^nbitstrial (topics. 
WESTERN EARM NOTES. 
BY E. W. STEWART. 
[Continued from page 74, last No.] 
John T. Alexander—Hie Great Farm. 
Next, let us look at the farm crops ; and 
first, its 
5,500 Acres of Corn, 
Here, as in most parts of the “ Prairie 
State,” corn is the great crop. We were 
much interested in this magnificent field of 
corn, twelve miles long, ranging from one- 
half to a mile wide—5,500 acres in a single 
field. This looked like business. Standing 
on a corn crib, in the angle of the field, the 
eye could see five miles of corn in each di¬ 
rection. Mr. Eaton related an anecdote of 
a little boy, who visited the farm with his 
father last summer. The boy was very 
anxious to ride with them alongside and 
through this immense corn field while it 
was in most luxuriant growth. After riding 
miles and miles, examining it, and hearing 
his father and Mr. Eaton talk about it, be 
suddenly exclaimed, “ Pa, let us go borne. 
I don’t want to see no more corn, never!” 
The boy bad quite loo much of a good 
tiling. 
It will be remembered that the statement 
was made some years ago, from this farm, 
that an acre of cam could be raised and laid 
by with one and a-half days' manual labor. 
Mr. Eaton reiterated this as a fact, and gave, 
as itemsPlowing one-half day, harrow¬ 
ing one-tenth, planting two-tenths, cultivat¬ 
ing three times with hand cultivator, seven- 
tentlis day. 1 said to him:—“This is all 
very well, perhaps, as a calculation on a 
single acre, but that be could give a demon¬ 
stration most convincing, by giving me, 
from bis books, all the days’ labor performed 
upon this great field of corn.” He turned 
to his books, and gave me all the labor per¬ 
formed at the corn stations during the sea¬ 
son of plowing, plautlng and cultivating, 
(and this included some labor on ditches and 
fences, and also labor of the cooks,) and 
found the aggregate number of days to he 
8,378, which would 1 53-100 days per acre 
on the whole field; and it appeared evident 
that tins immense field of corn had actually 
been raised with only one and a-half days’ 
labor to the acre. This, to an Eastern man, 
must appear an extraordinary accomplish¬ 
ment, when he is seldom able to raise an 
aero of corn with six days’ labor. This 
great field would average 40 bushels to the 
acre, amounting to 320,000 bushels; 85 plows 
are run, constantly, during spring, for corn, 
and 15 planters through the planting season, 
and 20 cultivators afterward. 
CobI (if lt.li»«li|K Coi’U. 
Let us see what is the cost of raising corn 
per bushel. They estimate the labor of a 
man, $1.50; of a horse, 75c.; of an ox, 25c. 
per day. They use two horses for every 
operation except barrowing, and then four 
burses; and if we calculate it on the basis 
of horse labor, we have 
One unit fi-hnir days of man.$2 25 
Tln oo and ouc-lll'tu days a horse. 2 10 
Cost per acre.$4 65 
Cost per bushel, 11% cenis. 
This ought to be satisfactory in these days 
of dear labor. 
The meadow consists of 2,500 acres of 
timothy and blue grass, and yields 3,000 
tons, or about one and one-fourth tons per 
acre. Fifteen mowing machines are run, and 
Tin* (liisi nf Getting liny 
is estimated at one day’s manual labor per 
Urn,secured in slack. Two-horse fork stack¬ 
ers are used—the hay being drawn from 
winrow on sleds and dumped at stack. Four 
hundred acres of timothy are cut for seed, 
with a header, cutting ten feet wide. Five 
men and eiglit horses will put twenty acres 
in slack per day. Six men and eight horses 
thresh one hundred bushels per day—mak¬ 
ing the cost of labor in cutting, stacking, 
and threshing less than fifty cents per bushel. 
One thousand five hundred bushels are thus 
produced and used in seeding some 0,000 
acres. 
Drilling Wheat. 
Six thousand bushels of wheat were 
raised this last year; one-third of it drilled 
and two-thirds sown broadcast. The drilled 
land produced eighteen bushels, and that 
sown broadcast twelve bushels per acre, the 
land being in equal condition. The contrast 
would not, probably, have been so great if 
the season bad been moist instead of very 
dry. This is a strong instance of the benefit 
of drilling in dry seasons. 
I’ll mu ring. 
