other. I have since repeated the experiment several times and with the same result. Clover should be cut when the bloom begins to change color or begins to die.

The machines preferred here for cutting grass are the Excelsior and Buckeye, There is little difference between them. They do splendid work and are easy on the team. We generally use rakes made by a man in our own neighborhood, named Hampton. They are not patented and are, consequently, not known in agricultural works. They do splendid work; they have but one handle and are much more easily used than the patent revolving rakes formerly in use here. These revolve like the others, but there Is a different mode of stopping the revolution. So little hay has been made in this part of the county, that the derrick has not been used Our hay is stacked with "Armstrong's Machines." I prefer the derrick to stacking by hand, and think it will be used here next summer, as meadows are more extensive now than formerly.

S. Buller.-Timothy is used mostly for hay and pasture. From thirty to forty head of stock may be pastured on 40 acres.

D. Gove. For pasturage, I think a mixture of timothy, red clover and blue grass the best; for hay alone, timothy and red clover are the best. I have had good luck in sowing grass seed on fall wheat about the first of March, in the proportion of about one-eighth clover mixed well together, and sow about one bushel of the mixed seed on five or six acres of ground. An average yield of hay per acre is about three thousand pounds, in an average season. I think three acres of our grass will keep

a horse or cow in good condition, and an acre of good red clover with twenty ears of corn per day, will keep ten head of ordinary sized hogs through the pasturing season. My experience is that top-dressing of meadows with barn yard manure in the fall or winter is the best disposition we can make of the manure. I think the best time to cut hay is when, if it be timothy and clover mixed, about half the clover heads are ripe; and for the good of the meadows atte was, I do not cut so near the ground as some, in as much as I think that portion of the growth near the ground worth more to the meadow as a mulching than it would be in the mow for feed. As regards implements for making hay, I am a little partial to the Buckeye mower the revolving take for gathering and the horse fork for elevating into the mow.

J. G. Swann.-Clover. McSherry's drill. Oue gallon per acre. Two tons. When blossom is fading. McCormick's mower.

J. Balsiger.-Clover does very well with me, particularly on upland. I can cut mine three times in one season. For pasture, blue grass is to be preferred as more lasting and hardy; it grows here spontaneously. For meadow, I prefer timothy and red-top; the latter brings very rich crops on bottom land which is sometimes overflowed. Red top hay is, as far as I can judge, of very good quality; cattle and horses like it, but it is lighter than timothy. I sow one gallon clover, and about three gallons timothy seed, per acre. I never sow any red-top; it comes up by itself on meadows or bottom land, and crowds out the timothy growth. Top-dressing meadows has a very good effect and stimulates the growth of the grass; out I prefer plowing in the manure before seeding with grass. I believe its effect is more lasting. I feed my hay out mostly on the farm, and therefore do not weigh it, so that I cannot tell how large the yield is per acre. I think two tons are a good average crop. For cutting the hay I use a Manny's mower, and rake it up the same day with a common revolving horse rake, if the weather be fine so that it dries quick; afterwards it is put in shocks or cocks and stacked as soon as possible. The best

time for cutting clover is when it is well in blossom; for timothy and red-top, soon after blossoming is over, when the seed commences forming.

J. Y. Bothwell,-Grasses: I prefer timothy and red-top mixed. Sow in February or March on growing wheat; one bushel on five acres; about two tons per acre is an average crop. Top-dressing will pay well. Cut grass when the earliest heads are brown. I use the Buckeye mower, and a wooden horse rake; this rake gathers no dirt with the hay as a steel-toothed rake does.

T. Engelmann.-Grasses and clover are not much grown, although they succeed well in our soil; and live stock is raised and kept only for family use, and not for market.

