542 BOONE COUNTY, NEBRASKA. 



and storms of Summer), in planting out different varieties of 

 native timber, of the kinds I have already mentioned. 



WHEAT. 



After my crop has been harvested and threshed, the straw 

 is left in some out of the way place to become decomposed, or 

 partly so, which will take from one to two years if left in 

 small piles. I then scatter this over the stubble-fields lightly, 

 and plow under in the Fall. I raise nothing but Spring wheat, 

 and to produce a good sure crop, the ground for the same must 

 be Fall plowed, the earlier the better, as the longer it remains 

 exposed to the thawing and freezing of our Winters, the bet- 

 ter its condition for the reception of the seed. Again, another 

 advantage derived from early plowing in the Fall, or right 

 away after the crop has been taken from the field is, that the 

 warm days starve the foul seed of weeds and other worthless 

 vegetation, and the first frosts kill them completely, there- 

 by leaving the farmer's land in a good healthy condition to 

 pursue his occupations without taking too much of his time in 

 killing and contending against weeds and worthless stuff. 



SOWING AND REAPING. 



I have been much more successful than many of my neigh- 

 bors in killing weeds. Then when the frost begins to leave the 

 ground in Spring I go on with seeder and harrow and sow the 

 grain, which is mostly done by the fifteenth of February to the 

 tenth of March, thereby having my grain ready to germinate 

 by the first rays of the Spring sun as he warms Mother Earth 

 into vitality and recuperation. At this period the neighbors 

 are not sowing, while my grain is growing and getting ready 

 for the dry spell, which so often occurs just when the grain 

 is in flower ; but which does not so badly affect grain which 

 has been sown in the latter part of March to the middle 

 of April. I never let my grain of any kind stand till it is 

 ripe, but when the stalk begins to turn "yellow at the root, I 

 hastily cut, shock, and put in stack, after letting it stand from 

 one to two days, according to the condition of weather. My 

 grain then is plump, healthy, and weighs heavier and is better 



