14 KANE COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



after the fertilizer is spread upon the ground, the greater is 

 the benefit ; hence, I clean out my yards early in Spring and 

 Fall. 



Earth, air, and water contain, in great abundance, all the 

 ingredients necessary for all kinds of vegetable production, and 

 the greatest work of the scientist and the practitioner is to aid 

 the operation of nature in placing those elements in proper 

 proportion and condition, for plant appropriation. So, what- 

 ever ingredient is extracted from the soil by cropj)ing, must 

 be restored in some way, or, ultimately, total depletion will 

 ensue. 



ADAPTATION. 



Every farmer should study the quality, capacity, and 

 adaptability of his soil, by analysis or experiment, and then 

 pursue that branch of husbandry, as nearly as practicable, for 

 which nature has fitted his land. Every good crop enriches 

 the farmer, while every poor one impoverishes him. Hence, 

 one good crop is worth more than a thousand poor ones. It is 

 well to allow land to lie in clover three years out of every 

 four, if f;hat is necessary to secure a good crop of grain the 

 fourth year. With proper care and culture, on lands properly 

 adapted, and in ordinarily favorable seasons, we might as well 

 average seventy-five bushels of corn or of oats, thirty of wheat, 

 fifty of barley, etc., which are not extravagant estimates, as to 

 get less than half those amounts, as do many of our farmers. 



HIGHEST AIM UPON THE FARM. 



The products of the farm, as a rule, should always be 

 used at home. Every bushel of grain, ton of hay, or straw, 

 sold from the farm, fails to pay its indebtedness to the soil 

 which produced it, and in a few years, without other sources 

 of supply, that soil will not respond to the labors of the 

 farmer. 



I very seldom dispose of my grain or hay, but my annual 

 sales are all in the shape of pork, beef, mutton, wool, and dairy 

 products. Usually I produce from twenty to thirty thousand 



