288 • LA SALLE COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



till the corn is fairly up, and even longer, if the ground is in 

 good condition, which it ought to be by this time. This will 

 keep the weeds from getting a start, and as soon as the corn 

 is high enough, I start the corn plows, going slow, very slow, 

 so as to get up close to the corn, and each subsequent time 

 going further off, turning the shovels to send the dirt up to 

 the corn. If the top of the ground is dry, a rolling before 

 tending is quite a help, but care must be taken not to roll 

 when the corn is wet, or the ground sticky. 



SMALL GRAIN. 



I only raise oats enough to seed down my ground. During 

 the years above mentioned (1860 to 1871) the oats I did raise 

 cost me thirty-one and one-half cents per bushel. 



Wheat I have entirely given up raising. Ten years ago I 

 said that from that time on I would eat (in the bread line) the 

 sweat of some other man's brow, and have not as yet seen 

 any cause why I should change my mind. All the wheat I 

 ejrer raised cost me $1.08 per bushel. 



The great natural advantage of the place for stock raising 

 and handling, caused me, as soon as I had got enough ahead 

 to be able to wait the slower returns that are incident to stock 

 over grain, to seed down more of my ground, so as to be able 

 to keep more stock. 



HOGS. 



My first start with hogs was with the Chester Whites, 

 which were at that time quite the rage, and there were some 

 very fine specimens of that breed shown at fairs; but, though 

 I was as careful in selecting as I knew how to be, and certainly 

 paid high enough prices for them, yet the results were discour- 

 aging, and my hog account for the first two years proved that 

 I had better have sold my corn as before. I then turned to 

 the Berkshires, and since then the balance has been on the 

 right side. For quite a number of years I have had nothing 

 but thorough-bred Berkshires on the place. There is no ques- 

 tion but that from twenty to fifty per cent, more can be ob- 

 tained for corn by feeding it to hogs, if one only has the right 



