f       rTIHREE LECiOTUVSE,                     S
IDEIIVERED BEFORE THE
MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTUNRAL SOCIETY,
AT ITS
Annual Meeting, at Lansing, January 17, 1865.
The Undeveloped Regions and Resources of the State of Michigan,
B Y
D. BETHITNE DUIIFFIELD, ESQ., DETROIT.
The State Agricultural Society; Its Means and Ends,
B Y
A. S. WELC H,
P-rinlipal of the State Nollr'-al ~School.
THE SOILS AND SUBSOILS OF MICI'IGAN,
B Y
PROF. K. WINCHELL,
Off the Sttate University of Michic an.
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATURE.
LANSING:
JOHN A. KERR & CO., PRINTERS TO THE STATE.
1 6 5.








THIREE:LECT-URES,
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
MICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL              SOCIETY,
AT ITS
Annual Meeting, at Lansing, January 17, 1865.
The Undeveloped Regions and Resources of the State of Michigan,
BY
D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD, EsQ., DETROIT.
The State Agricultural Society; Its Means and Ends,
B Y
A. S. WELCH,
Princilpal of the State Norlmal School.
THE SOILS AND SUBSOILS OF MICHIGAN,
BY
PROF. A-. WINCHELL,
Of the State University of.Michigan.
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE LEGISLATURE.
LANSING:
KERlB & CO., PRINTERS T T  THE STATIE.
1865.








THE
UNDEVELOPED REGIONS AND RESOURCES
OF THE
STATE OF MICHIGAN,
With some Practical Suggestions in Reference to their Early
Occupancy and Development.
Ak LE CTURE,'REPARED FOR THE 3ICHIGAN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCETY, AND DELIVERED AT LANSING,
JANUARY 17, A, D. 1865, BY
D. 1BET1IIJUE:DUIJEFIIELD.
The object of the following address is to submit in outline
sketch, an exhibition of the undeveloped regions and resources
of the State of Michigan-accompanying it with such few practical suggestions, as may contribute somewhJat to their early
occupancy" and development.
A theme so broad, and withal so attractive, exacts on the
part of him who would treat it with alny degree of forbearance
towards his hearers, a very large sacrifice, both of material and
suggestion.
However indifferent to all matters of State development we
may have suffered ourselves to remain through the palmy days
of the past, when "our peace flowed like a river," and all was
happiness and harmsony along our borders, it will be conceded,
that in a time like that through which as as a eopil we are now
passing, this indifference must of neceissity cease. TWhen the
wild echoes of destructive, ar are rolling through a nation,
they not only summlon her brave men to the field, but they at
lthe same time command her -wise men into council; requiring




4              LECTURE BY ). BETHUNE DUFFIELD.
of them a careful reconnoisance of the future, and a prompt
inauguration of such policies as are suited to the exigencies of
her imperiled condition.
These unhappy voices are to-day still ringing in our ears,.
and while as we hope, they breathe the herald notes of a victorious and regenerating peace, they yet utter their words of warning, admonishing each State to repair all her waste places, to
throw open to the fruitful1 influences of the sun all. her silent,
forests, to excavxate fromn sunken vein and mountain wall, her
stores of undisturbed mineral wealth, and as rapidly as possible, to concentrate upon her soil., a busyr and inldustrious population.
The debt of the United States, froma an amount, whichI four'
years ago, was scarcely m0ore. than nominal, has sudadenly, under the terrible necessities of a rebellion, involving'the national
existence, been swelled to figures and proportions almost beyond the capacity of mortal management, and this debt can
only be borne, and honorably discharged tlhrough the'icreasec
wealth of the several States comyposing the great Federal
Union; for as the aggregate wealth of co1mmunities composes
that of the State, so the aggregate wealth of the several States,
makes up the grand total of resources for the United`States.
Nor is this public debt all that rests upon the citizen. The
debts of the several States, all more or less increased by the
exigencies of the'war; the debts of the various counties; the
township debts; and the yet further indebtedness of the individual citizen, must with its itintrest, all be added to the great national debt, before'we( can fully rea;lize our financial condition
and its claims upon us,'Were I able in r.eliable statistics here
to place before you, the t[owering pile of figures thus composing the debit side of the nation, I should certainly wvin a ready
assent to the statement just madel, that som.ething besides existling wealth, must cancel thee -vast obligationsti of our day.
it cannot be drawn from. the fabulous resources of Yall Street,
nor from the green boxes of retired millni.onaires. It cannot by
anly stroke of financial'wisdom b l evoked from the great reser



LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD,           5
voirs of European capital; nor called into existence by rubbing
the modern Aladdin lamp in the form of a Bank Engraver's
steel plate; but it must and can only proceed from wealth newly
created; from that which is to-day locked fast in the mine,
hid in the forest, or slumbering still in the untilled acres of our
virgin soil. Immigration must be encouraged, settlements promoted by judicious public improvements, communities built up
in regions now awaiting their approach; and the strong arm of
man universally quickened into active and productive industry.
The giant growth of the United States sprang originallyand in a very few years as we measure the life of a great
nation-from a few scattered settlements on its bleak and forbidding coasts. These settlers came not in crowded fleets,
flanked by the iron clads of modern times, and sustained with
all thei'resources of later days; but crowded in frail barks, like
those which two centuries ago wrestled with the perilous ocean,
were compelled on making land to kindle their fires, and build
their huts in the presence of a savage race, who threatened
them with early expulsion, or extermination.
Nevertheless, they courageously planted their feeble settlements; and these gradually approaching each other, formed
first communities, then hamlets, towns, counties and colonies,
and ultimately in the progress of their political development
vast States, out of which in due time sprang that final triumph
of an enlightened civilization, our own Federal Union.
Two important lessons are here put on record for the benefit
of the nation as it still moves resistlessly forw ard in its wide
circuit of self-expansion, and they may be thus stated, viz:the early and full acquaintance of every new State with its own
resources, and the rapid concentration of mens upon the soil
with a view to settlement and development.
Every separate State, therefore, should make haste to examine
her own home resources, their capacity of increase, and the best
mode of developing those yet lying dormant. By an intelligent
policy of this sort, when fairly and broadly put into operation




6             LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.
each State will be enabled over and above her mere quota of
Federal and State taxation, to make early and easy contribution towards the payment of that large debt which the people
have resolved to meet rather than snffer the Government to
drift away into floating fragments of State contention and national imbecility.  For when this debt shall have been canceled, the nation will have achieved its final and grandest triumph. And this mode of triumphing over difficulties apparently insuperable, is in accordance with the true American
spirit, which halts at no obstacle, and spares no effort in the
accomplishment of its purpose. This it is that inspires her
people to span the unnavigable flood with the airy but massive
railroad bridge, to tunnel the mountain rather than climb it,
and which will yet enable them to defy the ocean, and encircle
the globe with the vocal wires of the electric telegraph.
It will be our purpose so to apply these monitions of the
past to the present affairs of our own State, as to render apparent the practical duty not only of the legislator, but of every
citizen who is interested in the public welfare, or jealous of the
national honor.
The State of Ilichigan consists of two Peninsulas, known as
the northern and southern, the land area of which is 56,243
square miles, or 35,995,520 acres; being 1.91 per cent. of the
total area of the United States. The population. in 1860 was
751,956. The northern Peninsula embraces all that portion
of the north-western territory lying between lakesi Michigan
and Superior, and east of the rivers AMenominee and Montreal,
which form the boundary between it and the State of Wisconsin. It is at present divided into eight counties. Its extreme
northern situation, prohibiting its use for agricultural purposes,
(except to a very limited extent, in the vicinity of settlements,)
its population have been hitherto confined to the development
of the minerals peculiar to the region. The undeveloped portion of the mineral region embraces the larger part of the counties of Ontonagon, Houghton and Marquette. The remaining
portion yet unsettled will be referred to hereafter.




LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFELD.            7
The southern half of the State is a magnificent Peninsula,
280 miles in length, and 200 miles broad, in its extremest
width. Surrounded on all sides, except its southern, by the
waters of the great lakes, dashing like vast seas, it possesses a
coast line of one thousand miles; and this, with another thousand miles on the Upper Peninsula, gives to the State over
2,000 miles of coast. This estimate does not include the coast
lines of the islands, in either of the three great lakes which wash
the borders of the State. This entire coast line is securely accessible at various points, and by its natural and improved harbors, together with the St. Mary's and Welland canals, opens
the mineral, agricultural and other products of both Peninsulas, to the trade of the world.
The southern or settled part of the Lower Peninsula is almost exclusively an agricultural region; possessing such varieties of prairie openings, and timbered lands, as are rarely
found in any other portions of the United States. It is also
beautifully diversified with lakes, abounding in fish; and displays every variety of timber known to the climate.
The coal and salt basins are found in this Peninsula; and
from  developments already made, their products must soon
take rank with the most important of our State.
The recent incipient esteblishment of manufactures among
us, involving the use of all the different varieties of hard and
soft timber, (except the pine of commerce,) such as oak, maple,
butternut, basswood, &c., is bringing into active demand all
this heretofore neglected class of our woods, which are reckoned as superior to those found\in any other State. Massachusetts annually carries away from us immense quantities of
them for the use of her shovel and other manufactures-thus
bringing prominently into market a prolific source of wealth
which has hitherto lain dormant.
But as the unsettled portions of the State constitute the
main subject of our reflection, we proceed at once to a consideration of them.
The northern or Upper Peninsula, excepting the different




8             LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.
towns and localities dependent on the mines, is wholly an unsettled region, and comprises upwards of nine millions of acres,
or fourteen thousand square miles-a tract larger than the
three States of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Aside from its.mineral wealth-now only beginning to be
developed-its value may be said to consist chiefly in its timber, and not in any agricultural capacities.
This timber is of that class which is absolutely necessary to
the mines, and will be so appropriated and used. Yet there
are districts within the mineral region of the Upper Peninsula
which are covered with valuable hard timber, among which
may be seen some of the finest tracts of birds-eye maple any
where to be found. This has been observed at Grand Island,
the Ance, and at Portage Lake.
The remaining portion of the Upper Peninsula (not the mineral,) is valuable principally for its pine timber, although in
the region of the two Peinsulas of the Big and Little Bay de
Nocquet, there is to be found a very superior hard timber, with
a good soil for agricultural purposes. This is perhaps the exception as to this sort of land in the Upper Peninsula. All of
it has recently been taken up by parties interested in the location there of iron furnaces.
Passing down on to the Lower Peninsula, we find the following unsettled portions, viz:
1st. A small region on the lesser Peninsula, between Saginaw Bay and the River St. Clair, comprising portions of
Huron, Tuscola, Sanilac, Lapeer and St. Clair counties.
2d. Nearly the whole of the Southern Pe!inasula north from
the centre line of Gratiot, Montcalm, Mecousta, Niewaygo and
Muskegon counties; or north from a line midway between the
Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad and the Muskegon river, and
the Chippewa river, of Saginaw county.
This whole region, embracing thirty-four counties, possesses
an area of thirteen millions of acres, or over twenty thousand
square miles-equal in extent to the three States of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, which together, comprise but




LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.           9
twenty thousand square miles. If to this we add the nine
millions of acres, or the 14,000 square miles of unsettled lands
in the Upper Peninsula, we have a total unsettled territory of
twenty-two millions of acres, or thirty-four thousand square
miles.
The great extent of this region will appear by a comparison
of it with the three principal counties composing the kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland. It is two thousand six hundred
and seventy-six square miles larger than Scotland; one thousand four hundred and ninety-two square miles larger than
Ireland, and three-fifths the area of England. These are the
unsettled regions, merely, of our State.
The unsettled portion of the Lower Peninsula, as above delineated, is almost a wilderness; the exceptions in the interior
being the very limited settlements induced by the lumber business. Nevertheless, there is included in this area numerous
promising points along the coasts of Lakes Huron and Michigan, such as Tawas City, Alpena and Harrisonville, on Lake
Huron; and on Lake Michigan, Stoney Creek, Pent water, Pere
Marquette, and settlements at Big and Little Sauble rivers,
Manistee, Portage, Aux Bee Scies and Grand Traverse Bay.
It should be here remarked that a very rapid settlement has
been latterly growing up in the region of Traverse Bay, and on
the extreme north-western portion of the Lower Peninsula,
where, notwithstanding its high latitude, the proximity of the
vast waters of Lake Michigan, and other influences not yet
fully cormprehended, seem to render it a peculiarly desirable
region for agricultural purposes, and for the raising of fruit.
Several settlements in the interior should also be noted in
Isabella, Mecosta and Newaygo counties; such as Big Rapids,
on the Muskegon, which is already reached by a State road;
Isabella City, and one or two others. The southern portions
of Newaygo and Oceana counties. and the northern parts of
Gratiot and Muskegon counties, ought fairly to be reckoned
within the settled regions of the State, although the actual set



10            LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.
tlements are as yet very sparse, all being drawn thither by the
lumber interest of those localities.
The unsettled portion of the lesser Peninsula above described, as lying between Saginaw Bay and the River St. Clair,
and by school-boys sometimes denominated "the thumb" of
the State, is now being settled to a considerable extent by Canadians, attracted thither principally by the value of the timber,
and the fact that the lands were for some time offered at the
lowest graduation prices fixed by the United States Government. This law, however, was repealed in 1862, on the passage of the Homestead Law.
This region may be classed with the pine timbered portion
of the State, and possesses great value as a field for lumbering,
the timber consisting principally of pine, hemlock and oak.
Yet it is not unsuited to agricultural purposes, as is indicated
by settlements already referred to. In this region and within
the limits of Huron county, and at Point Aux Barques, are
found quarries of valuable grit or grindstones, and also flagstones. Several stones weighing upwards of three tons each
have already been taken out by the proprietors; and the stones
are said to be well adapted not only to flagging, but also for
window caps, sills and water-tables. Its color is pronounced
preferable to that of the Ohio free-stone, and when wrought,
has much the appearance of the Waverly stone. It is said also
to contain less iron matter than the Ohio stone, and is consequently less likely to stain under the action of the weather.
I may here remark that the enterprising people of Bay City
have now in contemplation the construction of a line of railroad
south-easterly"from that place and about thirty-five miles in extent, through the counties of Tuscola and Lapeer, to a point on
the line of the Port Huron and Milwaukee road, now being reorganized for construction, and thence through to the River St.
Clair, and by the Grand Trunk and its connections to the various markets of the East. This road, if built, will unlock the
timber treasures of Tuscola and Lapeer counties especially,




LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.         11
and would quickly open to settlement the large tracts of valuable land along this proposed route.
Before proceeding to give the topographical character of the
northern portion of the Lower Peninsula, and not including the
region just described, it may not be inappropriate to remark,
that the reports of the early U. S. surveys of this region, which
a few years since were discovered to be fraudulent, indicated
to a very large extent a district of inaccessible and uninhabitable swamps and worthless land.
The discovery of these frauds led to a resurvey by the Government of this entire region. These riesurveys were made by
well-known citizen of the State, among whom were the late
William A. Burt, a man whose name is now forever identified
with his profession, the Hon. Lucius Lyon, now deceased, and
MIr. Orange tRisden, now residing in Saline, in this State. To
these gentlemen, we are originally indebted for the valuable
information we now possess in reference to the character and
resources of this part of the State, and which for so long a time
lay beclouded under these fraudulent surveys. How much injury has been done to the State in the way of delaying its settlement, in consequence of this betrayal of trust by the original
surveyors, we are only of late beginning to estimate. Doubtless we have lost by means of it, the benefits of at least fifteen
or twenty years of pioneers' and settlers' labors in this direction.
This northern portion of the Southern Peninsula as we have
already bounded it, is composed of two divisions, which we
may appropriately designate as the Eastern and Western
Slopes of the Peninsula, and all parts of which are abundantly
and suitably watered by stream and lake.
The principal of these streams are the western branches of
the Saginaw, the Rifle river, the Aux Gies, the Aus Sable and
its tributaries, Thunder Bay River, and the Sheboygan, all of
Lake Huron; Boardman's river, of Grand Traverse Bay; the
Aux Bee Scies, the Manistee and its tributaries, and the Big
and Little Sauble, of Lake Michigan; the Pere Marquette,




12             LEOTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.
White river, the Muskegon, and some of the waters flowing
into Grand river.
These streams are invaluable, nay, illndispensable to the future development of this entire region. Each one of these
emptying into Lake Michigan, and so of all the streams along
the entire western coast of the Peninsula, has, at it mouth, as
will be seen by reference to the map, a natural lake or harbor,
admirably, and apparently providentially designed to facilitate
the holding of logs br6ught down these various streams, to the
places of manufacture and shipment. In view of the impossibility of booming logs outside, amid the rough waters of Lake
Michigan, and the impracticability of retaining them in the
streams themselves, until converted into lumber, it will be seen
how important and valuable a feature these lake outlets are to
the entire timbered region from which they take their source,
and through which they furnish the facilities of floatage.
The eastern slope of this portion of the Peniinsula, which
embraces all the regions watered by the streams above named,
as flowing into Lake Huron, in respect to its agricultural adaptations, and having regard only to its general features, is for
the most part ieferior to most other portions of the State. The
chief value of the land located north of Sagina\w Bay; en this
slope, consists in its pine timber, which ranks generally with
the best timber of the State. An exception, however, should
here be made of certain territory, embracing nearly two counties, which is a -vast sandy pine barren, covered wiith a scanty
growth of scrub pine, and supposed to be unfit for cultivation,
(Oscoda and Crawford.)
This eastern slope remains yet large'iy unexplored, except
with reference to pine timber, and lying as it does geo;logically,
discoveriLes may hereafter be made of importance and value.
Eixtensive and valuable beds of marble have been discovered
in the county of Presque Isle, and the lands are owned by parties who expect soon to bring the same into practical use.
Superior wate-linme, in beds sufficient for all practical purposes, have also been found in this region; and a lively inquiry




LECTURE BY D. BETRUNE DUFFIELD.          13
is now making in respect to the possibility of discovering sources
of petroleum  springs or wells in the county of Alpena, and
vicinity, as well as farther south in the rapidly developing
county of St. Clair.
During the last two years very extensive beds of plaster have
been discovered on Tawas Bay, and about forty miles from
Saginaw. It covers a tract of 690 acres of land, and has been
pronounced by those who have examined it, inexhaustible. A
few rods back from the shore, where it is now worked, the bed
is found to be ten feet thick, increasing rapidly in thickness as
you recede from the shore. Thirty rods back from the present
opening, an excavation has been made to the depth of eighteen
feet without reaching the bottom. The entire bed is five feet
above the water level of Lake Huron, and is readily and inexpensively drained. This plaster is almost entirely free from
foreign ingredients, of a much purer quality than that of. Ohio,.
and can be ground at half the expenss of the latter. This
mine of wealth is being industriously opened by its owners,
several buildings having been erected, a good dock built, a sawmill, planing and shingle machine put in operation, and other
improvements begun.    Capital applied to its development,
could not fail, even under the disadyantages of the present
scarcity and high price of labor, to reap very large returns.
In this region and north-west of Tawas Bay, is a tract of
beautiful undulating and well watered lands, embracing several
townships in extent, which has by experiment, been already
found wvell adapted to agricultural pursuits.
Along the coast of Lake Huron are extensive and valuable
fishing grounds, very remunerative to those who engage in this
business, and highly attractive to capital. They must ere long
be made to yield large amounts of wealth to those who shall
prosecute them on a liiberal scale and with systematic energy.
The counties of Gladwin, Clare, Isabella and M2idland, upon
the western branches of the Saginaw river, and extending to
the Bay, including the southern part of Bay county, and constituthig a po rtion of this Eastern Slope, possess all the advan



