FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 341 



SOME OF THE NEEDS OP OUR DISTRICT SCHOOLS. 



FLORA J. BEADLE, COUNTY COMMISSIONER OF SCHOOLS, AT BARRY 

 COUNTY INSTITUTE. 



There is one more thought which I would suggest to you and then I am through, 

 and that is this: The mother in our district and village schools might be much 

 more helpful than many of them are at the present time. Throughout this land 

 of ours the mothers are coming to accomplish much for the school as well as for 

 questions of vital interest to the public. Let me tell you that today there is no 

 more powerful lever for good in any community than a mothers' meeting rightly 

 directed. It is the mothers' meeting that has brought about this great change 

 of sentiment in regard to child nature and child study. It is the mothers' 

 meetings that have brought the people all over this great land of ours to a realiza- 

 tion of the fact that insight, instead of blind instinct, is needed to train our boys 

 to right manhood, our girls to right womanhood, and both to good citizenship. 

 The mother, more than at any other period in her history, stands side by side with 

 the father and the friend and the brother, his peer in power to acquire, and if her 

 acquirements be of the right sort, his peer in power to execute. So, mothers and 

 fathers, may you go forth from this Institute realizing that there are many respon- 

 sibilities in regard to the welfare of your district school resting upon you. 



THE CARE OF FARM IMPLEMENTS. 



H. COBB, EDWARDSBURG, AT CASS COUNTY INSTITUTE. 



Who can say how much is taken from the value of a farm wagon in a single sea- 

 son through exposure to the hot sun and rain which come upon it if left unshel- 

 tered? Yet it is noticeable how soon such a wagon becomes useless, paint gone, 

 iron work rust eaten, and every part ruined. The man of means may invest in the 

 most fertile farm in the land; he may equip it with the most improved implements, 

 and procure the best seeds and plants to be found, but if he pays no attention to 

 the less important details of the farm, his investment will not pay, in a financial 

 way at least. On such a farm the tools are certain to lie in the field exposed to the 

 weather, uncared for. And how comparatively easy it is to stop this waste. There 

 is no farmer so poor but he can have some kind of shelter for his farm implements. 

 It surely is not economy to leave these unprotected for any length of time, since 

 they become useless by so doing, and it becomes necessary to procure new ones 

 when the old ones should still be in use. After the shelter is provided, care should 

 be taken to thoroughly clean and oil the bright parts of each tool as it is put in its 

 place. Not unfrequently it costs the farmer ten times as much time as it should to 

 get his plow to work properly the first day he starts it, all because he neglected to 

 oil the mold board when he laid it by, and before the close of the day he is not 

 satisfied with the quality and quantity of the work done. When the binder is 

 stored away, the sickle should be oiled and placed as far from moisture as pos- 

 sible. The edge of the sickle is very delicate, and it may be injured more by rust 

 in one season of idleness than in two seasons in actual use. 



HOW TO MAKE A GREEN PEA THAT IS FIT FOR THE GODS. 



APP. M. SMITH, LUDINGTON, AT MASON COUNTY INSTITUTE. 



As to how you should plant them, you make furrows fifteen inches apart, three 

 inches deep, with a sharp pointed hoe or the corner of a common hoe, along a 

 stretched line. Scatter the peas to it from the hand so there will be from three to 

 five seeds in the space of an inch. This will take a pound or more of seed to 100 

 feet of row. We then cover with a hoe or rake, making the top of the ground as 



