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that it is still expedient to stack grain in the field. The grain grown upon 
thirty or perhaps one hundred acres of land would be of too great bulk 
to put into a barn. The first settlers were obliged, from necessity, to ex¬ 
ercise their ingenuity in many ways to provide the means of saving what 
they raised ; after they had threshed their wheat, many of them had no 
other way to store it than to put it in rail pens, lined with straw, and 
then covered it over stack-fashion with the same material. Such a con¬ 
cern often constitutes a granary in this Western country. With sufficient 
care the grain can be sheltered from the weather in such a place, but 
quite an amount is wasted one way and another—wherever such a gran¬ 
ary can be found, you may be sure of a good spot to trap quails and 
prairie chickens. The straw after threshing the first crop was generally 
all used either in covering log stables, sheds, and making various out¬ 
buildings ; but often after that was done, it became an encumbrance and 
has frequently been burned, as well as the stubble of wheat fields—prac¬ 
tises which multitudes still persist in adopting. In other words, they are 
still using all the means in their power to exhaust the soil as much as 
possible. 
The second crop put upon new land is generally wheat; the soil is pre¬ 
pared, not by cross plowing, but by plowing in the direction in which it 
was originally broken ; this appears to be necessary in consequence of 
the toughness of the sod. Any one not acquainted with it would natu¬ 
rally suppose that twelve months’ time would be sufficient to decompose 
the sod so much that it could be cross plowed without any difficulty— 
such is not the case ; although, after it becomes quite thoroughly rotted, 
the ground can be plowed with much greater ease, and in a better man¬ 
ner, by plowing in the same direction in which it was broken, turning 
the furrows back. It is not essential that the ground should be plowed 
deep for the second crop ; if the plow run a little below the depth of the 
first plowdng it is sufficient. The rich vegetable mould of the soil will 
produce bountifully several crops in succession, with very shallow plow¬ 
ing. If spring wheat is to be sown it will be found advantageous to plow 
the ground in the fall, since by so doing the crop can be put in as early 
as is desirable in the spring; furthermore, I believe that the soil, by the 
action of the atmosphere upon it during the winter, is better prepared to 
receive the seed. Some affirm that it matters little how early spring 
wheat is sown ; a writer in the New York Tribune states, that it should 
