244 



TEE GENIISEE FAR^fEPw. 



WESTERN FARMING. 



A CORRESPONDENT of the JVcJo England Farmer 

 ha-i been journeying West, and gives his impressions 

 of the country. "VVe mako a few extracts from 

 his letter : 



Very little can be said of a country by simply 

 saeiiitt the little the railroad allows you to view in 

 pulsing over it. Sufficient, however, may be 

 gutliered to convince a Xcw England man that he 

 is not at home after entering New York State. 

 Tlie pc-oi)le talk and act differently — do all things 

 differently. The appearance of the houses and out- 

 buildings are also of a different type. As you go 

 on west, this change becomes more marked and de- 

 cided. As to the soil, each day's journey convin- 

 ces you that it is improving, until you reach the 

 Wabash V{j.ney, which is regarded by some as the 

 best, or as good soil as any east of the Rocky 

 Mountains. Of one thing I am quite sure, viz., 

 that it is not to be beat in any favored locality east 

 of Ohio. 



My arrival here was very opportune for seeing 

 that it made up first rate mud, of the most affec- 

 tionate character. * * * * * * 



The fanning, if fiirming it can be called, is very 

 bad. Very few of the fields are kept clean from 

 "weeds. They increase rapidly, and cause much 

 trouble eventually to the farmer. It is impossible 

 to have it otherwise, as matters are now managed. 

 Corn is often sold here, in Benton county, Indiana, 

 from 8 to 12^^ cents per bushel. All can readily 

 see that if tliesamecare in raising it was bestowed 

 as the Eastern farmer gives to his crop, it would ruin 

 him hopelessly. A man with a pair of horses 

 plows, plants and tends 40 acres, going through the 

 hoting with a horse hoe, and never using hand 

 hoes. It is usual with many, as soon as the corn is 

 np, to go over it with a triangle harrow, with the 

 front teeth out, so as to run each side of the row, 

 Using a span of horses for the purpose. I have 

 seen some fields very neat and clear of weeds, but 

 m')st of them are very fonl. * * * * 



Corn here, as at the East, has enemies to con- 

 tend with of the sanie character as with us, and, 

 in addition, some far more formidable. Wild 

 geese, sand-hill cranes, prairie cliickens, <fec., often 

 make sad havoc with it as it first comes up. I 

 heard a man say tiiat the geese will often destroy 

 acres in a sinirli- field in one niglit. They also take 

 off large quantities from the shocks and standing 

 corn. I saw a man come in this morning from 

 his field with five geese, having killed seven before 

 breakfast. Another told me that he had very hard 

 ■work last fall to drive the geese from a wheat 

 field of 80 acres. He wjis mounted on a good 

 horse, atid it took near an hour to clear them out. 

 A sure marksman, I think, in spring and fall, could 

 make a good Imsine.ss in shooting geese, ducks, 

 cranes and chickens for their feathers alone. 



But to return to th« fanning. It seems to be a 

 settled thing with farmers, that wheat does better 

 on sod gr(»und than corn, and the first crop also 

 better than succeeding ones. I am surprised at the 

 small quantity per acre produced on an average. 

 BaJ management is at tlic bottom of it, I think; 

 not seed enough sown, and not good at that. Poor 

 seed, or that which had not been jadiciuasly se- 



lected and prepared, is sown, and results in conse- 

 quent poor returns, ****** 

 This res/^ion, however, is not strictly a farming 

 one, but farming is subordinate to cattle raising 

 and grazing, or an appendage to them. The set- 

 tlements skirt the timber lands bordering upon the 

 prairie, which, to a large extent, is unenclosed, and 

 affords a grund range for stock of all descriptions. 

 This peculiarity of this locality has led to Cuttle 

 herding to a great extent, as the principal business 

 of those who can command the means to do it. 

 It is also very profitable to the judicious buyer — 

 netting him 80 per cent., and often more, on a sin- 

 gle season's pasturage or herding. I know parties 

 v.ho are now gathering up a herd of two and 

 three-year old steers, intending to herd this and the 

 coming summer, and have them kept through the 

 winter for four dollars a head, ■vs-hich is all the ex- 

 pense they will be subject to, cKcept one man's 

 wages as herdsman, through two summers. Thus 

 you see they get 18 to 20 months growth on cattle 

 that are in the right age }V)r it, for about four dol- 

 lars per head. It is expected they will get $20,000 for 

 what at fiist cost them $10,000. Stall feeding is 

 often pra(ticed here. This method is not what 

 we at the East have generally supposed. A man 

 with a large lot of cattle builds up a yard accord- 

 ing to the number to be fed, and puts them into 

 it, and goes to his fields and hands out his corn, 

 which is in shocks, or standing, and throws it to 

 them over the ground, and letting it take its chance 

 for being eaten. Hogs take what they can find 

 after the cattle. Others have two lots, feeding al- 

 ternate days in both, the hogs coming around after 

 the cattle. One hog is allowed for each steer to 

 do the gleaning. The cholera has made such havoc 

 with the hogs for a few years past, that many are 

 discouraged about keeping them. Cattle breeding 

 is, by the smaller farmers who can not command 

 nieans for buying herds, followed pretty generally. 

 As now managed, it is, I think, far more profitable. 

 The cow is rarely milked, except for the pnrjiose 

 of getting a little milk for table use, or to prevent 

 disease when the calf is unable to take the whole — 

 which is of rare occurance, as the cows give but 

 little, owing, I think, to wrong management when 

 young. The calf, when a year old, is now worth 

 about five dollars. This, of course, allows a very 

 small margin for profit on the cow. Horses are 

 bred nmch more profitably. As keeping is so low, 

 it might 1)6 made a very good Imsihess. Sheej) are 

 the most promising breeding stock liere. I think, 

 with judicious management, they will pay 100 per 

 cent, annually. This ma y seem rather extravagant, 

 but tiie figures will tell the story. After shearing, 

 last season, sheep could be bought fi-om $1.25 to 

 $1.50 per head. To keep these until now, costs 

 comparatively nothing — to winter them on corn at 

 12i cents per bushel, and hay at four dollars per 

 tun, would not exceed 75 cents each. As soon as 

 the grass starts in Apinl, they get their own living. 

 A flock of 1,600 on the farm where I am now 

 writing, averatred four pounds each. Lambs in the 

 fall are worth $1.00 each. Now you can appraise 

 the wool at what it sold for last July, viz., 42 cents 

 per pound, and we have $1.08 for wool, and $1.00 

 for lamb, or $2.68 for product of one sheep one 

 season, at an outlay of 76 cents, or a profit of 

 125 per cent., sure. I think this profit might b6 



