FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 169^ 



WHAT HAVE WE GAINED FROM THE INSTITUTES? 



F. E. ODELL, I.apeer, at I.APEER COITNTY Institute, Lapeer. 



What we have gained must necessarily be classed under more than one head; first, 

 the financial, and second, the social or moral. Farming has become one of the 

 sciences, and the students of this science by their close application and tests of 

 the truths or falsities of new methods, have given us the results, and we. as tillers* 

 of the soil, can do no wiser thing than to meet these wintry days and discuss the 

 practicability of them; to sift out the good from the worthless; to compare our own 

 experiences;. to give results of new methods, and, in short, to help one another by 

 advice pertaining to either the production of sale of the products of our farms. 

 The knowledge gained by meeting at these Institutes producers who are making 

 a specialty of some particidar line of farming, and who are able to give the exact 

 cost of the production of a bushel of grain or fruit, a pound of wool, beef or pork, 

 and that at the least expense, should be and is a valuable lesson for us who are 

 making mixed husbandry our line of business. 



Farmers' Institutes have shown us it is not necessary to plant in the moon; that 

 wheat does not turn to chess; that fungus diseases must be properly treated by 

 fungicides; that troublesome insects are to be subdued by insecticides; that there 

 is a balanced ration for the fatting steei", another for the milch cow — and to be 

 brief, that all our live stock cannot be fed from the same grain bin to obtain the 

 best results. 



If I should ask the question, "What are the farmers in need of most?" I presume 

 I would receive various answers, but let me tell you what I think they need. They 

 ought to be members of a Farmers' Club, a Grange, or a similar organization, held, 

 if in no other place, in the little red schoolhouse on the hill, in the district where 

 they live; where they and their neighbors shall meet on Saturday afternoon of each 

 alternate week — to do what? To learn to raise better wheat and calves? Yes, but 

 best of all, to learn how to grow better "ooys and girls, who will soon grow into 

 better men and women, to get better acquainted with each other, and to have a 

 season of rest and social enjoyment, which is necessary if we would grow into 

 better men and women, physically and mentally. 



All honor to the grand old Grange. It has been the first in the-ranks to iiave the 

 way for the coming of similar organizations, be it Farmers' Institutes or Farmers'' 

 Clubs, their object is one and the same; to help us financially, but also to teach us 

 that life is worth the living, only when the financial is combined with the social 

 and moral. And I trust at the close of this Institute, as we clasp the hands of old 

 and new friends, we will go forth with the feeling that our time has been well 

 spent; that Ave feel our occupation is one of the best, and if we are not growing 

 richer financially, we are growing richer in those attributes given us by our Maker; 

 that ihelp us to become better men and women. 



BETTER BRED CHILDREN. 



DR. JULIA P. GREENE, Adrian, at LENAWEE COUNTY Institute. Adrian. 



We have a feeling of pride in the asylums and public institutions for the care of 

 the unfortunate children of our State. They mark the growth of the altruistic 

 principle and the higher sentiments of charity. But with this pride comes a feel- 

 ing of sorrow, almost of shame, when we remember that they exist by reason of 

 our ignorance and crime; ignorance of our high calling in creating human beings, 

 and crime in disobeying God's laws that govern this creative power, and doing our 

 work so poorly, and I believe the individual or organized effort that aims to stop 

 the supply from which these institutions are fed is the highest mark of true charity 

 and humanity. 



The birthright of every cliild is health, strength, and har^nony of body and mind. 

 He is entitled to an honorable name, tender care, and wise education; but none of 

 these nor all combined can compensate him for unfortunate heredity, and prenatal 

 conditions that engender disease, or mental or moral deformity. 



If men and women used as much common sense in bringing children into the 

 world as they do in breeding stock, we would soon have a better type of human be- 

 ings. Upon the subject of marriage and parentage, we are blind, deaf, and void of 

 9'>, 



