It was mixed with sand and applied at the rate of eight hundred pounds an acre for the spring dressing over a portion of the alfalfa, against four hundred pounds an acre of the fertilizer 3:8:8.  After two years I was convinced that, when used alone, it is not of more than half the value of the fertilizer.

My present practice is to use five hundred pounds of hen manure and two hundred pounds of fertilizer on each acre for the spring dressing, and two hundred pounds an acre of the fertilizer alone after each cutting except the last.  We have ten or twelve tons of hen manure each year, and it is nearly all used on the alfalfa or the timothy as spring dressing.  It costs nothing, and it takes off a considerable sum from the fertilizer account.  I am not at all sure that the scientists would approve this method of using it; I can only give my experience, and say that it brings me satisfactory crops.

There was much snow in January and February, and in March much rain.  When the spring opened, therefore, the ground was full of water.  This was fortunate, for April and May were unusually dry months,—­only 1.16 inches of water.

The dry April brought the ploughs out early; but before we put our hands to the plough we should make a note of what the first quarter of 1897 brought into our strong box.

Sold: 
   Butter . . . . $842.00
   Eggs . . . . 401.00
   Cow . . . . 35.00
   Two sows . . . 19.00
     Total . . . $1297.00

Fifteen of the young sows farrowed in March, and the other 9 in April, as also did 18 old ones.  The young sows gave us 147 pigs, and the old ones 161, so that the spring opened with an addition to our stock of 300 head of young swine.

Between March 1 and May 10 were born 25 calves, which were all sold before July 1.  The population of our factory farm was increasing so rapidly that it became necessary to have more help.  We already had eight men and three women, besides the help in the big house.  One would think that eight men could do the work on a farm of 320 acres, and so they can, most of the time; but in seed-time and harvest they are not sufficient at Four Oaks.  We could not work the teams.

Up to March, 1897, Sam had full charge of the chickens, and also looked after the hogs, with the help of Anderson.  Judson and French had their hands full in the cow stables, and Lars was more than busy with the carriage horses and the driving.  Thompson was working foreman, and his son Zeb and Johnson looked after the farm horses during the winter and did the general work.  From that time on Sam gave his entire time to the chickens, Anderson his entire time to the hogs, and Johnson began gardening in real earnest.  This left only Thompson and Zeb for general farm work.