352 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



THE USE OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 



WM. H. MERRICK, AT BARRY COUNTY INSTITUTE. 



After watching the matter closely I have come to the following conclusion as to 

 the use of commercial fertilizers in corn. We all know that for the first two or 

 three weeks after corn is planted it makes a slow growth unless the weather is 

 extremely favorable. This is just the time when the fertilizer gets in its work. 

 The little fine rootlets from the seed find the fertilizer, and the moisture and heat 

 arising therefrom force the young plant to a vigorous growth just when it is 

 needed. After corn gets waste high it sends out its large roots that feed on the 

 decaying sod or any coarse manure that may have been applied. Then we all 

 know it makes a vigorous growth and is able to take care of itself. But it is when 

 the plant is young and tender that it needs nursing. Atter taking the corn off my 

 field I plowed it in the fall, and the next spring fitted it and broadcasted the oats 

 with 100 pounds of fertilizer to the acre. The oats made a good growth, the straw 

 was of good length and stood up well, the heads w^ere well filled and the oats 

 threshed out forty-five bushels per arce. A field just across the lane, on equally 

 as good soil, but without fertilizers, had twenty-five bushels. After taking the oats 

 off I plowed the land and fitted it the best I could for wheat. I drilled in 150 

 pounds of fertilizer with one and a half bushels of wheat per acre. The wheat 

 went into winter with good top and came out looking fairly well in the spring and 

 yielded twenty-five bushels of nice, plump wheat per acre, while the other field 

 without fertilizer went ten bushels. Perhaps I should not claim that the fertilizer 

 made all the difference, as the first field was sown to Red Winter Fife and the other 

 to Clawson, although Clawson has usually done well for me. I drilled timothy 

 seed with the wheat on both fields; on the first field there is a good stand of tim- 

 othy today, and on the other it is all burned out by the drouth. One application 

 of fertilizer has a beneficial effect upon at least two succeeding crops. 



THE NEW WOMAN. 



MRS. JOHN COOK, MORRICE. AT SHIAWASSEE COUNTY INSTITUTE. 



I have said once or twice we already have our rights. For the benefit of this 

 new woman, I wish to repeat it most emphatically, we already have our rights. 

 Do you ever travel? Not extensively, perhaps, but about our State, even to Detroit, 

 Ann Arbor, Jackson, Lansing, or Flint? Do you ever notice when you board a 

 railroad train how the men stand respectfully back till we are safely aboard, not 

 only in railroad trains but in street cars, in lecture halls, in churches and upon the 

 street? Everywhere we are first and foremost — even the law shields and defends 

 us more carefully and closelj^ than our fellowman. If a great ship is in danger 

 upon the tempest-tossed ocean and the lifeboats are put out, are they not filled to 

 the uttermost with women and children, while the husbands, brothers and sons go 

 bravely to meet their death, if need be? If the dogs of war are let loose, and army 

 is contending against army in civil or international strife, do we march shoulder 

 with those who battle for their country? Is it exacted of us to share the hardships 

 and privations of the camp or the dangers of the battlefield? 



O, my friends, the world is made up mostly of noble men and women. The bal- 

 ance of joy and sorrow, if we only will, is held in the hand of justice. The height 

 to be attained in the perfection of true womanhood is like unto a golden moun- 

 tain. Its summit can only be reached by patient self-denial, by truthfulness, by 

 devotion to those who love, honor and respect us. If we follow closely the only 

 path of duty we shall come out at last to stand upon a pinnacle of this golden moun- 

 tain, against whose summit no storm cloud ever sweeps, and be blessed with the 

 peace ineffable. They only are the ones who are the best beloved of earth's chil- 

 dren here. 



