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heavy mat. This will enable it to resist the effect of the frosts and sup- 

 ply a nutritious feed until quite late in the autumn. If this can be 

 effected, it will be quite easy to raise cattle on the prairies ; otherwise, I 

 think it will prove to be rather of an up-hill business. This will also 

 apply to the dairy and wood-growing branches of husbandry. 



I should advise the prairie farmer, if he wishes to cultivate the 

 tame grasses, to seed very heavily, to sow at least one-half a bushel 

 of timothy seed with one-fourth of a bushel of the large, red clove* 

 seed to the acre ; or if timothy be used alone, from three-fourths to a 

 bushel per acre. This may be considered expensive seeding, but the 

 first crop will more than repay him for his extra expense ; besides, it 

 enables it more effectually to resist the freezing and thawing of winter 

 and spring. The heavy timbered portions of our State, so far as I am 

 acquainted with them, produces all the cultivated grasses and the clovers, 

 very naturally, almost spontaneously ; and when the timber is cleared 

 off, and the grasses are cultivated, it will be one of the best grazing sec- 

 tions of the Union. The question is frequently asked, what branch of 

 business the farmer ought to pursue, in order to realize the greatest 

 amount of profit as the result of his labor. The wheat crop heretofore 

 having been the main dependence of the farmer, and having partially 

 failed for the last three or four years, and wheat, when produced, hav- 

 ing been sold at so low a price, that it has almost discouraged him in 

 continuing it as a leading business, has rendered it necessary for him to 

 turn his attention, in part at least, to some other system of Agriculture. 

 The question then is an important one, and ought to be well considered in 

 all of its bearings ; for much, very much of his future prosperity depends 

 upon a correct solution of this question. 



The soil of our State generally is rich beyond comparison, producing 

 all of the summer grains usually grown in northern latitudes in the 

 greatest abundance, and with good husbandry, there is but little danger 

 of a failure ; but the objection to raising these grains by those who live 

 in the interior of our State, is, that the expense of hauling it over bad 

 roads, a great distance to market, takes off all the profits, and leaves 

 little or nothing to the producer. To this I answer, that the farmer 

 should not (if he can avoid it) take the first kernel of his coarse grains 

 off from his farm. When he undertakes to wagon it to market, his time 

 and money are thrown away. He ought to be prepared to feed every 

 bushel of it on his own farm. 



