564 DAKOTA COUNTY, MINNESOTA. 



^Pbr some reason, a ewe, which had dropped her lamb on 

 Wednesday, got estrayed from it on Friday, about ten o'clock 

 A. M. I found it the Sunday after at noon, put it with it3 

 mother, and for a wonder, after its two days' fast, it lived. 

 They are far more domestic than the other varieties, besides 

 being tamer, and always come home to their shed at night. 



HOGS. 



For hogs I prefer the cross between the Chester White 

 and Suffolk. I have never taken a fancy to the Berkshire. 



BEES. 



I have kept bees, but find it takes too much time in the 

 most busy season of the year to care for them. The moth is 

 more destructive on bees here than in any other region in the 

 United States. Still, some have made a success of bee-keeping. 



FEUIT. 



The cultivation of fruit has only been tried for the pur- 

 pose of raising enough on the farm for home consumption. 

 Of cherries, the common red do quite well here, but bear very 

 sparsety. Apples have been experimented with for the last 

 twenty years. I have found but few varieties that are per- 

 fectly imrdy. Still there are enough to have a succession from 

 July till July, but the longest keeper we have is a crab, not 

 good for eating, but extra nice for sauce. There are new 

 seedlings coming in, bearing each year, so persons wishing to 

 raise their own apples can do so. All the small fruits grow 

 to tlie greatest perfection. 



There seems to be a principle in nature, that fruits attain 

 more perfection the nearer they grow to their northern limit. 



DAIRY. 

 Leaving the fruit yard and orchard with its six hundred 

 apple trees, we enter the dairy, where is manufactured the 

 butter and cheese of the farm. A revolving churn is used to 

 make the butter, in which the grain of the latter is far better 

 than in the old fashioned dash churn, besides the washing can 

 all be done in the churn so that the lifting is dispensed with. 