G. C. Eisenmeyer.-Blue grass for pastures, and timothy for hay. The time of seeding is about the first of September, on ground well pulverized. Summer fallow on wet ground is always preferable. I will sow on no other ground. The ground cannot be too well prepared. If the season proves unfavorable-if too dry after sowing and you do not obtain a good stand, sow again on or about the first of March following. The yield of timothy is from one to three and a half tons; one and one half tons is about the average crop. I always sow five acres of timothy with one bushel of seed; of clover, from 8 to 10 acres with one bushel. I sow with the thumb and next two fingers; always let the middle finger scatter the seed.

No kind of stock should be allowed to run on your meadow land after the frost is out of the ground in the spring; while in the fall, pasturing is of three-fold advantage: 1st, to your stock; 2d, to your meadow, by eating out the weeds and rank grass; and, 3d, the enriching of your meadow by the droppings of your stock. Top-dressing with barnyard manure should never be neglected; not an ounce of manure should be wasted, but all that can be obtained be put on your meadow.

Grass should be cut as soon as the seed is perfected and before fully ripe. Use any of the many valuable two-horse mowers. I always cut in the forenoon, and rake and cock up in 100 lb. cocks in the afternoon. Grass should never be exposed to the very injurious nightly dews, or too long a time to the hot and scorching rays of a July and August sun. Much hay is made burning it up by too long an exposure to the sun's rays, and the balance of the saccharine matter (the only nutrition in hay) is extracted by heavy injuries which make it more worthless than good oat straw. Making of clover hay is of a more particular nature still than timothy, yet my experience is such that good clover hay can be made almost any season. We generally have rainy days about the time that clover ripens and is ready for the sickle, which is about the first of June.

I always cut clover when I am ready, regardless of the weather. I leave it on the ground without turning it till full three-fourths cured; rain won't hurt it much if it remains on its first swath. I always aim to house it up when I turn it; it had better rain on it a week on its first side than once after it is turned over. Clover is one of the great essentials in good farming; it makes the finest pasture; it drives worms from horses as well as hogs; fattens everything that will eat it; it will increase as well as improve the milk of cows; is more nutritious for farm horses than timothy; young stock will fatten on it, and work horses will need but little grain if they get plenty of good clover hay; last and not least of all it improves your land. I always sow about the first to the fifteenth of March, on wheat land. It hardly ever does well when sowed with oats. I always judge of a farmer's common, practical sense by the size of his clover fields, and find it a good criterion.

Vol. II-22

J. Barber. For pastures, I use red-top, timothy and clover. Red-top is sown on the low ground. Sow timothy and clover together; about one-eighth as much clover as timothy. Close pasturing soon kills out the clover. If not pastured in the fall it will remain for many years.

J. Warder.-We use clover, timothy and red-top successfully.

6. GRAINS.-Best varieties of corn, wheat (fall or spring), oats, rye, barley, buckwheat, etc., that have been tried in your neighborhood: the best time and method of preparing ground for each of the small grains: time and method of planting or sowing: drills, sowing machines or planters that you have tried and found best: best harrows and rollers: cultivation of corn, with the kind of implements used: experience, if any, in cultivating wheat by horse-hoe or otherwise: time of cutting up corn: method and implements: time of cutting small grains: reaper or header employed: practice in shocking, stacking or putting small grains in barn: largest and average yield: insects and diseases and methods of subduing them?

E. Moss.-Corn, Yellow Dent; spring wheat. Fall plowing is considered almost a necessity. Stack grain; put hay in barns.

Geo. Chaffee.-As we almost invariably husk the corn on the hill, and allow the stock to feed upon the stalks during the winter, we have the land to plow in the spring, if plowed at all. When the land is dry and light in the spring, as it usually is after a dry fall, I put on the cultivator, use it thoroughly, then sow the seed, harrow and roll, and in some experiments, side by side with that which was plowed: that sowed without plowing took the preference. When the land is clammy I would by all means plow, then harrow lightly, before seeding, and thoroughly after, and roll. Sow not less than five bushels per acre, and for the last eight years have, on the average, harvested 60 bushels per acre.

