FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 127 



return a handsome profit from the application of honestly prepared fer- 

 tilizers. I have in a small way tried two or three different makes, said 

 to be good ones, but was unable to note any difference in the crops. But 

 think we should all experiment in a small way along this line. I have 

 found one brand that has always given us good results. It is rather 

 bulky to apply but the results have been very satisfactory. It has been 

 called the 'farmer's Friend," "The key to successful Agriculture,'' 

 and perhaps other names, but is best known in our section as ham 

 yard manure. It is many times made up of various things, from broken 

 down farm wagons and tools to our last year's straw hat and cast aside 

 rubber boots. I prefer it made from the droppings of well fed stock 

 mixed with straw. 



While Michigan sells but little coarse grain as compared with some 

 western states, she will do well to sell less. We are robbing our farms 

 of from two to five millions each year in what grain we sell. Pause and 

 <;onsider whether we can afford this soil robbery. 



THE CONSUMPTION OF BEEF. 



Supply and demand are considered the natural laws that govern prices, 

 but it seems to me that the consumption of beef has much to do with 

 Its present price. We are confronted with lowering prices right in the 

 face of a shortage amounting to two and a quarter million of cattle as 

 marketed within the last year, which at a low estimate means ten million 

 \ pounds of dressed beef. I state without fear of successful contradiction 

 that underconsumption is costing us from five to fifteen dollars on each 

 animal over three months of age. Why this underconsumption? Have 

 the people of this great and grand United States found other meat more 

 suited to their taste? No, indeed! For there never has been, nor never 

 will be, any meat that will usurp the place of prime beef in the 

 taste of any civilized people. Why then this under-consumption? 

 Merely from the fact that conditions (which I do not at this time care to 

 discuss) are such that the masses of our people look on meat as a luxury 

 rather than as a necessity. Was it always so? No. Will these condi- 

 tions continue? It remains for you and me to decide. Would it not be 

 better for every one to trj' and help bring about such conditions as sur- 

 rounded our people from 1870 to 1885? 



WILL FEEDING FOR BEEF PAY IN MICHIGAN? 



I answer yes. Why? Because only along the lines of diversified 

 farming can we hope to succeed. Our population is increasing, our 

 supply of beef is decreasing, and so called hard times are bound to 

 improve. 



Then let us go about beef production in a sensible business way, 

 for in no other way can we hope to succeed. Just now the dairy 

 craze is on. This will help the price of beef, because many think there 

 are no cattle except dairy breeds that can produce milk and butter at a 

 profit. This seems to be a mistake, for I have in mind a beef bred dairy- 

 man who usually rolls on top, for his name is Ball, who is producing gilt 



