334 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



of man, and grandeur of his Creator. She is of use to man only as he sees through 

 and beyond her — to symbolize a deeper truth than appears on the surface, for "Every 

 natural flower which grows on earth implies a flower upon the spiritual side." She 

 is new and fresh every morning because she is unconscious of herself, whispering 

 of her Maker. 



FUEL SUPPLY OF SAGINAW COUNTY. 



S. G. HIGGINS, SAGINAW, AT SAGINAW COUNTY INSTITUTE. 



This subject may, at first glance, seem a peculiar one for a Farmers' Institute. 

 Directly the farmer has little to do with the question of fuel supply, but indirectly 

 it is a matter of most vital interest to him. What is it that gives a farmer a market 

 for his crops? It is the employment of large bodies of men in manufacturing, and 

 we all know that fuel is the great foundation of all manufacturing; it is the energy 

 which turns the wheels. The more the manfacturing interests of Saginaw are devel- 

 oped, the more farm products will be required to feed the men who work in the fac- 

 tories. If all our people were engaged in agriculture each one would raise simply 

 suflicient for his own use, and there would be no market for surplus products. When 

 the factories are idle the employes must turn to the cultivation of the soil for their 

 support, which not only cuts off the market of the farmer, but creates a still greater 

 supply of his own products. Agriculture, mining and manufacturing must go hand 

 in hand, and each is dependent upon the others. What we need .in this country 

 today is more factories. We produce more than enough from the soil to supply our 

 needs, but foreign manufactured goods still continue to flow in and find sale among 

 our people. The sooner we reach the point where we manufacture practically every- 

 thing our own people need the better off we shall be as a nation. The increasing 

 number of workmen in the factories will consume larger and larger quantities of 

 farm products here at home, and save the necessity of selling abroad at low prices. 



ECCENTRICS. 



MRS. DR. KIRBY, PETERSBURGH, AT MONROE COUNTY INSTITUTE. 



Noah Webster defines an eccentric to be an irregular person or thing. Shakespeare, 

 who knew a great deal about almost everything, decreed that eccentricity is akin to 

 madness. Another of equal authority tells us it is originality; another that it is 

 inspiration, and lastly an eccentric man is defined as being a true man in a false 

 world. In mechanics there is a little wheel called an eccentric that can start all the 

 machinery with a jerk and keep it going. It is the eccentric in human life that can 

 start the machinery and play upon other minds as a master would play upon a harp, 

 or as the biographer of Rufus Choate said, "he can make his own kindling wood and 

 start his own fire." If a man or a woman has an original idea and attempts to put 

 it in execution, straightway public opinion counts that eccentric, if not positively 

 insane. So it is not a bad idea to study eccentric characters, especially if they are 

 strangely good or useful. » 



IRRIGATION FOR FRUIT IN OCEANA COUNTY. 



BENTON GEBHART, HART, AT OCEANA COUNTY INSTITUTE. 



Some nine years ago, or the first dry season which the fruit growers of Oceana 

 county experienced, I had a good opportunity to test the applying of water to some 

 plum trees which were loaded with fruit, the soil being so very dry that the fruit 

 was fairly shriveled on the trees. My first plan was to apply water by the use of 



