MICHIGAN.

TROY, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN,

November 20, 1851.

SIR: Your Circular of August, 1851, has been forwarded to me by Hon. K. S. Bingham. I desire to add my mite to the mass of valuable information collected in your excellent Agricultural Report.

Agriculture has been my study and employment for a number of years. I emigrated to Michigan 30 years since, when it was a wilderness, and have continued in the same employment, on the same farm, since that period.

The staple productions of this county, and of the whole State, are wheat and wool, and beside these are the various articles adapted to the climate and soil.

The true policy of a good farmer is to cultivate a proportion of all the different and various crops, and to rear a portion of the different animals well calculated for the climate in which he resides.

Wheat.-Oakland county is appropriately named-three-fourths of the land in the county being oak openings; the soil is impregnated with lime, and well adapted to wheat. One-fourth of the county is heavily wooded land, covered with linden, ash, white and black walnut, &c.-little or no maple or beach.

I have raised, for 20 years past, from 500 to 1,000 bushels wheat per year, and have made this valuable article my study, both in its character and cultivation. We have all the different varieties raised in the northern and eastern States. Some years ago the red chaff bald wheat was all the go; it is now in disrepute. I have raised the white flint, which does well. I am quite positive, from accurate experiment, that barn yard manure will greatly increase the straw, and not add as much to the grain as some other manures. It will be a most valuable discovery for some Liebig to inform farmers what will increase the berry in wheat, when they can so easily add to the straw. Some years since I carted 400 loads of barn-yard manure upon 5 acres of land, and the result was an immense crop of straw, and not more than 20 bushels per acre. I have tried corn-stalks, and consider them a valuable manure. In passing through Indiana and Illinois, I was struck with the suicidal practice of burning the corn-stalks. It looked like working a first-rate horse hard all day and turning him into the stable to starve.

The French near Detroit river, in old times, hauled their manure from the barn-yard on the ice, in the winter, to pass off in the spring. That was not more strange than to see large fields of corn-stalks burned on the land. The time will come when the prairie farmer will rue such practice. I have found that a strong clover-sod, well turned, 8 inches deep, and properly cultivated, is a profitable and economical method of raising wheat. The practice of summer-fallowing is not as much followed as formerly. The wheat crop of 1850, in Michigan, exceeded anything ever before raised. The weather, in May and June of that year, was attended with a severe drought. At one time a general failure of the crop was apprehended; but that Being who governs the weather so directed, that every garner was full. Thirty bushels per acre was an average in this neighborhood; and to thresh 400 bushels per day, with a common thresher, was very common. The crop this year is remarkable

for heavy straw, but will not yield as much as last year. With all the manuring and cultivation, much depends upon the weather. We generally have a fine plump berry, yielding a barrel of flour from 4 to 4% bushels. The price this year is low, ranging from 50 to 60 cents per bushel. We plough from 8 to 10 inches. I find deep ploughing indispensable to a good crop. We have not, for years, been injuriously affected by the fly, and the weevil has never crossed Lake Erie. Our winters are generally favorable to wheat. We sow, between the 5th and 25th of September, from 1 to 14 bushel per acre. We have never used guano. I believe the yield per acre is increasing, arising, in some measure, from the more perfect system of cultivation. This beautiful peninsula may well be depended upon for wheat.

Corn.-Corn is increasing in quantity, and, from the mode of cultivation, bids fair to rival wheat. I commenced the last of April, this year, turning over an old pasture, containing 20 acres, with two ploughs. To one I attached three horses abreast; to the other, two yoke of oxen; ploughed 7 and 8 inches deep. I then harrowed the sod with a thirtytooth double harrow, and commenced planting on the 14th of May; planted the "white-gourd seed," 4 and 5 kernels in a hill; hills 4 feet apart. I hoed the corn once, and continued with a single-horse cultivator, and passed through each way. We have housed 2,300 bushels of ears (sound corn) from the 20 acres. The price in Detroit, 20 miles distant, has been 40 cents per bushel during the last summer. I believe it a more profitable crop than any we have. I have a large amount of fodder from this lot, equal in value to one-half the hay raised from the same quantity of land immediately adjoining. Cost of production is 12 cents per bushel. I feed the corn whole and raw; but I believe grinding corn for hogs will pay the expense. This corn is softer than flint, " and more easily masticated; is sweeter, but perhaps not so fattening. It yields more than flint-corn-1 bushel of ears making a bushel of shelled corn, which will make my crop 1,534 bushels; equal to 76 bushels per acre.

