EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK-PART X. 



643 



upright in a few minutes and will be in nearly as good shape as if never 

 disturbed. 



Alfalfa hay made in this way retains all its leaves (the most valuable 

 part), is bright green, and is as much better than the bleached, leafless 

 stems put up by more careless methods and often with as much, or more, 

 labor, as bright well cured corn fodder is better than weather-beaten 

 stalks we saw in the fields along the road today. 



To the skeptical, who are looking for the easy way and think this in- 

 volves too much labor, I will only say try it; especially if you have al- 

 ready had some sad experience following some other method. Remember, 

 never let one part of the work get ahead of another. Get the hay into the 

 cock as soon as possible after it is cut and never tear those cocks to pieces 

 until you are ready to puf the hay in immediately. 



WAGES ON THE FARM. 



The Orange Judd Farmer has collected reports on wages paid farm 

 hands in the principal agricultural states for the last three years with the 

 results shown in the following table: 



EVERGREENS IN IOWA. 

 Seymour G. Piatt, Oelwein, Iowa, in Iowa State Register and Farmer. 



The evergreen, as its name implies, is the tree for all the year around. 

 It does not serve us for but a part of the year like the fruit tree, nor like 

 other deciduous trees which are stripped of their foliage after the kill- 

 ing frosts of autumn have made their first few visits. The evergreen re- 

 mains through frost and snows to break the fierce attacks of the west- 

 ern winter winds. Who has not observed what a protection in the cold- 

 est windy days of winter a well-grown evergreen windbreak affords? 



It is surprising that in a prairie state like Iowa not more evergreen 

 windbreaks are planted. The climate, the soil, the moisture and all the es- 

 sentials for evergreen growing are found here. However, close attention 

 and hard labor must be combined with nature to secure desirable re- 



