518 JEFFERSON COUNTY, IOWA. 



vaiiclies that ripen near the same time, and the same with 

 oats. I liave never failed getting from ten to twenty-five per 

 cent, greater yield than with any single variety. I always cul- 

 tivate as great a variety of the cereals as possible. This 

 appears to be necessary in a climate where one extreme of 

 weather follows another in such rapid succession, for if one 

 crop should fail another may be productive. 



MEADOWS. 



In the management of meadows, it has been my practice 

 to seed the ground with pure timothy, and harvest at the 

 pi'oper time to save the seed. If care be taken, the hay is not 

 materially injured for feeding stock. At the end of three or 

 four years, I resow the meadow with red clover, for the pur- 

 jiose of loosening the soil, and the effect, like that of mixing 

 different varieties of grain, is that the yield is increased from 

 ten to twenty-five per cent, on meadows that have been in 

 grass that length of time. In changing such fields from grass, 

 we ^find J;hat these old meadows make excellent pastures, 

 and fieltjs having been used for pasture are always well adapted 

 to the cultivation of any crop requiring strong land. It is 

 perhaps unnecessary to say that oats should not be cultivated 

 on such land for a number of years, for the reason they will 

 grow too tall and rank, and will generally lodge Avhile green 

 and heavy, and the effect will be that the yield will be very- 

 poor if any. I might, however, say here that pasture land 

 Summer fallowed is the best Winter wheat ground I have. I 

 keep horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, in sufficient numbers to 

 take up what I term the rough feed, that is, hay, straw, 

 fodder, etc., and herein I make and save a large percent, on the 

 farm. 



SHELTER. 



But the way I save the greatest per cent., after economiz- 

 ing my expenses, is by providing shelter for, all my stock, not 

 only for horses, colts, and milch cows, but for all my stock, 

 sheep and hogs included. In speaking of shelter for stock, I 

 do not necessarily mean a laro-e fine barn with all the con- 



