440 GUTHRIE COUNTY, IOWA. 



BLACK WALNUTS. 



I also planted some black walnuts along the fence, plant- 

 ing the Avalnuts instead of the trees, which were very hard to 

 get and still harder to persuade to grow. I planted about 

 four feet apart, for protection and ornament. I planted about 

 one Iiundred rods of these trees in the Spring of 1860. I cul- 

 tivated them as I would corn for two years, since which they 

 have taken care of themselves, answering not only the purpose 

 for which they were intended, but the treble purpose of living 

 fence posts, which they made long before the first posts were 

 rotten. In the Fall of 1868 I tacked five common fence wires 

 on the trees with staples, fastening them on tight. In a few 

 years the wire where tacked on, became imbedded in the trees 

 and is so imbedded yet, making a perfect live post wire fence. 

 It is the best fence I have on the farm to-day, costing nominally 

 nothing for repairs, while the trees have been bearing nuts 

 annually, with a few exceptions, since they were six years old. 

 The season just past they bore about two hundred and fifty 

 bushels of walnuts, which at a low estimate would be worth 

 fifty dollars. They are worth more than so much corn for 

 feeding to hogs, who delight to eat them. 



COTTONWOODS. 



I set out at the same time one hundred and sixty rods of 

 Cottonwood slips, which soon made a wonderful growth, and in 

 due season tacked on five smooth wires which is a good fence 

 now. Some trees that have come up on the farm since will 

 make fifty rails and one cord of wood. 



SMALL GRAIN. 



I find that it is unprofitable to raise small grain on account 

 of its uncertain market. It has not paid well with me. I sow 

 wheat and oats more for the purpose of feeding the straw to 

 stock, and thereby converting it into manure, than from the 

 prospect of an immediate return in the sate of the grain. I 

 raised a good quality of wheat on land that has been under 

 constant cultivation for twenty years, without any fertilizers^ 



