hially prove worthless, and its owner made poorer and poorer, la 

 my opinion such farms can be brought back to their former produc- 

 tiveness by gradually returning to the soil what has been taken from 

 it in the shape of manure and fertilizers. This will take time, and 

 must of necessity be done slowly by the farmer, that is, year by year, 

 aa fast as they are able. I then revolved in my mind that that would 

 be the most practical way of accomplishing this result. One way to 

 do it is by a considerable expenditure of money in buying manures, 

 etc., but as naturally would be the case the parties owning farms in 

 such condition are generally not able to afford such an outlay. 

 Another way, and it strikes me as the best way, is to raise and keep 

 stock on the farms, so as to consume the hay, grain, etc., that they 

 may raise, and thus have manure to put back on your land. This 

 followed up, year by year, your land will begin to increase in pro- 

 ductiveness, gradually more stock can be kept, and the farms will in 

 a few years become restored to their former usefulness. Feed the 

 products of your farm to your stock and then realize from sales ol 

 your stock. You will realize more in this way and with less labor to 

 yourselves and families, and will be adding to the value of your 

 farms, instead of depreciating them. 



The next question that comes up will be what kind of stock will 

 be the most profitable to raise, taking all things into consideration, 

 to accomplish this result, which must be accomplished and cannot 

 be commenced too soon, or the farmers of the country will (many of 

 them) soon be in a condition that they cannot make a living off their 

 farms. 



My mind naturally reverts to the Blue Grass region of Kentucky, 

 where the farms are used almost entirely for raising stock, but very 

 little land being cultivated aside from the purpose of raising grain 

 for their stock. Their lands are very rich and strong, their locality 

 has become celebrated as a stock region, and every day their hotels 

 are filled with buyers from different parts of the world, taking their 

 stock away and leaving their money in return. Kentucky has be- 

 come mainly celebrated for its fine horses, and they are in demand 

 from all over the world. Many states can do as well as Kentucky, 

 and in a few years can make a good start rn raising horses, and it 

 strikes me that it would be a move in the right direction, and should 

 be followed up by every former. Good horses are always desirabl* 



