246 Transactions of the American Institute. 



tioils for a government that sliall belt tlie globe with its electrical 

 element of " liberty, equality, and fraternity," puriiying those oriental 

 nations, by purging them of that effete, rotten aristocracy and heredi- 

 tary miasmatic ])ollution of class and clan despotism. 



Suppose you exchange a part of your brain for muscle, your death- 

 producing pastry for healthful corn bread, your scrofulous consump- 

 tion for the shakes, your church for God's temple, which is finer and 

 more beautiful than Solomon's, your schools for new conditions and 

 experiences which the degenerating sons and daughters of New Eng- 

 land are dying for, your fushionable follies and fineries for the steru 

 yet not always unpleasant duties of preparing a bright opening and 

 future for your children, I can but think that they will rise up in the 

 future and call you blessed for the rich inheritance of a home in the 

 rich valleys or on the beautiful highlands of Kansas. 



Homes in Michigan. 



A communication was received from Mr. H. P. Barker, of Traverse 

 City, Michigan, detailing the agricultural advantages of that part of 

 Michigan known as Grand Traverse. It has, he says, remarkable 

 attraction in climate, produced by the vicinity of great bodies of 

 water, which is seldom or never frozen. The soil abounds in lime, 

 which makes it a good wheat region. 



It has been demonstrated that on the level, wet, hea^'y clay soils of 

 Ohio and other states, sheep sicken and die in such numbers that 

 everywhere in these sections farmers are disposing of their sheep 

 without regard to cost. Here, with our rolling surface, porous and 

 dry subsoil, with pure water, wool growing will soon become a lead- 

 ing branch of industry. Raising wheat is a very profitable branch 

 of farming. Winter wheat is most relied on, although spring M'heat 

 usually does well. Both in quantity of yield and in quality tliue 

 Grand Traverse winter wheat is without rival. All kinds of garden 

 vegetables are grown to perfection and in abundance. Rutabagas 

 are extensively grown as food for cattle. They can be gr'Own at a 

 cost of three dollars per ton. Fruit growing is receiving considera- 

 ble attention, and thus far has been successful. Apples, peaches, 

 pears, plums, cherries, grapes, of all varieties, and particularly small 

 fruits are seldom injured by cold or frost. That part known as the 

 Peninsular, extending from Traverse City, twenty miles north, and 

 varying from one to four miles in width, dividing Grand Traverse 

 Bay into the east and west arms, is peculiarly adapted to fruit grow- 



