570 LE SUEUR COUNTY, MINNESOTA. 



or whey for fattening purposes. The pigs are dropped in the 

 Summer or Fall, and they are fed enough to keep them in a 

 thriving condition through the Winter. I slaughter them 

 about the middle or last of November, when they weigh from 

 four to five hundred pounds. Formerly I have tried to fatten 

 Spring pigs, so as to save Wintering, and have succeeded in 

 making them weigh two hundred and fifty to three hundred 

 pounds, but they are more liable to accident, and the right sort 

 of stock is not always to be had. So I find it best to rely on 

 Summer or Fall pigs Wintered over. While fattening I let 

 them have access to the lake. They are in a large yard, well 

 sheltered, and when kept warm and dry are invariably healthy. 



FRUIT. 



I have a small orchard proportioned to the size of the 

 farm. I have succeeded in raising several of the standard 

 varieties, such as the Wealthy, Duchess of Oldenburg, Red 

 Astrachan, and a few others. 



* PROFITS. 



I usually receive over a dollar a bushel for \vheat, so that 

 taking into account the ordinary rent for land, one-third of the 

 crop, at twenty-two and one-half bushels per acre, I have 

 realized a little more than seven dollars an acre profit above 

 expenses. My horses have sold at three and four years old at 

 from one hundred to two hundred and twenty-five dollars each, 

 and at the prices obtained for young stock, my pasture and 

 meadow have yielded the same profit per acre. At the prices 

 wliich I have received for my pork for the past fifteen years, 

 corn has paid at least fifty cents a bushel. 



TIMBER FARMING. 



Tilling the soil and raising stock are not the only source 

 of money-making for the timber farmer. After the ground 

 has frozen and Winter has set in, the timber furnishes a means 

 of livelihood, and the industrious farmer turns his attention to 

 making railroad ties, cutting and drawing saw-logs, and chop- 

 ping cord-wood. The price of ties delivered at the track of 