There are 6,000 acres of prairie pasture, 
which lias been seeded, the past year with 
timothy and blue grass, and was showing 
well in November, this (icing the first effort 
to seed without breaking. Also, 12,000 acres 
needed in timothy, blue grass, and clover, 
utter cultivation, which afford a most abund¬ 
ant herbage. These pastures carry about 
4,000 head of cattle through the pasturing 
season — using four and a-half acres per 
head. Steers, two and three years old, 
weighing 1,000 pounds the first of April; 
will gain from two hundred to four hundred 
pounds—average three hundred pounds—on 
grass during the season. This will show a 
good round profit on pasture—the steers be- 
iaging purchased at five cents per pound, or 
$50 per head, and sold for six cents, (a low 
figure,) being $78, or $6.25 per acre for pas¬ 
ture, realizing over $100,000 from pasturage. 
Feeding Corn to Cattle. 
When these same steers are fed fifty 
bushels per bead, of corn, on the ground, in 
the wasteful Western way, beginning first of 
October, or earlier, they will weigh 1,500 
pounds, and bring seven to eight cents, ac¬ 
cording to market, averaging $110 per 
head; paying on an average fifty cents per 
bushel for Corn. Not so many hogs follow 
cattle as formerly, the cholera having been 
so fatal among many swine-herds as to cut 
Off all profit, and sometimes entail heavy 
losses. On this farm they mostly raise their 
own hogs, and find them much less liable to 
disease. They have at present five hundred. 
It is seldom that Western feeding pro¬ 
duces more than four pounds of live beef per 
bushel of corn, and never so much, unless 
fed in warm or moderate fall weather. Yet, 
it will be seen that two hundred pounds in¬ 
creases the value of the steers over $30, be¬ 
cause, by improving Ihe quality of the beef, 
it. increases the value of the whole carcass. 
Beef made on grass, is too sappy; and when 
the steer is fed on corn in fall, this sap is re¬ 
placed by more solid flesh; and this explains 
why corn produces only four pounds of live 
beef per bushel. 
It is found on ibis farm, that there is little 
or no profit in feeding cattle for market, later 
than the first of January. The usual cus¬ 
tom is to keep store stock Upon corn stalks 
in the field, and upon hay fed from slack till 
March, and then feed freely of corn. It is 
even difficult to make cat tie hold their own 
in the open field, through February and 
March, with unlimited feeding of corn. In 
fact, there js no expectation of gain in weight 
after the first, of January, till grass; and here¬ 
in we see the immense waste of Western 
feeding in cold weather. The same amount 
of feeding in warm stables, with Eastern 
economy, would make two hundred and fifty 
pounds of excellent beef, while here it is all 
expended in keeping up animal heat, and 
supplying natural waste of the system. The 
gain would be fully $15 per head,so that the 
saving on 1,000 bead would build a shelter 
costing $15,000, a sum amply sufficient to 
build a warm and substantial barn to accom¬ 
modate that number of animals. 
It is but just, to say, that Mr. Alexander 
and his Superintendent are well convinced 
of the economy of warm stables for the West, 
as well as preparing their food by cooking; 
and the former proposes to build barns for 
this purpose, ns soon as his numerous enter¬ 
prises will permit. 
Fences—Hedges. 
This question is illustrated on as mag¬ 
nificent a scale as other departments o." 
farm economy. It being used as a grazing 
farm, fences arc a large item of expense. 
There is an Osage Orange hedge around the 
27,000 acres; three double rows running 
six miles through the farm, nort h and south ; 
one double row seven miles east and west; 
many sections surrounded with a hedge, as 
also many half sections—whole length of 
hedge, one hundred and thirty miles. Mr. 
Eaton regards the Osage Orange as perfect¬ 
ly successful on ibis farm. 
First cost of cutting hedge is estimated at 
fifteen to twenty cents per rod. The hedge 
row is prepared by running the great ditch¬ 
ing plow with twenty yoke of oxen, ami 
turning the sod both wavs to the center, 
u here the quicks are to be set, and then an¬ 
other furrow of mellow earth each way 
upon this sod. This renders the setting 
easy, and elevates the row upon a ridge one 
foot high, and carries off all surplus water. 
One and a half miles are prepared for set¬ 
ting by three men with the great plow, per 
day. These hedge-rows are given the same 
attention, for two years, as a row of corn. 
It is plashed the third or fourth year, and 
makes a good fence in five or six years. 
Board fences are extensively used to sur¬ 
round feed-lots, yards, and for protection to 
hedges newly planted. There are eighty 
miles of board fence on the farm. 
Tree Pluming. 
There have been several groves of trees 
planted here, which are interesting, as 
showing the cheapness of covering belts of 
land with quick growing and useful timber. 
We saw the Lombardy poplar planted 
thickly as a wind-break, for which purpose 
it is admirable, growing thirty feet high in 
ten years, and tints opposing an effectual 
barrier to the sweeping wir.d of ihe prairie. 
