470 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
reaper are on most every farm, and the scythe and grain cradle but little 
used; the drill or broadcast seed sower have nearly driven the harrow into- 
disuse; and the old time-honored hoe too, has yielded its preeminence in 
the corn field to the sulky cultivator and the sheep. Yes, strange as it 
may appear, we have not a few farmers (and good ones too) of this county, 
who depend on their sheep to clean their cornfields of weeds, more than on 
the use of the hoe. After the corn is well grown, so that the ears are out 
of the reach of the sheep, and the soil is dry, the flock of sheep are called 
into the field, and glean the weeds more effectually than ever the hoe 
would do. It is done at so late a pe'riod, that the corn shading them, will 
usually prevent a second growth. As corn is now a more leading and 
valuable crop than it used to be, and the fields are more completely stocked 
with weeds, if this method of sheep-hoeing ean succeed as well as it is 
claimed by some, it will be of very great use to such farmers as grow a 
large amount of corn. 
/ 
With the mowing machine, sulky horse rake and horse pitch-fork, hay¬ 
ing is so changed from the old muscle-exhausting process, as to become 
the most pleasant, if not the easiest part of farm labor. The plow, too, has 
materially changed under the guiding hands of applied science, losing 
some of its more abrupt angles, and gaining largely from the use of im¬ 
proved material in its manufacture. But it is still the old wedge, packing 
the soil beneath it as it is driven through the soil. Though it has gained 
largely in ease of draught and durability of material, it still offers the most 
tempting field for inventive genius and scientific study. It is to be hoped 
that the day is not far distant when the farmer will be able to lift a portion 
of the soil loose, without packing that portion directly beneath it to an in¬ 
jurious extent. 
A marked improvement is noticeable in the more diversified husbandry . 
of the county. Few farmers are now exclusive grain-growers. On more 
than nine-tenths of the farms of the county more or less stock will be found 
growing. From 1862 to 1866 sheep were the favorite stock, and took pre¬ 
cedence in value and importance of any, or all other stock. The past three 
years have greatly changed this condition, and to-day sheep are unpopular 
with our farmers, and have been sacrificed to a very great extent, and now 
the flocks of the county will not number over one-half what they did in 
1865; but other stock has increased in numbers very considerably, especially 
horses and milch cows. The working oxen have nearly disappeared from 
the fields of our farmers, and it is doubtful if there are as many young cat¬ 
tle as there were four years ago. The quite prevalent practice of slaughter¬ 
ing calves wdien a few days old, to obtain greater profits from the milk, has 
worked, and will continue to work, a great injury to farmers. Our cheese 
factories are chargeable for a large per cent, of this; though butter at thirty 
to forty cents a pound has induced some. With those who have their milk 
worked up in factories, the young calf is in the way of their profits, as all the 
