580 STEELE COUNTY, MINNESOTA. 



new countries there is more machinery spoiled by neglect 

 and exposure to rain and the hot sun, than by actual wear. 



What machinery to use, depends very much on the soil , if 

 the latter is sandy, I prefer the drill for seeding, as it gets in 

 deeper and more evenly. I use both broadcast seeder and 

 drill on my farm, and can see no particular difference. I sow 

 my clover and herd-grass with drill, and drag once after it. I 

 use the John Deere sulky plow, and think it a great improve- 

 ment over the walking plow. I have used the Norwegian 

 plow, made at Beloit, Wisconsin, and for a walking plow I 

 like it very much. 



In cutting my grain I have used the Marsh harvested for 

 eight years, averaging one hundred acres per year. In all that 

 time, I have not expended over six dollars for repairs, and it 

 does as good work as ever. What is true with the harvester, 

 holds good with the seeder, mower, horse rake, plows, harrows, 

 and, in fact, all implements used on the farm. I have a place 

 for every tool, and see that it is in its place, for we may work 

 ever so hard, and if we do not take care of what we have, we 

 will always be poor. 



BARN. 



My stock and hay barn is on the north side of the road, with 

 a descent to the north ; the building faces the south, is forty by 

 fifty feet, and eighteen feet posted ; and there is abasement, ten 

 feet high, under the whole. In the basement I have for my 

 stock two tier of stalls, forty feet each, and each containing 

 twelve stanchions, making room for twenty-four head of 3attle. 

 I use nine feet, from the stanchion back to the wall or partition, 

 divided as follows : four and one-half foot platform for cows to 

 stand on ; then a drop fifteen inches wide by two inches deep, 

 and a walk of three feet, back of drop. My feeding alley is 

 ten feet wide, and the stock face each other. I allow three 

 feet of space for each cow, and seven inches for the neck when 

 locked in, which I think the safest and most convenient way of 

 tying up cattle. I have never found a creature loose, after 

 being thus fastened. I have five windows in my basement, 

 sixteen by thirty-six inches, hung on hinges, to admit light and 



