chose as the site of the LIpper Peninsula Experiment Station the IGO acres 

 constituting the southeast quarter of Sec. 28; range 40 north; 21 west. 



This tract lies along the Munising railroad at Cliatham, eighteen miles south and 

 west of Munising, in Rock River township, Alger count}-. It lies eight miles south 

 of Au Train Bay, on the south shore of liake Superior, and from 250 to 300 feet 

 above its level. The farm is practically surrounded by a large belt of hardwood timber 

 and the climatic conditions are similar to those existing over the major portion of the 

 central section of the Upper Peninsula. Heavy snow covers the ground during the 

 relatively long winters, preventing deep freezing of the soil. The snow lies on the 

 ground continuously during the winter and until late in the spring when the sudden 

 oncoming of the warm weather forces a rapidity of growth in the vegetable world 

 unknown in regions farther south. The summers are hot and moist with no severe 

 drouths. The autumns are long and usually delightful, although in areas surrounded 

 by forests there is always danger of late frosts in the spring and earl}" frosts in 

 the fall, except along the shores of the great lakes. This danger, however, disappears 

 Avith the removal of the forests. 



