NATURAL ADVANTAGES. 331 



the grains and grasses usually grown in the North West. 

 There is a great abundance of good stock water, and the large 

 amount of unoccupied land furnishes plenty of rich pasture 

 for over six months in the year, and hay of good quality to keep 

 ■the cattle the remainder of the year. The very best quality 

 of land can be had for five or six dollars per acre. Here we 

 have a county free from debt, a jail (which cost $10,000) nearly 

 always empty, plenty of good schools, no herd law, and free 

 pasturage for the poor man's cow from the first of April to the 

 first of November. 



ANSON S. COOKE, 



BELOIT, MITCHELL COUNTY. 



Mixed Husbandry — Cost per Acre of Growing Winter Wheats 

 Oats, Corn, and Fruit — Management and Breeding of Hogs 

 and Farm Horses — It Pays to Push all Young Stock as Fast 

 as Crood Food and Grood Care Will Do It. 



My farm is situated near the center of Mitchell Co., Kan- 

 sas, on high, rolling prairie. A little over seven years ago it 

 was unbroken sod, owned by the United States. It consists of 

 240 acres. One hundred and sixty acres of it are enclosed and 

 subdivided by a hedge fence of Osage orange. I have 176 

 acres under cultivation, the remainder being wild meadow and 

 pasture land. I have an orchard of 175 apple trees, most of 

 them three years old. I have a peach orchard of 200 trees four 

 years old, all of which is surrounded on the north, west, and 

 south by wind-breaks of the same age, and all are growing 

 well. The farm is conducted on the system of mixed hus- 

 bandry, and is devoted to both grain and stock. I find from 

 experience that it pays to use the best labor-saving machinery. 

 I do most of my plowing with a three-horse sulky plow, as it 

 enables me to stir the soil deeper, and covers the weeds better. 



"WHEAT. 



Winter wheat has been one of the principal productions 

 of my farm, as it does well in this latitude and brings quick 



