250 FULTON COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



lent passage way from the same to any part of the farm, also 

 to the watering place. 



The character of my farm is not of any one exclusive kind, 

 but my object and aim is to keep stock enough to consume tlio 

 larger portion of tlic grain produced on the farm, for by so 

 doing some part of the farm is 3'early changed from pasture to 

 cultivation ; and this changing, together with the manure that 

 naturally collects in the lots where the stock is sheltered and 

 fed being carted and scattered on the pastures, gives each sea- 

 son a field for corn with fresh fertile soil, which certainly can 

 not be obtained as cheap in any other way. Besides, the fre- 

 quent changing into pasture aids gi'catly to keep the land free 

 from noxious weeds which invariably accumulate if a farm is 

 devoted yearly to the raising of grain. 



GRAIN RAISING. 



I sow from ten to twenty acres of Winter wheat ; I sow 

 no Spring wheat unless the Winter wheat kills out. I 

 pJoAV three inches deep, harrow thoroughly, and, just before 

 sowing, go over the field with a stick of timber eight inches 

 square and ten feet long, which pulverizes the lumps and levels 

 the surface, filling up all holes and leaving the ground in such 

 condition that when the seed is sown and covered up, it is of 

 an even depth. I sow broadcast one and one-half bushels per 

 acre. I sow in the latter part of September, and if the wheat 

 kills badly during the Winter, sow the ground with an early 

 variety of Spring wheat. Harvesting costs from $1.00 to $1.50 

 per acre ; the cutting is done by reaping machines, of which 

 there arc many varieties, but my experience is in favor of those 

 which carry the binder. These, with two men to bind, one 

 man to shock the grain, and a boy to drive, will readily put up 

 eight to ten acres every day. With these there is no scattered 

 grain left here and there iu binding ; the scatterings are drop- 

 ped on the binding table, from which they are gathered and 

 bound in neat sheaf. They save the cost of one or two hands, 

 which is quite an object. I sow about fifteen acres of oats, pre- 

 paring the ground, seeding and harvesting in the same manner 



