134 MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



V. P. RICHMOND, 



MORO, MADISON COUNTY. 



Prairie Home Farm — Mixed Hushandry — Pastures and Mea- 

 dows — G-rain — Devon Cattle — Sheep — Essex Swine — 

 Fruit — Poultry — Drainage. 



PRAIRIE HOME. 



My farm consists of 100 acres in two separate tracts ; 65 

 acres comprise the home farm, the remainder lying half a mile 

 distant. It is situated in sections nine and ten, Fort Russell 

 Township, Madison County. The soil is variable, from 

 rich, deep black, to light gray and clayey. When I first 

 began work, there was oa the farm what the pioneers called a 

 buffalo or deer lick, a very hard, compact, yellow clay with 

 some saline properties. By dint of bounteous manuring, and 

 deep plowing, no one can point out the place to-day, unless 

 myself, and I with difficulty. 



I believe a mixed husbandry is the proper course for far- 

 mers in general, and therefore I have carried as much stock on 

 the farm as it would bear, consequently hay and corn have 

 principally been consumed thereon. 



My treatment of pasturage and meadow lands has been to 

 hold about 12 acres as a permanent pasture, on which we aver- 

 age a stock of 8 cows and horses and 75 sheep. My reason for 

 permanent pasture is that the older the sod, the more reliable 

 in seasons of drought ; and for keeping sheep and larger stock 

 in the same pasture, that one will eat what the other refuses, 

 thereby giving grasses a chance to grow. The droppings of 

 sheep also take immediate hold on the nourishment of grasses, 

 as soon as a dew falls. When the small grain is stacked we 

 pasture the stubble, and the meadows when the grass has start- 

 ed. Meadows need occasional renewing, as in four or five 



