174 SHELBY COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



grown, were cut and allowed to fall as a mulch and a protec- 

 tion for winter. In the Fall of 1879 this field afforded excel- 

 lent pasture, which was allowed to grow and be turned under 

 for a green manure crop. 



THE NEXT FIELD, 



forty acres, was newer land and not so filled with weeds. It was 

 not broken until April, 1876, and when plowed was pulverized 

 with cultivator, rolled, and then harrowed until in good con- 

 dition. In May, timothy seed, mixed with red clover, in 

 proportion of six quarts of the clover seed to one bushel of 

 timothy, was sown at the rate of one-third bushel to the acre. 

 In September the whole field was cut over before the weed 

 seeds were ripe, the growth being left as a mulch. At the har- 

 vest of 1877 this field yielded two tons of grass per acre. Di- 

 rectly after harvest it was thoroughly harrowed. In the Spring 

 of 1878 it was again cross harrowed, and at the harvest it cut 

 three and one-quarter tons per acre. 



'^ AN OLD MEADOW. 



The next field was old and apparently exhausted, on which 

 stood shocks of corn not over five feet high, averaging less 

 than ten bushels of nubbins to the acre. This field was treated 

 substantially in the same manner as the meadow. It contained 

 eighteen acres. The first six acres were sown with pure timo- 

 thy seed, one-third bushel to the acre ; the next six acres with 

 one-half bushel, and the last six acres with one bushel of seed 

 to the acre, under protest from my men as a waste of seed. 

 The latter part of August, 1875, the entire field presented the 

 following appearance : where one-third bushel of seed was 

 sown a vigorous crop of weeds entirely covered the grass ; where 

 one-half bushel was sown, more grass and fewer weeds, and 

 where one bushel was sown, a crop of grass from twenty to 

 twenty-four inches high and nearly lialf weeds. The whole 

 field was cut with the mower before any weed seed ripened. 

 The grass only from the last six acres was raked and stacked, 

 yielding one ton to the acre, of a poor growth. The grass 