Sheep and Wool.-Wool is the most profitable article raised by Michigan farmers. More cash is realized from the same amount of labor than by any other article. I began, in 1828, with 18 sheep. I have not purchased any since; have killed and sold 500, and now have 450. The full-blood Spanish merino is the sheep for us. The wool improves in quality, and they become very fat and hardy. Wool varies like other crops. Some years the same number of sheep-say 300 head-will fall short 100 or 150 pounds, and with the same keeping. Why it is so, I cannot tell. I sheared, last spring, 345; 100 were lambs a year old. I had 1,005 pounds of wool, and sold it at Pontiac, our nearest market, for 45 cents per pound. My lambs have paid the pasturage and wintering of the flock, and I have the wool net profit. I have over three-fourths the number of lambs to the whole number of ewes. Merino can be raised as cheap as other wool, excepting the large Leicestershire, whose fleeces are from 12 to 18 pounds each; wool coarse and long; profitable for worsted. My success with sheep is common with hundreds in this county.

[* If this statement be true, the fact that "the weevil has not crossed Lake Erie," or is found west of it, is important in the history of that most destructive insect.]

Oats, Barley, Peas, and Beans.-Oats is a good crop here. We can raise from 50 to 60 bushels per acre. I have always considered oats exhausting to the soil. They are not cultivated to the same extent as in

other States.

Barley, Peas, and Beans are produced to some extent.

Clover and Grasses.-We cut from 1 to 2 tons per acre, according to the season. This year our hay was equal to 2 tons per acre. We sow four quarts of clover and four quarts of timothy seed per acre. Our best fertilizer is plaster from Ohio, and Grand Rapids, in this State.

Dairy Husbandry.-This county is not considered a dairy county, although butter is made to some extent; not much cheese. Farmers are so much engaged with wheat and wool, that not much attention is paid to the dairy.

Neat Cattle.-Our cattle cost more at three years old than they are worth in market. It is worth $18 to raise a steer until three years old, and he will sell for only $14 or $15.

Horses. It has become quite an object to raise horses. A good threeyear-old colt will cost little more than a steer, and is worth four times as much. Good matched young horses command a fine price and ready market. I have a stud of Arabian blood, bright bay, of the third degree from a horse imported by Mr. Cox, American consul at Algiers, and find no difficulty in getting $100 for his colts at four years old. Broodmares should be turned to a stack, and fed on the ground through the winter.

Hogs.-I purchased some of the first Berkshire hogs brought into Michigan; paid $20 for two pigs three weeks old. The breed is too small, and is now nearly extinct in this county. We have the Byfield and Leicestershire hog. He will weigh, at 18 months old, from 350 to 400 pounds. The best food for hogs is boiled potatoes, and ground buckwheat mixed with the potatoes when hot. To fatten hogs success. fully, their food should be changed at every mess: corn, buckwheat, barley, and boiled apples, &c., alternately; feed often, as much as they will consume.

I wish to give you an excellent plan for churning milk. It is simply a motive-power, similar to the one-horse power for threshing, or sawing wood, on a small scale, for a dog: endless straps of harness-leather nailed to lath. The straps run around a number of cylinders in a row; a box confines the dog, and he trots off, making the dasher fly. We procured one this fall; and every farmer who loves his wife will have his dog churn his butter.

Very respectfully, yours,

STEPHEN V. R. TROWBRIDGE.

NORTHVILLE, WAYNE COUNTY, MICHIGAN,
December 20, 1850.

SIR: Our wheat crops this season are the largest ever raised in this part of the State. The average product per acre will not vary far from 20 bushels. No guano is used here in raising wheat or other crops. Time of sowing wheat, from the 5th to the 20th of September. Time for harvesting varies with the season-from the 5th to the 20th of July.

The common manner of preparing the ground for wheat is to break it up in May, or early in June, 7 or 8 inches deep; afterward, till with a cultivator, or harrow, to keep down the weeds and grass. About the 1st of September the ground is cross-ploughed, and is then ready for the seed. On our plains and openings one ploughing and a fair use of the cultivator are all that is considered necessary. From 1 to 14 bushel per acre is the usual amount sown. The yield per acre is increasing, owing, no doubt, to a more perfect system of tillage and rotation of crops. The most approved rotation of crops is clover, wheat, corn, and oats. Plaster is much used on clover.

The weevil has not made its appearance in this State-at least to an extent to injure the wheat crop. The Hessian fly-one of the greatest enemies to our wheat-growers-visits us at intervals of from 4 to 6 years, continuing its ravages through two or three seasons, and then apparently disappears.

