of deeds of each county, who has the custody of its real estate records, are always to be had at the demand of the purchaser, in transactions with individuals, and county treasurers can furnish histories of the tax records, and where these are satisfactory all the rest is safe. Whether buying of Government, of the State, of railroad companies or of individuals, the careful purchaser will always be sure, however, that his deed or evidence of title contains a correct description of his land.

There are many advantages attending the settlement of new countries in colonies. A company of several families may largely reduce to each member the expenses of choosing a location, outfit, etc., and at the same time preserve the comforts and benefits of old associations. In cases where considerable tracts of land are thus taken up, if purchased from railroad companies or individuals, some modifications may be expected in the price.

After all, ultimate success will depend upon individual traits of character. Without industry, frugality, sobriety, and common sense, there is not much prospect for any one, anywhere, or in any pursuit. It is only claimed for Michigan that these quali

ties will have fair play here under peculiarly favorable conditions.

It is hardly necessary to add that the office of the Commissioner of Immigration is not an agency for the sale of lands of either a public or private character. Neither does it recommend in answer to general inquiries any particular sections of the State. Whatever information it can furnish, however, in regard to all sections will be promptly rendered.

18

EXPERIENCE IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN.

Mr. George E. Steele, now of Traverse City, has resided in the northern counties of this State for twenty years. He is a graduate of the Agricultural College, a surveyor by profession, has been a practical farmer, was formerly a member of the Legislature from Antrim county, and has the confidence of his neighbors. In the discharge of his ordinary avocations he has unusual opportunities of obtaining a personal knowledge of Northern Michigan, and in response to a request to that effect he has furnished for this pamphlet a series of practical suggestions which are here subjoined, and which have a general application.

SUGGESTIONS FOR SETTLERS.

BY GEORGE E. STEELE, TRAVERSE CITY.

The settler in securing a location, if he would be pleasantly situated and not meet with disappointment, must not go at hap-hazard, but must be governed by certain fixed principles, easily understood, and which others, sometimes at a loss, have helped by their experience to fix. Some of these worth heeding may be mentioned.

WHAT SETTLERS SHOULD EXPECT.

I. If you are determined to be a fixture in any part of Michigan, govern yourself in a measure by the practices and conditions of the particular locality. This does not mean that a man is not to make his impress on a community he is in; but it does mean that if he goes into Northern Michigan from Southern Illinois, or any far distant point, he is not to expect just what he left, either in habits of society, in practices of agriculture, or products. It would be folly for him to expect to find corn growing sixteen feet high, and because he could not take "two looks and a turn about " over the prairie to declare that Michigan is a fraud; or because tobacco and sweet potatoes are not the principal products of the new country he had set foot in, to say it was useless for men to try farming there. It is not expected that an Iowa man will bring with him a breaking plow eighteen feet long and ten yoke of trained oxen to break up a stumpy farm. And yet there are men coming into Michigan who think they can just drive right through a hard maple stump, not even entrapping their coat-tails. We have seen men, who had lived on prairies, take timbered farms, and with axes in hand, go out to work in the morning only thinking how they could "spare that tree." "It is so very high to the top of this timber!" "What a pity this cannot be saved!" "Where we came from they would pick up every chip." There is no doubt that more economy of timber in Michigan would be appreciated by those who come after us, and the wealth of timber here is being more and more valued, but if you stop and show pity you will never have a farm cleared up. The fuller you are of good long days' works and the less you theorize about what people do somewhere else, the sooner your fields will be yielding their increase.

A DIFFERENCE IN MEN.

Men generally seek new homes that they may better their condition, but some are

averse to change, and are determined to find fault with any country that does not have just what they are accustomed to. It was only recently the writer talked with a gentleman from Cass county in this State, who was looking in Grand Traverse county for a new location. He had been out two days in the roughest part of the county and concluded to go back home on the next train, declaring he had seen all he wanted, and would not take hilly land as a gift.

