1S2 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
another when well rotted. All times have proven best for me, 
when I had leisure to haul it, or manure to haul. The earth 
is jealous of the air, and will fix the essential properties with 
great rapidity, that nothing be lost, except where man in his 
singular ingenuity may pile it by half loads, to prevent the 
earth from appropriating, and even then it will show its vora¬ 
ciousness by the spotted appearance of the fields long after. 
Spread as soon as possible, and when the first rain has through¬ 
ly softened the lumps, sweep the field with a smoothing harrow 
or brush and the work will be well done. 
Great profit will be found in mulching meadows with straw 
in the winter and early spring. By this process the yield has 
been doubled in a single season, and there has never been an 
instance in my experience that the crop has not been largely 
improved. I cannot urge the farmers too much to try the plan 
for themselves. The objection usually urged, that the rake 
will mix the straw and hay and both will be carried to the 
stack together, is practically small. The revolving horse rake 
scarcely disturbs the mulch, but the steel tooth sulky rake 
will require more careful management. In a moist season, and 
especially when plaster has been sown, the straw will be de¬ 
cayed ; in a dry season there will be but little trouble, well re¬ 
munerated. Let none but the most careful (and we would add, 
interested person) be employed in spreading the straw in order 
to secure a thin and even coating. 
To build up and maintain a dairy farm as set forth in these 
pages, would seem to be an easy task, yet there is more in the 
man than in the surroundings. There are but few first-class 
dairymen ; such have dairies corresponding. While it is quite 
essential that there should be a rich and well managed farm, 
this is only one of the many items that must be combined to 
the attainment of the greatest success. In observing the wide 
difference between dairymen on adjoining farms of equal fer¬ 
tility in the net results, in not only one but many seasons, we 
arrive at the conclusion that good first-class dairymen are 
* born, not made.” The first-class are those who, in a good 
season, from selected cows, will average six hundred pounds of 
