FARMERS- INSTITUTES. 171 



than will be returued. I know to the contrary. We usually feed bran all the year. 



A good cow well cared for will clear you a net profit of from ten to twenty dollars 

 j'eariy. I mean net profit— that is w^hat is left after counting full price for feed, 

 labor and trouble. These days, on most farm products, it Avill hardly be safe to 

 fijiure too closely for profits, lest they might be found on the wrong side of the 

 •column. The cows will carry you through all right every time, either In a dry or 

 wet season. 



I have not one word to say against tlie beef raising industry. If rightly managed 

 it is a good and profitable business. Many farmers in this county are very success- 

 ful in buying their steers in the fall and feeding through the winter. Others raise 

 them from calves and think it the safest way. As we have plenty of good pasture 

 land I rather like buying light cattle early in the fall and keeping them nearly one 

 year. The conditions being favorable; either of the above methods, if properly 

 :managed, will prove quite satisfactory. The dairy requires more labor and care, 

 but in my judgment is the safest and most profitable of the whole. 



THE FARMER'S RELATION TO THE LAW. 



HON. A. E. COLE, Fowlerville, at LIVINGSTON COUNTY Institute, Howell. 



In a general sense the farmer's relation to the law is the same as that of any and 

 •every other individual. There are many phases and features of the law which the 

 farmer never comes in contact with; there are other features of it in which he is 

 intensely interested and in which he is continually coming in contact 



What are fixtures and pass with the sale of the land is a question of importance. 

 Carpets, curtains, pictures, stoves, etc.. are personal property and may be carried 

 away with the owner upon the sale of the land. Fence.s of all kinds and fence 

 materials which have been once used, but which may be taken down and piled 

 Tip for future use in the same place, are a part of the land and go to the purchaser. 

 New fence materials which have never been built into a fence will not pass as a 

 part of the laud. If they are not especially reserved in the deed they become the 

 property of the purchaser, notwithstanding there may have been a verbal agi'ee- 

 meut with the grantor to retain them. Being a part of the land they pass by a 

 deed of it, and a mere verbal agreement to the contrary will not be allowed to set 

 aside a deed, which is a written agreement. This is because of the rule that parole, 

 verbal or spoken evidence is pot admissible to contradict or vary the terms of a 

 -written instrument. 



As soon as a crop is gathered or severed from the ground it becomes personal 

 property, and anything that is personal property can be moved. 



BUILDINGS BELONG TO THE LAND. 



All buildings of whatever nature, standing upon the land, go to the purchaser. 

 It Is not necessary to mention them in the deed: being a part of the land they pass 

 with it. Everything which is a part of any building on the land goes with it, as the 

 doors, blinds, shutters, keys, furnace, grates and, in fact, everytliing which was 

 intended by the owner to be a permanent part of the building. Any of these things 

 which were removed temporarily at the time of the sale are still a part of the build- 

 ing. Trees of all kinds grovvMng upon the land are a part of it. All manure made 

 in the ordinary course of the carrying on of a farm pass upon a sale of it as a part 

 of the land; it makes no difference whether it is scattered in the fields or piled up 

 in the barn-yard or in heaps imder the barn windows or piled under cover. All 

 farming implements and articles of a movable nature are of course chattels and 

 can be carried away by their owner upon the sale of the land. Pumps, sinks, etc., 

 fastened to a building are a part of it in law. The question as to whether a farm 

 t)ell is a fixture or personal property is somewhat mooted. The Supreme Court of 

 Texas, I believe, has held that a farm bell is not a fixture, and the Supreme Court 

 of Massachusetts has held that it is. 



Every man's farm extends to the middle of the highway. It is almost the uni- 

 versal doctrine that the land in the highway belongs to the owners of the adjacent 

 lands. If a farm is sold and described as bounded by a highway it extends to the 

 middle of the same, unless the description clearly excludes the soil of the highway. 



