Webster Farmers' Club

The club raembers and visitors that met at the residence of Amo? Phelps on Nov. 15, in the township of Scio, numberol over a hundred, and what with the gentlemen and ladies, boy?, girh and the babies, it would have beeu hard to find a more jolly crowd of people. They filled the spacious pirlors and rxm to thei.full capacity. Mr. Pnelps and wife dia a!l that could be expected to make eacli one feel at home. A.t the bu i esa meeting it was d..cded to reconsider the former vote to hold an instituto this year and try to make up lor it by club vvork. President Merrill's paper was a welt digested and thoroughly practical one for fae farmws. He faid that as ORDER IS NATUIÏe'S FIRST GREAT LAW, we shall comí nexrest to i'8 psrfect w ork bf imitaticn. There should be a place for everything and every tooi or implemeut, when not in use, ehould fiid its exact position in the tooi shed. Merchants aid mannfantnrers who do a large and com plicated business find it irnperative to systematize. We wou ld do well to heed the lessons and save valuable time looking for misplaced articles. Thi n can be no order on a farm where swnes and brtish are allowed in 6elds or fecce corners, und tbey occjpy valuable land that ehould be aiding us to keep the balance on the rigbt side of the ledger. He condemned the senseless practice of periodcal visits to town where our necessities do not ca 1 us : it leads to street corner and dry goods box gossip and frequently to the saloon. He gave the average larmers' garden some hard hits and showed the ecoaomy of the man who tbinks it is cheaper to buy his garden "sass." POCLTRY. The president hada good word for poultry. If managed with half the care of the shtep or cattle, the returns would be more remunerative. Cleauliness and order here paid as well as elsewhere. If you iesire eggs, breed the smull varieties; if for muket, the lai.u" ones. Urchards should be replanteo or set a fast as they die out, Bprayiig and Bghting the coddling m:th; not a f.pasmodic tffort, but as oiten as it is a necesi-i y. STOCK AND MIXED H CSBANDEY. He would not advise all to rai?e thoroughbred stock and pay Eancy pricee, but would keep high grade. The short horn about filled his idea in cattle ; the Shrop shire cross in 6ne wools ; and the Poland china in hogs. He btlieved mixed farming was the best ihing Lor Michigan and emphasized the benefite to be derivedlrom one-half acre of cjrn fjdder planted near tae bara to supplement short pasture in time of drouth. He thitiks we will be c-inpelled to give more atteDtion to roots if we wculd keep steek profitably. He depreciated the slovenly manner ia which our highways are worked and sugeested a money tax as a remedy. In conclusión he was muah in favor of tree-planting as a great equal zer of temperature and rain fall. DIBCCS3I0S. Mr. Nordman of Lima said that he would coincidí with most points in the paper, but would differ with the president as to arbor preservatiou and culture. Land was too valuable, taxes too high and labor too exorbitant, for men to saciEice their interest for a theory not well estabiïshed, or to gratify the o tbetic taste. Johnson Baekua was of the opinión that a farmer could buy his garden truck cheaper than he could raise it, and as to cleaning up door yards he wou'd leave that to the women who kcew just how to do it. They needed the air and exercise. He would take the back fields. Robert MoColl would commence in front and work back. Certainly the front is where the eye oftenest dwells and the surToundings cannot be too pleasant. ■ TREPARATIOXS TOR WINTER In answer to the question, " What shall the preparation for the witter be? ' Wm. Ball was ia favor of a rigorous winter campaigu. Hadidnot believe in idleiess in winter, and thought that the summer work could be forwarded by doing many things now that are generally put off until spring. As to the question why we should now, if Dot before, have etables, stalls and feed boxes in order, stock should be housed and small rations of grain given to save a larger one in midwinter or. spring. He was oL the opinión that too muoh idleness and visjting followed the completion of fall work. BEST METHOD OF WATERING 6TOCK IN 8UMMER AND WINTER. Mr. Tra Backus brought out the plan of a stone tank covered with earth so that it will not freeza in winter and will not become impura in eummer by Bun and air, the tank to be constructedhigher tban the water trough and the out-flow to be governed by faucet or float. Otis Cushing had no trouble watering from a running stream, by being carefu! to protect th approaches from ice. Amos Phelps' experience was that bis stock would come Irom the field where there was running water, to drink from the welL Wm. Brockway keeps his tank {ree from impurities by putting in fish. AH still water exposed to the suu's rays beoome stagcant. The motion of the fish, together with the food supply for them, left the water clear and sweet. R. C. Reeve, in answer to a inq liry, thought that the Germán Carp would fill the bilí, be8Ídes being a source of profit. The committee on music oame out of the comatose state that it had been in for the last few months and gave us &ome really fine vocal as well as instrumental selections. Miss Ida Backus rendered " Prohibition" in a stvle that left none in doubt that those were her sentiments loo.