Junior Naturalist Work. hi 



4. Pri::c for best letter on farm crops. 



" Dear Uncle John : 



" As I hav^e some spare time I will write a composition on the ' Farm 

 Crops ' to help in the work of Plant Life. 



" The corn crop is the most interesting to me. We endeavor to top dress 

 it in the winter and plow it in the spring. As soon as we get the sod plowed 

 we lix it for the corn to be planted by the use of spring tooth harrow and 

 roller. 



" We roll the piece over once and then go over the field two times with 

 a pec tooth harrow, then we roll it again. 



" When we want a very good growth of corn and not such a growth of 

 fodder, we plant it with a planter, and when we want a very large growth 

 of fodder we plant it with a drill, the rows being three feet apart. 



"We have a very good crop for our soil and climate. We sowed half 

 j'ellow corn and half earh* white corn until mixed and still liavc continued 

 to sow it. 



'■ When it is up about four inches we commence cultivating it and we 

 cultivate it about every three weeks vmtil it is about thirty- four inches high. 



" When the corn is ripe we go in with a corn binder and cut it, then we 

 go along behind the binder and set the corn up in shocks containing bundles. 

 We draw it down to the barn in three or four weeks. 



^_"As soon as it is fit we husk it or shred it. It is not a very good plan to 

 shred it unless you have a silo, for it will mold. 



" Corn is raised chiefly in the central part of United States but there is 

 some raised in the eastern part. Corn is used in fatting stock for market. 



" E. CURRY WEATHERBY." 



5. Prize for best letter on brook. 



" Dear Uncle John : 



" In the brook by my home there are many different fish. They are 

 minnows. They are about three inches long. There are lots of tad-poles 

 in the pond and poly-wogs are a plenty too. There are frogs and toads too. 

 The frogs have green eyes and a brown back. The toads are all brown. 



" There are crabs in the brook too. These crabs are very strong. When 

 they get a hold of your finger you think they will never let go. They are a 

 brown color. Some of them are black. Forget-me-nots grow all along the 

 bank of the creek and wild sun flowers grow there too. All these fish, 

 crabs, and flowers died because the brook dried up. 



" Yours truly 



"JOSEPH GARFIELD." 



" This brook was called ' Swift Brook ' by the Indians. 



" It is about four miles long and twelve or fifteen feet wide in the widest 

 place. The deepest place that 1 have found is not more than four feet deep. 



" In the Spring it is so high that it washes the bridge away sometimes. 

 Where the brook is widest there are falls different from any I have ever 

 seen and difiicult to describe. The water falls over rocks that resemble a 

 broad staircase of the tiniest steps. 