A grove of the Catalpa, although planted 
only five, feet apart, liad grown six inches 
in diameter, and sixteen to twenty feet high 
in ten years—an almost impenetrable thick¬ 
et. This is planted in spring by dropping 
seed pods in a shallow furrow and covering 
with the plow. The timber of this tree is 
said to be very durable as fence posts. This 
and the poplar are planted as cheaply, per 
acre, as potatoes. 
The soft, maple (probably Acer Darycar- 
pum, white maple.) has here grown ten inch¬ 
es in diameter and twenty-five feet high in 
ten years; but the timber is not lasting. 
This tree is very cheaply grown from seed. 
The Osage Orange makes rapid growth 
here as a singie tree,—having grown eight 
inches in diameter and twenty-five feet high 
in ten years, leh without sufficient thinning 
in the nursery rows. It makes au excellent 
wind-break, and after a few years is proof 
against any animal, being too much, even, 
for the teeth of a mule. This timber is 
found to be very lasting for fence posts; 
1,000 posts may be growu upon an acre in 
teu years, and if cut in spring will sprout 
again from stump and grow another crop 
without replanting. 
But probably the most profitable timber 
tree for Illinois, is the Black Walnut, which 
here grows a fool in diameter in t welve years, 
and will square twelve inches, at butt log, in 
twenty years; with the constantly increas¬ 
ing price of Ibis lumber, the timber on an 
acre would be worth $1,000. We propose to 
recur to this question of tree planting in a 
separate article.—[Concluded next week. 
ricltr ffrops. 
icrrscimut. 
NOTES E0R HORSEMEN. 
Liuea Three Abreast. 
In the Rural New-Yorker, Jan. 7, a 
correspondent asks for the best arrangement 
of lines for plowing three abreast. Here is 
my arrangement, as illustrated. One of your 
correspondents lias written and given bis 
mode. I ihiuk mine preferable, for I should 
put the colt or the not used to plow¬ 
ing on the left, line U buckled into 
the line nf the middle horse; and the jockey 
stick, A, with a snap at each end ; one snap¬ 
ped in the bridle ring, the other iu thehame 
ring of the middle horse. All that have 
their lines made in this way are suited.— 
Isaac Young, Peoria Co., 111. 
Contracted Feet. 
A correspondent of Wilkes’ Spirit asks 
the following questions: —“I have ahorse 
that seems to be lame in the shoulder ; he has 
been lame since last spring. The first time 
I saw him lie had good feet and limbs, but 
now his feet are badly contracted, and the 
muscles of his shoulders seems to be shrunk, 
and the skin is tight over the entire shoulder; 
also, the cords of his legs seem to be drawn 
up, and seenfto interfere with his travel. He 
is lame when used, but when be stands a few 
days he improves somewhat. 1. Is be what 
is commonly called sweenied ? 2. Will 
chronic, lanmess of the shoulder cause con¬ 
traction of the feet and cords of the legs V 3. 
What do you think ails the horse, and what 
should lie the treatment? 4. What is good 
for fungus growth, where it extends over a 
surface as large as a tea plate? 5. Also, for 
a colt that, has a running sore caused by bad 
castration.” To which the Editor replies 
•' From the history of this case, as given 
above, it is evident that the primary cause of 
the horse’s lameness was contraction of bis 
feet. 2. The tottering position of the limbs 
and life wasting of the muscles (sweeney) 
are the usual concomitants or necessary con¬ 
sequences of chronic disease in the feet. The 
shoes should be removed and the horse 
turned into a roomy, loose box, having a 
layer of tan or sawdust spread over the floor. 
Here he should be left for six weeks or two 
months, and in the meantime his coronets 
may be repeatedly blistered and occasionally 
dressed with the following boot mixture; 
Take of whale oil, two parts; oil of tar, one 
part—mix. The feet should also occasionally 
be inspected, and all broken and fractured 
portions of horn removed. 3. Dredge a lit¬ 
tle of the following powder daily over the 
diseased surfaceTake of finely-powdered 
alum and starch, of each half an ounce; pre¬ 
pared calamine and chalk, of each one 
ounce; Armenian bole, two draclnus—mix 
thoroughly. 4. Try the following injection : 
Iodide of potassium, one drachm; water, 
one ounce—mix, and inject by means of a 
rubber syringe, and repeat once a week.” 
- * ♦ »- 
Inpniries for Horsemen.—J. It. S. asks how to 
exterminate lice from a horse. 
SEEDLING POTATOES. 
