u 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMER. 



JA2T. 



Forty-five bushels at 25 cents 11 25 



Use o: land and profit $4 20 



While the profit on good crops were about 

 the same, yet he preferred the corn for the 

 certainty of the crop. 



Mr. F. cited numerous authorities to show 

 that the culture of spring wheat was becom- 

 ing a favorite crop in the northwest, and 

 that during the past eighteen years it had 

 been steadily gaining ground. 



Mr. A. would give his voice for corn ; 

 his experience in wheat had been a failure, 

 and so far as profit was concerned, nearly so 

 in corn. He did not think there was any 

 particular virtue in fall plowing for wheat. 

 Twelve bushels he considered a fair average 

 of wheat, as had been demonstrated for the 

 last five years. Last fall he plowed part of 

 his land, and finished the 10th of March; 

 sowed the 15th and rolled ; yield twenty- 

 five bushel; the fall plowed rather the best; 

 anything will grow best with spring plowing ; 

 plow just before you sow or plant, and you 

 will have the best crop. I would plow in 

 the spring. Mr. A. put the cost of wheat 

 at the farm at §7 G9 per acre, exclusive of 

 use cf land, and the value of twelve bush- 

 el the average, at ^9 GO, leaving for use of 

 land 81 91. 



COST OF CORN. 



Plowing .$1 50 



Harrowing .' 50 



Marking off OG 



Planting 17 



Seed 04 



Three times cultivating 81 



Husking 40 bushels and hauling to market 2 35 



Shelling 60 



Total $6 03 



To this should be added use of tools. 

 Deduct forty bushel^corn at 30 cents. . . .$12 00 



Use of land and profit ,. . .$5 97 



The affirmative or wheat side of the ques- 

 tion carried the day. 



In looking over the foregoing arguments, 

 it will be seen that both parties were well 

 agreed as to the cost of cultivating an acre 

 of wheat, only a dollar and a half apart, nor 

 were these consideration come to at the time, 

 but each person had made a memorandum, 



and brought it with him. The wheat men 

 themselves reaching as high a figure as their 

 opponents, one on each side putting it at 

 §9 50, while one on each side put it at 

 S7 50, and one at $7 69. In the culture of 

 corn the variance was much greater^ some 

 not counting the cost of implements, and 

 none that of re-planting. 



The conclusion that we came to from 

 hearing the argument was, that the cost 

 would be about as follows : 



Plowing $1 50 



Harrowing 60 



Marking off and planting 50 



Four wotkin?s 1 50 



Huskiig and cribbing forty bushels .... 1 75 



Shelling 1 25 



Marketing 1 50 



$8 50 

 The above would pay fair wages to man 

 finding team and tools. With an average 

 price of 30 cents, it would leave for use of 

 land 83 50, which is a good rent. Take 

 into consideration — it is then in irood condi- 

 tion for a crop of spring wheat, and we can 

 well afi"ord to grow corn ; with the new cul- 

 tivator, with which one hand can tend sixty 

 acres of corn, and the profits must be still 

 better by lessening the cost. It is, there- 

 fore, evident that corn and spring wheat 

 have a close affinity to each other, and make 

 up a good rotation, to which, if clover and 

 herdsgrass be added, we shall make farming 

 more profitable. We are just entering on 

 the time when farmers will vie with each 

 other for the best crops, and how to grow 

 the greatest values with the least labor, in- 

 stead of running over the greatest number 

 of acras. 



Great farming, small crops and poor liv- 

 ing, we hope, have had their day, and we 

 hope to see in their place small farming, 

 with good crops and good living. 

 *»f 



Ownership of Eoads and Fencing. 



A judicial decision of considerable importance 

 has been rendered in Connecticut, by the Supreme 

 Court of that State. The case arose in this way. 

 The selectmen of Simsbury had, for a certain sum 

 of money, granted a man a license to turn a cow 

 into the highway. The owner of a tract of land 

 bordering on the road, claimed (hat the feed in 