In a few cases I have planted corn after corn for 4 years in succession, and a few acres highly manured, but usually plant after oats and clover and timothy sod, applying manure as much as possible to corn land, and, if sufficiently fine to mix with the soil, apply it upon the surface of fall plowed land; if coarse, turn it under with the oat stubble. I choose to have all my corn land plowed in the fall so as not to be obliged to meddle with it in the spring until it is dry. Then put on the cultivator and harrow, roll as necessity requires. Plant from the 25th of April to the 15th of May in rows 34 feet apart. Formerly planted in check rows, but for the last 3 seasons have planted in drills. When the corn is about making its appearance above the surface of the ground, harrow it by driving the team astride each row and use the hinge harrow with teeth of cast steel inch square (48 teeth). When planted in check rows, thin to three spears in a hill; when drilled allow a spear to every 10 or 12 inches.

1862.-Corn, fair growth; fall favorable; yield 40 bushels per acre. 1863: good growth of stalks, but hard frost August 30th; yield, 20 bushels per acre. 1864: good growth; chinch bugs attacked it in July, and white grubs in August; yield, 35 bushels per acre. 1865: heavy growth, and fine fall; yield, 75 bushels per acre. 1866 heavy growth; August and September very wet with frost about the 20th of September; yield, 25 bushels per acre. 1867 average growth; but that planted on tame grass sod injured by the white grub; yield, 40 bushels per acre.

M. A. McConnell.-The best variety of corn for this latitude is Yellow Dent. Spring wheat is the only crop, and the best kinds are Club and Scotch Fife. Fall plowing is best for all kinds of grains and best for the ground. The spring grains want to be put into the ground as soon as possible after the frost comes out and the ground settles. We use the broadcast sower and have a cultivator that follows

the sower. The best harrow is a 32 tooth drag, with the hinges running through the drag, and a cast roller is very much the best. All grain wants to be cut early. H. Pierce,-Both White and Yellow Dent corn. Club wheat has the most admirers; common white oats; no rye; very little barley; don't sow buckwheat, it is so hard to kill out. Fall plowing, with heavy harrowing, is best for all crops. Sow as early as we can work the ground for wheat and barley. Plant corn from 15th of April to 15th of May. Cultivate corn with wheeled cultivator. Riding is preferred by some, but both are about equally used here. Lay by with common plow. Pull all corn here. Reaping machines alone are used. Shock of 10 bundles, capped by 2 more. Stacks are put up with from 150 to 300 bushels in each. Average yield of wheat, about 15 bushels per acre.

J. Tefft.—Corn is small; Dent; plant as early in the spring as frost will admit; cultivate early with small plow by turning away from hill as close as can run plow without disturbing it, for the purpose of letting in sun to warm the land. Then, in a few days, turn furrow back and cultivate afterwards with cultivator. This, with buckwheat, which we raise in orchards, is all the grain usually raised on the farm. S. Reynolds.-Ground for wheat is best plowed in the fall, not very deep; and sowed very early in the spring. I use Brown's drill, made in Ohio. Sow from one and a half to two bushels per acre; oats, three bushels. Like the A harrow or double A best. Have seen very good corn raised with the drag, double shovel plow; and the best way to shock grain is as follows: set ten sheaves on the ground, then lay one or two on top. Largest yield, 90 bushels; average 35, oats. Wheat, largest yield, 30 bushels; average 15.

J. Schoenleber.-The best variety of corn here is the flesh colored; it gives the most abundant yield. For five years I raised the Velvet Winter Wheat; two years since 13 acres produced 100 bushels of wheat and 200 bushels of chess. Last year I sowed 12 bushels and my crop was but 6 bushels; part of that ground I covered in the fall with prairie hay to keep it from freezing out in the spring, but it did no better than the rest. That was the last winter wheat seen in this township.

Of spring wheat, the soft Siberian has been used longest but is now run out. The Rio Grande, Canada Club, Scotch Fife, Bull, Tea and Rhode Island are used. The last two kinds are used most at present, but seem to run out like the Siberian.

