The true northerner., 1885-11-19

i
breeders have high reputation for success
In that direction. The sweepstakes and first
premiums at the state far this year go to q
Cass county breeder, while breeder from
Paw Paw, Van Buren, county, carried of the
honors last year. That the farmers patronize
these breeders, is shown by the cages contain
ing pigs at all express offices, and individual
specimens being carried by teams in the sew
eral directions. have seen six different an
imals 90 past my farm in the last ten days
that were purchased for breeding purposes
at prices ranging from $50 TO $40 each
These breeders have drawn some of their
brood sows and boars from the best breeders
| of Ohio, TO start their herds, and paid long
prices, but they are now generally independ-
ent of outside aid, except the purchase of an
occasional animal for change of blood. Ia
travelling over the whole five counties one
viii scarcely see white hog; all have the
general characteristics of the Poland China
in color and shape.
Mr.. Pierce states that in Northeastern
Michigan "many sheep are kept, but only
slight attention is paid to careful breeding"
This part of the peninsnar State did not be-
gin the breeding of sheep 40 early as many
of the eastern counties, but as good breeding
fiocks can now be found here as anywhere,
but there are not 50 many breeders. The
fiocks see everywhere are of the Merino
type, and mostly high grades. If there is
any error, it is in going too far and breeding
too fine and too wrinkly for the size and con-
stitution of the generalpurpose sheep. For
the breeder who keeps his flock housed in
stormy weather, this class of sheep gives as
tonishing weights in heece-4I pounds being
shorn from one ram at the state shearing, at
Lansing, in the spring of 1884. But these
greasy, short wooled, wrinkly rams do not
continue their records after passing into the
focks of the average farmer; being subject
to all the storms, and possibly short pastures,
of the season, their progeny are likely to be
weaklings, with short shaky feeces, and
wrinkly and swathy noses. For the first two
or three crosses on the old-fashioned native
sheep the effect is marvellous; the lambs
shear from 2 to 4 pounds per fleece more
than the old flock, and they are more domes-
tic in their nature.
This is not dairy country, and the milk
breeds have few friends. An occasional Jer-
sey or Holstein may be found, but one ex-
pertinent at crossing them on our high grade
Short Horn cows, is sufficient to restore the
affections of the most visionary for his first
love. The Holstein cross is large, bony
animal, and the jersey brings little pumpkin
seed steers, sharp at both ends, neither being
good at stall-feeding, and the difficulty with
us, who want to raise all the calves, is that
not half will turn out to be heifers, and a
mongrel steer is an abomination anywhere.
The breeding of horses has been carefully
conducted, and no finer show of the general
purpose horse, or horses for the road can be
made anywhere than at the fairs in these
counties. Black Hawk and Clay blood was
early introduced, and upon this since has
been bred some of the best speed blood ex-
tant. One of the best Percheron horses in
the state has been owned for several years
near Paw Paw, and his colts are known far
and wide for their activity, endurance and
size. Cleveland Bay stations are now being
introduced, 80 that the different classes of
horses can be procured very readily. At the
fair, recently held here, the show of two and
three-year old roadster colts was declared by
competent horsemen, to have been the best
ever shown in the state, and the cavalcade
of horses and colts, led by q magnificent i'm
ported Cleveland Bay, was sight that horse
men would 60 far to see. Matched teams
have been purchased at cost of from S400
to 81 900, and sent to New York, Boston and
Chicago. The little horse has had his day.
Nothing less than 1200-pound horse will
be used as sire, and most of them are much
heavier. Even for the road, purchasers want
size, as well as nerve and action.
The surface of the country here is level
with very few brooks or streams. An abund-
ance of the purest water is found at q depth
OF from % TO so feet, and almost every farm
has its windmill to furnish constant supply
of fresh water, much more convenient, and
purer in quality, than any running stream
could furnish. The farms are not cut up by
catholics or banks of streams, but the fields
can be laid out in parallelograms or squares,
as the choice or taste of the farmer may de-
termine. Thefields are plowed either around
or from the center, having but one beginning
or ending, and these alternately at the sides
and center, so that the surface can be kept
perfectly level which makes the running of
machinery much more pleasant, and it
wears much longer. The absence of stones is
another pleasant feature of farming. There
are whole quarter sections of land with scarce
ly a stone on the surface. An occasional
boulder is struck with the plow, but more
than half the farms in these five counties
have not enough stone on them for building
purposes.
The inhabitants are mostly from Western
New York and New England. The early
SeItlerS eVlueully cdlno 10 stay, IOr many OF
the farms are now owned by those who
cleared them, and while the farms were
being improved, they did not forget the inn
portance of the mind as well. Independent
farmers institutes are held in each of the
counties mentioned every winter, without aid
from the State Board of Agriculture. if there
is not one of the series appointed, and they
are generally voted grand success, albeit
they are conducted entirely by farmers. The
state institute, held at Paw Paw last winter,
was SO well managed as to call from Presi-
dent Abbott this remark: al don't see what
you want of us down here. You seem to
have plenty of talent and ability 10 carry on
an institute without any of our assistance"
Readers of the Country Gentleman very
well know there are good farmers and some
pretty smart folks here and there in Summit
county, Ohio, and no doubt there are little
dots of talent between these great focal CEN
tres of intelligent farming, but it's many
friends in Southern Michigan would not like
its distant readers to get the impression that
our friend Pierce's view of Michigan is
measure of its agricultural standing in gen.
eral. We should be glad to show some of
those Summit county fellows around, and
hear what they would say of some real Michi-
gan farming.