130 WHITESIDE COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



ELI UPTON, 



MORRISON, WHITESIDE COUNTY. 



The Observations of a Life — Corn Culture — Smut, — Black 

 Leg and Foot Rot — Dairying arid the Feed for Milch Cows. 



WHEAT AND CORN. 



I commenced my farm in 1854, which was bought from 

 the State a short time before. My first crops were Rio Grande 

 Spring Wheat, which yielded very fairly. In one good season 

 my harvest amounted to 10,000 bushels of wheat. 



My mode of cultivating, after plowing, has been to pul- 

 verize the ground with a nine-toothed cultivator, then sow two 

 bushels of clean seed, and, if the weather is dry, roll. I do 

 this work as early as the frost is sufficiently out of the ground. 

 In tliis latitude our prairies will produce Spring wheat only five 

 or" six years. About Winter wheat there is a good deal of 

 uncertainty. I am, like all old settlers, without confidence 

 in the crop, although new comers are often very enthusiastic. 

 I once had a very promising stand of Winter wheat destroyed 

 by a cold, windy November. 



Other Spring crops require the same tillage as wheat; but 

 oats require three bushels sown to the acre. Furthermore, I 

 have lost both oats and barley by planting too early ; the grain 

 being tender, is liable to be destroyed by prolonged cold, wet 

 weather, yet these should never be sown late. The corn crop 

 every western farmer knows something about. A good crop 

 generally follows a good stand well tended. But there is more 

 to it. A good three-horse riding plow will turn the ground 

 bottom side up, every thing und3r, always the same depth. I 

 use three horses averaging thirteen, hundred pounds each, 

 and they walk along with ease. 



I plant with what is called a check-row. I do not drag 

 before planting, but when the corn sprouts. I once dragged 