A case right the opposite is in point: Mr. Adams of Benzonia went there eighteen years ago, selected a high, rough location where a few trees had been chopped, cut a road winding up among the hills, and went to work. The seedling peaches by the stumps near the old log shanty grew rapidly and other fruit was planted. He told us a few days ago that his peach trees had borne sixteen years without a failure, and this year, as poor a year for fruit as it is, he had 200 bushels of peaches, besides a good crop of grapes and pears, and a fair crop of apples, plums, cherries and small fruits. He has not cultivated fruit as thoroughly as it should be, but it seems determined to bear. We measured a peach tree twelve inches in diameter branching into a three-parted head eighteen inches from the ground, each branch a large top in itself. The log buildings have been replaced by a nice frame house and frame barn with basement stable. Board fences have taken the place of brush hedges; the family have taken more lands, and a day of comfort and competence dawns for them. If this man had said "I don't believe fruit will grow here, the soil must be poor," and "I am so far out of the world I can't sell it if I had it," he might still have been in Minnesota-but not eating his own peaches.

A NEW COUNTRY REQUIRES NEW METHODS AND NEW IDEAS.

Onr first hint will be of practical value from the great diversity of soil, surface, climate, and other conditions found in a State as large as Michigan. There is a decided change from the level plateau of the Saginaw valley to the high lands of Otsego county, with an elevation of 900 feet above the lakes. The Michigan fruitbelt, bordering Lake Michigan and Grand and Little Traverse bays, is known to be very well adapted to fruit culture, and to some extent already has distinctive features. The development of the light sandy lands called "plains" is gradually going on and will require special agriculture, and bring about new processes and products now little thought of. So one must not judge by his home notions.

THE PRODUCTIVENESS OF SANDY AND GRAVELLY SOILS.

The writer was walking along the track of a railroad in northern Michigan, in company with some men who had been in the practice of tilling a stiff soil. They remarked that such heavy sugar maple, elm, and basswood timber generally indicated good soil, but that the sandy and gravelly land was a problem. "See here," said one, "here is a good timothy, three feet tall and not yet in bloom, growing from the very bottom of an excavation." This was the length of a spade handle below the original surface. Farther examination showed that the large embankments taken from deep cuttings were grassed over with rank grass and herbage growing upon them. In each case the place was most unlikely to be so soon growing herd's grass. It is no longer a question whether the sandy lands (and we mean now those lands so very sandy as to raise a suggestion to the owner that he had better strengthen his title to hold them) can be made to produce clover; and if clover, then the other crops adapted to the locality and stock. There are numerous instances, and every year they are increasing, where such fields show for themselves, and show well. The past season the writer saw heavy lodged clover, so rank and thick to mow that it would make one think dinner time never would come, on what was originally light pine lands or "plains" which had been fertilized with stable manure.

EXPERIENCE WITH BURNT LANDS.

Mr. A. T. Case, register of deeds of Benzie Co., about eighteen years ago bought from the Government some burnt lands, with light soil, partly timbered with the remains of a light growth of hard timber, hemlock and pine. The burnt parts were thickly covered with blackberry briers. He had a hard race with the briers, and his first attempts at clovering were not successful, so that it became a matter of grave doubt with him whether grass seed would catch in that soil. But to use his own words "to seed down to clover now is easy enough. I cut good hay and keep sheep. My land grows firmer and better every year. I am satisfied my first seedings were not deep enough."

WHAT THE NEWER COUNTIES ARE DOING UNDER NEW CONDITIONS.

It is hard to give up old ways and conform to new, or to make allowances for a change of surroundings. The man from Richmond, Ind., gets his spring plowing all done and goes to Petoskey to look up a farm for his "Jeremiah," who is about coming of age. The ice is hardly out of the bay and the robin sits on one leg in a thick hemlock, out of the cold blast. The next scene is a ticket office and a journey home, and "no such miserable country for him where snow hangs on nine months in the year, and where people can raise nothing but 'tourists' and 'taters."" Most persons would be glad of one crop a year of these, if the potatoes were eighty cents a bushel. A change of 400 miles in latitude ought to make some difference in the planting and harvesting of crops, and it does. So long though as Chippewa county takes the premium on wheat, and Grand Traverse sends down the premium fruit, we ought to be careful of running to that other extreme, and saying that "the climate is so cold that none but a Russian can live there," as bad as an old fogy almanac which gives the climate of all places according to their northing.

