The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-09-08
MICHIGAN AFFAIRS.
A big Michigan Farm.


College:
The Western farmer sees in n we'll
conducted Michigan farm much to adj
mire and many things that are suggest
lively valuable, but it must be confessed
that the prairie cultivator sees also in
the stern methods pursued on these
Woodworking farms good deal that
fills his mind with vague terror of
them. l write this from the l,0OO-acre
farm of the Hon. Alonzo Sessions, on
the Grand river, about four miles west
of Ionia. Mr.. Sessions came to Michi-
gan in 1886 with no other capital than
a pair of strong hands and resolute
spirit, and this great farm he has liter
ally taken from the stump While his
fellow-citiZens have persisted in making
him prominent in public affairs-Super-
visor, Sheriff, legislator and Lieutenant
Governor-he has never ceased to be a
farmer The farm, AZ | have intimated
is a difficult one to manage. On the
south it has narrow strip of rich bot
tom land, but for the most part it is a
strong upland soil, originally covered
with n dense growth of beech, maple
and oak, and is everywhere spotted with
powders of all sizes and shapes, but of
one unvarying degree of awful hardness.
OF late years Mr.. Sessions has devoted
himself to works largely experimental,
having for their object the permanent
improvement of the farm and the in
struction of neighbors. To some of these
| wish to draw attention.
l. \ 4 a..
without destroying valuable timber is
question that has been satisfactorily
settled on this Ionia farm. The rule
here is to cut no valuable timber that
age will further improve. This is the
way these forest pastures are made ::
First, all grubs are cut close to the
ground, then all injured standing tim
Der is felled and worked into fuel, rails
and other useful articles, while the
young, vigorous trees are trimmed and
otherwise encouraged to make n rapid
growth; the logging and burning of de-
cayed logs, tops and grubs completes
the clearing" Then the ground is
seeded to mixture of bluegrass and
orchard grass, and within two years this
forest, more valuable as forest than
before, is a well turfed pasture field. OF
course the grubs send up many vigorous
shoots, but these are rapidly disposed
of by the sheep before the turf is fully
formed l saw here magnificent "su-
gar bush" which has been treated sub
stantially as above detailed, and which
has been tapped" upward of thirty
years, but which is to-day the picture of
health and vigor. In this age of glu-
cose and villainous golden drips" it is
real pleasure to hear it said, rs | heard
the proprietor of this farm say, that the
manufacture of maple strip is very
profitable, if being bought eagerly at 81
per gallon.
upon this farm are number of
swamps several acres in extent, which
originally were sloughs of despond' of
the worst description, but which are
now the most productive meadow lands
on the farm. These swamps in their
natural condition were flooded with
water during spring and fall, and in the
summer they bore nothing better than
sour grass, reeds and cat-tail flags. The
soil itself was everywhere filled with
dead timber thoroughly picked in
humic acid. During the dry season the
old logs are hauled out to hard land
where they are allowed to remain until
thoroughly dry, when they are piled
upon the large powders and fired. the
unequal heating of the powders causes
them to break into pieces, which are
easily handled and which make the best
and most substantial of fences. Then
upon either side of the swamp is cut a
ditch having capacity sufficient to con-
vey away quickly all the water which
flows down from the adjacent high
lands. After the swamp has somewhat
settled other bitches may be cut if
needed, but the first step in the direc-
ton of Improvement must be the cut
ting of these thanking bitches, thus
leading aside the water which makes
the swamp. Afterward timothy or red
top or foul meadow grass seed may be
sown with the assurance that it will
grow rapidly and put the wild grasses
to rout.
"The want of good pasture late in fall
and in early spring as well as during
the prevalence of open weather in the
winter, for the 800 sheep kept upon the
farm has long been felt After a wet
season pastures will generally give a
deal of late and early feed, but after
such seasons as that of 1881 pasture
fields are literally deserts until renewed
by the warmth and the moisture of the
following spring. The remedy for this
difficulty has. here been found in the
cultivation of rye. With a good deal OF
difficulty seed was obtained last fall
sufficient for ten acres of ground-for in
that section rye is well-nigh forgotten
plant this was narrowed into the
dusty soil with many misgivings as to
the result. But the rye fourished and
furnished glorious feed early and late
and during the winter season, and in the
spring portion was fenced off for the
ewes with lambs, and such lambs were
never before seen upon this farm What
is nearly as well, as write the same field
is being harvested, and it gives promise
of yield of not less than twenty bush.
els of rye to the acre. Rye will be
grown upon this farm again, and vent
ure to predict that it will be grown
again by every farmer who cultivates
| - r.. h. ILL 81