FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 231 



In the seAving- department, they begin with plain sewing and gradually advance 

 until they can cut and make lined dresses. 



This closed Miss Rushmore's talk and the lady choir gave a selecliou. Mrs. Ada 

 Cooper then read a paper on "The Minor Duties of Life." The heroic age of Greece 

 and Konie has departed and uow^ real greatness lies in doing well the little duties in 

 life. {i?he who leaves home and goes from battlefield to battlefield tending the sick 

 and wounded is the greatest heroine we can find. 



It is not by one act of greatness but by constant and careful attention to the 

 minor duties that character is moulded. We should be careful not to waste our 

 time, energy or opportuniities. Each minute has its purpose. Opportunities are 

 duties. 



The question box was taken up next. A number of questions about the Agricul- 

 tural College, also about the lesson on eggs, indicated an interest in the work Miss 

 Rushmore represented. 



The session was closed with another selection from the lady choir. The general 

 impression left on those present at the meeting seemed to be a pleasant one. 



PRIZE REPORT OF ALMA INSTITUTE, GENERAL SESSION. 

 BY RAYMOND H. I5ANG.S. 



Mr. Allen, the chairman of the County Board of Agriculture, called the meeting 

 to order and introduced as first speaker of the session, Mr. Jason Woodman of 

 Paw Paw. 



Mr. Woodman's subject was "Building Up an Exhausted Farm," a subject inter- 

 esting to all, especially to farmers whose soil is sand. 



He explained how injurious it was to over crop land and asserted that we will 

 liave to grasp some new method of farming or quit the business. Farms are 

 growing old and farmers are beginning to .see that the fertility is not what it once 

 was. The natural fertility, caused by accumulation, during past ages, of the ever 

 decaying leaves from the forests, is giving out. 



What is to be done to restore the fertility V Mr. Woodman gave some very good 

 hints how this may be accomplished. He said that everything in the line of refuse 

 matter should be spread on the land as fertiliser. Many farmers burn up matter 

 that could well be used for this purpose. 



He thinks we should keep enough stock on our farms to use up all our surplus 

 hay and grain; thus it may be converted into fertilizer and go back into our own 

 soil instead of some other mail's. 



In most cases it should be well rotted before being spread on the ground, although 

 a light coat of straw spread over a meadow or pasture field causes the grass to grow 

 more rapidly and makes a thicker sod, which is very valuable as fertilizer when . 

 turned under. 



Mr. Woodman thinks clover is one of our best means of restoring fertility, no 

 matter if the insects do bother it. He says that the roots strike deeper into the 

 ground and draw more fertility to the surface than most plants. If there is an 

 abundance of rainfall during the summer, it is a good plan to plow ground early in 

 the spring, cultivate well, and sow to clover about the middle of June. Insects do 

 not work in such clover as bad as in that sowed in the early spring. 



Of the different kinds of clover he asserts that mammoth red has borne the best 

 test, that is for all purposes. Crimson clover probably ranks fourth; it is an excel- 

 lent plant to be grown around fruit trees. Alfalfa, he has no use for. Its roots are 

 too large, and to plow up an Alfalfa meadow which is two or three years old, is 

 about like plowing among the roots of a grub oak thicket. 



Mr. Woodman stated that beans and corn, if turned under when green, enrich the 

 soil as much as a good coat of well rotted manure. He gave one process for en- 

 riching the soil which I believe would be a good one for some of our farmers to 

 try. 8 i\, rye iu the fall of the year, plow it up early in the «i>riug, suw tu rape 

 about the middle of May and continue the process for four or five years. The rape 

 makes Ki)leiidid pasture, therefore the land may be of some value while its fertility 

 is increasing. He cautioned farmers to be very careful about leaving the manure 

 from the stables iu a position where the water from the eaves could drop down 

 upon it, and added that few men realize the loss occasioned by being careless about 

 such seemingly small matters. This ended Mr. Woodman's talk. 



Prof. Smith of the Michigan Agricultural College was introduced as second 

 speaker. Sugar Beets was his topic. This subject was perhaps- more interesting to 



