CHAPTER LVIII 
BACTERIA 
JANUARY, February, and March passed with 
more than the usual snow and rain, — fully ten 
inches of precipitation; but the spring proved 
neither cold nor late. During these three months 
we sold butter to the amount of $1283, and $747 © 
worth of eggs; in all, $2030. 
The ploughs were started in the highest land 
on the 11th of April, and were kept going steadily 
until they had turned over nearly 280 acres. 
I decided to put the whole of the widow’s field 
into corn, lots 8, 12, and 15 (84 acres) into oats, 
and 50 acres of the orchards into roots and sweet 
fodder corn. Number 18 was to be sown with 
buckwheat as soon as the rye was cut for green 
forage. I decided to raise more alfalfa, for we 
could feed more to advantage, and it was fast 
gaining favor in my establishment. It is so pro- 
ductive and so nutritious that I wonder it is not 
more generally used by farmers who make a 
specialty of feeding stock. It contains as much 
protein as most grains, and is wholesome and 
highly palatable if properly cured. It should be 
cut just as it is coming into flower, and should 
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