Y90 BOONE COUNTY, MISSOURI. 



comfortable houses and conveniences for living, and who have 

 the teams and tools to work from one hundred to two hundred 

 acres of corn to the family, besides a few acres of oats and 

 other minor crops; but corn is the great staple crop on the 

 farm. 



The conveniences for living, with a limited amount of 

 pasturage and access to timber for fuel, are furnished with the 

 land, and I receive two-fifths of all the crops raised, and have 

 them delivered on any part of the farm I designate. This I 

 prefer to cash rent, as the means are always at hand to pay the 

 rent, and it is more profitable, as long as the proprietor has the 

 stock and facilities for. consuming the grain on the farm. The 

 tenants have no claim to the stalk fields, and are obliged to 

 have the corn out of the fields by the first of January. This 

 obviates any conflicting interests that might arise when several 

 parties raise corn in the same field, and gives the proprietor a 

 chance to feed down the stalks at such time as they will not 

 be injuriotis to the land. From thirty-five to forty acres are 

 raised hf one hand and team. 



CORN. 



The plowing is done by three-horse teams, with sixteen 

 inch plows, after which it is harrowed and marked off one way, 

 and then planted with a two-horse planter, operated by a man 

 and boy, at the rate of sixteen to twenty acres per day. I cul- 

 tivate the corn with two-horse walking cultivators, and when 

 young I often harrow and roll, especially if the ground be- 

 comes very dry. Very little of the corn is either cut up or 

 husked. Almost the entire crop is gathered from the standing 

 stalk with the husk on it, when it is stored in large cribs. 



AMOUNT OF LAND CULTIVATED. 



The amount of land under cultivation is from four hun- 

 dred to six hundred acres, and the revenue, not including the 

 stalk fields, ranges from three to five dollars per acre, accord- 

 ing to the kind of crop and market price of grain. 



