1864 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEE. 



227 



upon the experiment. The tract was 

 destitute of timber, which had to be 

 hauled six to ten miles to reach the sev- 

 eral parts of the tarm. Several thou- 

 sand acres were broken up, and sown 

 to the small grains or planted to corn, 

 but the low price of grain and immense 

 cost of improvements were not compati- 

 ble, and the scheme looked much like 

 a failure. JSothing daunted, Mr. S., 

 who had remained with his family in 

 Ohio, lately moved to the new farm and 

 took the management into his own 

 hands, and from day to day directed 

 and superintended the whole minituse 

 of farm labor. That occurred three 

 years since. He his now so extended 

 the labor that it requires a general su- 

 perintendent under him, a book-keep- 

 er, a herdsman and a plowman, or 

 foreman of the farm hands. All of the 

 plow land, except about 1,600 acres, 

 was seeded down to timothy and clo- 

 ver. On the farm is over sixty miles of 

 good post and board fence, and all the 

 posts are on the ground for six miles 

 more, which will complete the fencino- 

 of the whole tract. - 



The aim of the owner has been to 

 economize labor and to cheapen the 

 products of his broad acres. In this he 

 has been eminently successful, and in 

 many respects has set good examples 

 to follow. In a former number we 

 have given the readers of the Fakmer 

 the experiment with the rotary spader, 

 and the great cheapening of preparing 

 the soil for the various crops by its use. 

 To put in 1,200 acres of corn is no boy's 

 play, as this must be done with less 

 than forty working days. 500 acres of 

 this has been spaded, leaving 700 acres 

 to plow. This would require 350 days 

 with one team, to plow at the rate of 

 two acres a day. Sixteen teams plow 



some thirty acres a day. This is all 

 harrowed by one man with two span of 

 horses, and it is well done. A double 

 whiffle tree some twenty feet long is 

 used ; to the ends of this the two teams 

 are hitched, and along it is attached a 

 gang of harrows, each five feet, work- 

 ing independent of each other, and of 

 course they yield to all inequalities of 

 the land. The driver rides the near 

 horse of the near span and drivcS the 

 other. He is followed with three of 

 Brown's planters, which complete the 

 work. Two teams follow with rollers, 

 and the thirty acres are completed, 

 making nearly two hundred acres a 

 week. This requires seven- tenths of a 

 day to the acre. The saving of labor 

 in the harrowing will more than com- 

 pensate the cost of the three boys who 

 work the planters, but as check-rowing 

 is of no value and not used, these plan- 

 ters should be mere automatic, so as to 

 dispense with the labor of this extra 

 hand ; and yet better where they are 

 attached directly to the roller, making 

 a further large saving of labor. 



The crop will be worked with two- 

 horse cultivators, which will do eight 

 acres a day, and as it is rolled, two 

 workings is probably all that it will get. 

 This will bring the team labor to about 

 one day to the acre ; and if we call this 

 labor with the use of machine worth $3 

 a day, we liave the cost of an acre of 

 corn, exclusive of seed and use of land, 

 three dollars ; put the rent and seed at 

 five dollars and we have eight dollaiB 

 the acre, or twenty cents a bushel of 

 forty bushels to the acre, standing in 

 the field. - ; . ^ 



A great number and variety of im- 

 plements have from time to time been 

 tested on this farm, and which now 

 form a respectable museum or hospital 



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