People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 October 1895 — AGRICULTURE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AGRICULTURE.

Farms In Michigan. The secretary of state of Michigan has just issued a report on the ownership of farms in that state. It shows a continuation of the same unhealthy conditions brought to light by the general government census—a relative decrease of owners, and an increase of renters. The process is slow, and. xi'ifiFPfPre insidious, bub it is no less alarming, The summary ot the report follows: Tables show the humbe'j' or farms; classified according to tenure, daily statistics of the state as returneu in the state census of June 1, 1894. Na farm of less than three acres was returned unless S2OO worth of produce was sold off from it during the year. » The total number of farms m. thestate is 177,952, of which 149',09 | 3 are cultivated by owners, 9,127 are rented' for fixed money rental, and 19,732 are rented for shares of products. I* In 1884 the total number of farms* returned la the census was 157J339; of which 138,523 were cultivated by own--ers, 5,657 were rented for fixed money rental, and 13,209 were rented for shares; of products. Comparing the returns in 1894 with those for 1884, there is an increase of 20,563, or 13.07 per cent, in the total number of farms; of 10,570, or 7.63 percent in the number cultivated by owners; of 3,470, or 61.34 per cent, in the number rented for fixed money rental, and of 6,523, or 49.38 per cent, in the number rented for shares of products.

Of the total number of farms in the state, 88.01. per cent in 1884, and 83.7 E per cent in 1894 were cultivated by owners; 3.60 per cent in 1884, and 5.13 per cent in 1894 were rented for money; and 8.39 per cent in 1884, and 11.09 per cent in 1894 were rented for shares of products. The number of farms in the state June 1, 1890. as shown by the national, census, was 172,344, of which 148,208, or 86.00 per cent were, cultivated by owners; 8,212, or 4.76 per cent were rented for money, and 15,924, or 9.24 per cent were rented on shares. The proportion of farms cultivated by owners was 2.01 per cent less in 1890' than in 1884, and 2.22 per cent less in 1894 than in 1890. Beginning with 1880, in each one thousand farms in the state the number cultivated by owners at each census was as follows: 1880 900 1884 880' 1890 860 1894 838 Considering the state by sections, and comparing with the returns of ten years ago, there is an increase of 3,678 farms in the southern four tiers of counties,, of 9.601 in the central counties, of 5,150 in the northern counties of the lower peninsula, and 2,134 in the upper peninsula. Tlie number of farms cultivated by owners lias decreased 2,858 in the southern four tiers of counties, while the number rented for money has increased 2,009, and the number rented for shares of products has increased 4,527. In the central counties there iS' an increase of 7,111, and in the northern counties of 4,385, in the number of farms cultivated by owners. The southern counties, or oldest settled portions of the state, and where about S 5 per cent, of the farm crops are raised, is the only section in which there is a decrease in tlie number of farms cultivated by owners. Here, with an increase of 3,678 in tlie total number of farms, there is a. decrease of 2,858 in the number cultivated ay owners. It should be further noted that while every county in the central section, and all counties in the northern section, except four -Crawford, Emmet, Manitou and Osceola—show an increase in the number of farms cultivated by owners, twenty-three of the twenty-eight counties in the southern section show a decrease; in one, Shiawassee, there is neither gain nor loss, and only four, Berrien, Kent, Monroe and Ottawa, show a gain. In three of these four counties fruit and market garden crops are extensively cultivated, and one, Kent, extends into the territory of the central counties.

The state totals of the dairy statistics are as follows: Total milk produced on farms, 212,070,373 gallons; value of all milk and cream sold from farms, butter made on farms, 48,951,378 pounds; cheese made on farms, 206,660 pounds. These totala are for the year ending June 1, 1894. The national census of dairy products taken June 1, 1890, and including the products of the year ending Dec, 31, 18S9, shows as follows: Milk produced. 224,537,488 gallons; butter made on farms, 50,197,481 pounds; cheese made on farms, 328,682 pounds. The products as shown by the present census are less than the national census totals by 12,467,115 gallons of milk, 1,246,103 pounds of butter, and 122,022 pounds of cheese.

Too Conservative.—The English agriculturist is slow to take advantage of modern scientific discoveries and inventions. Even the cream separator, the principal and utility of which are universally understood, has not yet come into general use in that country. As for the milk tester, it’s very name Is unknown to thousands of English* farmers. Yet the value of this sample and inexpensive appliance to every one who owns milch cattle is incalculable, and its employment is doing more to advance the dairying industry in America and elsewhere than perhaps even the separator itself.— JSx. A Washington paper baa for a motto: “Grab all In sight and hustla for nroro.”