NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



265 



Fig. 2342. Michel. 



able market berry. It often brings 10 to 12 

 cents a quart, while the late ones only bring 

 6 or 7 ; and when you count off three or 

 four cents for packages, growing and pick- 

 ing, you have a net profit of say 7 cents a 

 quart for Michel opposite 4 cents for 

 Williams. It would require a big difference 

 in yield to make the latter the more profit- 

 able. On some soils Michel does very 

 poorly, giving a very light yield and, after 

 the first picking, very small berries. It is 

 by no means the " Lazy Man's Berry," but 

 given proper soil, cultivation and manure, a 

 good yield can be secured. 



On the loth ultimo we took a photograph 

 of a box of Michel, which gives an idea of 

 the berry just as it came from the patch. It 

 was selling then at ten cents a box. Michel 

 has a. perfect blossom, and is thought to be 

 a chance seedling from Crescent on the 

 grounds of J. G. Michel, Judsonia, Ark. 

 The berry is sweet in flavor and much valued 

 as a table variety. 



The Sunrise is being grown for first early 

 berry, by some growers, in place of Michel; 



and they say it is on the whole rather more 

 productive than Michel, and if anything 

 averaging a little larger. From the exper- 

 ience of others however we infer that this 

 superiority is purely local. We shall be 

 pleased to have the opinion of some of our 

 readers. 



A BOYS' INSTITUTE 



THE Broadview Boys' Institute, under 

 the management of C. J. Atkinson, 

 affords invaluable opportunities to city 

 boys who have a taste for country life. 

 Here they are not only associated together 

 as a kind of club, with opportunities ot 

 engaging in healthful sports, but they 

 are privileged to have special courses 

 of study fitting them for their life work. 

 A most important adjunct is the practical 

 work afforded to each boy, wherein his 

 own individuality is allowed full play. 

 The large garden is laid out in the form 

 of a township, with farm for each boy, 

 represented by a plot of ground twenty by 

 forty feet in extent, for which he pays taxes 

 by a certain number of hours' work a week 

 in the general kitchen garden, otherwise all 

 the proceeds of the garden are his own. 

 The boy farmers elect their own reeve and 

 councillors ; inspectors are appointed who 

 view the condition of the farms and report 

 cases of neglect. Tenants convicted of neg- 

 lect are ejected, and their farms leased to 

 other boys. 



A walk through the garden on the i6th of 

 June was full of interest. Each farm was 

 named, and some were kept with scrupulous 

 care, while others showed evidences of neg- 

 lect ; but on the whole the interest in this 

 part of the work on the part of the boys was 

 most marked, and the training must be of 

 the greatest benefit. 