I have observed that samples of wheat received from the Patent Office, or other distant parts of the country, and sown here, have almost invariably escaped the ravages of the fly; while our common wheat was almost entirely destroyed. I therefore think that a frequent change of seed-wheat is one of the most efficient guards against the fly.

Corn is cultivated here to a considerable extent. The most approved varieties are the Dent, eight-rowed yellow, Dutton, and white flint. The yield this season is 25 per cent. below that of last season; average yield per acre, 30 bushels; cost of raising corn the past season, including interest and taxes on land, about 20 cents per bushel; price, at nearest market, 371⁄2 cents per bushel.

My system of corn culture is to plough early in May, pulverize thoroughly with a harrow, then lay the ground off in ridges 3 feet apart at the top; plant about the middle of May, in rows 3 feet apart across the ridges. The after-culture is performed almost entirely with a plough and cultivator.

The early part of the season was favorable for the oat crop; but the drought, at the time of filling, materially affected the yield. Average product per acre, 30 bushels.

Barley, Rye, Peas, and Beans are not raised in sufficient quantities to furnish data for estimates.

Clover is more natural to our soil than the grasses. The yield will not vary far from 2 tons per acre. The quality is indifferent. Clover was badly lodged; and, in consequence of wet weather, was not well cured.

Dairy Business is not carried on very extensively in this place; most farmers, however, make some butter for market. Common price of butter, 12 cents per pound.

Neat Cattle. The cost of raising neat cattle until three years old is about $15. They are raised, to some extent, by most of our farmers, for the purpose of converting waste fodder into cash. Average price at that age, from $14 to $20. Price of good dairy cows, from $18 in the fall to $25 in the spring. A commendable zeal has of late been manifested in the improvement of our stock. Several fine specimens of the Durham and Devon breeds have been introduced among us, which will, no doubt, make a very decided improvement in our stock of cattle.

I kept two calves together through the winter-one, a native; the other, seven-eighths Durham-and am satisfied that the same amount of feed gave at least one-fifth more meat in the Durham than in the native.

Raising Horses is a good business with us. The cost of raising a colt until three years old is not far from $40. Price, at that age, from $60 to $85, according to the quality of the animal.

In this State farm labor is scarce, and land cheap.

Wool-growing is undoubtedly the most profitable business that farmers can engage in. The high price obtained for wool the past season has induced farmers to engage more extensively than heretofore in this branch of husbandry. Large numbers of fine-woolled sheep have been introduced among us during the year from Vermont and other places, for the purpose of improving our stock of sheep.

Common-sized sheep, of fine wool and long staple, are the most profitable. A pound of wool can be grown on a cross of the French and Spanish merino as cheap as on our common coarse-woolled sheep. The proportion of lambs annually raised to that of ewes is two to three.

Hogs are raised by almost every farmer; but pork-raising for the market is not generally a profitable business with us. The best breeds raised here are the Berkshire, with the Leicestershire and Byfield. Our method of making pork is to keep the hogs in clover pasture, feed them with the refuse from the kitchen and dairy until fall; then shut them in pens or small lots, and fatten on corn. We put our pork down with salt in barrels, and cover it with strong brine. The hams are cured in a pickle made of common salt, saltpetre, and molasses; and then thoroughly smoked.

Roots are not generally raised as a field crop. Enough are generally raised by most of our farmers for family use.

Potatoes have sufficient security from the wet this season. I can form no correct estimate of the yield this year, and, consequently, of the cost of production.

Fruit. The cultivation of fruit is receiving increased attention. Young orchards, of large size, have been planted by many; and old trees, bearing natural fruit, have been yearly grafted with most approved varieties. We consider the Rhode Island greening, northern spy, Spitzenberg, Swaar, Newtown pippin, and Roxbury russet among our best varieties for winter use and exportation.

Manures.-Plaster is used extensively on the clover fields; barn-yard manure in the production of corn and wheat. I have made use of swamp muck with the most satisfactory results, especially on root crops. It should be hauled into the field in the fall, thrown into heaps, and left to the action of the frost until spring. It can then be spread over the land, and ploughed under, as barn-yard manure. This is a powerful manure, and has not received the attention from farmers that its merits demand.

We do not feel the necessity of applying fertilizers to our soil, in order to secure a good crop, that is felt by farmers in the old-settled parts of our country. Our land is new, and yet under the influence of the vege

[* Very few farmers who have tried "swamp muck," or marsh mud, alone, will concur with our correspondent in regarding it as a powerful manure. Composted with ashes or lime, or with stable manure, it is a valuable assistant in yielding the food of plants.]