128 



of ploughings, after the corn is up, to be governed by the 

 season. 



The cold eastern winds of the spring bake our ground 

 about the time corn is coming up, and create a necessity for 

 stirring the soil early. A cultivator is the best implement 

 for this purpose, but we have none amongst us. These winds 

 cool the ground, too, and hence the great utility of a top 

 dressing of manure to keep it warm. 



We plant in the last week of April, and to the middle of 

 May. The varieties used are numerous — white, both dent 

 and gourdseed, the large yellow, and mixed. Within the last 

 four or five years a much larger quantity of the yellow has 

 been raised, it being considered as possessing greater fattening 

 properties. 



The average product is not more than 35 bushels per acre, 

 but from 50 to 75 can easily be raised. The old practice of 

 cultivating a field in corn year after year, until the fertility 

 of the soil is exhausted, is yet too prevalent to have a higher 

 average. But a change for the better is taking place. Our 

 market is at home. Prices from 20 to 25 cents per bushel 

 when delivered. 



11. Of Oats, Rye and Barley. — The oats crop of our 

 county is a large one. I cannot state the average number of 

 bushels to the acre, as the cultivation differs so widely. The 

 worst mode is to sow on ground from which wheat was ta- 

 ken the previous season, and then plough in with the shovel 

 plough, followed, sometimes, by the harrow, and, oftentimes 

 not. A drought, v/hich frequently happens in May and June, 

 cuts short the crop thus put in. But when the ground is 

 broke up deep, then harrowed well, and the seed ploughed in, 

 followed by the harrow, the crop resists the drought, and the 

 product is from 40 to 60 bushels to the acre. 



Rye and barley are but Httle cultivated. 



12. Of Potatoes. — The kinds in use are the Shake- Red 

 or flesh color. Pink-eye, Snowball, and white Mesharinock. 

 Some Blues and early kidney are cultivated. The last far 