14             LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.
tages of this new region, in respect to timber and agricultural
resources. Timber settlements are springing up within their
limits, attracted there by this particular interest. Did time permit, much might be said in detail as to the resources of these
counties, especially Midland and Isabella, the latter of which is
agriculturally, one of the very richest of our northern counties.
Except for the retarding influence of the Indian Reservations,
which are located in this vicinity, this county would ere this
have been far in advance of her present condition. The settlements in the two counties last named, including also the county
of Gratiot, are intimately connected with the Saginaw Valley,
whose lumber establishments are mainly dependent on them
for their annual supply of logs.
The Western Slope, embracing the territory north of the
mouth of the Muskegon river, and along its waters, including
all that region already referred to as watered by the IManistee
and other rivers emptying into Lake Michigan, is by far the
best portion of northern Michigan for agricultural purposes.
Its favorable position in respect to the ridge running north
and south, and dividing the waters of lakes Huron and Mlichigan, whose surrounding waters afford to it a peculiarly mild
and even tempered climate, together with its rich soil and large
tracts of hard timber, interspersed with pines, combine to
make it a peculiarly desirable region for all settlers devoting
themselves to the cultivation of the ground.
The G-rand Traverse region, already so well and favorably
known, embraces a territory almost exclusively adapted to agriculture, and is now being quite rapidly settled. The surprising returns of this region for the last two or three years, cannot
fail to have atrrested the attention of every observing citizen;
and conclusively demonstrate, that it must soon take rank with
the very first agricultural portions of the State. The abundance of its hard wood, (principally beech and maple,) its proximity to Lake Michigan, and its noble bay, give more than ordinary value to its lands; and in connection with the existing




LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.         15
large demand for wood, cannot fail very materially to aid in
the settlement of the country embraced within its limits.
The Grand Traverse region, so called, may be said to extend
from the mouth of the Aux Bec Scies river eastward to the head
waters of the Manistee, and northward to Grand and Little
Traverse bays, including the slender Peninsula west of Grand
Traverse.
From Traverse City, in a south-westerly direction, a chain of
beautiful lakes is found, forming the head waters of the Aux*Bec
Scies river. West of these are several quite large lakes lying
near the coast, the principal of which is Crystal Lake, covering
an area of 15 square miles, with deep, pure and cold water,
surrounded by high banks, and capable of readily floating the
immense quantities of timber now standing round about it, to
points of shipment near the coast of Lake Michigan, and from
which it is securely separated by a narrow strip of high sand
banks, about half a mile in width.
Upon the banks of this beautiful sheet of'water, and about
seven miles from the Aux Bec Scies river, a settlement conposed of stirring citizens of Ohio has latterly been made.
These men, while opening the country on which they have
planted themselves, have taken care to provide substantial institutions of learning for their children, and provisions for the
foundation of a college have already been made.
The communication of this settlement (which bears the name
of Benzonia,) with Lake Michigan, is by the waters of the river
just mentioned; yet, in the improvement of the country, Crystal Lake may be made largely available, as its western limits
are only two miles from the harbor at the mouth of the Aux
Bee Scies river, where a town under the name of Frankfort has
been organized, and where substantial improvements have been
commenced, with a view of securing not only to that region
but to the marine of the entire coast, a superior and permanent harbor of refuge.
The settlement at Traverse City, through its enterprising
founders, Hannah, Lay &c Co., is too well known to need any




16            LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.
description here. Its lumber and agricultural interests have
already converted it into one of the most important points in
the State, and its future growth bids fair to be rapid, and in
the character of its population, valuable to the State at large.
During the last two years, whole townships lying between Traverse City and Frankfort have been settled and organized.
Other thriving towns have sprung up in this region, among
which are Elk Rapids, Northport, now a port of entry, and
Gleh Arbor, all which have received an impetus in their growth
from the wood trade with Chicago, and her passing steamers.
Four hundred steamboat arrivals are registered at Northport
for each of the last three or four years; and during the last
year there has been cut and shipped to the Chicago market, by
Elk Rapids and Traverse City upwards of twenty million feet
of lumber.
So far as settlers have entered this region, but one opinion
prevails in respect to the desirableness of it for farming purposes. Fruit and horticulture are also most successfully carried on, and there is every promise that this northern portion
of the State, will soon be found equally productive in these
respects with that further south. Some facts having a bearing
on this statement might here be given; such as this, that potatoes can be safely left in the hills, all winter, and be dug out
for use as required. This was the case, as I have been informed, with 150 bushels at Elk Rapids last winter. The early
and deep fall of snow peculiar to the region, and the shelter of
the forests seem to prevent the frosts from penetrating the
ground to any depth, while the waters surrounding it contribute largely to temper their severity. Last winter when the
thermometer vwas at 40~ below zero in Mlilwaukee, it stood at
only 14~ below at Frankfort; and when 29~ below zero at
Detroit, it was only 7~ below at Traverse City. There is in
fact, no portion of the comparatively unsettled regions of the
State, which offer such marked aJdva-ntages to the settler as
that just described.




LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFUIELD.        17
Leaving the limits of the Grand Traverse region as above
defined, we come into the pine regions along the Manistee, and
the Big and Little Au Sable rivers. This region is almost exclusively occupied for lumbering purposes, possessing its settlements and some organized towns and villages, adjacent to,
which some considerable farming has been done. The settlements at the mouths of the streams on Lake Michigan have
sprung from the lumbering interest; and all these streams are
furnished, at or near their mouths, with those valuable lake
booms already described; such as the Manistee, the Big and
Little Au Sable, Pere Marquette, Pent Water, White river and
Muskegon. These lumber settlements, however, at the mouths
of rivers, have little or no influence in the way of opening up
or settling the regions back of them; and although they are
becoming quite extensive, and are carrying on a large trade
with Chicago, nevertheless, in looking at this region as a whole,
we must reckon it as still a part of the unsettled portion of the
State.
The interior portion of this western slope, lying south of the
limits of the Grand Traverse region, and extending to and beyond the Mluskegon, and remote from the coast, possesses, so
far.as known, many advantages besides the lumber lining its
streams, in reference to which only it has as yet been explored.
A favorable fact in connection with it, as a whole, is that in
constructing a road through it from Grand Rapids to Grand
Traverse, only one mile of swamp was passed in the distance
of 150 miles.
In the valley of the Muskegon, settlements are springing up,
and several towns of some importance already exist there; and
no little attention is beginning to be paid to the interests of
agriculture.
Taking our stand, then, at a common centre of this entire
part of the Peninsula, say at Houghton Lake, in Roscommon
county, we see stretching eastward in Iosco and Ogemaw counties, the fine farming and pine regions already described; to
3




18            LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.
the south, the counties of Gladwin, Clare, Midland and Isabella,
with the different peculiarities already awarded them; to the
northeast, the region of Thunder Bay, with its vast and heavy
masses of pine-the Au Sable of Lake Huron intervening with
its larger power of floatage, and penetrating the pine tracts
north of Houghton Lake.
These tracts on the head waters of the Au Sable and the
Manistee (both of which streams here run fifteen miles southwardly and parallel with each other-the Manistee then deflecting southwesterly through a varied region of pine and hard
wood into Lake Michigan) extend northwardly, with the valley
of the Cheboygan, as far as the Straits of Mackinaw. To the
westerly and southwest, we have the region just referred to as
comparatively unexplored, but containing a large amount of
valuable timber, and extending down to. the pine regions of the
coast; and to the northwesterly the Grand Traverse region already delineated at some length.
Having thus taken a cursory bird's-eye view of the interior of
this northern region, it may not be uninstructive to extend the
range of our vision along its coast line. Commencing at the
mouth of the Muskegon river, which supports a village of that
name, and passing northerly along the coast, we have a region
of low land, with various sorts of timber upon it. Next, we
have White river, which boasts several settlements along the
borders of White Lake, which forms its mouth. Then still
northwardly, we pass through the fine farming region of Oceana county, which here thrusts itself quite down to the Lake,
and after passing through a similar region traversed by Stony
Creek and the Pentwater, (excepting the sand bluffs at Little
Point Au Sable,) we reach the mouth of the Pere Marquette
river. Thence along the coast northerly we have a stretch of
bleak sand bluffs embracing the region of Big Point Au Sable.
Passing then the mouths of the Big and Little Sable rivers, at
which points are two new and thriving villages, known as Lincoln and Hamlin, the former at the mouth of the Little Au
Sable, and the latter at the mouth of the Big Sable, we reach




LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.         19
the mouth of the Manistee; which, with its town, is already a
point of importance. This river, which takes its rise far in the
interior, in the county of Otsego, may be considered as the
southern and southeastern boundary of the Grand Traverse
region. Leavingthe Manistee, we find the hard wood of this
beautiful region, extending directly down to the coast, and
skirting it northward as far as the region of Little Traverse
Bay, indicating the superior soil we have already accredited to
this part of the State. Passing round through the Straits, we
find the coast of Lake Huron presenting no features worthy of
especial notice, until we reach Thunder Bay, which is a beautiful and broad sweep of water, with fine advantages as a lumber site, and holding an immense body of pine in its rear.
Thence southerly to Saginaw Bay, the coast is generally low
and uninviting, presenting no attractions excepting the different lumber settlements and fishing points, which need not be
here enumerated.
Having thus, by our somewhat imperfect description, laid
before the eye, these vast unsettled regions, we proceed to refer to some of the causes which have operated to debar settlement from them, and then to suggest some modes of action in
connection with their future.
The Indian Reservations, particularly in Isabella county, at
Little Traverse and Pere Marquette, and also in Mason and
Oceana counties, have for a number of years embarrassed and
excluded settlement. Some of the very best lands in this vicinity were thus tied up for a number of years, much to the
annoyance of bona fide settlers who, seeking their possession,
were compelled to turn aside and locate elsewhere. But, as is
now understood, these reservations for the most part, run out
in July next, and so the restrictions referred to bid fair at last
to be removed.
Another agency, and perhaps the most injurious in its consequences to the region we have been considering, has been the
extensive retirement or reservation of lands, growing out of
our railroad grants. Had the roads only been constructed in




20            LECTURE BY D. BETHJNE DUFFIELD.
good faith, and within the time prescribed by the acts regulating the same, and devoting the lands to this purpose, no serious mischief would probably have ensued; for the roads would
themselves have opened the wilderness to the settlers, and
drawn them in by multitudes. But as this was not done, and
the time for building was extended, andd the lands were still
kept out of the reach of the settler, and in the hands of speculating corporations, who preferred private values in stock and
bonds, to public values, in the form of growing communities
and settled towns, along the lines of their prescribed routes,
the observing and incoming settler has been turned adrift, and
the doors of this region indefinitely barred against his entrance.
Indeed, all that has been done hitherto in the construction
of railroad routes in the State, has been inspired by the desire
to secure a route through and over its borders; not penetrating
and bearing the tide of settlement into its interior regions, but
carrying it forward, and at lightning speed, into the States of
Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Northern Missouri. This policy,
so far as these railroad companies are concerned, was undoubtedly for their best interests, and is so far commendable.
But, (excepting the benefit conferred on those portions of the
State through which they run, and that is by no means small,)
this policy is none the less detrimental to the State, in respect
to localizing improvements and settlements. Many if not all
of our Western States, like Wisconsin and Illinois, in the judicious construction of their railroads, as well as. by special
efforts directed towards the securing of settlers from abroad,
have rapidly filled and built up their unsettled territory; while
Michigan, through which the currents so attracted have poured,
has been passed by, receiving little if any of the living tide.
In proof of the statement that the exclusively "through'"
character of our roads has largely aided these new States at
our expense, we need only refer to the fact, that in some of the
newly settled portions of our State, such as the county of
Montcalm, settlers from Wisconsin who had first been. whirled




LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.        21
in thither, and actually settled, have subsequently retraced
their steps, though at much additional expense, and chosen
their homes in the very wilderness of our own State. What
they wanted was a region furnished with timber. Michigan
was the spot they were really seeking after, but they were
borne through it without a chance to halt and examine its
attractions.
The roads, however, to which we refer, being designed to open
the country, were strengthened for their object by these special
grants of lands, and not left to the chances of private capital.
Capital in respect to enterprises of this sort, is timid, and will
not generally consent to build a road, unless it sees that a lucrative traffic is ready to beat the rail as soon as laid. Therefore, there is no excuse for those who, aided and commissioned
by these extraordinary resources, to open up the yet unbroken
regions of the State, and let in active life and busy settlement,
still suffer themselves to stand in default before the people,
demonstrating that it is their own, and not the public welfare,
for which they are most concerned. The State, where they are
satisfied that due and fair progress has not been made by those
corporations who have assumed to make these lands available
for the purposes of giving us new roads, should refuse further
extension of time, and allow them to die of their own limitation, which will be in the month of June, 1866.
They should then take these lands back into their own hands,
by applying to Congress for such modification of the original
act of Congress, as will save them to the State for railroad purposes, and this Congress would no doubt readily consent to
do. The mode of carrying out this measure might, in brief, be
stated thus:
Let the proposed act of Congress, modifying the original act,
provide that these lands should all be devoted to their original
purpose; but that the General Government should be authorized to sell the lands at the present minimum price, or at a
higher minimum rate, say $2 50 per acre, as might be thought
best; that the proceeds of these lands should constitute an in



22            LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.
terest-bearing fund, in the hands of the General Government,
as trustee for the State of Michigan; that the State of Michigan should be authorized to control that fund whenever she
wished to aid bona fide capital in its legitimate efforts to build
substantially these same lines of road.
The expression, "substantially the same lines of road," is
used, because these lines can be shortened very materially, and
still answer every purpose. The longest lines were resorted to,
as is very well known, in order to secure the greatest amount
of lands.
Now the practical view to take of this matter is, to make
these lands available as far as possible, for the best and permanent interests of the State. Defaulting corporations must give
way to the paramount claims of the people, whose vital interests demand that her unoccupied lands be opened to settlement at the earliest day practicable. By the plan suggested,
the lands are saved to the State for railroad purposes; the General Government has the use of the money derived from sales
until the same shall be required for actual use; the State is less
likely to squander the fund; bona fide capital will soon appear,
and joining its means to the fund thus formed, the roads will
be built; while, if operators without capital, are left to scheme
for the construction of the roads on the lands alone, another
decade of years will scarcely see another ten miles of road.
Let us, therefore, have done with further trifling on this important subject.
One of these routes the interests of the State require should
be immediately constructed, and that is one connecting Saginaw
with the Bay de Nocquet and Marquette railroad, by way of
the Grand Traverse, which at Traverse City is 115 miles only,
and at Frankfort about 120 miles, in a direct line from Saginaw. This would probably prove our shortest line to Lake
Superior, and it could be substantially covered by modifications
of the routes of the Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay Railroad Company, or the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad
Company. Many pressing reasons may be adduced in support




LECTURE BY D. BETHrrE DUFFIELD.         23
of the early building of such a road, some of which I beg leave
here to submit.
As is well known to the people of Michigan, a railroad has
already been constructed from Bay de Nocquet, on the north
end of Green Bay, to Marquette and the iron region of that
county.
The importance of a direct connection with Lake Superior is
such, that the people of Chicago are now taking active steps for.
the building of a railroad from Green Bay to Bay de Nocquet,
so as to secure to them a summer and winter connection with
Marquette, on Lake Superior.
By reason of our peninsular position, we cannot get a winter
connection with Lake Superior; but this, after all, in a commercial point of view, is not essential, because the iron ore,
which is the one product to be transported, and which is
brought out at Bay de Nocquet, cannot be carried to advantage
by rail beyond the water line. Here it must halt for manufacture into iron, either at Bay de Nocquet, or pass ovor the lake
to our peninsular coast, at some point where abundance of timber, and easy facilities for shipping can be obtained; such
points, for instance, as Traverse City, or'rankfort, where wood
abundant for this purpose, and superior harbor accommodations, are to be had.
The absence of wood at Chicago or at any intervening point
on the proposed railr6ad line from Green Bay to Bay de Nocquet, precludes the idea of advantageously transporting this
ore elsewhere than to the points named above.
Moreover, the construction of a railroad north-westerly
through the central part of this portion of the State, will necessarily secure to us all the advantages which appropriately and
legitimately belong to the manufacture of the iron, the sale and
conversion of the wood, and the prosperous opening and settlement of a large territory, which would thus naturally and
speedily take place. The distance of road to be thus constructed, is but a trifle more than that proposed by Chicago
capitalists, which secures to them only a connection with Lake




24            LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFTFELD.
Superior, without the manufacturing and other advantages
just referred to, as being thus secured to us. For it will hardly
be claimed that the proposed Chicago line can successfully
carry either ore or freight in the winter; and in the summer
the competition of water communication would dismiss all expectations of anything like an extended business over this railroad line.
The enterprise of opening a communication to Saginaw, has
already had the attention of the Legislature, in connection with
a State road between Saginaw and the Grand Traverse region;
but the recent completion of the Bay de Nocquet and Marquette railroad renders this prdposed new communication between these two points an imperative necessity.
Looking at the future importance of the State's iron interests, and the development of its northern unsettled regions,
there seems to be no measure or enterprise, which makes such
large claims on the generous and fostering care of the Legislature as this. For the fact appears, that notwithstanding the
generosity of Congress and the State, and the continuous efforts of those among us who appreciate the great importance of
opening up this portion of the State, still almost nothing has
as yet been practically accomplished, unless it be the diversion
of a very large portion of the public lands from the hands of
actual settlers, into the control of those who, whatever may
have been their private schemes, have utterly failed to accomplish the important ends proposed by these State and national
benefactions. It might be well for us, therefore, to consolidate,
or otherwise so dispose of the land grants already conceded to
the Grand Rapids and Indiana, the Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay, and the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad Companies, (at least so far as the northern portion of these several
routes are concerned,) as would speedily accomplish this highly
important end.
The truth is, Michigan has been too long indifferent to the
railroad projects most closely allied with her own interests.
Without doubt, by even a small proportion on our part, of that




LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.          25
measure of effort which we have seen made by other States in
their behalf, we might also have secured a large proportion of
their immigration, and so converted our present wildernesses
into smiling settlements, Some irregular and spasmodic efforts
have been occasionally made, it is true, and no little proclamation of our resources now and then set forth in the public
prints; but it has generally been of such a character, as to be
destitute of much real or permanent value. Indeed, although
it may seem ungracious so to declare, yet it is nevertheless true,
that a large proportion of our citizens are to-day wholly or very
largely ignorant of the value of our unsettled regions-quite as
much so as they are of the resources of any of the States lying
West of us.
Hence the apathy that prevails on this subject, and the actual
inability of citizens to attract the isettler, even if they would,
into our still unoccupied and valuable lands. The mere owners of large tracts of pine timber, are not interested particularly
in the promotion of settlements, for the reason that their timber goes to distant markets, and is carried to the coast without
the aid of roads, or the ordinary modes of civilized communication.
But the true interests of the State will not longer allow this
condition of things to continue. Active and sufficient measures
for the ends contemplated must be immediately initiated. The
State, if she would have her lands sold and occupied, must act
on the same practical principles, as the individual land-holder
desiring to sell, and who by free but judicious expeditures,
advertises his possessions, arrests the eye of the settler, draws
him to his particular locality, and so with comparatively little
outlay, rapidly populates and improves his most secluded tracts.
Although the State now holds under the swamp land grants
no inconsiderable amount of desirable lands, [not less altogether than         acres,] still the largest portion of the
unsold valuable lands, within the limits of the State, yet remain in the hands of the General Government. The principal
part of the irreclaimable swamp lands belonging to the State, are
4




