146 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



few dippings in a medicated bath but, by this 

 time, sheep had fallen to one dollar per head so 

 that the cost of cure would have been a large per 

 cent of the selling price. The footrot, the scab 

 and an atrophied market utterly destroyed the 

 sheep industry in the state of Iowa and where 

 thousands of sheep once grazed scarcely one can 

 now be found. On the other hand, at the close of 

 1864 fat hogs sold for as high as twelve and one- 

 half cents per pound live weight; and it was said 

 that one man sold a single fat porker for a little 

 over one hundred dollars. I have gone into such 

 details that you may understand the downs and ups 

 of farming in those times and also to show how I 

 was getting some more education in practical 

 agriculture. 



Nor is farming less uncertain at the present 

 time. At this writing in January, 1910, un- 

 bleached Sultana raisins are nominally quoted at 

 two and one-half cents per pound the fact is, no 

 bids can be obtained for them at any price. Two 

 years ago this same class of raisins sold readily, de- 

 livered at the station, at seven to nine cents per 

 pound. So does he who farms go merrily both up 

 hill and down ; so fluctuates the farmer's business ; 

 but he always quotes the big returns, not having 



