2i36 IROQUOIS COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



My method of preparing the soil is to plow all I can as 

 early in the Fall as possible (the dryer the better for the com- 

 ing crop), with three good, heavy horses, and plowing as deep 

 as the nature of the soil will admit. I commence with new 

 land, first plowing after breaking from four to five inches, and 

 going one inch deeper each succeeding plowing, until I reach 

 eight or ten inches. 



Shallow plowing, say four to five inches deep, I find to 

 produce more corn than deeper plowing in the Spring. For 

 the past eleven years, my corn land has varied from two hun- 

 dred to four hundred and fifty acres each season. 



Each man with team has forty acres of corn and fifteen 

 acres of oats and flax to raise. From the time the plow is 

 started in the Spring until the corn is too large to cultivate, I 

 do not allow the man and team out of the field a single day 

 for anything, unless for rain. After plowing, a good double 

 harrowing precedes the planter; and behind the latter four 

 rows comes a three-horse harrow, with teeth set at an angle of 

 fojty-five degrees. Just before the corn comes through the 

 ground, I give one more harrowing, and as soon as I can see 

 the row, I start the cultivator (a good one that will scour) and 

 let it in deep, throwing the earth close to the corn. The first 

 time through is the time to stir the soil and kill the weeds; 

 this will cover up a good deal of corn, but stop and uncover it. 

 The second time through I use a two-bladed scraper with 

 blades two inches wide at the front, and tapering to one inch 

 at the heel. The third time I use the cultivator, but not so 

 deep as the first time. The fourth time I use scraper with 

 addition on heel. The fifth time I hoe and pull the weedy 

 places, if there are any; if not, I make hay. Thorough culti- 

 vation is what makes corn. If the cornfield is left to itself for 

 two weeks after planting, it is best to use checkrow, and then 

 if not cultivated thoroughly, there will be weeds in the hill and 

 the crop materially injured. 



HOGS. 



I usually market from one hundred to two hundred and 

 fifty hogs a year. My pasture, which is indispensable as to 



