IMPROVEMENTS 349 



came on the place in the Spring of 1878, the farm was, to all 

 intents and purposes, no more than an open, raw prairie, and 

 that I have built it up in the short space of less than two years, 

 showing the capabilities and possibilities of our kindly Kansas 

 climate and fertile Kansas soil. 



My first work was given to remodeling the dwelling, so as 

 to make it convenient for my family, while presenting a good 

 appearance inside and out. The fences on the place were only 

 outside boundaries, old and worn out. I put out 1£0 rods of 

 hedge as a line fence between my neighbors and myself, and 

 built C30 rods of five-board pine fence, using selected burr oak 

 posts ; also 250 rods of wire fence, with tlie same kind of posts, 

 set sixteen feet apart, and using three strands of four barbed 

 Avire. I placed the posts for the wire fence at this distance 

 apart, so that if at any time I wished to replace the Avires with 

 boards, I could do so by simply putting another post between 

 each two already set, and using sixteen-feet boards. 



The farm was a fractional quarter section, containing 163 

 acres. I divided it into twelve lots with the fences I have 

 spoken of. One field contains 118 acres, on which I have now 

 growing seventy-eight acres of Winter wheat, sown from the 

 15th to the 20th of September, 1879. Twenty acres are in 

 meadow, and twenty acres are reserved for corn for the ensuing 

 season. Another field is a twelve-acre pasture in the northeast 

 corner of the place, on which was grown wheat in the year 

 1878. In the month of September, 1877, when the field was 

 sown with wheat, I mixed timothy with the seed, at the rate 

 of one and one-half bushels of tlie latter for every ten acres of 

 ground. In March, 1878, I sowed the same field with clover 

 seed, at the rate of one bushel for every ten acres. In the 

 harvest of 1878 this crop of wheat was cut, and it averaged 

 thirty-three bushels of wheat to the acre, full measure. This 

 pasture the whole of the past Summer has furnished plenty of 

 feed and range for five licad of fine blooded cows, which have 

 been pastured on it, and five head of horses. The sod is heavy 

 and well set, and the grass is strong and thrifty. 



West of this twelve-acre pasture and adjoining it, is an- 



