Wandering Notes By The Way

For one to see the benefit caused by the rains that have fallen in the past ten days, he should have gone away from here at the time the first rains came and returned in that length of time. That very thing was done by the writer, and the change is not only noticeable but remarkable. As we journeyed west to Jackson,south to Jonesville and west again to Coldwater and ten or twelve miles beyond to Bronson, on Tuesday of last week, we saw very few good fields of corn until in the vicinity of Quincy and Coldwater. Although they claim not to have had any more rain than had fallen in Ann Arbor, y et corn fields denoted that the soil could stand drouth better. In Branch county, and especially in the southern portion, iii the township of Bronson, Noble, and Gilead, are some as fine fields of corn as ever stood up in Michigan. There are many fields where tbis cereal stands eight or ten feet tall and very even. It was a sight that reminded one of the paliny days of corn raising on the back prairie of Illinois. PROSEROUS POLANDERS. The land in that sectiou of Branch county is not very rolling, and there are few hills. Mnch of it is naturally low, composed of sandy loam, and no doubt retains moisture better than AVashtenaw's clay and sand hills, or her loamy plains either. Only a few years ago much of the land south of Bronson village was no more than a huge swamp, covered with heavy timber. A large colony of Polanders got in there, bought up the land very cheap, and went to work. Their first energies were spent at ditching, one ditch they dug is said to have lowered the water level two feet, and their reward bas been great. Tliey have cleared up the land and now have the best farms in Michigan, with a soil almost exhaustless. Their crops are fine, and they are, almost without exception prosperous, and make good citizens. Their children attend the pub' ie schools, take to the English tongue, and are as thoroughly Americansin most instances as are the Yankee children. In politics they were originally democrats, as most foreigners are before they become familiar with the country and the parties, but of late large numbers of them have come over to the party of progress and sound policy. They are smart, keep posted on what is going on in the commuuity in which they live, and in the state and nation also, and are not led or hoodwinked by designingpolitical party heelers and wire pulIers. Branch county bas oertainly been greatly benefited by the Polanders who have redeemed a large traet that would ! have lain in idleness had it not been for ' their industry. A r,OOD IDEA. The farmers in one section of son township, have done a very sensible , deed. A large number of them have so ■ arranged their farms that their ] land comes all togetber. There is one strip of woods containing about üOO - acres, belonging to the various farmers in that section. By this means the timber is protected from the winds, and a better quality is grown. From it they get all the wood and timber they need for their own consumption, and mach that is merchantable besides, white fine new trees are growing to take the place of the older ones cut out and used. It is thought by some that the dry seasons are beginning to injurethe tirnber somewhat, though moisture is retained in the tract remarkably wéll. IT IS NEAR GILEAD. That the location of this country may be better known, it will no doubt enlighten some of out readers to state that it il on the Indiana state line, just west of the township of Gilead, made famous by the farmer governor, Cyrus G. Luce. The ex-Governor had a magníficent farm there in his day. He spent many years of toil in bringing it to perfection, but he does not live there any more as things about it indícate. He is now one of the bankers and business men of leisure of the very pretty little city of Coldwater. THEY PEEL SORE. Speaking of Coldwater calis to mind the fact that the people of that city feel very sore over losing the Lewis Art Gallery. They are not particularly displeased with the citizens of Ann Arbor, or angry at the University because of its good fortune, but they are very bitter toward the late Mr. Henry C. Lewis. They say that through a promise that the gallery should become the property of the city after his death, that it never was put upon the assessment roll, and thus escaped paying its just share of taxes. They also claim that he did not give it to the University because of any love he bore the great institution, but because he was miffed over the taxing of some of his other property, and they therefore give the gentleman no credit for his good deed. In regard to the controversy that has arisen over the possession of a large portion of the most valuable pictures in in the collection one Coldwater man told the writer, that it was his opinión that Mr. Lewis wrote his will jast as he intended to, and that the nephew who now holds the pictures as an heir, has no valid right to thern. He thinks that there was a bilí of sale given to Mrfl. Lewis at one time, as claimed, but as it cannot be found, and as the will was made after the bill of sale was given, it is his opinión that it was purposely destroyed by Mr. Lewis when he willed his pictures, statuary, etc, "as catalogued," to the University. ïhis same gentleman also believes that as there are no direct heirs of either Mr. or Mrs. Lewis, and as the nephew who now holds these paintiugs and statuary, does so for his own pecuniary benefit, and the dollars and cents there is in thein (they cost about $50,000), that the people of Coldwater