MEMORIES OF THE 



The winter's accumulation of stable and barnyard manure 

 from forty or fifty cattle was large. It was drawn to the fields 

 that were to be plowed each spring, as there was time to do it. 

 If we were going to plow the field immediately, we spread it 

 from the wagon. If it was to lie a few days before plowing, it 

 was dumped in small heaps, so that it should not lose its 

 strength by drying up or evaporation before being plowed 

 under; then, when ready to plow, it was spread evenly over 

 the ground. This spreading could be and was done while the 

 team was resting, but the plowman never liked that arrange- 

 ment. 



Whether or not the plowing under of this fertilizer was 

 the best practice, I do not know. Farmers disagreed upon 

 the question and argued it earnestly among themselves. We 

 were simple farmers, not "agriculturists," and we then had no 

 agricultural bureaus to tell us how to farm it, and possibly, in 

 our ignorance of scientific methods, did not follow the best. 

 Which was best doubtless depended upon the kind of soil 

 and other surrounding circumstances. We walked by our own 

 lights and followed the suggestions and teachings of our own 

 experience. At any rate, we cleaned up the barnyard, got rid 

 of the manure, and obtained good results, if not the best. We 

 thought we were doing all right and, while we had not the 

 advice of agricultural professors, commissioners, inspectors and 

 superintendents of experimental farms to tell us how to properly 

 till the soil, we got along quite as well as those of the present 

 generation who have these advantages, and better than those 

 who farm it mostly with their mouths, in grange halls and 

 farmers' institutes. If we lost the supposed benefits and assist- 

 ance of these public officials, we did not have to pay them their 

 salaries. Our taxes were five or six dollars a year, and we paid 



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