26            LECTURE BY D. BETeUNE DUFFIELD.
located in the eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula, where by
reason of the severity of the climate, and their peculiar location, settlements can scarcely ever be expected. But we hazard the remark, that under the influences of future settlements,
the larger part of the remainder of this class of lands may be
made available and desirable to purchasers, meanwhile they
need careful supervision and control.
The process of disposing of the United States government
lands above referred to, is through the five local Land offices
at Detroit, Saginaw, Ionia, Traverse City and Marquette, and
of the State lands through the State Land office, at Lansing.
These offices are designed only to give title to applicants for
lands as they present themselves; no system or plan of spreading information in respect to them, or of soliciting purchasers
or inviting settlements, having ever been engrafted upon their
land agencies by the General Government. Those of us familiar with the existing arrangement, can hardly realize that strangers, and especially foreigners, do not equally with ourselves
understand its workings; while the fact is, that non-residents
desiring to purchase lands, often wander into the State and out
of it, without having succeeded in obtaining even the preliminary information necessary to the accomplishment of their purpose. Inquiring settlers of this kind are now daily passing
through Detroit, in search of good lands for farming purposes,
with no one to point them to the region or county in which
they may be found.
In the absence of any encouraging information furnished
them at the threshold of the State, and with no prospect of obtaining it elsewhere, there is little inducement for them blindly
to explore the country in search of lands, which even when discovered, are frequently found already in the hands of others.
This condition of things seems to demand the serious consideration and prompt action of those entrused with the State's
welfare. Every one of these thrifty settlers, and every colony
of settlers who can be secured to the State, are in times such
as these,well worth every effort and every reasonable expendi



LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.        2T
ture of means in that direction. The attractions of the Central
South are beginning, as never before, to turn the course of settlement from the West-a fact to which we would do well to
take heed. Yet when we take into consideration the rare advantages offered in our noble system of public schools, and the
superior intelligence and culture of the people of our own State,
especially, this ought not so to be. Indeed, stronger inducements are thus offered by Michigan to settlers of kindred tastes
and culture, from the Eastern States, than are perhaps found
in any other State or region. We should strive not only for
immigration, but while so doing, our efforts should be directed,
as far as possible, after the very best class of settlers to be had.
A home immigration, so to speak, from New England and Western New York, is better for the State than a crude and unlettered foreign population, however much of an acquisition even
they would be, in these days, when the necessary drafts of war
are making such large inroads upon manly labor.
What then, is the one great thing to do, in order to secure
these two important ends, of placing before the public the
value of the unsettled portions of the State, and securing their
early settlement and development?
Our reply to this inquiry is, the immediate establishment by the
State of a Land and Immigration Bureau. The same thing has
just been recommended by Gov. Yates. This, for reasons so
apparent as to need no enumeration here, should be located at
the point where new comers and emigrants from other lands
first enter the State and begin their inquiries.
Among the first and most important duties assigned to this
Bureau should be:
1st. The collection and systematic arrangement of all existing information in respect to unsold State and Government
lands.
On the removal of the United States Surveyor General's Office to St. Paul, in the year 1860, all the field notes, books,
plats and papers, pertaining to the land surveys in this State,
were by law deposited with the State authorities at Lansing,




28            LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.
where. they still remain. These original maps, connected as
they are with the field notes, (and of which they are transcripts,) form the basis of all the surveys of the State, from the
remote days of our settlement as a Territory, and are of inestimable value in all questions of disputed boundary hereafter to
arise. Aside from their value in these respects, they embrace
and express all the reliable information we have as to the topography, character of soil and varieties of timber, throughout
the entire State. They should, therefore, be preserved as
among our very choicest possessions.
This large fund of useful information, now practically unavailable to us for want of proper collection and location, might
be made, in connection with the Bureau here proposed, of the
very highest value in its practical workings.
2d. There should also be at once adopted and pursued
throughout the State, a rigid system in respect to the subdivision of sections, and the retracing and reestablishment of original lines of survey; and these duties would naturally appertain and belong to this Bureau. The appointee to it should
therefore be familiar with the government system of surveys,
and with all the laws, rules and regulations affecting the same,
so as to be able under all circumstances, to give direction and
instruction to county surveyors.
The absence of all authority and instructions of this characterl now controlling the action of this class of surveyors, has already been the means of much confusion, and is daily sowing
the seeds of serious litigation in regard to boundaries. It is
proper, however, in this connection to remark, that this state of
things is not so much attributable to the surveyors themselves,
as to the want of some recognized and authoritative system,
founded upon the code of laws and rules adopted by the government, and which (being for the most part inaccessible) are
possibly quite unknown to many of those entrusted with the
responsible duties of this important office.
3d. This Bureau should also be clothed with all needful powers to employ and direct suitable persons, as well to examine




LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.         29
and report upon lands, as to accompany settlers in their search
after and choice of them. The expense of all persons so employed, would for the most part be cheerfully borne by the parties applying for lands, and the State saved from any large
cost in these respects. Under the exercise of these powers, the
State would soon be possessed, in a compact form, of a minute
statement or report as to the great body of her lands; and being thus informed, could fix far more intelligently than at present, just and remunerative prices upon them. Thousands of
dollars would in all probability thus be annually saved to the
State; and possibly hundreds of thousands might so have been
saved, had such a system been adopted twenty years ago.
This is particularly obligatory upon us in respect to the
State's Mineral Lands, which have accrued to us through the
operations of the swamp land grants. A single location of
value might bring into the State Treasury many thousands of
dollars, while a disposition of the same property without exploration, might as readily result in a return of less than a
hundred dollars. This examination of mineral lands might be
associated with a further geological survey of the unexplored
region of the State, and all its advantages secured in this way
at a comparatively small cost. But irrespective of cost, this
work should be done, and these returns secured to the State at
the very earliest day practicable. There can be no loss on
such an investment, but on the contrary, decided and affirmative gains.
4th. Under the auspices of this department, agents might
from time to time, be employed to visit Eastern States and
cities, and even foreign lands, with a view to disseminate information; so that the steps of settlers may be turned hitherward
in the full confidence of their obtaining here the abject of their
pursuit. Other special and auxiliary means to this end might
be adopted from time to time, under the sanction of the Legislature, as circumstances called for their employment; and so
the stream of immigration, once commenced, would continue
to flow in upon us with a steady but ever increasing current.




a30            LECTURE BY D. BETIIUNE DUFFIELD.
5th. As the productions of a State are best shown by samples
of the same, there should also be committed to this department
the selection, preservation and presentation to the public of the
various minerals and other products found within our limits,
all of which should be accompanied with appropriate statistics
and suggestions to capitalists at home and abroad. In short
all information respecting existing resources, and all recent discoveries, with every fact calculated to arrest attention, and attract the settler, could be appropriately committed to this department for compilation, and general diffusion throughout the
country.
Eastern States have long since found it to their interest, to
institute and maintain offices of this character; and the Western States would do well to imitate their example in this important matter. At present, the want of such a State repository, with its different specimens, and its classified information
and statistics, is almost daily experienced by every business
man in the State.
Still other features might be engrafted on this department,
which whould suggest themselves as it took shape, and progressed in the direction prescribed for its operations; and
which need not encumber its action, or enlarge to any great
degree its expenses.
The simplicity of this plan of organizing and placing directly
under the eye of the State, all its varied possessions, overrules
at once the idea that it can only be achieved by some great expenditure of $50,000 or $100,000. The expense of obtaining
and collating the main items of information necessary to the
department, would not be large, for the reason that the greater
portion of such information can now be had from the public
offices, and from individuals who would be glad to furnish it,
when once the Bureau was established.
Nor would the general current expense of the entire department be heavy, if a proper system of compensation should be
adopted, based upon commissions for lands sold, and on fees for
information furnished, or for services rendered by the depart



LEOTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.         31
ment, to persons seeking the same for their own private purposes.
Indeed, if committed to the right hands, it might be easily
made to do much more than pay its own expenses, and become
ultimately a source of moderate revenue. But over and above
all this, it will much more than pay all outlay upon it, in the
superior benefits resulting to the State from the acquisition of
settlers, and the sale of the public lands at prices corresponding
to their real value. In this last particular alone, the expense
of the department for years might be saved by the discovery
and assessment of value upon the State's lands during the first
year of its operations.
For example, the chief value of the State swamp lands (excepting those in the mineral range) consists in the pine timber
upon them. No discrimination in price has yet been made between those covered with timber and such as are not thus furnished. Parties therefore who purchase at the minimum price,
now enter upon these lands possessing the timber, strip them
of their value by removing the same, appropriate the proceeds,
and then abandon the lands, leaving them, for all purposes of
subsequent settlement, without any attractions whatever. But
the explorations under the directions of this Department, from
time to time, would (as already intimated) discover all this
class of lands, and so enable the State to increase their price
upon them, or to reserve them-as in our opinion they should
be reserved-until they were reached by settlements. They
would thus be made doubly subservient to the State; first by
attracting settlers into their vicinity, and secondly, by supplying them with the character of timber required for building,
and at prices remunerative to the State. Thus in a short time
there would flow into the treasury large sums of money which
now, under the semblance of a contract with the State, are
annually stolen from its resources.
Before dismissing this subject of a. land and immigration
Bureau, which in my opinion holds, as in a nut-shell, the kernel
of any State policy in respect to our undeveloped resources,




32            LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.
which we may hereafter see fit to adopt. it is proper to add that
great care should be exercised in making the appointment to
this department. The selection and placing over it of the
wrong man, might not only cause the experiment to fail at the
very outset, but would be very likely, (as affairs of this sort
generally work,) to prevent the State from following up the
plan here sketched, and without which, as it appears to me,
nothing of real worth can, in this field at least, be. profitably
accomplished.
The essential requisites in this appointee, should be capacity
and integrity. This capacity should involve a thorough knowledge of our land-history, both Federal and State; a large practical experience in the matter of examining, valueing and selling lands; superior executive abilities, and a wide acquaintance
with men both in and out of the State. The position should
be lifted above party level, and filled as we would fill an agency
to look after like interests for ourselves. Mere place hunters,
on the modern system of giving to the victors the party spoils,
should, in this matter at least, be summarily set aside and refused a hearing. The stake is too great to be thrown into the
cauldron of party nourishment; such a course would be almost
certain to result in merely giving one more man a chance to
stand at the public crib; that, and nothing more! The integrity required, should be of that character which is exacted of'
those whom we place in the most confidential relations with our
business. In sueh a place as this, a false servant might do the
State much mischief, while a true man, in the matter of opening up the State to settlement, and bringing to light her hidden
resources, could do as much real public service, as the Execu.
tive and Legislative departments of the State combined.
Such a man the Executive could find, and being found, he
should receive and be allowed to hold his appointment during
good behavior, so that he might grow with the department over
which he presided, and in and by such growth, aid and promote yet more and more, the growth of the State.
Another topic which cannot here be appropriately passed




LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUFFIELD.         33
over, but which is more than sufficient of itself for a lecture, is
the subject of manufactures.
The great variety of raw material abounding in our State,
has already been referred to, and the list might be yet further
enlarged had we time to do so. As it is, we can only express a
thought or two on the general subject.
Never before were such favorable opportunities offered a
people to originate manufactures on a grand scale, as those
which are now unfolding to us. The necessities of the nation's
treasury, have set at rest for generations yet to come, all questions as to the expediency of a prohibitory tariff. We have it,
in full measure, on almost every article which we desire to work
up into marketable material, so that protection may be said to
be now permanently guaranteed to all American manufactures
In addition to the abundance and variety of our material, it
should not be forgotten, that our central western position as a
State and our peninsular form, afford us facilities of transportation east, west and south, and cheaper access to more markets
for our commodities, both raw and manufactured, than those
enjoyed by any one of our sister States. The iron and copper
ores of Lake Superior for instance, may be brought down to
the well-timbered coasts of the Lower Peninsula, and being
there manufactured, can be economically dispatched westerly
and southerly, by Wisconsin and Illinois, or easterly to the seaboard, and direct to Europe. Instead hereafter of being the
dependents of Great Britain for her manufactured articles, she
will' even begin to solicit us for some of ours. Glasgow is
already asking us for Lake Superior iron; and unless we unhappily drift into a warlike exchange of a heavier commodity
with this ungracious kingdom, it will not be many years before
the sceptre of commercial empire, through the medium mainly
of our vast and valuable manufactures, shall have passed from
the boastful hand of Britain, into that of the towering and
invincible Republic of the, West. Our iron mountains are only
being now unveiled, our copper mines only beginning to take
5




34             LECTURE BY D. BETHUNE DUrFfELD.
remunerative shape; our coal, a source of wealth, gypsum, salt,
oil, (now pouring its millions into the lap of Pennsylvania,) are
yet to be developed, while our woollen, cotton and ware manufactures have scarcely begun to appear.
A French gentleman and naturalist, named Trouveleab, now
of Massachusetts, has recently discovered in our Cecropia and
Polyphemia flies, two varieties of the silk worm, whose cocoon
is four inches in length, and the fibre of u:hcs silk is much
stronger and the yield greater than those of European countries. The worms feed in the open air on oak leaves, and require very little care. From his experiments with them, quite
recently imade, it may be safely asserted, that silk culture on a
most saiccessful scale, is shortly to be added to the list of onu
native manufactures. Thus the path is opening for the nation
to march forward into a total independence of foreign Governmenrts; strengthening upon herself the imperative obligations,
of what t'he people have long since accepted under the name of
"the oIonroe doctrine," and saying to foreign nations, as they
anchor their navies a league from our coasts, "thus far mayest
thou come, but no farther "
But it is alleged by those interested, that capital is deterred
from investing in the development of these attractive materials,
in eonssquence of burdensome taxation under existing provisions of law-that promising enterprises have thus been fettered
in their feeblest years, while some have been strangled in their
very birth. It is also asserted that while Illinois discriminates
in favor of capital, Michigan discriminates against it, by taxing
it eight times as much as is done in the former State; and that
capitalists must continue to locate their factories elsewhere
tha   n in Michigan so long as these legal prohibitions remain
upon her statute book.
There is no doubt that it is for the interest of every governmeunt to encourage and cultivate manufactures. England and
France cherish these interests as the very apple of the eye;
discriminating by protection and appropriation, whenever and




LECTURE BY D. BETHVUE DUFFIELD.         35
however it becomes right and proper so to do. Thus these
two nations have largely multiplied their wealth, and fastened
tight their commercial grasp upon the remaining nations of
the earth.
With little or no surplus wealth to be thus invested it becomes the duty of Michigan to do what she can to bring in the
wealth and labor of others, in her efforts at self development.
Instead of erecting barries against their approach, all obstacles
should be removed and the way cleared for their entrance into
the fields of our native but dormant wealth, and if needs be a
premium of privileges offered to win their presence and citizenship.
How far the operation of existing laws can be properly suspended in respect to manufacturing associations not yet paying dividends, and such as are hereafter'to be organized, and
how far, by special legislation, capital may be invited here to
invest, are matters of appropriate, nay, even urgent consideration by our Legislature. Illinois, by her discriminating legislation, in respect to manufactures, (such, among other privileges, as exempting from taxation all machinery thus employed,)
has done much to build up this important element of commercial wealth within her borders. Michigan, instead of extending like favors to the incoming capitalists, demands one per
cent. on the capital of mining, and one-half of one per cent. on
the capital of manufacturing corporations. Within my own
knowledge, the following discrepancy accidentally revealed itself
in respect to the State taxation for the last year, upon a manufacturing establishment in the city of Detroit; its capital being
$100,000, the State tax under the law, was $500. But it so
happened that the establishment having been but recently converted into a corporation from a business firm, the assessment
had been made by the officers entrusted with this duty, upon
the entire property, under the supposition that it still continued
a firm, and the assessment thus made was only $82! a penalty
of $118 paid for the privilege of being a manufacturing corporation. This same company annually pays, besides the $500




36             LECTURE BY D. BETHITNE DTFFIELD.
to the State, the sum of $1,000 for city and county taxes, and,
$10,000 to the General Government, making an annual tax of
$11,500 on a capital of $100,000. It has been heretofore asserted as sound doctrine, that any man or establishment which
paid ten per cent. interest for their capital, must soon run into
ruin. Manufacturing establishments whose dividends do not
fairly expose them to such heavy burdens, ought to be relieved
as far as practicable from this large specific tax.
We are not apt to credit manufactures and machinery, aside
from the home market they yield, with the large benefits they
confer upon the producer, and especially upon the agriculturist. They are to a large extent identified with each other.
For example, one locomotive, in twenty-four hours, will perform
as much in the way of transportation as 400 pairs of horses,
with all the attendant retinue of wagons, teamsters, stables
and taverns planted over the route of their travel. The difference thus saved goes to swell the profit of the agriculturist
upon his prodace thus borne forward to market. No State in
the Union has such great natural resources and facilities for
manufactures as Michigan, and none has such excluding and
repelling laws to the manufacturing capitalist as those found
upon our statute book.
Still, in order intelligeItly to legislate on this important subject, facts should be gathered and digested
It might be well, therefore, if some authoritative steps were
taken in the way of a Commission of Inquiry to ascertain and
collate material facts upon this whole subject, with a view particularly to elicit information on the following points:
What are the existing provisions of law on this subject, and
what their practical effect on manufacturing establishments?
How do these laws compare with those on the same subject
in other States, East and West, and especially -in manufacturing States?
What changes in our laws, if any, are expedient?
And what further and special legislation may, in the exercise
of a sound judgment, be deemed appropriateq in order to attract




LECTURE BY D. BETrHNE DUFFIELD.         37
capital and induce its investment in the development and man-ufacture of our unconverted mineral and other wealth?
This report, when made, should also present all the testimony and facts procured by the commission, so that the same
might take permanent shape, as a valuable document for future
reference.
In conclusion, we have only to remark that in order successfully to develop this great State, her citizens must all be animated with an open and generous fraternal sentiment towards
each other. In all measures affecting the public welfare, they
must unflinchingly follow the dictates of a sound and patriotic
judgment, and not the mere whim, and ephemeral caprice of the
selfish partizan. For if the people of each particular precinct,
resolve that their influence and efforts, both in the Legislature
and out of it, shall only be given and rendered for the benefit
of their especial locality, we shall soon have nothing but jarring jealousies, wrangling contentions, warring restrictions, and
general confusion and ill feeling on all sides.
With the bloody and legitimate fruits of this selfish spirit
immediately before us and now displayed to the world on a
grand scale, in what is speciously styled a State rights rebellion, we should be very c5reful to guard ourselves agaisnt even
the apparent approval of any such narrow and destructive policy. But, while we continue our efforts for its complete and
final overthrow, and for the vindication of that broad but long
trampled constitutional right of intercitizenship throughout
the Union, we should stand here at home, shoulder to shoulder
for the common welfare of the State, and the perpetuity of the
National Governlent.
" In union there is strength," and without its spirit as well
as its letter among the people, this beloved Government, which
has already cost us so much,'and which, in itself, is worthy of
every sacrifice, must utterly fail and perish.
Let every citizen, then, rise to the level of our new condition, and promptly assume his share of duty in the upbuilding
and enrichment of the State.








