318 MIAMI COUNTY, KANSAS. 



insure my crops being attended to in proper time, as the farmer 

 often sustains great loss by not having the requisite machinery 

 at his command. My farm implements and machinery are as 

 follows: Furst & Bradley iron beam plow with Cahill ridinnf 

 attachment, Brown's corn planter, Imperial Riding Cultivator 

 (in use four years), Old Buckeye wheat drill (in use eight 

 years), Improved Climax reaper and mower combined (in use 

 five seasons). Spiral stalk cutter, Burell corn sheller, fan mill 

 (seven years in use), Big Giant corn and cob crusher, and 

 other implements to meet my wants. Some of my machinery 

 has been in use quite a time but it is to-day nearly as good 

 as when bought. I have managed it upon the idea that if it 

 pays to buy an implement, it pays equally well to house and 

 care for it when not in use. 



CORN. 



My farm is upland prairie, high elevation. Much of it is 

 rolling, consequently must be strongly tested by drouth in a 

 dry season. It is my custom to turn under the stalks and 

 what vegetation may accumulate, together with the manure 

 m^ade at the outbuildings, believing it will return good interest 

 in the half bushel. I plow as much as possible in the Fall, and 

 deep ; if not in the Fall early in the Spring, so that my corn 

 may be planted in good time. I prefer to plant in April if the 

 ground is dry, even though it be cold. My experience and 

 observation have taught me that corn planted early (condition 

 of the ground being favorable) produces a larger yield. I 

 " tend it " exclusively with the cultivator, unless it continues 

 dry after it comes up, in which case I run over it with a roller. 

 My corn crop on a yearly average amounts to about thirty acres, 

 with an average for this year of forty bushels per acre, which 

 is raised at a cost of ten cents per bushel. I crib early, in well- 

 covered cribs, and convert it into pork, believing that if I do 

 not realize more for it, it is a much easier way of getting it to 

 market. I believe, however, that I get better returns for my 

 corn in pork than in its natural state. 



WHEAT. 



With reference to wheat, I have sown it every year since 