Last spring I sent to Wisconsin for White Fife. I sowed 45 bushels on 30 acres, on an 80 acre lot, cornering on the north west of the above described farm. The yield was 410 bushels, about 30 bushels to the acre. The ground was broken with a Rod plow in July; in the Fall it was plowed again; in the Spring harrowed, then sowed, and then harrowed double, both ways.

Last Summer, I broke again 25 acres, plowed it again, and shall sow it in wheat and keep account.

In 1857, I had 31 bushels to the acre, on four acres, and on 16 acres the yield was 25 bushels to the acre, but since that the yield has never been over 18 bushels to the acre, and sometimes only 7 bushels, owing to injury from the chintz bug and wet, sultry weather about ripening time.

In the cultivation of corn, I have used the Brown Planter, the D-- Planter and Cultivator combined, and at present I use the Union Planter, which I like the best. The D-- Planter I used two seasons, and it was at least one thousand dollars damage to me, as I could not raise more than two-thirds of a crop. The Planter and Cultivator is a nuisance; as for a cultivator, if labor was only cheaper, I should

prefer the one-horse double shovel plow. I use a two-horse cultivator that one can either walk or ride on, Corn should be cultivated when small.

C. E. Barney.-Yellow corn will feed more than white, will make more alcohol, will not be so much discolored if slightly damaged.

The best seed wheat is that brought from a distance, from different soil and more northern climate

The best varieties of oats are those that stand up the best; as far as I have observed, the barley oats do that.

I believe in doing most of the work on a corn crop, just before and after planting; plow well, then roll, and your corn will be an even depth; then harrow before the corn comes up, then roll again, then harrow each side the row, then roll again; continue to roll, after harrowing or plowing, as long as the corn will bear it without breaking, which may be done till the corn is about 10 inches high.

Fall plowing, sharp harrows and heavy rollers for any crop.

In harvesting, use the header if you only want grain; if you want the straw, also, use a reaper; after the straw dries, pitch on wagons with barley forks, unload with horse fork. Never bind or shock wheat, oats or barley; it costs more, wastes more, requires more labor to make and stack bundles.

V. Aldrich. I have had but little experience in the cultivation of any grain, except corn. I have found the best time for harvesting corn to be when the best or ripest ears begin to turn their husks; at this stage the blades are green; the corn is all hard and glazed, and it cures quick and makes excellent fodder. Implements for cutting are corn cutters, generally with straight blade; clasp a hill with the left hand and cut it with the other. To shock round, I use a scantling or 3 inch pole, with two legs in one end, long enough to raise it about 3 feet from the ground; back mid way from the legs to the back end, about 12 feet, that lays on the ground, I bore a 1 in. hole, and put in a stick, 5 feet long or more; this stick is horizontal, Setting the corn in the four corners until there is enough for the shock, I then have another stick, with crank at one end, and pin about one foot from the crank; fasten the rope to the pin, stick the long end through the shock, and carry the rope round the shock, and make fast again to the pin; turn the crank until the rope has drawn the shock as close and tight as you want it; put round your band and then loosen the rope and take it away; pull out the stick from the scantling; take hold of the end the legs are in, and pull it out of the shock; then go ahead with it for the next shock.

A. Rankin. The large White and Yellow Dent corn are the best varieties. The best oats are the Surprise.

The best time to sow wheat and oats is as early in the Spring as the ground will admit; fall wheat is uncertain. Rye does well; sow any time in September. Average yield of corn in the country is, I think, about 35 bushels per acre. One of my neighbors and myself raised over 87 bushels per acre. I did not have a very good stand or should have raised more. Average of wheat, per acre, 10 bushels; average of oats, common oats 35 bushels, the Surprise oats 125 bushels.

Fall plowing is considered by many as the best to sow wheat or oats on, but I have found it just as well to sow on stalk ground, by putting it in with the cultivator, harrow and rolling smooth, without plowing, where the corn was thoroughly cultivated, the year before.

The best harrow is the hinge harrow, made nearly square and joined together in the middle by long, strap hinges. The best roller is the cast iron section roller.