THE STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY:.
ITS MEANS AND ENDS.
The State Fair-The Winter Session-The Agricultural Museum.,A 1-  --
A LECTURE,
DfELIVrRED JANUARY 18, 1865, BEFORE THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OP THE STATE AGEICULTRAE,
SOCIETY, IN REPRESENTATIVE HALL, AT LANSING, MICH., BY
A&. S. WELCHI,
Principal State N orxnmal School.
The means which any society employs should always be adequate to the end it proposes to attain. If the end proposed be
wide and comprehensive —if it includes subordinate ends which
are many and various-then the means must be equal in comprehensiveness, variety and number; for it is a law as wide as
the universe, that success in any enterprise depends upon the
wise adaptation of the one to the other.
OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY.
Now, the object which called the Michigan Agricultural Society into existence, is as broad in its scope as it is philanthropic
in its spirit. It proposes to encourage not only the skillful tillage of the soil, but also the more perfect development of all
the values that spring from the soil, whether directly in vegetable, or indirectly in animal forms. To every honest worker.
in any of the numerous branches of agriculture, it seeks to extend the helping hand, stimulating him by every motive it can
offer, to reach the largest possible excellence of product, with
the least possible investment of labor and cash. Of every plant
and animal and implement, it inquires rigidly its precise purpose, and aims so to increase its effectiveness that it may answer
that purpose with the smallest waste of muscle or material  It




40                 LECTURE BY A. S. WELCH.
would give to the roadster just that compactness of bone and
muscle which will secure a speed that is most rapid and sustained; to the draft-horse, just the complement of form and,
weight most conducive to strength and rugged endurance; to
the sheep, just the breeding and treatment which will eventuate
in an annual offering of the heaviest fleece, with the finest fibre;
to the dairy cow a process of assimulation so perfect and peculiar, that whatever the mouth devours the udder restores in the
largest measure of the richest milk; and to the ox such a nice
adjustment of form to fate, that he may bring to the block the
least proportion of gristle and bone, to the lergest proportion
of round and surloin.
But it is also within the province of this Society not only to
aid in adapting the animal forms to their ultimate uses, but
likewise to help in determining what food will best subserve in
quality and kind each of these various uses; what special
forces are contained in the varieties of vegetable aliment, and
which of these is adapted more than all others to produce
some special quality of animal tissue, are problems which at
best have been but partially solved. Their full solution and
distinct announcement would save in our State untold sums,
which now annually run to waste. The great laws of economy
in feeding are left mainly to the unaided observations of the
farmer himself. The consequence is, that while the fitness of
certain ingredients to single results remain the same, the practice in feeding is various and capricious. Of the large number
of different crops annually raised in this State for animal consumption, some are best fitted to be worked into the. fibre that
gives capacity for fleetness, some into the weight that produces
strength, some concentrate most largely the elements that are
promotive of growth, others the elements that are productive
of the constituents of fat. Muscle and bone, butter and cheese,
and pork and beef all lie in scattered atoms in the soil. They
are gathered first by the subtle processes of growth into vegetable forms, and then changed by assimilation into animal products, and the prime question is, how to conduct the whole




LECTURE BY A. S. WELCH.              41
series of combinations so that the dead mould shall be trans,
formed into the marketable commodity with the smallest waste
of material. This problem must be worked out in all its details
by chemical analysis carefully conducted, and by experiment.
And while the former can be best carried on in the laboratories
of our agricultural schools, the latter falls fairly within the field
of work which this Society has proposed to itself to aid in accomplishing.
But further, if, as I have said, this Association properly extends its fostering care over all the values that spring from the
soil, then every plant which is useful to man for food or fabric,
is the object of a special solicitude. The whole catalogue of
esculent roots, the host of cereals adapted to this latitude, and
the countless variety of excellent fruits, whether new or old,
come within the circle of its sympathies, and it puts forth its
best endeavors to bring each of these to the fullest perfection of
form and size. But the objects of this Society are not limited
to the production simply of the finest examples, but they extend to all the processes by which the raw material is worked
up into staples for immediate use. Our published lists of premiums offered to competitors at the State Fair includes not
only the purest giamn., the luscious grapes and apples, the noble
cows and fleecy sheep, but wines and vinegar; butter, cheese
and bread; cloths and flannels as well: thus showing that vwe
lend support to the miller, and baker, and weaver, and in short,
to every earnest worker in the useful arts, as fully and freely as
to the farmer himself. Again, if it behooves this Association to
expend its energies in improving the staple productions of the
soil, whether in the crude or tlhe ultimate state, then it follows
that the improvement of all the implements and machines by
which the soil is prepared, the seed sown, the crop harvested,
cleaned, garnered, transported or ground, must also be added
to the list of its avowed objects; and it is manifestly a part of
its appropriate work to stimulate and quicken the inventive
genius which has, of late, made such marvelous achievements
in this department.
6




42                LECTURE BY A. S. W'ELCH.
Accordingly, there is many a successful inventor, who carries
the diploma awarded by the agricultural committee, as a valued evidence of the genuineness of his invention; and it is a
cause of congratulation to-night, that in the improvements oi
the methods by which machinery is successfully applied to the
salvation of the human muscle, Michigan is no whit behind her
sister States. But further, if the perfection of its products be
our prime purpose, it follows again that all the fertilizers by
which the soil is enriched and rendered prolific, may properly
receive a share of attention. How mineral and animal manures should be composted, prepared, preserved and applied,
are questions of vital moment to farm economy. Every growth
of whatever crop is a constant drain requiring a replenishment
as constant. Continue to drain while you fail to replenish, and
permanent exhaustion will surely follow. Some of the older
States, with their thousands of acres impoverished by a system
of cropping that returns nothing to the soil, rendered as barren and irreclaimable as a desert, are striking examples of a
great public calamity which Michigan will be wise to shun.
If successful agriculture lies at the basis of national prosperity, if the wants of an increasing population must be met
by a productiveness increasing in similar ratio, then the fertility
of every cultivated farm should be augmented year by year,
until the soil reaches the topmost limit of its producing capacity; a result that never can be reached so long as nature's
restoratives are given over to be dissipated by the winds, the
sunshine, and the -rains. It surely cannot be foreign to our
mission to give our moiety of influence in settling a system of
judicious economy on so vital a point, and thus aiding to avert
a public misfortune-a misfortune which, if general and widespread, is the sure precursor of national ruin. Again, it is
manifestly in harmony with our organization, the constituted
guardian of the soil, to gather, in a place convenient for public
inspection, all those products whose form and permanence render them available for preservation; to collect, classify, and
exhibit all those geological specimens which indicate the mine —




LECTURE BY A. S. WELoCU.
ral constituents of the soil in the locality where they are found,
and to arrange and publish the resources of this State, as an
agricultural region, especially the richness of our uncultivated
lands, and thus to arrest and divert hither the tide of emigration that annually sweeps by us to people the less favored regions of the far west.
It is ours to give the warm welcome to the new settler by
whose energies the waving grain will replace the leveled forest.
It is ours to cheer the farmer: in every department of his varions toil, to stimulate his efforts after genuine results, to furnish
models of excellence which he may strive to realize, to reward
his successes and publish them to the world, to offer him better
tools and better processes for bungling ones, to teach him how
best to destroy those natural enemies which infest his grains
and fruits, to give him easy access to all superior methods
which science or experience has furnished, to arouse his ambition and enlarge his knowledge of agriculture, whether by objects addressed to the eye or by essays addressed to the judgments
All these are, as seems to me, included in the comprehensive
sphere which our orgaization was destined to fill; for less than
these would not satisfy the aspirations or realize the ideal of an
association originated for the advancement of a great branch
of industry, on which so much of human welfare depends. All
these objects are consistent with each other; they are all attainable, and their attainment is indispensable to any real progress in the science and practice of agriculture: and, gentlemen of the committee, we shall compass these benign and
worthy objects, not only by looking to the farmer's wants in
the present, but providing for his future needs; not only by
offering stimulants to the production of single specimens of
excellence, but by diffusing, as far as possible, that knowledge
and skill which shall supersede the necessity of temporary
stimulants, and make anything else than the permanent production of excellent results impossible; not only by aiding to,
improve the quality of the work, but by aiming to elevate the




44                LECTURE BY A. S. WELCH.
condition of the worker; and all these objects are to be sought,
not as ultimate ends alone; not that the finest farms, the fleetest horses, and most symmetrical short-horns may be produced
and exhibited, (though these are worthy results;) not that this,
that, or the other exhibitor should take our premiums or diplomas, but as all including and tending to secure the one nobler
end, namely: that the million within the borders of our State
may be warmed and sheltered, clothed and fed, with the smallest wear and tear of human muscle and human life.
I do not aver that we have not seemingly had, at times, a nebulous perception of the relative importance of some of the objects I have named, and a clear perception of the value of the
rest.  I do not deny that we have sometimes, seemingly,
ignored and selected some branches not at present so pressing,
to concentrate our energies upon others more immediately urgent. What I affirm is, that all these parts form the one great
whole, which constitutes the enterprise we propose to forward.
Most assuredly we are not a sporting club for the trial of speed
in horses; we are not an association for the breeding and improvement of devons and durharns; we are not an association
of grape growers; we are not a pomological or horticultural
society; not a combination for the raising of sorghum and the
production of syrup; we are all of these together, and much
more; we are not coordinate with any one of them; their purposes are specific, ours generic; we overlap and comprehend
them all.
Having glanced thus briefly at the ends which it is the province and purpose of this Association to compass, let us next
give earnest heed to the means which we either now employ
or may properly employ hereafter.
These means are substantially three in number
First in the order of time, and foremost for immediate effect
is the State Fair, at which thousands of our citizens annually
assemble, to study the finest samples of all that the State produces, and hundreds of exhibitors gather to compete for the
premiums we offer for the best specimens of all the animal,




LECTURE BY A. S. WELCH.              45
vegetable and artistic products. Both the visitors and the
exhibitors aregreatly profited, and an impetus to agriculture is
given and felt throughout the State.
The second means is the annual public meeting in winter, at
which papers and addresses, by prominent agriculturists, on
improved processes and methods in farming are read and afterwards published. To these may be added other printed matter, such as occasional prize essays on topics requiring special
elucidation, and pamphlets of instruction, similar to the one
issued by the committee last year on points of excellence in
cattle. The first of these meetings, held at Ypsilanti last season, was a most gratifyinglsuccess.
The third means is the proposed Agricultural Museum,
wherein are to be collected all those more perfect specimens
and illustrations in agriculture, which can be successfully classified, arranged, and held on exhibition throughout the year.
Undoubtedly these three institutions do not include all the
means which the Society might profitably employ. But they
present, in themselves, a kind of completeness which is pleasant to contemplate. They constitute a series of a'gencies, each
of which aids the efficiency and remedies the defects of the
others. They are counterparts each to the others, and form,
together, a symmetrical and harmonious system; a system that
would produce not only immediate, but permanent and lasting
results; a system that would furnish to the masses not only
wholesome recreation and amusement, but food for instruction
and reflection as well; that would appeal not simply to a just
pride and a proper emulation, but to intellect and judgment
also; a system that would incite the farmer not merely to the
production of excellence in special things, for  special occasion, but to the habit of attaining to excellence in all things
and for all occasions; a system, in short, that reaches and stimulates the farmer at once, and then offers to him and his children the means of a constant and perpetual progress.
But thes. are general statements which, need a more particular analysis and amplification. Let us, then, scrutinize closely




46                 LECTUBB BY A. S. WELCH.
the merits and demerits of these three means, and determine
precisely which of the ends proposed, it is calculated to subserve.
A fair and a museum have some characteristics in common,.
which it is well to notice. Each consists of a collection of interesting objects, selected and displayed as the most perfect specimens of the classes which they represent and illustrate.
A fair is a temporary museum-a museum a permanent fair.
A fair is composed of a wider variety of attractive articles, simultaneuesly gathered, whose bulk and value, in many instances,
make their transportation expensive, and their retention impossible; andl hlence they are on. exlIbition for a limited period.
The one is an assemblage of samples, more miscellaneous and
less perfectly classified; the other a collection of specimens
completely classified on a scientific basis. Both present their
objtets to the eye and seek to gatify a laudable curiosity; the
one, in order to amuse, inform, and excite compeLition; the
other, to instruct and educate. It will be seen, therefore, that
while both accomplish results that are kindred in many respects, the one is more favorable to salutary recreation, the
other to serious study.
STATE FAIR.
The State Fair, being the effective agency for quick results,
has very properly, here as elsewhere, been first in the order of
time. It has been held annually for sixteen years. From first
to last, it has been conducted by self-sacrificing men, who
counted their services and time as fully requiLted by its success
and salutary influence upon the agriculture of the State, It
has been under a succession of Presidents, whose administration of its affairs has evinced rare earnestness and executive
skill. It tis aittracted a yearly gathering of from ten to twenty
thousand visitors, and paid out $40,000 in premaiums alone.
It has given a marked and rapid impulse to the development
of the resources of the, tate in the shape of more remunerative
crops, labor-saving implements, and valuable stock. Under its




LEWTURE BY A. S. WELCH.              47
transforming influence, the grafted fruits have everywhere supplanted the crabbed offerings of the natural tree; the scythe,
the cradle, and the flail have well nigh disappeared, and
sinews of iron and steel do the drudgery once done by the human arml; the horse has gained a better breeding, and greater,
vigor and endurance; the sheep, once thinly and coarsely clad,
has exchanged its worthless toggery for a fleece unrivaled in
beauty, weight and fineness; and te native cow, with her
pinched vitals and gothic ribs, is fast giving place to the symmetrical Devon and the m agnificent Shorthorn.
Such are the results whic'h thie State Fair h.a accomplished;
but great and valduablse rs tL'ey are, they do not include all the
ends which we have enumerated as properly within the province of tlhis Association.''he State Fair aims to excite emul.ation, and appeals to pride and profit, motives which are
easily reached, but which do not comprise all the incentives to
human effort; nor the only available ones. The very rapidity
with which it attains its objects, suggests a doubt as to their
stability and permanence. Its success depends on excitement,
and excitements do not survive the discontinuance of their
causes. Should any unforeseen obstacle intermit the annual
holding of the State Fair, it may be questioned, in the absence
of other incitements, whether very many would not relapse
into the indifference and torpor which are the besetting sins of
the farmer's life.
The State Fair stirs up ambition and excites immediate interest, but needs, as seems to me, other helps to perpetuate
that interest, by making it more discriminating and intelligent.:It prese:a s samples of the finest results in farming, and thus
furnishes the visitor an ideal which he may strive to realize,
but from its very nature, it can give him  no instruction as to
the processes and methods by which these results have been
produced; consequently, in his endeavors to attain similar excellence, he must grope in the darkness of experiment, unless
he gains the requisite information as to the quo moodo, fiom
other sources. I may admire a blooded horse, groonmed and




48                LECURE BY A. S. WELCH.
caparisoned for the annual exhibition, and my admiration may
induce me, at high cost, to barter my sorry nag for the noble
gelding; but my blooded horse will soon subside into a nag
that shall be sorrier still, if I am ignorant of the proper manner in which such an animal should be fed and treated. Admiration for a beautiful product is a good thing, but an attempt
at its production or possession without a commensurate knowledge, is a hazardous experiment.
This unavoidable defect in the State Fair, needs a compcnsation somewhere, and it is true that it may be derived from several sources, the periodicals or the Agricultural College, for instance, but we hope it may be found also, partly at least, in the
line upon line and precept upon precept, given in the published
proceedings of our winter session.
Again, an agricultural fair, though it stirs up zeal and stimulates effort, fails inevitably to give precise notions even of the
objects which it presents to the eye. Precise notions can be
gained only by deliberate and protracted examination of single
objects to the exclusion of all others. Amid the din of the
crowd and the vast variety of forms that attract the eye, it is
impossible even for the most disciplined attention, to concentrate on a single one long enough to enable the memory to reproduce it faithfully. It is true that, in rare instances, an amateur may scrutinize minutely some one article, which has for
him a higher interest than all the others together, but such amateurs hold a very slight comparison in number, with the rultitude that are to be benefitted by the exhibition. No doubt
the advantages from our yearly exhibition are many and great,
but they do not consist in the acquisition of clear ideas. We
carry from our annual fair a quickened zeal, gratified curiosity,
a sturdier courage, renewed friendships, more active sympathies, and a deepened impression that the farmer's life is the
truest life that man can live, but we carry also a confusion of
intellectual imafes not generally available as data for judgment
or reasoning. The time is too short, the throng too restless, the
objects too numerous and distracting for such a result. And




LECTU'I   BY A. S. WELCE.             49
this second defect, which is inseparable from a State fair, will,
we believe, find a remedy more or less complete, in the agricul-~
tural museurm, where the specimens are arranged for minute
inspection, where the company are more constanl but fewer in
number, and where the timee devoted to examrination is lir"
ited only by thie.inlination and'convlenience of the viitoir.
Another influence which operates as. a drawback to the many
genuine results reached through the State Fair, is the tendency
to encourage an abnormal. rather than a normal development.
Of all the qualities in specimens displayed at public cxhibitions,
that of size is the most striking and impressive. Only the most
cultivated eye is able to resist the effect of huge and unusual
proportions. The viewiJng committee, magnetized by this influ-a
ence, not unfrequently pronounce that of all the articles placed
in competition, the biggest is the best,  The consequence is, an
anxious production of a rank overgrowtfha which is ut-terly at
variance with that compactness and fineness of fibre and delicacy of flavor whibh, combined with thle proper dimensions,
constitute genuine excellence. Grossness of growth and coarseness of teexture are inseparable concomitants. Of -two potatoes, the one w-ho. size is astonishing, has attained its surface
development at the cost of a cavity vithin, and sogginess to
boot, while the other, with the smoo-th. and  leJ.ean simin, the
around and moderate growth, is dry, mnealy, a)xnd delicious. Of
the same varieties of fruits and roots, it not rarely happens
that the larger are for admiration, the smaller for eating.
From a similar influence in the stock department, an effort
is constantly made to improve the outside appearance at the
expense of a proper internal condition. As the annual occasion approaches, even milch cows and working cattle are often
made to lay on a quantity of superfluous fat, which fits them
for the show, but unfits them for their peculiar uses. Some
specimens of beeves, displayed at our stalls had atia:ined so
unique a condition as to induce the suspicio.n —andt the hope
indeed-that there is one quality of bee-f for the market and
7




SO0               tLECTURE BY A. S. WELCH.
another for the Fair. A single example from a neighboring
State, was a striking instance of the point in question. Its
muscles were enveloped in huge layers of fat, gathering here
and there into wen-like excrescences, unhealthy enough to
spoil the digestion of an Esquimaux. Yet this monstrosity of
grease took the premium over another whose tumors were less
protuberant. I confess to an impression which is in full sympathy with one who comlplains "That the societies for agricultural encouragement persist in giving premiums to (so-called)
fat cattle, mere monsters, not of good, wholesome, muscular
fibre, well mottled, but mountains bf adipose substance, which.no Christian ean eat, and which are only disposed of profitably
by serving as an advertisement to some venturesome landlord
fromn whose lable the reeking fat goes to the soap-pot."*
The truth is, that in every organized substance, whether vegtable or animal, it is the harmonious development of all its
natural qualities that constitutes its perfection, and as size is
one of these, it follows that it can be enlarged only in a just
ratio to the improvement of all the rest.
-I am glad to say that this tendency to overrate the value of
mere bulk, marked as it is in particular cases, is, after all, exceptional: and so may be looked upon as a departure from the
general practice in awarding premiums at- the State Fair.
Such awards are, beyond question, generally just, and the few
that are not so under the influence of-the above mentioned
prejudice, are, at any rate, in harmony with public opinion.
The tendency I have referred to, will disappear before the progress of a more discriminating taste and judgment, counteracted, as it will be, by the influence of the Museum, whose collections, to some extent identical in kind with those of the
Fair, will be more slowly, and therefore more deliberately and
carefully made.
Another lack in the completeness of the many positive benefits conferred by the State Fair, lies in the methods of preparing particular products for exhibition-a defect which is closely
*Donald Mitchell.




