FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 287 



resemblance. There is a family resemblance running through almost 

 all his seedlings coming from that strain. 



A few years ago I sent a man out into the field when the straw- 

 berries were beginning to blossom and asked him to bring me a report 

 as to the sex of each variety. He went over the plat and brought in a list. 

 Almost all of them were pistillate from his showing. My observation 

 upon that revelation satisfied me that there is not absolute permanency 

 in the character in some places, and that permanency is effected some- 

 times by weather. I do not know how far, but to some extent, the influ- 

 ence of the weather may produce permanent results in the way of change. 



So far as the work of testing varieties is concerned, the value of the 

 small fruits, and especially the strawberries, can be determined with con- 

 siderable rapidity. This is not equally true when we come to the large 

 fruits. We occasionally find a variety producing most admirable fruit, 

 and when once fully in bearing becoming practically worthless. And 

 again, I have had occasion to observe that varieties when coming fully 

 into fruit will produce imperfect fruit. It requires, in the case of apples, 

 esi>ecially in the case of pears, a series of years, perhaps six to twelve 

 years, to properly determine the relative value of a variety so far as the 

 character of its fruit is concerned. Consequently, it will require quite a 

 number of j^ears to determine in the case of these fruits whether the 

 variety ought to be dropped, no matter how valuable apparently, but 

 unless dropped, after it has been sufficiently tested, our territory would 

 stretch beyond the possibility of a station in a little time. The tendency 

 in the east has been to grow trees with high tops. The tendency at 

 the west is to get about as low as they can. We are intermediate, and 

 there are a great many reasons why we should follow the western prac- 

 tice rather than the eastern; while eastern fruits generally succeed with 

 us here, they need more protection from the hot sun and winds than at 

 the east. 



THE CULTIVATION AND CARE OF BRAINS. 



ROLAND MORRILL, BENTON HARBOR. 



It was suggested to me this evening that probably a mistake had been 

 made, a misprint in the program, and that my topic might be ''Cultivation 

 and care of beans," instead of brains. Now as a matter of fact having 

 never harvested a crop of either I am as well prepared to speak on one as 

 the other. Whether I have cultivated either successfully I have not 

 given the matter any thought, but will take the program as it reads and 

 say what I can on it. 



I presume you will all agree with me that the most valuable crop we 

 cultivate today is "brains." It is the most essential crop on the farm and 

 our surroundings and environments are somewhat against the proper cul- 

 ture of the crop. Brains as a farm crop mature during the winter months. 

 We work hard through the long summer months. We see a great deal. 

 We learn some things. New ideas dawn upon us, but we have little time 

 to digest these things. What we speak of as brain food must be digested 

 and assimilated before it can have much value for us and this can best be 



