THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND 179 



State. Perhaps this is true, but surely the presence 

 of people in the same locality, kindred in speech, re- 

 ligious connection, economic and social status, has 

 encouraged and comforted the members of the group 

 in their new and strange situation and rendered them 

 less ready to leave their rural homes for urban life. 

 Either way has its advantages and disadvantages, 

 which it is not the purpose of this book to discuss 

 in detail. Here the problem is only recognized as it 

 exists. 



The question as to what contributions have been 

 made to agricultural practice in Michigan by the sev- 

 eral European stocks is not readily answered. While 

 the existence of some procedure within a certain 

 group may suggest its foreign antecedence, only very 

 careful investigation can determine the facts beyond 

 question. The writer's observations have suggested 

 a number of rural customs unfamiliar at least in the 

 older more thoroughly Americanized sections of the 

 State: For example, the practice observed among 

 Finnish and Swedish farmers of exposing hay and 

 grain in the fields on long narrow racks or about 

 stakes, to facilitate drying and curing. L. M. 

 Geismar, an Alsatian by birth, introduced among the 

 farmers of the copper country the Alsatian practice 

 of sheep-raising, Avhereby capitalists in town provide 

 the means for acquiring small flocks of sheep, which 

 are turned over to small farmers for care and main- 

 tenance on an agreed basis of compensation and 

 division of the returns. That Finnish farmers shear 

 their sheep twice or more each year and not infre- 