LECTURE BY A. S. ELH.              51
related to the one we have just considered. It may be fairly
doubted whether, in some cases, the special policy pursued in
fitting commodities for the Fair, will serve as an example
which may be profitably followed in general practice on the
farm.
The question fully stated is, whether the thing exhibited
fairly represents the general results reached by the exhibitor,
in the production of the entire class to which it belongs, or
whether it has been evolved from stimulating processes outside
of his ordinary practice, and too expensive for general adoption. In the former case, the article, if excellent, is of great
value for the end to be gained by the exhibition; in the latter
case, whatever be its qualities, it is worthless except for the
purpose of empty show. Of course any product, however remarkable in form or beauty, is valueless as a sample, which has
been, and must be produced at an outlay which its marketable
value can never refund. Thus a Canadian showed, with great
complacency, at his county fair, a monster carrot, and unwittingly killed the interest it excited, by revealing the significant
fact, that it had sprung from a chance seed on the sunny side
of his barnyard, and had been hoed and watered assiduously
throughout the season; while his staple crop was less than the
ordinary yield. My pleasure in dwelling upon the rounded form
and magnificent size of a yearling heifer, was once greatly disturbed, on my being told by the owner, in a burst of confidence, that up to the very time of the exhibition it had daily
exhausted the udders of a brace of cows, and that it was the
most expeditious milker on the farm. I like magnificent yearlings, but I have an internal habitual respect for butter and
cheese as well. The question is, can I raise such carrots and
calves, by a similar investment of care and cash, consistently
with any known principle of agricultural economy. Nothing
is clearer than that we can never exhibit collections of purely
representative objects, so long as the farmer raises, by different
processes one kind of product to show, and another to sell.
I have ventured thus freely to glance at these unavoidable




52                  LECURuE BY A, S. WEILH.O
defects for the purpose of showinig that', however complelae its
success in some directions, the Fair cannot be expected to subserve all the ends, which it is the duty and destiny of this Society to reach, and therefore, t iat it needs compensatingI ho!ps,
such as similar bodies in the older States have adoptei, to enable thnem to accomplish fully their allotted work.
THE W-INTER.SESSION.
I have now a word to offer in respect to the kind of help to
be derived froml the judicious managemaent of our winter sessions, and then I will endeavor, with. your indulgence, to examine, wit:h some minuteness, the natuare of an agt'uicultral
museum, and to show what portion of our enterprise it will be
calculated to further. In the first place, the exercises of our
winter session, if wisely conducted, constitute one of tChe agencies which will increase the efficiency and remedy the defects
of the Fair. So far as they go, they will tend to satisfy the
aspirations for knowledge which the fair excites, and f-rnish
the information w'dhich it makes necessa.r, and. yet witlholds,
The winter session is designed to teachE precisely what the Fair
does not, The latter ]presents to the eye the b)re results of
agricultural labor; the former should present to the judgment'the processes by which these results have been obtained. It
will elucidate and offer, for  neral adoption, those modCes o0
procedure on the farm which will produce the paying article,
and expose, for general rejection, those t1hat will not, whatever
be their attractions in other respects. By showing that kind
of economic labor which will secure results that combine bot.
the elements of beauty and profit, it will tend to reduce to a
negative quantity a species of idle amusement known as fa ucy
farming.
Thus will our winter meeting be made to counteract some of
those agricultural abuses and abnormal developments of product, which the State Fair, as we have shown, not only cannot
correct, but is even liable, unwittingly, to encourage. Bat m
order to make it subserve these desirable ends, it is essential to
observe, in its maxnagement, the following conditionsc




LECTTUE BY A. S. WELCH.             53
1. Thai of the numerous topics needing discussion, those
should be selected which embrace methods practically the most
important, and at the same time the least known;
2. That these methods shall have been tested by actual practice, and found to be suitable to the soil, climate and other
conditions of farming in this State;
3. That men be invited to present papers on these methods,
who have proved their value, by successful trial, and can give
the emphatic utterances of actual experience;
4. That the questions selected for discussion, involve a statistical statement of the processes by which the more striking
results presented at the State Fair have been produced;
In this way we shall make the winter session and the Fair
effective auxilliaries, each indispensable to the other, the one
completing, in a measure, what the other successfully begins.
In this way, too, we shall find the winter session, in itself, an
unfailing source of valuable information to the farmers of lMichigan. The marked success of the initiatory meeting, last season, was an augury most encouraging for the future.
Of course, I am aware that in this branch of our enterprise,
we have many eficient allies. Among them may be reckoned
the agricultural periodicals, the State Board of Agriculture,
and the State Agricultural College under their charge. The
value of most of the periodicals, being issued at the east, is
lessened by the fact that many of their articles are of doubtful
application to the varying conditions of the west. The Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, a gentleman widely known
for his attainments in all matters relating to practical farming,
is constantly engaged in labors kindred to our own, and the
Agricultural College has inaugurated a series of published
experiments, which give great promise of usefulness. These
energetic co-workers will stimulate us to still greater endeavors; for it may be said, without irreverence, that at in the moral,
so in the agricultural field, the harvest truly is great, but the
laborers are few.




54                 LECTIKE BY A. S. WELCH.
THE AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM.
Let us now concentrate our attention upon the nature and
purpose of the third instrumentality to be employed by this
Society, namely, the Agricultural Museum. This project)
though properly last in the order of time, is by no means last
in the order of importance. For, though slower in action than
the other two, it will be far more enduring in effect; for its
prominent purpose is to impart a precise and definite knowledge of the products and resources of this State in agriculture
and its kindred arts, and to give facilities for the acquisition of
such knowledge, not only to the present but to coming generations as well. To what more noble purpose can this Society
devote a portion of its energies and surplus funds, than to the
furtherance of a project which shall furnish for every earnest
observer, a means of gaining those accurate notions which lie
at the basis of all genuine progress? How can we better help
the farmer than by giving to him and his children, access to
the means of a most familiar acquaintance with the material
on which he works?   How can we better aid in developing
the agricultural resources of the State, than by gathering an
exhaustive collection of samples, which, when classified and.
arranged, shall present these resources with infallible accuracy
as to their kind, quality and value?
At a loss of time and money, I may travel to Saginaw to
inspect the salt it produces, or to Plymouth to test the quality
of marl found on lands adjacent, or to any orchard to explore
for examples of the ravages which the borer has made, or to
this, that, or the other farmer,'to secure some one of the varieties of choicer seeds; but if all these things were collected
and arranged in a single locality, convenient for access and
study, then, certainly, I and a multitude of others would be apt
to avail ourselves of such an opportunity to accomplish the
same object, at the saving of so much time, trouble and expense. But how much greater the advantages which such a
collection affords, if each of its specimens is so clsssified and




LECTURE BY A. S. WICH.               55
labelled as to indicate with precision its origin and qualities.
If, as our Constitution declares, it be our object to promote the
progress of agriculture and its kindred arts, where in the widest
scheme for accomplishing this, both for the present and the
future, can we find means more fitting and effective?
Bat a conviction of the benefits which would accrue to agriculture from  one or more museums, situated at accessible
points in the State, needs no prolonged statement of reasons
so obvious. Even in the absence of all experience of its operation and effect, there is a strong presumption in its favor.
Many of the similar societies in the older States have found it
an invaluable aIdjunct to their other means of adcvancing the
interests of agriculture. The Board of Agriculture of M:assachusetts, for example, a body organized for a purpose similar
to our own, has its oagricultural cabinet, in.which, among other
matters of high scientific interest, is at complete collection of
insects injurious to vegetation; and by legislative authority, its
Secretary, Charles L. Flint, has edited and published, at small
cost to the reader, a beautiful edition of Harris's work, which
gives full description of these insects, together with their habits,
metamorphoses, mode of propagation, and how they are Imost
easily exterminated.
The New York Agricultural Society has always regarded its
museum as one of its most prominent instruments of success,
in the furtherance of its objects. Col. Johnson, the Secretary,
writes me that it is held in the highest estimation.
A brief extract from a notice of its contents, by the New
York Tribune, four years ago, will serve to show something of
the character of this interesting collection:
"The Museum room is about 67 feet long by 37 wide, and
has two galleries, supported by light iron columns. The room
is lighted by side windows as well as by two enormous skylights in the roof, and is as well adapted to the purposes for
which it was built as any we have ever seen. The stairways
are of iron, and a neat iron railing runs around each gallery.




56                 LECTUB1E BY A. S. WELOC.
Against the walls are glass cases, those on the main floor being
appropriated to miscellaneous articles, such as costumes and
fabrics of foreign nations, antiquities and relicis of this country,
and curiosities in the way of sports of nature, old spinning
wheels, looms, minerals, and other matters of interest. The
cases on the second floor are filled with a most complete set of
specimens of the grains and seeds of our own and various foreign
countries, which in itself is a study of a most interesting nature.
The seeds of America coming first in order, we see here scores
of varieties of Indian corn, many of wheat, rye, oats, and other
cereals; and a very complete assortment of all the common and
uncommon garden vegetables. England, Hungary, BavariaI
Austria, France proper, African Colony of Algeria, are all represented by numerous specimens. The resources of almost
every European and some Asiatic countries, are more or less
completely illustrated in these cases, and it is a curious study
for the farmer to notice how closely grains from widely separated
countries resemble each other.
" The cases along one entire side of the third floor are appropriated to Dr. Asa Fitch's entomological collections, which already are superior to any others in the world in many respects.
Time will be when the zealous student of Natural History will
be able to study the nature and habits of our noxious and other
insects more satisfactorily on this third floor of the State Society's Museum than he;could any where else, and time will also
be when our farmers will awake to the fact tlhat one of their
greatest benefactors has lived out his quiet life, and perhaps
laid him down to die in an obscure rural district, with no monument to keep green his memory, except these splendid collections which he freely gave years of his life to gather from our
fields and forests.
"' The Fitch collections, when arranged this fall, will be divided
so that the various insects in all their stages-egg, larva, pupa
and moth-will be placed in drawers beneath the cases, while
the more roomy space of the latter will be devoted to the display of specimens which illustrate the ravages of the insects.




LECTUBITB BY A. S. WELCH.            57
There are now but few specimens set up in the cases, but quite
enough to show the ultimate value of the collection. Thus we
have a piece of basswood, the substance of which has been
mined out by white ants. Alongside it is a glass-covered box
which contains specimens of our dread foe, the wheat midge,
its larva, a male fly, and kernels of wheat shrunken and ruined.
Another of these little boxes shows us the Hessian fly, its larva,
its flax-seed-like eggs, and a wheat straw broken open to show
the "flax seeds" within. Here we have a twig of mountainash covered with scale insects; here, on a twig of poplar, the
eggs of the " executioner tree bug," strung along in two unbroken parallel and contiguous lines, like a string of sandalwood beads or a daintily-braided strand of maiden's hair; here
we have a limb of black oak cut off by the oak-pruner; here a
piece of red cedar-which every one has believed insect proofutterly destroyed by the stump wasp; while, like the mysteri-.
ous foot prints in the red sand-stone and chalk, on the bit of
pine bark are to be seen the finger-like tracks of the "pine
bark-beetle," sta'rting from one central pit or hole, and spreading —always four at one side and two at the other-like the
fingers of a hand.  In a bottle of spirits, here we have the.larva of the ",hickory moth," the largest known, which is so
frightfully ugly-what with its long horns, and bamboo-like
joints-that we cannot blame the plantation darkies for calling
it the "horned devil."  Here is a hickory ax-helve, sound as a
nut when first made, but since then completely riddled at one
end by sone hickory beetle, probably (says the label) by the
Apate basillaris-which of course will be perfcctly intelligible to
every one of our readers. In this case, near the stairway, we
see a great section of applewood-five feet seven in circumference, one foot ten in diameter-which has been literally honeycombed by the borer. Not to occupy space -with further enumeration, we widl merely say that by this time next year, farmers
passing through Albany will be able to examine, in this collection, several thousand specimens of insects and their ravages.
"' On the ground floor are arranged numerous American farm




58                LECTURE BY A. S. WELCH.
implements which have from time to time been donated to the
Society. The foreign visitor can here see many of our best
variety of reapers and mowers, drills, harrows, cultivators, fanmills, and a large collection of plows not only of the latest improved patterns, but, what is especially valuable for comparison,
those clumsy contrivances of wood with which our grandfathers
pried apart their stubborn furrows. Among the best of the
modern plows is the " center-draft," of Prouty & Mears, which
was honoredt at the London World's Fair with a first premium.
If ever an award was honestly earned from reluctant judges,
we esteem that this one was; and however public opinion may
be divided in the Henan-Sayers case, it must be fairly conceded
that ou'r English friends did the fair thing for American plows
-whhen they'were forced to do it. At the trial in question,
Colonlc Johnson he-ard the Elglish laborers discussing the
merits of the Yankee plows in uncomplimentary terms. They
had decided that the flimsy things would break, or at any rate
that they would not run in. This latter seemed the opinion of
the piowman who was ordered to guide the Prouty & Mears
plow, for he persistently bore upon the handle with his whole
weight in the benevolent intention of forcing the nose to enter
to the requisite depth until he was ordered by the Colonel tc
let it do its work as intended. The man turned two furrows
around his'land,' and then admitted in a loud'aside' to
sonie of his anxious friends,' that ere dom'd thing would'a held
itself if oid a let it.'
"' Not one of the least valuable things in the Society's cases
is a pair of long-handled' thistle tongs,' for eradicating thistles
from pasttues more effectually, and certainly pleasantly, than
if the unprotected hand were used for the purpose.
"A large assortment of agricultural and horticultural tools
from India, all of which have been in actual use, have been recently presented to the Society, by L. H. Morgan, of Rochester.
Thus the farm tools of the time of Jacob and Laban, are placed
alongside those in common use among our New York farmers
to-day; and while in the main we are thus led to see the march




LECTURE BY A, S. WELCH.              59'
of improvement which through the long centuries has been
made, we cannot fail to be surprised at finding in lthisf lot of
rude tools, some contrivances for which patents have been
granted at Washington, within a few years. For ins0tance.
there is a pump made with a series of buckets on an endless
rope, which, to all intents, is the same as the chain pump which
we think such a remarkably clever Yankee invention; and in
two of the grain and seed drills, the seed is dropped ithrough
tubes whichpass through a shoe, the furrow is cleared for it,
the seed is covered, and compactly embedded, exactly as our'
seed is now planted and covered by a score of'imodern improvements' which are to be found at any of our large }imrs.
"The Hindoo cultivator is, to our notion, a more philosophical tool in principle, than or modern u  harro'w; for,; ereas the
latter compresses the soil over which its wecdge sapes eath
travel, the barbarian's cultivaator, vwhil it loosens, lifts the
earth, and thus leaves it in as porous a state, s previously.
There is a great plow in this lot of tools, moeant' for ai tam of
twevle bullocks, which will plow, or rather. root to a 0depthl of
some eight inches, and which embraces that principle of the
double arch, which Professor Mapes counts as the great merit
of his'soil lifter.' True, the sole of this Hindoo plow is of
wood, and not less than five feet in length; and only its nose is
shod with iron, but from nose to beam, and from center to sides
of the sole, there is a definite although gradual arch, which
is well calculated to lift'the soil and throw it outward from the
center.
"We should be very loth to conclude our imperfect sketch,
without some complimentary notice of a beautiful suite of specimens of dried grasses and flowers, made by a farmers wife, in
Rensselaer county. By some peculiar processes of dessication,
she preserves all the colors of the flowers in their original brilliancy, as well as retaining their shape. A large bouquet, and
many single cards of flowers, which had been in the cases for a
twelvemonth, were apparently as fresh in color, as on the day
when they were picked. Another lady amateur botanist con



6T0               tLEC*TURE 3BY A.. WELCH.
tributes a collection of 154 varieties of weeds, all of them col-'eecd, jpressed, and correctly name(d, by herseif. And so, from
case to case, i an  gallery to gallery, we might wander, and find
a host of things of more or less interest to outr readers, but we
trust we have said enough to convince our farmers that a day
spent in the Musenum, at Albany, cannot fail to prove, in a high
degree, profitable."
Of course, museum collections will vary with the resources
and necessities of the particular States in which they are made.
The fundalmentoal purpose of our own should be, as seens to
me, to malke a full exhibit of all the productions of Michigan
which are limited to a certain bulk, and to include complete
sets of specimens illustrating all the values that lie in and beneath her soil. In the first place, it ought to embrace exhaustive samples of those geological strata which indicate the
qualities anm  micineral constituents of the soil in the region
where they are found. It ought, also, to contain complete examples of the minerals and ores which have already proved
such a prolific source of wealth to the State. It should comprise, moreover, illustrations of com'mod" itie. for household consumption, of subtlrraneous origin, in different localities, such
as the coals, and various qualities of salt manufactured so successfully at Saginaw; and also select specimens of all the mineral fertilizers, as limestone, marl, plaster and the like, of whose
abundancl1  we have already so large a promise.
Of all lthese, many may be easily gathered from the places
that supply them, and the rest may be obtained, it is hoped, by
an arrangement with the gentlemen who have had in hand the
scientific survey of the State, which was begun several years
ago, and which it is hard to believe the Legislature will abandon before it has been completed.
The Museum should be likewise a depository for the raore
excellent of the machines and farm implemeits, which have
eeen tried and approved by actual practice, together with a
collection of similar articles, from the most bungling to the




LEOTUflE B3Y A., S. WEL Ctf         1
best, whose purpose shall be to d.isplay to to he eye thes rogress.
of art in this particular. Ina a'ddition. to these, all the ltet inventiontsi, VwhicLh arer useful in prospect but as ye- t.ltri:.,,  7i,
naturally lcind place in this di.vsion. Implem nts, of  r - te er 
sort, too ltarge for tihe room -assigned Ltheor-, co7.ul. b' repraesnted by small.r models   aprep.arel d'f the p-urpo:S.  T- 1is, d oI-partmerit coldd be eat.ily filled by vol.Ut-t;ary contribut;tis fronm.
variois mlan-facturers and by indu. cng the ez hibtors at the
State Fair to give still greater publicity;o the premium a..ticles, by a furth.er e-xhibition at tits t' useum, i'-de-iltey con-.
tilued.
Another tortion of the t i useium I  houl d c,;nia.-st of sam.ple
varieties of wood, indi,(mctg-eno' - to  ici.citgan i  T -l.ese snmples,
might be cut in. to the lik,    voluess of alies,  o  aunifor  size,
nea.tly finished, la beled on ith. bac l, pid p-i,:' p ii lt ibL"ra.L style.
Such a liburary I once f  oulnd in t  i:. tera ti. co' olectico of the
Agriculturial Acaidemy at  11ohenheim, i.n t',he l c ingdom.' of MWurtemaberg. It presented, arranged upoi, st:e.lveI  re -It n er
of wooden torne;s,'whose titles indicaed the iffeint species
of valuabte ltime ber in which the foe't  i i:of C.::. -,-a)y'bound.
Each tonme, when e-x amined, was Tfoundto ope. n in;o1e entre,
revealing a cavit y within, whichn contained, g'ied io itsr sides,
the preserved leaf, flower and fruit of th  e tr  of wi'oos  wood
the toms w7as a sample, together with a short essy, in script,
on its qualities, culdatvtion ansd uses. Th'ese ligneous  oo-ls,
whose hlaves displayed no print^ed sientence, furniished, from
their very covers, a deal of informn tion on a topic of no little
importance. A collection of this kind is the more desirable,
because the time is comting, nay, has already come, when the
wealth of our forests should no longer be carelessly squandered; when a system of economy should be urged, in the preservation and judicious use of the valuable fuel and 1lumber,
now doomed, in many instances, to thoughtless and thriftless
destruction.
Again, the Miuseum must be made a depot fior seeds, which
shall be perfectly ripe, pure and h.ealthy. No part of the en



