Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1912-10-08
More About Michigan.

Editors Freeman-Tribune a good
many have asked me about the soil
in Michigan, and say they have
heard it was too sandy. The soil in
Michigan is sandy, but it is a pro-
ductiye. sand You might say the
same of Minnesota, the Dakotas, Ne
braska, Kansas and Oklahoma. They
are all sandy, but they grow good
crops. could name some farms
close to Webster City that are very
sandy, too, but no person ever saw
any bigger or better. corn than they
grow j believe it is generally con-
ceeded that il some of our heavy
prairie soil had a little more sand
it would be quite beneficial. 1t is
true there are parts of Michigan
where it is too sandy-albng the
lakes, for instance, but the interior
of the state is not too sandy to pro-
duce big crops of everything. If
this were not true we could scarcely
say that in the way of crops Michi-
gan stands first in potatoes, third in
wheat and oats, and fourth in corn,
to say nothing of beans peas, sugar
beets, celery and tobacco. The state
is noted all oyer for these last veg
etables, and everything else in the
vegetable line grows as fine in Mich
igan as | have ever seen anywhere.
Their annual state fair is similar to
Iowa's, and is conducted in the same
manner and any person who has
ever visited it has had ali doubt re-
moved from their minds in regard
to the produetiveness of the soil.
And what is itJthat makes the soil
so productive? 1t is simply the as
surance of an abundant rainfall,
which keeps the soil in a moist con-
dition. Michlgan's rainfall is great
er than Iowa's, and as everyone
knows, far greater than in all of the
other states have mentioned This,
in connection with the warm, sandy
loan soil, is what enables Michigan
TO produce fine crops of everything
that can be grown here in Iowa. 7
am personally acquainted with a
farmer there whose wheat went 40
bushels to the acre this year. aud he
had something like forty acres OMIT,
too. ! saw it standing, together
with like amount Of oats. rye and
corn, and While the corn seemed to
be little backward. the small grain
looked to me as fine as any ever
saw, The climate there IS very sim
liar to our own here, although they
are a little later planting In the
spring. It was some degrees colder
in Iowa last winter than it was in
and they did not have as
MUCH snow last winter, though they
usually have more than we do here.
The water is very fine and easily
got at. about 40 feet The land is
free from stone, and is
easily worked when cleared, Lumber
is cheap there yet | asked a man
what he paid for common boards
and he told me $l3 per thousand
and y good single at $150. But
this is no dlscredit TO our humber
dealers here, as Il costs about as
much 70 ship car Of that lumber
here as it would to build the car it
was shipped in. During my stay
there ! met good many farmers
and visited their places, and while
some of them are shiftless and sSy-
emily. as some are everywhere, most
of them were prosperous and con-
tented with their lot.
But / viii quit. Some other time
will tell the good housewives
about the wild berries | saw grow
ing there. ! know they would like
TO read about them.
Will F. Smith.