SUGAR GROVE FARM. H 



HENRY CHAPMAN, 



SUGAR GROVE, KANE COUNTY. 



Land Needs Rest — Clover Head and Shoulders Above All 

 Other Fertilizers — Never Cut It Twice in the Same Year — 

 Hogs, their Feed and Management — Short Horns, Devons, 

 Herefords — Sheep — The Dairy. 



SUGAR GROVE FARM 



contains 261 acres of land, 21 acres being timber, the remain- 

 der prairie. My farm is moderately rolling prairie, and for the 

 most part dry land, suitable for cultivation in all seasons. The 

 soil is a dark loam, with black sand enough to produce an early 

 growth of vegetation in the Spring. 



The sub-soil, commencing at a depth of from one to three 

 feet, is yellow earth, with a mixture of sand and gravel suffi- 

 cient to prevent standing water, yet not enough to leach away 

 the fertilizings. I have a few acres with a surface soil rich in 

 vegetable mold, but a clay sub-soil that holds the water, and 

 it is commonly called a slough. 



I have not tiled or plowed this wet land, as it produces 

 bountifully ; and in a very dry season, when other pasture lands 

 fail, it affords plenty of feed for my stock. 



I am following a mixed husbandry. 



CORN IS MY FORTE, 



but I raise oats and occasionally wheat, rye and barley, the 

 latter more to help me to secure a good clover seeding, than 

 for any other purpose. My rule is to plow only three years 

 without seeding with clover. After breaking a piece of sod, 

 I raise two crops of corn and one of small grain, seeding the 

 latter with clover. Then three crops of clover, and plow up 

 again for corn, thus alternating every three years. Land needs 