Last spring I sowed seed from five varie¬ 
ties of potatoes. My neighbors told me I 
would have no tubers larger than peas the 
first year, (with stalks three or four inches 
long;) but, the result was quite different. I 
had one hundred and seventy-five plants, the 
largest of which was four feet eight inches 
long, with eleven branches from the root, 
nearly as long as the main stalk; and about 
the first of September I dug from it one buu- 
dred and ninet 3 r -eight tubers, ranging in size 
from that of a hazlenut to the size of a goose 
egg. This was a seedling of the Early Good¬ 
rich. I have one, a seedling of the Early 
Rose, which produced fifteen tubers, averag¬ 
ing the size of a lieu’s egg, aud resembling 
the parent in shape and color. 
Of seedlings from the Prince Albert, Ibad 
over thirty, aud some of the tubers were four 
inches long. The plants from the Peach 
Blows and Buckeyes, did not come to much, 
as the plants were small, as well as the tubers. 
These plants were planted in good ground, 
but some of them were a good deal larger 
than my other potatoes, which were planted 
on ground equally rich. I have over a bushel 
of potatoes from these plants, the product of 
each plant put up in a sack by itself. Now, 
it I plant these tubers next year, will they 
become perfect, or will it take more than two 
years to perfect potatoes from the seed ? And 
further, have I anything more than common 
in this result or not? Wm. Minnigh. 
Venango Co., Pa. 
Tite characteristics of a potato seedling, 
often change after the third year. And ihe 
real value to the producer cannot be estab¬ 
lished by planting in one locality or soil. 
However, we have found by experience, that 
a potato is more likely to do uniformly well, 
if St is a first-class article in its native place, 
than a seedling fruit under the same tests 
and changes. Our correspondent should se¬ 
lect his most promising seedling, aud replant, 
and be patient and watchful. 
POTATO EXPERIMENTS. 
In the Rural New-Yorker of Oct. 29th, 
page 282, F. G. gives a very good descrip¬ 
tion of how potato ground should he pre¬ 
pared. What lie has left out in the thorough 
preparation, subsoiling, the editor has sup¬ 
plied in the nolo addeu; so far as the selec¬ 
tion of the ground and the fall plowing of 
ihe sod, ami the cross plowing in the spring 
is advocated, I should agree with him ; but 
1 would, by all means, select a dry piece, if 
possible. Could I select just such a piece 
as suited me, 1 would prefer considerable 
sand in the composition of the soil to gel a 
good table quality of tubers; then I would 
not plant over four inches in depth, except 
the ground was very light and mucky; in 
that case, would plant six inches deep, or as 
near as might be conveniently done. 
But the great objection that 1 should in¬ 
terpose to F. G.’s advice would be bis extra 
early planting, before doing any other plow¬ 
ing on the farm. Such may he good advice 
in his locality; there may be climatic in¬ 
fluences there that do not reach other locali¬ 
ties; if so, what would be best for him and 
others thus situated would be the reverse in 
other localities not thus affected. With an 
experience of nearly forty years in raising 
the potato crop, 1 am satisfied that from the 
1st to the 15th or 20lh of May is the best 
time to plant for a general crop in Oneida 
county. I have lost quite a number of 
crops (or iu other words, they were partial 
failures,) by extra early planting. Some 
farmers still advocate planting in June for 
the best crop. 1 lmve known some of the 
beat crops grown with ground prepared by 
plowing tlie sod in September, (also as late 
as November.) then replowed in spring and 
planted in May; while I have known of 
many instances where planting was done 
early, the first thing—say the last of March 
or 1st of April, to be failures. The cause was 
the early drouth, apparently, as those planted 
later the same season were of good growth 
and quality, while the early planted ones 
were poor and small in size. 
I will only mention the year 1870 as one 
instance:—those who planted early got much 
less crop than those planted the lime I men¬ 
tioned for a general crop; the reason was 
t he severity of the early drouth, while those 
planted later had sufficient rains to mature a 
fine crop, One tiling is certain, the farmer 
must have the early and the later rains to 
mature good crops on well prepared soil; if 
early planting seems to secure such results in 
some localities, then that method is best, 
there; if, on the contrary, later planting best 
insures the chances for a good crop by the 
later rainfall, then that is the best time to 
plant for llie farmer thus situated. 
I will give an experiment tried on the 
farm of the writer the past year, and result. 