are not in sympathy to any extent with his claim, and that under the circumstances believe that the state should come into possession of what is honestly its own. Whether they tax this nephew for the pictures he claims is not known to the writer. COLDWATER WAS REMEMBERED. The City of Coldwater was not entirely left out in the cold, ho wever. Mr. Lewis gave them his private library, whïch was very valuable, and covered a wide range of subjects, and which gives to that city probably one of the finest public libraries in the entire state. And there were other bequests of value also. But the pictures, the pride of the city, havo gone, and the average Coldwater heart is chili ed through and through. No one can blame them for feeling bad about it. This gallery was to that city what the University museum is to Ann Arbor, and wheu people there had visitors tliey could always entertain them a day or so in the gallery at no cost and in a delightful manner. IT WILL BB PUT TO GOOD DSB. But the good people of that city can have the satisfaction of knowing that the collection will be put to most excellent use where it has gone. In the not distant future it will be the foundation for a school of art. Even now, if it was available, it would be used, for there is a school airead y started, with a number of students ready to take advantage of this gallery. The collection will always be well cared for, and no doubt constantly added to, and people from near and from far will rejoice thal Mr. Lewis was so thoughtful as to provide the nucleus, around which a greal school of art will grow up, for that wil. surely be the result. Coldwater will vet be proud of Mr Lewis and of the grand deed he did One can hardly believe such a thing possible now, especially after conversing with Coldwater people, but as grea changes as that have been wrought in the course of time, and will be in this instarice. "frog hair" hay. To change the subject, we shall go back to agriculture, and give notice right here, that liay is higher now tban it will be this winter. ïhe farmers are saving every bit of marsh grass mowing wet marshes which they have never cut before. This they facetiously term "frog hair," and they will feed it out to their live stock, and sell their good hay. They have also sown considerable millet and Hungarian grass, and will cut up all their corn stalks and straw and by mixing with bran and ground feed make cheap and pal atable fodder for their cattle and horses, and sheep. If you imagine a farmer does not look out just as sharp for the almighty dollar, as any maa in the cities, you are inuch mistaken. Some farmers have their corn stalks run through a threshiug machine flxed for the purpose. In that way the corn is not only shelled, but the stalks are all broken up, ready to feed without cutting up. A NOVEL SUGGESTIOX. A gentleman with whom we conversed is firm in the belief that our dry seasons are the direct result of the cutting down and destroying of the great Eorests that once covered this fair península. His remedy is novel, to say the least, he would have the state confíscate a strip of land about ten miles wide, running from the south line iu about the center of the state to the straits of Mackinac, and plant it at once to fotest trees or trees of some sort. This tract he believes would have the effect of restoring our rains once again, and making this lower península a Garden of Eden. If something of the kind is not done he believes that the rain falls will continually grow less until this fruitful and beautiful state will become a great Sahara, with not a living thing upon it, either in the shape of vegetation or animal life. The idea might not be practical from the fact that forest fires would be quite apt to destroy ïnuch of such a strip. WELL KEPT II'. One thing on the main line of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern 11. R. was quite noticeable, and that was the neatness with which the railroad property is kept up at the various stations. So station of any importance but has its lawn and flower garden and the usual unsightly places are made to delight the eyes of travelers. We could but contrast it in our mind with the treatment of Ann Arbor, for instance, by the M. C. R. R. But there is another difference that we notieed also. As a general thing the M. C. R. R. employés are courteous and gentlemanly. A person can always get a civil inswer to a civil question, but on he M. S. R. K., the Jackson brauch conductors perhaps excepted, itwas not our experience. They each and every one appear to own the road, and run it on the alleged Vauderbilt principie of "the public be d- d." This inay be a trifle larsh on some of tliem, but it has been our experience for several trips, and so ve can but conclude that their unaccommodating ways and important manners are permanent and chronic. A SUKPKISE.. Speaking of the yield of wheat in this section one farmer told us that it was turning out far aliead of their calculations. The correspondents for the department of state liad placed the yield at seven bushels per acre on an average in Brancb county, but he believed it would reach fully ten bushels per acre, and might reach twelve. The potato crop would also be excellent, that is, the late erop; the early tubers were failures, by reason of the dry weather. Cloverfields, however, had been practically wiped out of existeuce. There are many other things noted that might be spoken of, but these wándering notes are already too numerous, and the length of this article will no doubt scare many, who will leave it unread.