HORSES — BEES — DAIRY. 153 



eight or ten acres of corn to run in, as soon as it is hard enough 

 to be shelled from the cob with their teeth. These pigs are 

 marketed in December or January at an average of from two 

 hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds. My stock hogs 

 are kept almost entirely on grass during the Summer. 



MY HORSES 



are of the Clydesdale breed. I have six brood mares, all grades, 

 of the above breed ; five of them being black, and one of a 

 dark gray color, averaging in weight twelve hundred pounds. 

 This breed of the above weight secures to the farmer an animal 

 unsurpassed for general usefulness on farm and roads, and also 

 makes a showy carriage team. As for speed, a cow that sucks 

 herself is about equal in value to a 2.40 mare for a farmer. My 

 colts from the above described mares sell readily for one hun- 

 dred dollars and upward, at the age of two and three years old. 



BEES. 



I keep a few colonies of bees, not for the profit there is in 

 the business, but chiefly for home use. I manage to sell enough 

 honey each season to pay all expenses of hives, honey-boxes, 

 etc. I keep the Italian bees. 



DAIRY. 



The best breeds of stock for the production of milk is the 

 Jersey. Native cows crossed with a good Jersey bull greatly 

 increases the milk and butter qualities. 



The region of country in which I live is an undulating 

 plain. The land is gently rolling, sufficient to drain itself, and 

 not abrupt enough to wash the soil from the tillable portions. 

 It is prairie, with here and there a small tract of timber. A 

 ride by carriage from our county-seat to the south-east corner, 

 caused Dick Oglesby to exclaim, "This is the finest part 

 of the great State of Illinois." And we believe that a visit to 

 our section will convince any unbiased mind of the truth of his 

 assertion. 