After all sown and planted crops were in the 
ground, ft piece of ground prepared for cab¬ 
bage was not yet set; and having a few I 
Early Rose potatoes left, too small to sell (or 
plant, as I supposed,) I said to my son, (a lad 
of fourteen summers,) “ we will plant a few 
rows across the patch for experiment.” Ac¬ 
cordingly I drew a few’ furrows with a single 
horse and plow, aud my son dropped the 
potatoes as near two and a half feet apart in 
the furrow, as he could guess. These were 
covered with the plow by turning the fur¬ 
row back on them. The seed would not 
average larger than hickory nuts, 1 think; 
they were twice hoed, and the result at har¬ 
vest time was a crop of three hundred 
bushels per acre of large, fine potatoes, 
planted as stated t he 21st. day of May; while 
selected seed of the same kind, planted two 
or three weeks earlier, did not yield more 
than half that quantity, with, as I supposed, 
a better locality for a good yield, than where 
the small ones were planted. 
The reason I give in this case for such re¬ 
sults is, the rains of the last, of July, and in 
August, were abundant fora good crop when 
the small seed was planted late; while the 
selected seed, being planted earlier, was too 
far advanced to receive equal benefit. 
I will relate one more experiment with 
the Early Rose—some small seed, planted 
still later in May, on a newly laid drain in a 
meadow, where the tile was covered with 
team and plow ; iu the spring, to economise, 
the ground was planted with three rows of 
potatoes; soil, stiff clay ; the drain dug and 
partly filled in the fall of ’69; the potatoes 
were covered by hand with hoe, not more 
than three inches deep, then covered with re¬ 
fuse straw three to six inches deep, and let 
alone till harvest, time. The product was a 
crop of large, fine, sound potatoes, fully equal 
to those planted in the cabbage patch already 
mentioned; the soil was an extra stiff clay, 
and hard and lumpy, as it could only be 
plowed lengthwise of the drain. The seed 
in both cases would be considered objection¬ 
able ; the results alike. These, the best of 
all my potato experiments the past year, 
could not be due to the superior quality of 
the seed, or extra preparation of the soil, but 
to the timely rains when especially needed 
to benefit the crop. 
Home, N. Y. Jonathan Talcott. 
-- 
HEMP CULTURE. 
A correspondent at Oregon, Mo., asks 
some of the correspondents of the Rural 
New-Yorker hmv he should prepare the 
land for hemp, how much seed should be 
used per acre, its after culture, how pre¬ 
pared for market, und whether there is any 
improved machinery available in this prepa¬ 
ration. The land should he thoroughly pul¬ 
verized with plow and harrow. The seed¬ 
bed cannot be put in too fine tilth. Fifty to 
seventy-five pounds of seed per acre should 
be sown evenly broadcast. The amount 
should depend upon the strength of the 
land; the stronger or richer the Boil the 
more seed should be sown, the object being 
to secure all the plants the laud will de¬ 
velop, and thereby a fine and long fiber. 
The seed should be covered with a light 
harrow, running it both ways. The sowing 
should commence as soon as the ground is 
dry and warm enough to put into proper 
condition to receive the seed. There is no 
after-culture. 
Let experienced hemp growers respond 
to other inquiries. 
- 4 4 4 
FIELD NOTES. 
GraBBca iu Nortli Carolina, 
Jotin T. Nichols, Wake Co., N. C., asks 
what kind ol grass to sow with clover on 
land of a light sandy nature for hay. We 
should sow 1 orchard grass. 
Tobacco in Wisconsin. 
The Western Farmer says:—Wisconsin 
tobacco now lias a good reputation in the 
markets. Those who have engaged in its 
culture on land adapted to it, have generally 
been well repaid. It is suggested to us by 
one who has himself tried it, that a few 
acres—two or three—of tobacco would be 
an advisable “ side crop ” on many farms. 
Maine 1’u in plil us. 
A correspondent at Willou, Maine, says 
a pumpkin vine, w hich came up without be¬ 
ing planted, and grew without special cul¬ 
ture, on the farm of 0. M. Lufkin, Wilton, 
Me., produced a crop of twenty-four full 
sized pumpkins, twenty-three of which fully 
matured. The smallest weighed niue pounds; 
the average weight, eleven pounds; weigbt 
of the whole crop, two hundred and sixty- 
six pounds. _ 
Plowing in Buckwheat. 
A correspondent asks the Rural New- 
Youkeu whether plowing in buckwheat will 
enrich the soil aud kill the worms or insects 
that are in it. It will enrich the soil, and is 
valuable as a green manure, especially on 
light soils. It has a good mechanical effect 
on stiff clays, but w r e have beard complaints 
that it makes such soils sour. We do not 
think the plowing under of buckwheat will 
have much effect upon grubs or insects in 
the soil. 
