234 STATE BOARD OF AGRKJULTURE. 



requircinciits, the soil, size of the t'anii, and nuiuy other tiiiiiL,'S will have to be 

 coiisidored, 



A man who has no regular plan for his crops works at a disadvantage, one 

 year he grows a large amount of one crop, the next year something else, he 

 will have nearly the whole farm sowed to grain, and then in a year or two 

 work into grass, and he vill often lay ont more than he can do, crops will be 

 sowed late and will crowd him in seedtime and harvest, work will be poorly 

 done, which will result in light crops; he can't keep any regular number of 

 cattle or sheep, because the amount of feed will vary from one year to another. 

 The more we study the matter the more reasons we can see for adopting some 

 rotation of crops. 



In preparing the i)lan for the rotation the following points should be con- 

 sidered : First, the farm should be divided into as many parts as there are 

 crops to be grown ; these fields or parts shonld be nearly of an equal size, so 

 that there will be the same amount of work for each year. The crops should 

 be so arranged as to distribute the work through the season, and the men and 

 teams be kept steadily at work to good advantage, not driven at one time and 

 little to do at another. Plan to have some of the plowing done in the spring 

 and some in the fall ; provide for one or two years of clover to keep up the 

 fertility, and for at least one cultivated or hoed crop, when the land may be 

 thoroughly tilled through the season to keep doAvn the weeds. 



THE BARK", 



Farm barns as a rule are not built to economize labor in stock feeding. 

 The object of the barn is to store the feed and shelter the stock ; but some- 

 thing more should be considered wlieu building, it should be planned to make 

 as little labor as possible. Farmers usually commence with a small capital, 

 they put up a small barn, in a few years their crops and means increase and 

 they add to the barn or build another; by the time the farm is all improved 

 they have several buildings, sometimes all joined together, and again scattered 

 around in two or three places. If the stock are divided up, some here and 

 some there, it requires double the labof to care for them. The barn should 

 be so arranged that the hay, straw, etc., may be easily put into it. Second, 

 so that the fodder may be taken to the stock with but little carrying. Third, 

 so that manure may be taken out without more than once handling or wheel- 

 ing a long distance ; and fourth, on new farms, particularly, so planned that 

 the capacity of the barn may be increased without destroying the convenience 

 of arrangement. The plan of the barn will depend somewhat on the style of 

 feeding, — whether the feed is to be cut up or fed whole. 



The subject of cutting up and cooking feed can not be discussed in a few 

 minutes. We will merely look at a few points. Cutting up fodder adds 

 nothing to it, the only object in the practice is that stock may be induced to 

 eat rough fodder, and eat it up cleaner than they would if it were fed whole, 

 and it makes finer manure. It would not pay to cut up feed in a new country 

 where fodder is cheap and labor high. It will only be profitable on valuable 

 land, where hay is worth at least seven or eight dollars per ton, where rough 

 fodder, as straw and stalks, are grown, and where enough stock is kept, say 

 not less than 20 head, to require a large feed cutter run by some kind of 

 power, either horses or steam. And even then it will not pay for the extra 

 labor unless the barn is planned to reduce the work to a minimum. 



"Where land is worth iSi-iO or $50 per acre under a good state of cultivation, 

 with a regular rotation of crops and properly arranged barn, with from 25 to 