6-2           SL~EcTUfME BY A. S. mWELCH
terprise can be of greater moment to good husbandry than
this. Throughout the wide domain of organized nature, it is
an immutable law, that under favorable conditions, like produces like, even in the minutest particulars. Principles better
known and applied in the breeding of domestic animals, probably operate with equal precision, in the reproduction of varieties in the vegetable kingdom. Hence, the saving and planting
of seeds which are plump and perfect, are of vital consequence
to the coming crop. "The development of a plant," says Leibig, "depends upon its first radication, and the choice of
proper seeds is, therefore, of the highest importance to the future plant. Poor and sickly seeds will produce stunted plants,
which again, will yield seeds bearing in a great measure, the:same character."
If this be true, he who, by new combinations, produces an
improved variety, is a public benefactor; and he who secures
its wide distribution, earns a similar title. This Society may
properly participate in so benevolent a work, by opening, it
may be, an office in its Museum, for gathering and furnishing
widely to others, reliable or improved seeds for the grain crops,
or grasses, or esculent roots.
A feature of not inferior interest would be found in carefully
arranged specimens of wools from the flocks of our successful
wool-growers, specimens which should demonstrate the effect
of breeding upon the fineness and compactness of the fleece,
and no less attractive to the stock raisers in general, would be
the numerous engravings donated by the owners of sheep, cattle or horses, which have become known to fame by combining
in a superior degree, all the excellent qualities which spring
from purity of pedigree.
Another department likely to excite the enthusiasm of visitors, would consist of artificial models of all the finer varieties
of Mhichigan apples and pears, prepared by an inexpensive process lately invented, and so accurately finished and painted as
to be undistinguishable by the eye from the natural fruit..Specimens for models might be obtained, to some extent, from




LECTURE BY A.. S.WELCH.            63
the best samples shown at the State Fair, and by gratuitous
contributions from other sources. No part of the collection
would combine.so strikingly the beautiful and the useful as
this.
But the limited space allotted to a lecture warns me to forbear a complete enumeration of the classes of things which
would properly find place in an agricultural cabinet. I will
only add that our Museum ought to embrace prepared and
preserved specimens of all the smaller animals, which in this
latitude are harmful or helpful to the farmer. There is an
urgent necessity for a general onslaught to be made upon
those innumerable pests that, season after season, make such
alarming havoc with our crops of fruit and grain. There is a
necessity as urgent that all the quadrupeds and birds which
are naturally destructive to these noxious feeders, should be
carefully multiplied.
With every returning summer comes the resurrection of the
swarms of borers, curculios, weevils, worms, and the like, which
combine, in countless hosts, to rob the farmer of the earnings
of his toil. Particular families of these have of late generated
with such marvelous rapidity as to beget a well-grounded fear
that their numbers will result in the utter destruction of the
crops on which they feed. In some quarters this fear is already
realized. The locust, once valued for its enduring wood and
grateful shade, has yielded to millions of perforations, which
have well nigh reduced its limbs and trunk to dust. The plum
tree, which once offered its sure fruits, round, ripe and melting,
now casts them annually to the ground, blighted and worthless. In all manner of vegetable delicacies the worm is demanding to be served first. The time may come when no man can
taste an apple whose skin, unflecked and unstung, shall forbid
the apprehension that the first incision of the teeth will reveal
a slimy occupant. The time has already come when, to indulge
in the luxury of green peas, is to devour a host of unsavory
grubs, which are the progeny of a prolific weevil. These various destroyers, threatening such wide-spread evils, demand the




64                 LECTURE BY A, s. WELCOI.
wisest and most vigorous measures for their extermination.
Such measures can be founded only on an accurate knowledge
of their form, habits, metamorphoses anld modes of propagation, and more can: be, learned from a glance at these in their
difierent states than from an hour's application to the unaided
descriptions of a book.
But if the Museum  should present his enemies to the farmnr's eye, it should likewise present his friends, the insectivorous birds —should present them in s:tch guise, that he should
be made to appreciate the value of their friendship-that he
should perceive, indeed, that he who wantonly shoots a single
wood-pecker, gives life to thousands of injujrious insects that.
propagate in more than geometrical ratio.
I have thus, gentlemen of the Committee, endeavored to
gather within the compass of an hour, the prominent e.haracteristics of the three agencies which we may fitly use, in the
furtherance of our allotted enterprise. I attempted first, to
sketch the nature of this enterprise, to show how broad and
how benign it is, and how worthy to call forth all t-he energies
of this Association. I have taken la rapid survey of the'meriLt
and defects of the State Fair, showing' that the former are
great arnd striking, but not lasting in their effect, and that the
latter need to be remedied by counteracting influences outside
of itself. I have shown that one of these is the winter meeting, and that-its success depends on conditions that are easily
realized. I have shown that the other is the Agricultural
Miuseum; that in itself, it is an object deserving our heartiest
interest,; that it is a scheme appropriate to the known purposes
of this Society; that it is essential to the development of our
agricultural resources; that its material may be found within
the State; that it is no untried experiment, having been tested
and approved by societies older than ourIs, and that in itself
it will be the sure instrument of great and lasting good.
These views embody my honest convictions set forth after
much reflection, and you are to pronounce whether they be
genuine or no,




LECTURE BY A. S. WELCH.             65
I will only add in hasty conclusion, that tihe proposal for a
Museum was made by one under w hose administration the
Society reached its highest prosperity; one who has left a reputation for great business integrity and tact; one who had
broad views and quick sympathies with every effort to promote
the public good, and if this project, which he cherished to the
last, be unwise or hasty, it will stand in solitary contrast with
all the other purposes of his active and useful life.
94








LET C TU R iE
o0 THE
SOILS AND SUBSOILS OF MICHIGAN,
BY
PL:RO:F. A. WINCIHEILL,
Of the State University, Ann Arbor, Michigan
ANALYSIS.
I. The Connection of Human Condition and Progress with the Soil.
Illustrations to show how national and individual character are
determined by the soil.
II. The General Geology of Soils.
1. The basis of all soils and subsoils is disintegrated rocks.
2. Soils have existed at other periods of the world's history.
3. Drift agencies.
III. The Different Varieties of Soils in Michigan.
1. Sketch of the geology of the Lower Peninsula, with an account of
the soils derived from the various formations.
2. Physical characters of these soils.
3. Agricultural and sanitary properties of the three principal varieties of soils.
4. Peaty soils-their origin and properties.
5. Upland prairies-their origin and characteristics,
6. Sand dunes-their origin and effects.
IV. Influence of Human Agencies upon the Soil.
1. The destruction of the forests.
2. The drainage of swamps and lakes.
3. The creation and fixation of dunes.
V. The Excellence of the Soils of Michigan.
1. What they are capable of producing.
2. Reflex influence upon the population of the State.
3. Necessity of making greater efforts to develop our resources and
disseminate inoibrmation.




68             LECTURE BY PROJF. A,  W IN'iiCHELL.
GEnTuEen:     a,.' {j i:th,:e i-?osto;i...'.iad,of thle so il.'r'tom thle
day when he firees.iS 1o:. om;. I'          t e endJen<eI,'.he ditEraws
all his sste    e f.'iom'l-her e:rti:.      -' him the
grain -whi:i forims his breiad,, sipr;  t..e c,.sI whic
furnsl himi his mei,-t.  He learns to regad 4ih. soil as the
bountAeous'alnoner of Divine beeneficee, an~ d feels hilmself
growin-;g into intimate relationslhip) and unity with it. HIe appropriates it aid calls it his own. He reaches his 2arms around
broad acres, and they nurse him, and he fattens in proportion
to the nourishment they afford. Seeing that his life is perpetuated by the exuberant productiveness of the soil, no wonder
that nations have imagined their existence to originate in itautochthones, as the people of Attica thought themselves-or
have fabled a panoplied host, to spring up under the influence
of cultivation-as Cadmus, when about to found the city of
Thebes, sow       serpent's teeth, and raised a crop of fulli
armed warriors, ready for his service.
In a liternal sense national character is the growth of the
soil. The ancient Egyptians were an agricultural people because they dwelt upon a soil made affluent by the sediments of
the Nile. The Athenians were driven from their native country
by their sterile limestone hills, to seek the products of Egypt,
and Italy, and Sicily, and thus became a commercial people.
The scanty soil and rocl-encumbered slopes of the Alps make
herdsfmein  of the i- h ardy Swiss; while vineyards and gardens
glo7w with he irddy fatness wvhich bursts from the genial soils
of the Rhhenish,,'alley. New England hums with the whirl of
a million basy spindles, while the Great Vest rolls forth the
food for New England manufacturers, from her exhaustless
gra.aries of corln and'wheat. Massachusetts spins and weaves
the'wool to which Miichigan has given existence. The East
elaborates the material-the West creates the material, and
feeds both East aid West.
Not only is the character of peoples an outgrowth of their
soil, but the chsaraeter and condition of individuals also. Travel
across our country and mark the phases of human condition




LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL,           69
which greet the eye. The plain but healthy mountaineer contents himself in his rock-sheltered Imnt, from whence he and his
sons go forth in the morning to tend his herds of sheep and
cattle. At the foot of these mountain abodes lies the snuiling
plain, with it;s winding streams and sun-lit rneatdows, and dazzlhiig village walls. The fields are fat with grai n; the orchards
are redolent wit;h fruit; and the flush antd we-ll-fed farlur wvaits
upon the steps to welcome you to a place at his well spread
board. Buit the plain breaks into easy swelling idges; tIhe soil
becomes thin and- sandy; the tenacious subsoil retains the water
in the shallow depressions of the surface, and  on!y occasional
clearings in the piney forest, reveal the rude log cabin, upon the
steps of which, in place of the lusty fairmer, sits;he so-rry mastiff, contemplating the pigs and geese which his master's indigence and indolence have failed to fence out of his family
quarters. Again we penetrate a region diversified withl wooded,
fertile plains and rolling hills, whose heads are crowned with
the beech and maple and oak, always uttering such welcome
tidings of the goodness of the soil in which they have fastened
their roots. Sturdy and -aresColnate men have claiomed theiei acrres,
and. attaced these ancient forests. The,esisteince o0f the
timuber tJo the'.r e  croachmonts, makes thet'i. willing' to i ].mitL;
thaeir g"'asnp ct a few acrs oeac, tnd these are t.lle.c witih n tellihget a, n. pe.rsrvi.i sr. y.   taiste fl I',..w i;, cr(owns
each rising knoll, and liberal baras and well]-fieda crib  pr ocllatim thait plenty duwe!l. s -; vith the master of t[e-plem.i s s.j The
Yro;llig h.'ills anbita.t..  forest vane            the 
prairie sea, As far as the eye can reach, n.e o mo.ntai, P o hill
inteercepts t hn horizon; a li.mitless m eadow striei..e aS.'ounld us,
with its r-een undulations succeeding each other in the Cdim and
bliue perspective, like the1 heaving storm-swell of t e mtighty
ocea. HL eree is no forest to oppose the greed of ihe iun reflectin' fa,-,rmer. The excellence of th.e soil tempts his cupidity beyoind the bounds of' proprmiety, ndcl the till ag ie due to a hundred
acres he wastes upon a thousand. His corn-fields are weedy
and dank.; his wnleat n aintainsi,  an unequal con;flict with the ab



70              LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.
original vegetation. But munificent nature refuses to be shamed
by the failure which negligent farming deserves, and always returns a praiseworthy crop. Yet, where nature bestows what
man has been too indolent or too imprudent to deserve, she
still inflicts retaliation, by allowing him to smother his energies,
to waste his stern and virtuous manhood, and forfeit the sweets
of enjoying the award of conscious desert.
Thus, man everywhere assumes the character moulded for
him by the nature of the soil on which he lives. Rocks and
hills create good water power, but indifferent crops. They
turn the wheel of the artizan, while they wash away the resource of the farmer. The valley and the plain are the abode
of agriculture, because there nature has mixed her richest soils,
-and conserved them for the uses of man. If the plain, albeit,
be neglected by nature, sterility reigns unchallenged, and the
squalid, driveling, nerveless populations who content themselves with such inhospitable acres, excite the pity of their fellows, while they mirror the indigence of their fields.
If such is the connection between man and the soil. on which
he dwells, we are all concerned in the inquiries, whence comes
the soil? What are the soils on which our individuals and
public characters are growing? To what are they adapted?
Are they as good as could be desired? How shall we avail
ourselves of all their capabilities?
As to the origin of soils and subsoils-this is purely a geological problem; and geology has solved it neatly and conclusively. Ninety-five per cent. of all productive soils is mineral
matter. This has had a geological history; its annals are as
ancient as those of the granite hills. You may take a grain of
the sand which glistens in your soil and contemplate it. Here
is a little worn translucent particle of quartz. You may crush
it under your foot, or cast it upon the earth, forever beyond
the hope of re-discovery. This little particle of quartz existed
as you see it before Cesar conquered the Gauls-before the
stone implements were fashioned which we find among the
most ancient of the "Kjoekkenmoedding" of Denmark or




LECTURE BY PROF. A, WINCHELLt         71
Sweden-before Moses stood upon Mt. Sinai, or Adam fled
from the eye of offended justice. It has perhaps witnessed
half of the revolutions which the material globe has undergone
in the progress of its development. It has lain buried in the
midst of cubic yards of solid rock-it has been the sport of the
ocean's surges, and danced to and fro for ages upon a shore
that has ceased to exist-it has bleached upon the land, bathed
by the tears of Heaven, and smiling when again the Heavens
smiled upon it. Its fellows, by whose side it lay for numberless years, are far away to the north, glued together in a flinty
mountain mass. These innumerable grains of sand with which
it is keeping company are all strangers. They have met together only a few thousand years ago, and each is pining for
its familiar bedfellows.
There was a time when every atom of this shifting, mobile
sand was an element of the solid rock. The mighty agencies
which have moulded the world have struck them in fragments
from their parent masses, ground them between the mill-stones
of the ages, washed and assorted them in the sea, and strewn
them over continents for man to dwell upon.
That which is now the surface of the earth has not always
been its surface. Continents and islands have expanded themselves to the warmth of the sun, which became afterwards the
bed of the: sea. Sails which were clothed with the vegetation
of a former.age, have been sunken where a thousand feet of
ocean slime have accumulated upon them, which, in turn, has
been changed into a thousand feet of solid rock. Our vast
coal measures are but fossil "swamp lands,"-the vegetable
debris of a buried age.
But no soil has ever existed upon the surface of our planet
at all comparable in utility with that which enwraps the continents during the passing age of man. As the era was drawing
nigh when the consummation of the Creator's works was to
take place, some striking and unprecedented phenomena occurred. For the use and enjoyment of the human race-at
once the culmination of organic perfection and the recipient of




72              LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINOHELL.
snper-organic intelligence-a soil was to be prepared that
should possess all conceivable adaptations and perfections.
The continent was finished, and seemed only to await the advent of the superior being that was to possess it, and subdue
the brute natures that had roamed upon it at will. But frost
was destined yet to exercise a reign of inexorable rigor, and
the sea was permitted once more to career over mountains and
plains that had seemed rescued from his sway. The elevations
of the polar regions occasioned cold which clothed all the
southward slopes with fields of ice. As in the glaciers of the
Alps and Greenland, a gradual movement of these icy masses
resulted, as we believe, from the diurnal and annual variations
of temperature. The movement was necessarily southward.
The mighty load slid over hill and vale, and plowed the underlying rocks, and heaped up masses of rubbish composed of pebbles and sand and finer materials, which we now find strewn
from  the Arctic Sea to the Ohio river. This mighty power
astonishes us, both. wtith the magnitude of the rocky masses
which it has mnoved, and the unexpected distances which they
have traveled. Boulders weighing many tons have been borne
for hundrleds o:f miles. A rounded mass of jaspery com-glomerate on the UJniversity grounds at Ann Arbor, has traveled
from  the northern shore of Lake lHuron, though weigh-ing
nearly seven tons,,.The mines of Ylake Superior have exported thei  native copper into southerln I isconsin and  ichigan,
an.d even  o the - iddle of Ohio and Illinois.'h  ine
mass of the rvubbish which we call drift/) giveCs evidence, in
nearly every cs-e, t-han it ias beon'rnIsorete' toxwar  the
south. Its t;shiJ:ckness somti-resamounts mt'noniso i, 1tire- hu.lndred.
feet or morie.
The reTgn of ice being' psr, a g'eoEogical spring-time succeeded. The rouantain glacier yielded. o t the soft influence- of
the sun, andJ  a th.ousand rills issued from the bosom of the ice,
to wen d their way, in e-ver confluent and increasinsg streams to
the great Mex6ican gulf, which reached its long armn, northward
to the -motth of thfe Ohio, to receive the limp  gifts. Concur



LECTURE BY PROF. A, WINCHELL.         73
rent with these phenomena, the land began to sink. M1ile after
mile disappeared in the insatiate maw of the exultant sea till
America vas no more, and superior intelligences mourned that
the great and beneficient work which they had watched for so
many ages, was engulphed in ruin at the moment when it
seemed to have reached its completion. Omniscience felt no
such apprehension. Slowly the continent rose from its last
sea-burial. A.s the waters receded down the mountain slopes,
they lingered lovingly and dallied with the pebbles on the ever-reeceding bech.   e action of the awtaves, a th v  they traveled
over the la:d, assorted the drift mlaterials, and in every case
the lig.hter!particles, last dropped by the wavin-g strength of
the sutges, remained upon the surface, and concealed the
coarser tfragnmenl s from sight.
Thus was constitutaed the basis of our soils. No other soils
in the long history of the world ha-ve been founded upon a
preparation so vast and so complete. The great abundance of
superficial.ratterials has caused the rockss to lie for the most
part several feet beneath the surface. The depth of this subsoil secuares ~at least two i important advln ta.o  First the
droughts of summ er cannot dry out tie soil, fr capillry attreaction continually replen3is:es it fro1m beiow', Secol, we
have.an.a nexhaus t ibe store of th 6.sa'tina con-itl.,ents uf soils,
e'3 3. e to.1                            c ci t.e:wichi are perpeua]. lly d;:awnA to the sr  with t'.u -..'i.re.;
Awl:_hih1 ries  in obediience to cailr. r, at iot, and.; a:-e,e  posite
v,'o sh O.ldt n.L:ot overlook ~.;th benefits o  ta  igation o
I-ct~ ~.: i  ei3ta o airm  wasi t naked I;7,,8 i\ aa,2nd ba.rrsein:t.n Bef n   theo  o
the wa veo   s wicJ h.d l eft c.tfiner io nsit-e f l- e  s" Uace 
The s-lomw re'cession of th:)e sea m.oig'.ah have c,ased a feelion of
imptien::d:ice in the:mind of a..nite b.i.g, as its s,,4bmergaence
"would have otverwhe.lmed it in disappointment..::ut th.e very
delber,,ateneisso'o of the oer:-tion, is what se5-c ur  th execution
of the omniscienti purposeo
-The face of the earth  s naked and bare..   fo. e  the
reign of ice it had been clothed with veduro.ikO thbpat which
-r3 ~ ~  1




74              LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.
now adorns it under the same climatic conditions. I venture
the assertion that the germs of that preglacial vegetation were
stored away in the masses of drift which overwhlelmed it; and
that they retained their vitality unimpaired through all that
geological winter; and that when the regenerated continent
rose dripping from its last ablutions, those germs yielded to
The sweet invitations of summer warmth, and came forth in the
form of herb and shrub and tree, as in the beginning. They
grew and flowered, and went to decay, and their successive
crops, mingling their remains with the surface sands, constituted the soils which in this age, yield a supply for all the
natural wants of man.
What we have said pertains to the history of soils in generaL
Our own soils are formed from the remains of rocks which immediately underlie, or form the northern wall of our Peninsula
— the barrier which interposes between us and our Canadian
friends. Those constituents derived from the northern barriers have been uniformly distributed over the Peninsula; and
may be said to constitute the " constant quantity" in our soils.
Those constituents derived from the underlying rocks, or those
in the immediate neighborhood, introduce the variations, and.may be said to form the " variable quantities" in our soils.
The constant quantity is silicoargillaceous. It is derived
from those ancient rocks in which silica and alumina form the
main constituents, with limited quantities of lime, alkalies, iron
and manganese. These substances-silica and alumina-are
practically insoluble in cold water, and never disappear under
immersion in it. By far the greatest proportion of all these is
silica. The finest particles of this substance are the ever
present companions of the particles of alumina-insomuch that
what is usually denominated pure clay, is more than four-fifths
silica, in a minute state of subdivision. The fine impalpable
portions of the constant quantity have been to a great extent
sorted out from the arenaceous portions, and form beds of clay
-so called-sometimes occupying the surface, but generally
deeply seated in the drift materials. The arenaceous portions




LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.            75
of the constant quantity fortunately overstrew the entire surface, and prevent our soils fi o  acquiring that adhesiveness so
detrimental in highly argillaceous soils. These sandy particles
have been derived from lquartzites, granites, syenites and
gneissoid rocks, still remaining in place in the regions north
and south of Lake Superior, and north of Lake Huron.
The first thing worthy of notice in the soils of the Agricultural Peninsula of Michigan is the universal distribution of the
"drift" materials. We find very few naked patches of rock —
few areas with so thin a covering over the rock as to be in
danger of drying out during the rainless periods of the summer
months. The States of Louisiana and Florida, alone, present
so few outcrops of the rocky basis of the land. Should it have
happened that the geological structure concealed beneath this
cloak of drift presented any considerable complication, like that
of the mineral Peninsula, it would have been impossible to map
it out. As it is, none of the area is lost to agriculture; nearly
every acre of the land can be made a cultivated field.
The three leading varieties of soils in Michigan, as elsewhere,
are arenaceous or sandy, argillaceous or clayey, and calcareous
or limey. These varieties are created by the changing character
of the soil constituents which have a local origin. In the vicinity of limestone the soil assumes a calcareous quality, from the
destruction of the limestone rock. In the vicinity of sandstone strata the soil becomes arenaceous, and in regions underlaid by shales or slates, it assumes an argillaceous character
These principles being established, iT- is obvious that when
we have learned the character of the rocks underlying a given
region, we have a clue to the nature of the overlying soil; and
consequently of its timber and agricultural adaptations. The
distribution of the leading varieties of soil in the southern half
of the Peninsula, is well determined from observation, and is
found to corroborate the statement just made. The northern
half of the Peninsula is imperfectly known from direct observation. The geology of the coast region is tolerably well ascertained, but that of the interior is mostly a matter of inference.