The productiveness of the older portions of Michigan has long been known, but the newer and northern portions have been under the ban of doubt. These counties are now filling up with an industrious population, and are demonstrating their capabilities beyond the expectations of their best friends. Wherever farming is done there as it should be, there are satisfactory results.

THE SELECTION OF A HOME.

II. Look well after your lands, but don't look too long. The foundation of success in farming is often in the character of the soil (as already mentioned) or in some advantage in location. The latter can not be foreseen in all respects, but some sites are clearly better than others. The man who locates behind a range of hills with no outlet for his timber "misses the mark." So does the one who selects a low, frosty flat, when he could just as well take a rolling, elevated tract. He who selects in a remote place may soon find himself in the midst of a thriving settlement, and those who once pitied that poor family who were obliged to go back into the woods so far from neighbors may see the day when they will be sorry that they too were not of the company. It takes courage to do it but that is what wins. As illustrating such success after hardships encountered of this kind, we may mention the Reeder families and W. J. Morey of Missaukee county, the Danvilles of Manistee county, and the Monroes of Grand Traverse county. These all braved the hardships and faraway loneliness, and conquered the forests. The lumbermen came nearer-came to their very barns-and bought all they had to spare, and the long hauling to market was saved and a better price obtained. This success brought others, and soon permanent thriving settlements sprang up around them, and they were out of the woods. The writer well recollects trying to induce some families to take land at what is now Fife Lake in Grand Traverse county, 23 miles from Traverse City. It was then a

tract of pine bordering the small lake, with good farming lands farther back, but without a road, except a survey of a State road just made. The first question was, "How far back is it?" and no sooler was it answered than the offer was refused. Now, the village of Fife Lake, with railroad, mills, stores, and general business, does not tell the same story. But the very best location will not insure success. Some men will starve where others thrive. The fields on the one hand will blossom with thistles and on the other bear luscious fruits.

We say, don't look too long, for many in the confusion of sight-seeing are disconcerted. They believe every report, and run hither and yon only to find their last State worse than the first. Good openings can be found in any county for enterprise and labor; and so far as the cheaper lands in the newer counties are concerned they lie in all directions.

THE CHOICE OF A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD.

III. Select with some reference to the society best suited to your inclinations and needs. Social privileges may be said to grow from seed planted, and the future of a town or settlement is largely determined by the character of its pioneers. So for long years after we point to one and say, “It is bad-better keep away from there if you have any regard for your family;" and to another and say, "It is the best of society, the schools are sustained, the churches are flourishing; that place is worth seeking, if the land is not quite as good."

THE SCHOOL HOUSE AND THE CHURCH.

The State of Michigan furnishes the best of proof of an advanced state of society. Go where you may in the most unfrequented settlement, and there, perhaps at some cross-roads, or in the primeval forest, the log school-house will appear. It is quite the fashion in remote places to do even better than this, to build and paint and plaster, to seat and shutter just as older places do. Those who imagine that the newer counties are without such advantages as the free school offers will be greatly surprised in traversing them to find so many well finished school-houses. At Alba, a small station in Antrim county, a school-house is now being built, veneered with brick, costing about $1,200, where a few weeks ago the tall forest trees were standing, and and near a cluster of houses still very new. This is a fair sample of the way improvements are going on in Michigan. The families are hardly settled before the school and church are planned and built. While some places are still quite destitute, and take very little interest in education, it is easy to locate where such advantages are prized. Even the earliest settlers in a new town are often much better situated as to schools than in the older places they have left, for they have all to build and can have their own way. It is only the few who are called to plant in this manner, and those who reap from their labors should be grateful indeed. These advantages give value to property, and one of the first things a man will do, who wants to sell out, will be to count how near he is to the church, the postoffice, and the school. A location with companionable neighbors is, too, very pleasant; and many families do not enjoy what they might if more care was used in first selections. These surroundings may not be lasting; but who knows how they may influence a life?

THE CHOICE OF A HEALTHFUL HOME.

IV. Locate for Health. Unfortunately for the race there is no divining rod which can point us to the region of unfailing health. Worse than this, there is no such region. Health, like society, is as the mercury in the barometer tube, ever changing with its ups and downs. Hygiene, though, will bear a good crop if it is only tested in the right place. You would not think of raising rice in a sheep pasture; neither