THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 437 



A valuable lesson can be learned from this and every farmer knows 

 it but fails to heed it. Do not turn the stock on pasture too early. I 

 know of many who declared they would not pasture until May 1st, but no 

 uoubt the scarcity and high price of feed made the few green blades 

 brought out by the recent rain and warm spell too great a temptation, for 

 on a trip through the country last week I saw the cattle of these same 

 men gnawing the tender grass down to the very roots. It would be wiser 

 and cheaper to buy feed for a few more weeks, as that sparse and washy 

 diet which they are getting is of no value to the poor beasts and the 

 pastures will also suffer for an entire season. The rich, ankle-deep 

 growth that would have accumulated by the first or fifteenth of May would, 

 in addition to filling the stomachs of stock with good fat and flesh-form- 

 ing food, serve to retain the moisture and keep the pastures in a healthy 

 and productive condition all through the dry months. 



As a result of our last summer's fertilizing and seed-scattering the 

 pastures so treated are already showing a heavy growth of early grass 

 and where last spring one green blade appeared ten are now growing, 

 and the manure spreader is still at work. We consider it not only the 

 most economical and satisfactory distributor of manure but an excellent 

 broadcast seeder, sowing and covering at one operation the seed which 

 is usually left to rot or provide a breeding place for rats, mice, vermin 

 and disease germs. It is our theory that every inch of soil on the 

 farm should pay its share of the taxes and produce its proportion of 

 the profits. The manure spreader is making a realization of our theory. 

 Another and most important step toward the attainment of the same re- 

 sult is to allow the soil to provide itself with a heavy covering of grass 

 to protect its supply of moisture from the burning rays of the sun. Give 

 your pastures a fair chance for life and they will return you a grand re- 

 ward for your patience. S. L. Brock, Macon county, Mo. 



DIFFERENT METHODS OF FARMING FOR A SHARE OF THE CROP. 



liYallaccs' Farmer. 

 We are having so many letters asking for advice on making leases 

 for a share of the stock, that it seems worth while to give the subject a 

 rather full discussion. As stated heretofore, the variation in contracts 

 lor a share of the stock is almost endless, owing to the various circum- 

 stances and conditions of the farm. For example, a young farmer writes 

 us that he is farming 114 acres of his father's land, and is in partnership 

 on grain, stock, etc. The land is fair, but needs to be seeded down. 

 There is seventy-five acres of farm land and the rest in lots except 

 about twenty-three acres in blue-grass pasture. He wishes to know if 

 it would pay to seed it all to grass and feed cattle and hogs, buying the 

 grain; or whether it would pay to buy cows in the spring half-fat, run them 

 on grass, fatten and ship; or to buy cows that will have calves, let the 

 calves run with the cows during the summer and fatten and sell both. 