76             LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.
Yet where strata have been so little disturbed, as those of the
Lower Peninsula of Aichigan, stratigraphical inferences may
be received wtvith considerable confidence. I venture the assertion, therefore, that I am able to set in my study and map out
the geographical limits of the leading varieties of soils in the
northern half of our Peninsula with greater precision than any
of our citizens have been able to acquire by direct observation.'The rocky subst ratuan of the Peninsula, is exremely simple.
The higest!R'laye:-rs of rock belong to the "' coal measures," and
occup-y thie central portion. The rocks belonging to the coal
nmeasur e, are of a mixed character, and consequently produce a soil of i.ttled uniforamity. Shales alternate with sandstones an, lcimied beds of limestone. A considerable mass of
sandstone, which I have styled the "''Woodville sandstone,"
overlies tb.he wrhole, and where it has not been denuded or
washed a i'vawy, it gives predominance to an armaceous quality
of soil.  n d-istricts where this sandstone is destroyed, the
mais of uncrl rying' shale, develops a plastic, arLgillaceous soil.
This, in som  instances, is dark colored, and in others, quite
li.ght-v'"ring, of course, with the color of the neighboring
hales.  sle so'il',n.d subsoil often contain s-reaks and fragtent — of coaly iimatr, which, in all ordinary cases, imp)ly an-'
otcrop, o r    r.pproximate outcrop, of coal 0at no great distanc e
towiaT rd 6, 7.uthe ort.  Th.c sI'g ht u-ndua.. ltations of o'ur strat a. b'riug
to the'fice,,t diff'r:ent, p;,oi'Lts, beds of rock occnpying dif.
fe.   posi..o.'... i:... series, even v'itho(u any variation in
O    1';OC't'      o G-"''h e'c1       ra': e..efor..:Topo.phTcal eleva.on. -TJe coal measmre, soils are, therefore,
very i.r.oeul'sly d tiS.'tr tet As e a g3oroup of soils, i7t mayr be.e.-i e:-t't' t:-y' e'Oe' SS a.im.ited surpl   of 1 lim; while th'i
C,.a7a.... f p -rites i7n the shals, intrioduers considera ble, uPTlpa, of, i.ron or co')pperas; and the presence of kidt. ley iroin
or, i1 th  sae,;and oIf ilron.-oy   in the  andtoes, inroduce: aI —.*l:-y:tan in'ma y? pa'stches of the soil.'Unde.rnoath -.:t — 1 mn, nass of coal measures is a bed of sandstone,
caile. d.1 the P.irrma soaldrrone, whose edges are exposed n. a bel
arounid'"te bo' eroa. of tho coal area. Jt is tahe "congilome



LECOTURE BY PIOF. A, WIN-_CHELL.      77
rate' of O  ]'io and ]Pennsylvania, and the " mlill-stone grit" of
the Elngoish ge'ologists. it is the rGes'eroirV oi tOhe b wine which
supplies the wells of Bay City anld vic init~. u it is well e xposed
in the ttowins`hip of Parma, in Jackson county, ai nd te+ince, tends
northwest through paIrs of Eaton, Barry, I.oni  anlid n ent
counties; and by inference, we trace it cthrough Lewaygo, Osceola, ioscorammoni l and Ogemaw counties, to -ite incorth side of
Saginaw bay. From Sandstone township, it tend-s in the opposite direction, east and northeast, through Washtenaw, Genesee and Tuscola counties, to the south side of Saginaw bay.
This rock, as a whole, is the whitest and cleanest sandstone in
the Lower Peninsula, and gives character to a gray, arenaceous
soil, entirely destitute of adhesive properties, except so far as
they have been introduced by the argillaceous element of the
northern drift.
Immediately underlying the Parma sandstone, we find the
carboniferous limestone, which may be traced fronm laewaygo
county, through Grand Rapids and Belle vue, to the middle of
Jackson county; and thence bending northeast and north,
makes its appearance in Huron county, and forms the islands
in Saginaw bay. Of its northern curve, we know little, except
that it outcrops in the vicinity of Higgin's and Houghtlon lakes,
in Boscommon county. This sheet of limestone is not more
than seventy feet in thickness, and does not play a conspicuous
part in the formation of our soils, except in the immediate vicinity of its outcrops. iMoreover, the lower porltion of the formiation-especially on the eastern side of the State —is highly
arenaceous, and the entire mass abounds in nodules and layers
cf chert or flint. its contributions to the soil are consequently
of a calcareo-silicious character, and forms no wel-marked
limits to the arenaceous soils of the Parma sandstone.
This limestone is superimposed upon the argillaceous strata
of the Michigan salt group-a formation     which becomes
greatly attenuated in the southern part of the Siate, but develops a thickness of 160 to 200 feet around its northern curve.
It is strongly marked in the western part of Kent county, and




78             LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.
thence to Muskegon and Oceana counties. Arching around
through Crawford, it strikes the eastern shore of Tawas Bay,
where the geological survey disclosed the existence of an immense deposit of gypsum, rivaling that in the same formation
at Grand Rapids. In the southern portion of the State the
tenuity of the formation gives it an unimportant place among
the sources of our soils; but toward the north it develops a
plastic subsoil, and a surface somewhat rugged from the unequal wearing of the pyritous and magnesian bands of limestone with which the shales are intersected. Besides the
immense beds of gypsum which this formation contains, many
of the shales themselves are gypsiferous; and it is consequently to be presumed that the soils derived from the formation are not wanting in the calcareous element.
Beneath this repose sandstones which give origin to the belt
of arenaceous and pine-covered soils stretching from the Au
Sauble, of Lake Huron, through Crawford and Kalkasca counties, to the Manistee. On the south side of Saginaw Bay they
constitute the cliffs at Point aux Barques, and underlie the
ridge of land extending thence through Huron, Sanilac, Oakland and Washtenaw, to Hillsdale county, whence the outcrop
tends through Calhoun and. Allegan to Grand Haven. These
are the Napoleon and Marshall sandstones-the reservoir of
the brine which supplies the wells at East Saginaw and vicinity.
These sandstones are generally much stained with oxyd of iron,
though locally of a pale buff color-as at the typical locality,
Napoleon, in Jackson county. They impress a positive character upon the soils of the region which they underlie. The
warm and porous soils of the northern part of Lenawee county
are derived from these strata-as well as those of Oakland and
Macomb on the one hand, and those of Calhoun, Kalamazoo,
Allegan and Ottawa on the other. The sandy and somewhat
sterile belt of country reputed to exist in the region regarded
as overlying the northern trend of these rocks has undoubtedly been misrepresented. The characters discovered in the
immediate vicinity of the lake shores have erroneously been




LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINOHELL.         79.
imagined to stretch across the State. Every geological indication assigns to the country in question a soil similar to that of
Oakland and Hillsdale counties. The exceptions are only of
limited extent.
An immense deposit of argillaceous strata-called the Huron
group-rests still beneath the Marshall sandstone, embracing
the well known black slate of Thunder Bay and Kettle Point..
Its northern trend is from Thunder Bay, through Otsego, Antrim and Leelanaw counties. On the south it affords the characteristic clayey soils of Allegan, Yan Buren, Kalamazoo nad
Branch, reaching even beyond the limits of the State, and
curving north again through Lenawee and Wayne. The topography of this belt of country is level and moderately low.
The subsoil is always a bluish or blackish, or sometimes a
whitish plastic clay-often with disseminated pebbles-and the
soil, though generally with intermingled sand, is for the most
part tenacious, late to dry out, and quick to feel the effects of
dry weather. The abundance of kidney iron ore in the shoals
fill the soil with the ferruginous matter, which, after solution,
enters into new arrangements in the form of bog ore, shot ore
and ochre. This is the only strictly argillaceous belt of the
State.
Lastly, we reach the limestone strata, which afford the only
well marked calcareous soils of the Peninsula. The carniferous limestone occupies Monroe county, and passing thence
by two courses into Ohio and Canada, it reappears on the north
side of Thunder bay, and underlies all the region thence to
Mackinac. It forms the bulk of Mackinac, Bois Blanc and
Round islands, as well as the Manitou islands of Lake Michigan. It is immediately underlaid by the Onondaga and Niagara limestones, the first of which belongs to the lowest salt
formation of the State-and which supplies the well at Port
Austin, in Huron county. This series of limestones presents a
mass of considerable thickness, and gives a marked character
to the soil of all the northern region of the Peninsula, and all
the islands to the east and west of \ ackinac, in the two lakes,,




80               LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCEHELL
The soil of this northern limestone region is similar to that of
Ohio and Indiana, in the neighborhood of the line separating
the two States, and throughout the region stretching east to
Sandusky and Columbus. It is a dark, strong soil, and produces excellent crops, as I have been able to observe upon
Drummond's and Bois Blanc islands, as well as upon the main
land.
Of the physical characters of the three varieties of soils to
which I have thus far alluded, little needs to be said on this
occasion. The subject is treated in every text book of agriculture. The arenaceous soil warms most rapidly under the solar
influence, and retains its heat the longest. The argillaceous soil
is lowest in caloric susceptibilities.  On the other hand, the last:is most retentive of moisture, and the arenaceous the least so.
At the same time the arenaceous soil suffers less from drought,
because, being so porous, it draws water-so to speak-from
the deeper portions of the subsoil. The arenaceous and calcareous soils are easiest to work, but they have the disadvantage
of being most easily washed away. Indeed the leaching of
arenaceous soils, where e e surface is broken, renders it necessary to make more frequent application of restoratives than is
necessary in. either a calcareous or argillaceous soil. An arenaceous soil is best adapted to a climate subject to extreme
vicissitudes of wet and dryness. It is also suited to northern
latitudes, from its power of receiving and retaining caloric. I
have seen corn averaging twelve inches in h.eigh in the northern part of Letawee county, on the sam7e (daty t'hatj its mean
height on the stiffer soils of Washtenaw -was but six inches.
For the samo reason, crops aSre more forlward at Bay City in
July than they are in Wayne.
Not more is necessary to be said of the aogricultiural adaptations anc capabilities of theseg three leading varieties of soil.
It is well known that pine timber loves a silicious soil, while the
sugarl-maple is pzarticularly fond of a calcareous one, and the.beech and. o0ak and hickory flourish upo: both a calcareous and.an argillaceous one. Pine covered soils have a reputation for




LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.          81
barrenness. This, to some extent, is merited; but in many
cases, the stigma belongs to the stagnant water which broods
over an impervious subsoil. I have little doubt, as already intimated, that the pine covered belt, stretching across the Lower
Peninsula will, at some future day, present as strong attractions
for the farmer as the best lands of Shiawassee or Ingham.
In point of salubrity, it is supposed that arenaceous soils sur
pass the calcareous. It has been observed that epidemics rage
most violently in districts supplied with strong limestone -water
This subject was investigated at the time of the last visitation
of cholera, and the suffering of Sandusky City is supposed to
afford an illustration of the proposition. In many portions of
Mississippi and Alabama, underlaid by cretaceous limestone,
the water obtained from wells excavated in it, is unfit for domestic use, and cisterns are, employed instead. Our old military
post at St. Stephens, on the Tombigbee river, was abandoned
in consequence of the insalubrity of the water afforded by the
tertiary limestone of the locality. It seems reasonable, however, to believe that the noxious qualities of certain limestone
waters do not establish an invariable rule. At Huntsville, in
Alabama, the city is supplied by a wonderful stream of pure
water, gushing out from a bed of limestone. Chemically speaking, it cannot be doubted that streams percolating through
arenaceous strata, imbibe fewer impurities than any others.
I have thus far spoken of soils which have their origin in the
general geological structure of the Peninsula. There are others,
of more limited distribution, which have had a more local origin.
The first to be mentioned are the s" swamp lands." These generally possess a soil containing a surplus of vegetable matter in
a state of partial decomposition. There are indeed swampy
lands of an argillaceous character; and wet lands whose surface soil is even sandy, as is the case with some spruce and
cedar covered soils already alluded to. Still, most of our
swamp lands are depositories of vegetable acids, and I shall
embrace in my account of them, all our accumulations of peat




82              LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.
and muck. All these beds.are intimately connected with the
geological history of our Peninsula. They are the connecting
links between the present and the past.
I have already called to mind the grand events which accompanied the last great revolution of the globe. We have seen,
in imagination, the world emerging in a resurrection from its
grave of waters. The waves have glided down the shoulders
and sides of the continent until she sat with her feet only bathing in the sea. Bat the surface of the land was covered with
inequalities, and thousands of little depressions held their lakelets of water prisoners in their arms. So the land was at first
dotted with thousands of little inland seas. But the clouds
cast their burdens of fresh water upon land and sea, and every
little pool, raised to the brinkof its bounding barriers, poured
its salt.libations on the land, or sent them on their journeys,
over a thousand laughing rills and brooklets to the mother seas
All save a few, some residual pools left by the retreating ocean,
were environed by walls so high that, with all the reinforcements of the clouds, their waters could never scale them. They
have never given out their brine-and to this day, their saltness remains. Indeed, since precipitation, in these later ages,
has not kept pace with evaporation, these inland cauldrons of
brine have even become concentrated, and in some cases have
precipitated their salt upon the bottom. These are our "a salt
lakes."
But by far the greater portion of those residual seas found
passage-way to the wide ocean. From year to year unnumbered streams transported their saltness to the briny ocean,
while the clouds returned them only fresh waters. As the result of this unequal exchange, they lost their saltness, and became lakes. How, let me ask, did their stock of fresh water
fishes and molluscs come to take the place of the marine animals which must have been entrapped at the epoch of the receding ocean? And how did it happen that the sawne species
should exist in a hundred different lakelets, separated by bar



LECTURE BY PROB'. A. WINCHELL.         83
riers impassable to aquatic breathers? These nutlets are dropped for your mastication.
We follow the history of our lakelets. For ages they received and swallowed up the leachings of the surrounding hills,
and their highly calcareous waters precipitated by degrees a
bed of fine calcareous mud. To this were added the dead
shells of myriads of little molluscs that flourished upon the
lime held by the waters. The bottom of each lakelet became a
bed of marl. But all around the margins of the lakelet the
grasses and sedges were. vieing with each other in venturing
into the water. The amphibious rushes put them both to
shame by raising their dirty heads straight through the slime
of the lakelet's bottom. And there they stood-the rushes up
to their knees in water, and the sedges and grasses scarcely
over shoe. And every leaf and stem which fell upon the water
or found its way to the shore, became entangled in the herbage, and lay down and rotted there; and the rush, and the
sedge and grass, when November came, bowed their heads in
his presence, and wrapped themselves in the cerements that
had gathered around them. And thus a soft bed of vegetable
mould fringed the lakelet, and overlapped the deposit of marl
which was growing beneath the water. From year to year, as
the water shallowed about the margins, encroaching vegetation
crowded further and further toward the centre of the lakelet.
I have not seen the beginning of this process; but at that period of time in which I have been permitted' to begin my observations, I find these changes in progress. The little herb
standing by the water's brink this year, dies and forms a deposit exactly like that which was formed the year before my
eyes or any human eyes detected the character of these vicissitudes; and my logic compels me to reason from that which I
have seen to that hich no man has seen. Andc so, I may add,
of the changes upon the ocean's shore, until the facts of the
passing world are made to illuminate the dark and mysterious
chambers of the fossil realm.
Reasoning thus, we are forced to the conviction that many of




84              LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINOHELL.
the ancient lakelets have become completely filled. Others;
are only half filled-others have had the work completed even
" within the memory of the oldest inhabitant."  What then results on the filling of the lakelet? A marsh-a bed of muck
or peat underlaid by a deposit of marl. But the progress is.
not at an end even when the lake is filled. The surrounding
hills still continue to afford lime-yielding water which saturates
the muck and deposits its lime; while vegetation still pays its
annual tribute to the accumulating stores, till the solid material becomes sufficient to exclude the excess of water. Man
then steps in, robs the soil of its marsh grass, and materially
retards the process of desiccation, unless he compensates for
the robbing by draining off the stagnant water.
Such is the origin of our swamps. Their constitution is such
that in agricultural wealth they exceed the most favored up —
lands. They are immense stores of vegetable nourishment for
which the barren hills are groaning. It is evident, however,
that for immediate use such soils have little value. They are.
wet and sour-two vices which can generally be reformed.
For the first, drainage and sunlight are the remedy; for the
second we must administer an antacid-a remedy most abundant in nature's pharmacopoeia; and in this instance brought
literally to our hands in the shape of marl. A further beneficial treatment, as you all know, is to plow up the peaty soil,
and leave it exposed to the action of frosts and atmospheric
air. But this is not the occasion for the common places of
agriculture.
There is another variety of soil, intimately related to the
peaty, both in its origin and its constitution. This is the upland prairie. This soil is characterized also by its abundance
of vegetable matter, existing, however, in a state of complete
decomposition, and being already in the form of plant food.
Prairie soils are the'sediment of a greater lake which has,
spread its waters over rolling regions capable of draining themselves when the waters receded. Our Peninsula contains but
little upland prairie, and that seems to be restricted to the




LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.          85,south-western portion of the State. Our prairies are mere appendages or outliers of the vast prairie region of Illinois. I
have elsewhere discussed the origin of the prairies, and have,
in this address, already alluded to the agencies concerned in
their formation. They are also connected with the last grand
cataclysm of the globe. At the time when a thousand little
lakes first began to nestle upon the undulating bosom of our
fair Peninsula, the great lakes-giants even at their birthstood a hundred feet higher than we behold them. We have
the proofs of this, but they belong to science. When Lake
Michigan was twenty-seven feet higher than at present, its waters flowed over the dividing ridge into the Des Plains and Illinois. When it stood one hundred feet above its present level, it
submerged the entire region now covered by the prairies-except perhaps an occasional knoll which stood a grand island in
the midst of the waters. Lacustrine sediments accumulated
then as now-dark, slimy and abounding in the remains of
lacustrine shells. When by the removal of barriers, or the elevation of the land, the waters of the lakes were drawn off to
their present level, the lake bottom  was left a naked, slimy
waste, exposed to those solar and atmospheric influences, which
develop the germs of vegetation wherever they exist, upon the
gravelly knolls of the drift materials, the seed stored up from
the reign of ice sent forth herb and shrub and tree-if, indeed,
these were not all in possession of the soil while yet it was an
island in the lake. But where the great lake bad rested, the
storehouse of seeds had become buried beneath a load of lacustrine slime; and the appearance of vegetation had to await the
gradual introduction of seeds from  without, through the slow
agency of birds and winds and waters. But none of these
agencies would transport the heavier seeds; and hence the
grasses and other herbs first gained possession of the soil-and'having gained it, they held it, aided, perhaps by the Indian,
against the encroachments of the forest. And that is the reason why the prairies are treeless.
Still another condition of the terrestrial surface, presents it



86             LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.
self to the eye of the student of physical revolutions. I refer
to the dune sands which border a considerable portion of the
great lakes, especially the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.
These sands are washed up by the waves, from the rocky outcrops in the bottom of the lake. The Marshall and Napoleon
sandstones already alluded to, underlie some of the eastern
portion of Lake Michigan, and of course, constitute an abundant source of shore sands; moreover, the Huron group of
shales extends under two-thirds the length of that lake; and,
as all shales contain a large per centage of sand, these, also,
give rise to an additional supply. Nor is this all: few limestones are so pure as to supply, on solution, an inconsiderable
amount of silica; and we find, accordingly, that upon those
shores of Lakes Huron and Michigan, which are backed by a
limestone region, the sands are nevertheless abundant.
The action of storms throws these sands above the mean level
of the water, and when the calm succeeds, the sand dries, and'
the prevailing winds impel the particles, by a kind of hopping
motion, toward the interior. This is especially the case along
the eastern shores of Lake Michigan and Saginaw Bay. It is
ascertained by careful observation that the wind is unable to
raise the particles of sand over a barrier presenting a perpendicular face; but where nothing prevents, it will roll them up an
inclined plane to an indefinite height. Consequently, the hills
of dry sand, soon accumulated, grow higher and higher; or the
materials of which they are composed, continually move forward under the impulse of the winds, until gardens, fences,
farms and dwellings are buried beneath it, and a fertile region
changed to an inhabitable desert. These sands, while in a condition liable to be sifted by every wind, possess, of course, no
agricultural value. There are, however, certain grasses and
trees which will root in such a soil; and where land is scarce,
they may be made to return some compensation for the trouble
of planting and cultivation. I shall presently allude to this
subject in another connection.




LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.          87
Another point of view from which the soils of Michigan present themselves to our consideration, is the influence of human
agencies upon them. Man possesses the power to leave the
impress of his energies upon the face of nature. To a certain
extent he controls nature. Not only are the beasts of the wilderness and the trees of the forest subject to his dominion, but
inorganic matter is made to yield to his convenience or caprice.
His labors change the aspect of the globe; modify its climate;
temper or aggravate its storms; and infect or disinfect the atmosphere of wide regions. Old rivers are made to flow in new
channels; and new rivers are led for hundreds of miles, up hill
and down, in obedience to the behests of commerce. Lakes
are drained, marshes are desiccated, the ocean is restrained in
his mad encroachments upon the shore, and populous lands are
transformed into voiceless wastes, by letting loose the pilgrim
sands upon a leeward coast.
The earliest and most pervading agency exerted by man in
the modification of the soils of the Peninsula, is the destruction
of the forests. Forests are the garments of the soil. They
protect it equally from excessive cold and excessive heat. They
shelter the snows from the drifting power of the wind, and are
thus enabled to await the lapse of the rigorous season of winter,
with their feet wrapped in a fleecy blanket. Every autumn
they pay back to the soil, with interest, all that the soil has expended upon them. They fend off the burning rays of the
summer sun, and restrain the fervor of the atmosphere. They
shield the soil from evaporative influences, and maintain an
equable degree of humidity. On sloping surfaces they bind
together the soil, and resist the denudation of torrents.
All these conditions and results are changed when the forest
is removed. The sweeping blast of winter strikes the earth
with the fury of an invisible demon-drives off the natural
covering of the soil, and exposes the stems and roots of vegetation to an unwonted, and often insufferable trial. The circumstances of spring-time are changed. The soil feels every
slight fluctuation of temperature-freezing by night and thaw



88             LEC'URE BY PROF. A. WINOHELL.
ing by day-instead of reposing in peaceful shelter under its
coat of snow till the advancing season is able to guarantee a
vegetative degree of warmth. And then, when summer comes,
the burning sun rapidly drinks up the moisture of the soil, and
the whole air becomes torrid and dry. Instead of a regular
humidity and gentle rains, the agency of man has substituted
alternating thirst and floods. And on hill-slopes, where the
natural ligatures of the soil have been removed, sudden torrents
wash it away and score the earth with ugly and even aggravated
gorges and ravines. A most striking example of the effects of
clearing a fine and incoherent soil, is seen in the rear of Vicksburg, where ever-recurring torrents have gnawed the hillsides
into most unsightly shapes; and whole plantations have been
borne into the Big Black and the Mississippi, to navigate their
way to the Balize. Similar in kind are the effects upon the
gravelly hillsides of our own Peninsula. It is not cropping
that deteriorates their soils so much as the action of torrents
in transporting the fine alluvial particles to lower levels. In
the fine and friable soils of the Gulf States, I have seen thousands of acres completely ruined by precisely such an agency
as is at work in Michigan, under the disadvantage of a more
gravelly and a more coherent soil.
Such results should be foreseen and provided against. It
should at least be required that all abandoned soils subject to
wash should be planted to trees, which will eventually restore
the surface to its primitive condition, and compensate, to some
extent, for the fearful destruction of the native forest which our
citizens are perpetually waging. If this matter is overlooked
we shall eventually reach the condition of some of the older
countries of Europe-fields washed away-villages desertedpopulation on the wane —and authorities anxious about the
diminishing revenues.
Next in importance among the agencies which man exerts in
modifying the soil, may be mentioned the systematic drainage
of swamps and lakes. The mere clearing of the forest and consequent drying of the atmosphere must contribute greatly to




LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.        89
the promotion of these results. But ditching and pumping are
the direct means by which most is accomplished. It is almost
incredible what physical changes are produced in a soil by
simple ditching —even where such ditch has no outlet. The
swamp is transformed into an upland prairie. The aspect of
the vegetation is changed. The oxydation of thle organic substances in the soil is rapidly completed, and that which was refuse land becomes the garden of the estate. I need not dwell
here upon the utility of ditching, nor the changes which it induces in the soil. There is one idea, however, in connection
with drainage, to which allusion may be made, and that is the
drainage of lakes. In not a few instances which I have observed, the ditching which would drain a marsh occupying the
site of a lake, would equally drain the lake, and thus anticipate
the results of perhaps a hundred years of geological progress.
When our population becomes more dense, and land proportionally enhanced in value, enterprise will not permit the thousands of little lakelets to nestle undisturbed upon the richest
soils of the State. It has been estimated that there are in the
Southern third of our Peninsula 1,425 of these lakelets, covering 228,000 acres of the surface. Some of the enterprise, and
some of the urgency, which undertook the drainage of Haarlem
lake by steam pumps, will eventually be brought to bear in
some of our Michigan lakes.'The lake of Haarlem was a body
of water fifteen miles in length and seven miles wide, and covered an area of 45,000 acres, and was exhausted by the action
of three of the most powerful steam pumps ever constructed,
working continuously for five years. It is not imagined that
any such costly methods of drainage will ever be feasible in the
United States; but it is apparent that if the Netherlands could
engage in drainage on such a scale, Michigan might find it an
object to diminish somewhat the 600,000 acres of water surface
formed by our small lakes, if it can be done by the digging of
a few ditches. The whole prairie region of Illinois, it will be
remembered, is but the bottom of an ancient lake, and the fer



90             LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL
tile valley of the lower Mississippi possesses a soil of a similar
sedimentary character.
A striking example of the results of human agency is seen
in the growth and movement of the dunes; and there are few
cases in which the reparative interference of human power is
more urgently or more immediately demanded. Just at present, little inconvenience is felt from the encroachments of the
moving sands; but the evil is in its infancy; and if not provided
against, will reduce to barrenness thousands of acres of the
finest lands lying along the western border of the Peninsula.
The moveable dunes are the creation of civilization. While the
forests stood, the winds were deprived of the power to drift the
sands far beyond the immediate coast line. They both sheltered
the soil and bound it with their roots. The destruction of the
forest opened a broad highway for the travels of the sand.
Already we see the dunes encroaching seriously upon the most
costly improvements; and the time is coming when their march
will force itself upon our earnest attention.
The history and present condition of Western Europe teaches
us the tendency of the physical conditions existing upon a duneproducing coast.'In Denmark and the adjacent Duchies, in
Western Prussia, in the Netherlands and in France, the encroachments of the dunes have for years excited the most serious alarm; and the most energetic measures have been adopted
in all these countries to check the progress of the invasion, and
as far as possible, repair its devastations. The fixation of the
drifting sands, like the protection and restoration of the forests,
has been taken in charge by the governments of these countries;
systematic experiments have been instituted; scientific commissions and standing bureaus have been charged with the duty
of devising means to combat this enemy of the soil; and an
abundant special literature has sprung into existence as the result of these public and private efforts. It is not our purpose
to recapitulate, at the present time, the amount of destruction
caused by the dunes of Western Europe, nor the measures that
have been adopted for their fixation. Having directed atten



LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.        91
tion to the subject, I shall leave it, with two or three additional
remarks. The progress of the dunes, though slow-amounting in Denmark to only thirteen and one-half feet a year-is a
steady and certain progress; and in the course of years, has resulted in the inundation of hundreds of thousands of acres of
soil. The principal means relied on in Europe for the fixation
of the sands is the planting of them with certain grasses and
trees adapted to the situation. A favorite grass is Arundo
arenana-a species which already flourishes spontaneously on
the sandy beaches of our great lakes. When the sands have
been partially fixed by the grass, the dunes may be planted
with trees. In the cold climate of Denmark, the hardy pines,
as well as the birch and other northern trees, are found to
flourish well, and to yield some profit. So far as we can judge,
the pitch pine, often but improperly styled the "Norway pine,"
(Pinus resinosa,) would flourish well in our State upon the
dunes, as well as some of our oaks, birches and poplars, and
especially the common locust. Some recent developments,
however, prove that the very best tree for binding dune sands,
and one at the same time extremely tolerant of heat and cold,
dryness and moisture, is the Japan Varnish Tree-Ailanthus
glandulosa. The planting of this tree upon some of our dunes,
in connection with the Arundo arenana, is an experiment well
worth the trial.
We come now to contemplate the soil of our adopted State
in another light. If I indulge a little of that feeling of complacence with which Americans have been reproached, you will
be predisposed to pardon it. I say it intelligently-I say it
with emphasis-ours is a State in which to be content-a State
of which we may boast. I have traveledover the length and
breadth of our country, from British America to the Gulf, and
from beyond the Mississippi to Cape Cod. I have sojourned
in nearly half the States of the Union; and yet I never return
to our Peninsula State-the Denmark of America —without
feeling prompted to utter the exclamation "Michigan, my Michigan I" With a climate infinitely more bracing than that which




92             LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.
debilitates the swarthy and bilious son of the South, it is yet
more temperate than that of other States upon the same parallels. Our soils afford us every variety of crops which flourish
in the temperate zone. There is no State which yields better
returns of the cereals; and maize is almost equally sure. In
regard to fruits it would seem as if Pomona herself had select-ed Michigan for her chosen abode. I am proud to travel over;the north-west and hear the acknowledgment made that for
their fine apples they are indebted to Michigan. The same is
true of strawberries and other smaller fruits. Behold how nature herself has selected Michigan as the field for the perfection of some of her wild fruits. The raspberry of Michigan
enjoys a fame wider than the Continent; and half of the northwest is supplied with our huckleberries and cranberries. And
speaking of wild fruits, in the culture of which nature has led
the way and set us the example, it certainly is meet that we
give due consideration to the nuts of the hickory, black-walnut
and butternut. Of all the nuts produced in America, the
-chestnut and pecan alone, are wanting in Michigan, and the
former even, is not entirely unknown. The grape has not yet
become a staple article of production; but where the peach will
flourish the vine may be successfully reared. Next, in regard
to pasturage and hay, I believe no.other State can come into
competition — other States may export more, and may even produce more; but let it be remembered that the greater part of
our State is still under the shade of "the forest primeval."
Our stock is unsurpassed. Our horses, I am pleased to learn,
are in prime request among cavalry officers. And as a woolproducing State —a character depending on the qualities of the
soil —Michigan stands high, with a fair prospect of soon standing preeminent. In the production of maple sugar, moreover,
bounteous nature has furnished us with a resource which makes
us comparatively independent of cane growing regions.
Unite these qualities of the soil which reward our labor with
so abundant a fruitage, with the possession of all that mineral
wealth which science and capital have brought to light, and




LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINOHELL.         93
which we have good evidence lies still undiscovered, and where
is the State that can present equal attractions for capital or for
labor? But, though foreign from my subject, I will take the
liberty to say that our educational institutions are the crowning
glory of our State-the creation of the people who own and
till the soil —the product of the wisdom and sagacity of those
able legislators who have passed, or are rapidly passing from
the stage of active life. It is generally admitted, and cannot,
therefore, be regarded as invidious, to state that our system of
education is superior in its plan, and espe'cially in its workings,
to that of any other western State. Our schools are superior
even to those of New England-if we except a few in the
larger eastern cities. It is a matter of personal observation"
with me, that we exact better qualifications in our primary and.
Union school teachers than are required in Connecticut and
most parts of New England and New York. New England
teachers make many failures in Michigan. I am sure you
will pardon me if I give public utterance to a sentiment which
is in every heart, that a great degree of the success which our
educational system has achieved, in its actual working, is due
to the efficiency of the Normal School, and the faithful and enlightened labors of that public officer who has been at the head
of the system during the past six years.
But I have not yet said all. This exuberant soil —this material wealth —these wise laws and excellent institutions, impress
a character upon our population. Michigan is not the asylum
for indolence and vice. Those only are tempted within her
borders who can bring honesty and industry along with them.
Such labor, and are rewarded. They acquire honest wealth,
and are content. This is no boast. The fact was unsuspected
by me, until travel and observation forced it upon my attention. How do Michigan soldiers compare in physical, moral
and mental character, with those of other States? I am happy
to have some direct testimony on the subject from high authority. Major General Butterfield declared to me, last winter,
of his own accord, that no State save Massachusetts, sent to,




94              LECTURE BY PROF. B.. VINOCHELL.
the field such men as Michigan. I have the same testimony
from General Slocum and numerous inferior officers. Straws
will show the moral status and breeding of a people, as well as
the direction of the wind. Illinois and Indiana are blessed
with a milder climate than Michigan, and the prairies of the
former have caused her to be styled the garden of the west.
But who can travel by the public conveyances in those States,
without being struck by the difference in the regulations required to secure propriety of conduct among the passengers?
On our Michigan roads, ladies and gentlemen universally occupy the same cars; and no lover of the cigar thinks of puffing his smoke in the face of fifty fellow passengers. But in the
States referred to, all this is changed. I step to the door of a
car and propose to enter, but a low bred employe pushes me
back, with the remark, "Ladies Car." Some dirty Bridget,
with her bundle, follows me, and the door flies open. I go
away convinced more than ever, that "there is no accounting
for tastes," and find a seat in the midst of tobacco smoke and
its kindred filth, without ever being able to ascertain why I am
not entitled to as pure air and as clean a floor as Bridget. In
Michigan the soldier rides in the same car with other peopleladies as well as gentlemen. In Illinois, he is not only thrust
out of the "ladies' car," but the gentlemen's car also. He is
demoralized —if not demoralized before —by this sentence
passed upon his respectability. It is greatly to be feared, however, that there is a measure of justice in the sentence. These
are small things, but they are indexes of public and private
character.
I return again to my adopted State, and exclaim with greater
unction than ever, " Michigan, my Michigan! " Here certainly
is a title to the honorable appellation "the garden of the
West." A garden is constituted by a variety of crops growing
upon a good soil well tilled. What State can prefer a claim
paramount to ours? I insist upon it that our Peninsula is the
garden of the West. It produces the greatest variety of crops,.cultivated by the greatest amount and variety of intelligent la



LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.          95
bor, and exports its products to the farming regions of surrounding States. But why has not this title to preeminence
been recognized? Ohio and Indiana, and more especially the
bald and dreary prairies of Illinois have been preferred, while
Michigan has been reproached as the land of swamps, lying
far away to the north, where ague sat brooding over a nest of
human ills on every quarter section. Even Wisconsin and
Minnesota attract the foreign emigrant beyond the "pleasant
Peninsula;" and we stand by, permitting them to pass, as if it
were the ordination of heaven. I assure you that this is all
wrong, and it is all needless. Let our resources be what they
may, they are valueless without labor. What we most want is
men. In the truly practical language of the Governor, in his
message,' we must have settlers." Our beautiful State, which
has already taken so high a position amongst her sisters, and
has sent over 80,000 brave volunteers to the army, is still, in
the main, a wilderness. Let us have settlers to fell the forest
and develop the soil, and we shall soon occupy the very first
rank in all that constitutes a great and prosperous State. We
must lend a helping hand to every judicious effort to open the
interior to travel, and connect it with the business marts. We
positively need two or three railroads through the northern
wilderness. Especially do we need a road connecting the Saginaw Valley with the Grand Traverse basin, and another running through Mackinac and connecting with the Grand Trunk
toad on the east, and a northern Pacific road on the west.
Still more do we need to adopt a more enlightened policy in
lending public aid to the development of our resources, and in
publishing to the world more abundant information in reference to our topography, soils and other material resources.
Again I am glad to be in unison with the Governor in his late
message, as well as my esteemed predecessor, who addressed
you on Tuesday evening, and entered more at length upon
specific recommendations. No investment has ever paid the
State better than the half-finished surveys she has made of her
natural resources. Let them be completed. Let the truth only




96              LECTURE BY PROF. A. WINCHELL.
be known, and widely known, and we shall see men flocking to
our borders from the four quarters of the world. Numbers
and accumulated wealth will yield us additional power and
consequence, and our prosperity will multiply in an increasing
ratio.
It must be confessed that a little want of public spirit and
private enterprise manifests itself among our citizens. The
government itself, save in our earlier history, has been eminently conservative. Our own dullness has left open the door
for foreign and non-resident adventurers; and they are to-day
reaping harvests which more enlightened statesmanship and
more private enterprise would have secured to our own citizens.
I speak with knowledge of what I say, when I allude to the opportunities already sacrificed to the stupid genius of conservatism, and notify you that non-residents are coining millions
from your domain, and bearing it out of the State. Let this
reproach cease to exist. If we are true to our own interests,
we shall attract the admiration of the world, not less by our
business sagacity and broad based public spirit, than by the
wisdom of our laws, the genius of our institutions, the wealth
of our mineral resources, and the unsurpassed excellence of our
soils.
Ann Arbor, Michigan, Jan. 6, 1865.