254 “ The Plains” of Michigan. | March, 
When there are lands of such value for farming they will be pur 
chased and held for this purpose and the interests of the State 
will in the end have to be adapted to those of the individual. 
But however excellent certain portions of the pine belt maybe 
for grain and fruit raising, the fact remains that there are some 
hundreds of thousands of acres, including the plains already 
described and considerable areas beyond them, that, so far a 
present evidence goes, are utterly worthless for agricultural 
purposes. It is with the future of these sandy plains and deserted ; 
and burned pine “slashings” that we are now concerned. A- 
scanty population has already taken possession of certain portions 
of this territory, and here and there attempts have been made atiti 
cultivation. The settlers have turned over, or dragged over, the j 
light sand and have put in here a piece of rye and there a fw 
potatoes and have attempted in other places to get a field covered 
with clover or timothy. The results attained are by no means 
satisfactory. Rye, their best crop, is thin and light, — Potatos 
are small and few in a hill. A really good piece of wheat or oats 
was not seen in a journey of forty miles through the plains, and, 
_ with perhaps one or two exceptions, the same is true of grass am 
clover. Whatever may develop, in the future, it is perfectly si 
to say that as yet the agricultural capabilities of these plains arè 
not apparent. ae 
In many instances the lands that have been sold to eo 
viduals or to corporations, after having been stripped of the 
q 
worth the taxes. This result has hitherto been consi 
fortunate, from the fact that the State government is oblige? 
sume the responsibility and expense of ownership, and the : 
recently been changed so as to more fully protect indivi 
chasers of tax titles, largely for the purpose of relieving the»! 
this burden. In addition to this the atténtion of the public 15 
to these and other lands in the possession of the State, Y 
pamphlet issued by the Commissioner of Immigration (a 
the way, full of valuable information), and the three | 
peninsula are offering special inducements to purchasers 
As a result, the current is now setting strongly in tht 
direction and sales of land lying within the pine 
