226 CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



vent the use of a drill, I sow broadcast and cover the grain by 

 breaking the ground not more than two or three inches deep, 

 after which I harrow both ways until the soil is thoroughly 

 pulverized. I do not allow a large yield and high prices to 

 induce me to sow an acreage out of all proportion to other 

 farm crops, nor to thus concentrate in two months' time the 

 work cf a year. 



OATS. 



I usually devote from twenty to thirty acres of my thinnest 

 land to the production of oats, preferring that plowed in the 

 Fall. If this is not convenient, sow broadcast, as early in the 

 Spring as possible, on land that has borne corn the previous 

 year; usually selecting that intended for seeding witli rye and 

 grass the following Fall. I do not break tlie land, but cover 

 the grain with cultivator, leveling the ground with a harrow. 

 The price of oats at threshing, seldom pays for rent of land, 

 seed,, labor, putting in, harvesting and threshing. However, 

 oats, are the best feed for farm teams during the Summer season. 

 I also like a good straw stack for shelter and feed in Winter • 

 and the oat stubble gives an additional number of acres for 

 Fall plowing, affording the land an opportunity, in the ensuing 

 six months, to feed upon the atmosphere, which is the farmers' 

 inexhaustible manure heap. At the same time this arrange- 

 ment gives a greater diversity of labor throughout the entire 

 season. 



FARM DRAINAGE. 



Although my farm is quite rolling and would be considered 

 by many as being above high water mark, the past few years 

 have but confirmed me in the opinion that success in every 

 department of farm management, including the moral and 

 physical well being of the farmer and his household, depends 

 upon a thorough and complete system of drainage. But few 

 mortals are endowed with sufficient strength and grace to work 

 in mud and water nine months of the year without failing in 

 one and falling from the other. 



The digging of tile drains costs from twenty to twenty- 

 five cents per rod. The cost of the tile is from $15.00 per 



