WIND - BREAK - STOCK — SHEEP. 573 



growth of weeds and grasses. This land has, by repeated 

 mowing, become a meadow of fine blue-joint grass, yielding 

 annually one and a half to two tons of hay, equal to timothy 

 hay. I erected a small log house, and a stable of sod for im- 

 mediate use, as the nearest railroad station was seventy-five 

 miles away, and lumber could not be had nearer. 



WIND-BREAK. 



The following year I started a wind-break of willows, 

 cottonwoods and Lombardy poplars, on the north and west 

 sides of my house, and in a few years had five acres planted 

 with trees. They are a great benefit now. 



STOCK. 



I procured some Berkshii-e hogs, as pork brought a good 

 price. About the time that I had a number of hogs, the price 

 fell so that I could obtain more for the corn than I could 

 for the pork. So I disposed of the hogs at once. I also had a 

 number of cows. I raised their calves and purchased more, 

 finding at first a good home market for all the cows and steers 

 I had to spare. Soon there was a surplus, and we had to de- 

 pend on Iowa feeders to come here and buy them. The price 

 of butter was low at the same time ; a fact which induced me 

 three years ago to sell off all except what I required for home 

 use. I put the proceeds into one hundred and twenty-five 

 grade Merino sheep, upon which I have used a full-blood 

 Merino buck, with excellent results. 



SHEEP. 



The sheep run in the prairie pasture of eighty acres during 

 the Summer, and are brought into the yard every night. Dur- 

 ing the Winter I keep them in a shed open to the east, with 

 a 3'ard on that side, into which they can run. From the sides 

 of this shed they are fed with hay at sunrise and sunset, and 

 are allowed as much as they will eat up clean. No grain is 

 fed to them. They run in a pasture every fine day. About 

 once a week I draw a load of straw, and scatter it upon the 

 ground for them to eat. There is a pond of half an acre in the 



