278 THE CULTIVATOR. Aug. 
price of breaking is from $1,75 to $2 an acre. The 
season for breaking is from the 10th of May till the 
10th of July. It is not advisable to break earlier or 
later than these periods. If it is done, the sod is a 
very long time in rotting and does not produce so well. 
Corn is sometimes planted on the sod—planted when 
the breaking is being done, at the edges of the furrows. 
No after culture is given until the corn is cut np at 
harvest. Half a crop is realized in this manner. But 
the best crop, and the one most generally put upon the 
sod, is wheat which is sown from the middle of August 
to the 20th of September—the earlier time being the 
best. The first crop is always a certain one, both in 
quality and quantity—averaging 25 bushels to the acre, 
and sometimes yielding 40 and 45 bushels an acre. 
The land is generally cross plowed immediately after 
harvest, and sown again to wheat. This requires one 
good team and is pretty hard work for it. The suc¬ 
ceeding plo wings are all easy for one team. A horse 
team will plow with ease two acres a day, six inches 
deep, which is the most common depth, though I have 
found that deeper plowing answers a better purpose. 
There is no general system of rotation yet adopted, 
except to take indiscriminately crop aftercrop of grain, 
and this without any manure or seeding to grass; and 
the land is so fertile that it will well reward the farmer 
for his labor. I do not say this is good husbandry, but 
it is the most common. 
We have some better farmers among us, who in¬ 
stead of burning up their straw to get rid of it, draw 
it to their cattle-yard, and after it has become rotted 
by the trampling of the cattle and the soaking of the 
urine, spread it upon their land. There are many 
among us who are cultivating the tame grasses clover 
and timothy, and this is necessary with us, if for no 
other purpose than to clean our lands which by constant 
croppings will become foul. 
To sum up the advantages which this state possesses; 
it is of great fertility, easily brought into a state of 
cultivation, and well adapted to the different branches 
of agriculture. It is well watered, and well-timbered, 
while the prairies and openings afford a boundless supply 
of the best of pasturage, and the low prairies afford 
quantities of good hay. It possesses great water pow¬ 
er which is fast becoming improved. It is studded 
with thriving villages, and is settled with an intelli¬ 
gent, enterprising people, and lastly, it is healthy—-not 
being surpassed in this respect by any portion of Amer¬ 
ica. T. Green. Waupun , Fon du Lac Co. 
Cutting Wheat Early, 
Eds. Cultivator —The subject of the early cutting 
of wheat has received attention for several years; but 
I am convinced that it is not understood and practiced 
to the greatest profit. It has been the common method 
to put the wheat up in stooks—two rows of bundles, 
the tops resting against each other. In this way the 
heads are exposed to the full force of a harvest sun, 
which soon dries them and the straw, so effectually as 
to prevent all nutriment passing from the straw to the 
grain. 
My method, at beginning of harvest for several years 
past has been this: We begin our harvest early, bind 
at first in quite small bundles, stook them by putting 
eight or nine in a stook, with a larger one for a cap. 
In this way the grain is secured from being suddenly 
dried, the nutriment from the straw continues to pass 
to and nourish the grain, as long or longer than if the 
wheat were standing, and if well put up it is secure 
from almost any weather; so that our first cut is fre¬ 
quently last carted to the barn or stack. I have taken 
heads from stooks thus put up, which, with the straw 
were green, and the grains when shelled were dry, fit 
for grinding, but were plump, thin skimmed, and almost 
transparent, whilst wheat which stood and ripened in 
the sun, was thick skinned and looked shrivelled, and 
this in seasons when no rust or casualty attended the 
crop. We can begin harvest earlier by this method, 
and our straw will be more valuable for fodder, as well 
as the wheat for flour. If the crop cannot be cut till 
nearly or quite ripe, we can then put it in stouts as 
the stooking is a trifle, and but a trifle more work to 
an experienced hand. R. Watkins. Napoleon, Michi¬ 
gan, Jane 22, 1850. 
Wire Fence—Red Cedar Hedges, 
Eds. Cultivator —Some two months ago I wrote 
you, making inquiries about the expense of wire and 
wire fence, which you were kind enough to answer. 
Since that time I have put up about one hundred 
rods of wire fence, five strands high. I made it af¬ 
ter the plan of A. B., described in your April No. 
I set chestnut posts at the ends or corners of the 
lines, and braced them. Having a lot of chestnut 
rails on hand I cut them in two, each making two 
stakes, which I set apart the distance of a rail’s 
length. I put my bottom wire 12 inches from the 
ground, and each wire about 9 inches from the 
one below it, which makes the fence 4 feet high. I 
used about half No. 10 and half No. 9 wire anneal¬ 
ed. The fence all set and completed, cost me about 
37-§ cts. per rod. 
Were I to set more, I should use no wire finer 
than No. 9, of good quality. I feel quite confident 
in regard to my No. 9 wire, but of the No. 10 I am 
not so confident. It needs to be proved. After 
setting it, my men drove some cows against it, but 
it brought them up, and no damage to the wire. 
Our mode of straining the wire was as follows: 
Take a hickory stick, say 2| inches in diameter and 
two feet long. With an inch and a half auger bore 
a hole, say two inches from the end; through this 
put a stick, say two feet long, for a lever. Between 
this hole and the end of the hickory stick, at right 
angles with the 11 inch hole, put through a large 
wood screw, to prevent splitting. About 6 inches 
from the other end, put through a hole | of an inch 
or less in diameter, and your strainer is done. In¬ 
sert your wire through the lever and post at each 
end, fasten it at one end, and draw it as tight as 
convenient with your hands at the other. Slip the 
wire through the small hole in the strainer, and turn 
until you have taken out the kinks and made the 
wire as tight as you please. 
I think this strainer preferable to A. B. ? s, as it is 
easily made, and you can strain each wire separate¬ 
ly as tight as you please, and one strainer answers 
for all the fence you may ever wish to make. And 
should a wire ever break, that alone can be mended 
without interfering with the others. At first, to 
hold the wires at the ends, we drove in pins, and 
then brought them half way round the post to the 
main wire and twisted a few times around this. 
But should you wish to alter the wire, or should it 
break, it is not easy to get it out where the pin holds 
it. There is no need of a pin, as the wire can be 
brought back and fastened as above mentioned with¬ 
out, as well as with it; and if you wish to slip it af¬ 
terwards. you can without trouble. I obtained my 
wire of Burbank, Chase & Co., in Lowell. They had 
about 200 lbs. No. 10 on hand, which they sold me 
at 5 cts.; they ordered me 109 lbs. No. 9, for which 
I paid 6^ cts. The No. 10 seemed to be a wire of 
inferior quality such as I would advise no one to use. 
Although at first cheap, I think in the end it may 
