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a dairyman. The field is reasonably fertile but very steep, so steep 

 that cultivation would promptly result in ruin by gullying. This 

 field was last plowed in 1 895 and it should remain forever in good 

 pasture or forest. I want to get it set to grafted black walnut trees. 

 I have planted some ten acres of it to such trees while it still con- 

 tinues as a pasture. Some of these trees were raised in my private 

 nursery until they were high enough to be out of the cows' reach. 

 Others, smaller, had to have their tops protected by a rail pen, com- 

 posed of twelve pieces of wood. The trees were mulched with straw 

 and strawy manure. They were fertilized with nitrate of soda and 

 this year I tried some bone meal. 



This year also I have added shower irrigation. The trees have had 

 holes dug near them and above them. These holes hold one or two 

 bushels of water. Small trenches were made in a V shape above the 

 tree to lead running rain water into these holes. Thus, every shower 

 which made water run off the field caused the water to collect in the 

 holes by the trees and irrigate them. I submit that this practice goes 

 a long way toward replacing the water that eultivation might leave 

 there. 



The result of this combination of devices seems to be satisfactory. 

 The trees are growing and the field continues to be a pasture. The 

 trees would have grown faster with cultivation but a few of them are 

 bearing a few nuts in thqir fourth season, a season in which nut trees 

 in the neighborhood are not doing much. 



I wish to emphasize the advantages of this system as a piece of 

 farm economy. The factor that kills so many farm enterprises is 

 overhead expense. The farmer buys a reaper which costs him twenty- 

 five or thirty dollars a year to keep, in addition to repairs and labor 

 use, and he uses it two days. That situation is typical of agriculture. 

 It does much to explain the rapid disappearance of one crop agricul- 

 ture. I own no tools in connection with this bluegr ass-pasture- 

 walnut-orchard, except 2 picks and 2 shovels. The orchard has been 

 put in during odd times of the horses, harness, wagons, pitchforks and 

 nearby farm labor. The straw mulch and manure have been hauled 

 into position when the farm did not require the use of its team, which 

 I hired by the day. The tenant held the overhead expense on the 



