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sold readily for three to four dollars a ton In our villages. 

 There was no certainty of ever having any other kind until 

 our low, heavy timbered land could be cleared out for that 

 purpose. As the early settler had to clear the uplands first, 

 to bread his family and grain his stock, the chance of having 

 timothy hay was considered in the far future. As wheat fell 

 from one dollar to fifty cents per bushel, our prairie farmer 

 began to feel the necessity of turning their attention to rais- 

 ing more stock, and an experiment of clovering a small patch 

 or so was tried, and to their astonishment, yielded a luxuriant 

 growth. From that it spread into our oak openings or bar- 

 rens where the idea of raising hay on their dry, sandy soil 

 was never dreamed of. But the experiment of the prairie 

 farmers became general all over the county ; field after field 

 went down to clover, followed by about two or three pecks 

 of plaster to the acre, and the consequence is the land has a 

 little respite from the ceaseless round of grain crops which 

 was fast running them down, the wild hay of the wet marshes 

 has almost entirely disappeared from market, and in its place 

 may be found an abundance of the tame article for five dollars 

 per ton. In all our clay lands the practice is to mix the 

 clover with timothy or red top ; it yields heavier crops and 

 is generally preferred. When we sow for fertilizing purposes 

 we put on clover alone with plaster; there should be about 

 five quarts to the acre, with one bushel of plaster the first, 

 and a half bushel every subsequent season; it ought to be 

 turned under in the fall after the third yearly crop, with as 

 heavy second growth as possible, and seeded down to wheat- 

 The average yield of our grass crop last season would be 

 ■ about one and a-half tons to the acre. We have no methods 

 in vogue for fertilizing meadows among us, other than that 

 provided by plastering and manuring. I have no doubt but 

 what the greater portion of our marshes could be drained, 

 put down to tame grass, and furnish pastures that would en- 

 ' dure for ever, or crops after crops of hay without deteriora- 

 ^ting in the least. The benefit they have already been to the 

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