hered; only about one-third of the crop is sound enough to keep
until next summer. Farmers are feeding their soft corn to hogs and
cattle. In that way the soft corn will pay pretty well after all, for
fat stock brings a good price. Stock cattle are wintering well, for feed
in the fields is good, and most farmers have got plenty of good hay. The
weather was so nice the first part of this month that the farmers did a
large amount of plowing. Potatoes are plenty and cheap; worth from 30 to
40 cents. Apples are scarce, and good ones bring a big price. Butter is
worth from 25 to 30 cents.

S.O.A.
KNOX CO., ILL.

SEED CORN AGAIN.

There has been much complaint of soft corn in this section on account of
planting foreign seed last spring, but it is all solid since the late
cold spell.

Those who planted seed of their own raising and got a stand have fair
corn, while much of that which was raised from Kansas and Nebraska seed
was caught by the frost when in the milk. Now we will be in just the
same "fix" about seed next spring that we were last. This county has
lost thousands of dollars this year in the corn crop alone, all of which
might have been avoided by going through the fields before freezing
weather and selecting seed and properly drying it before it froze.

And now right here I want to say that the great secret of good farming
is simply being punctual in attending to the small matters, and I
"guess" Fanny Field would say the same about poultry.

Z.L. THOMPSON.
IROQUOIS CO., ILL.

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REMEMBER _that $2.00 pays for_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER _from this
date to January 1, 1885; For $2.00 you get it for one year and a
copy of_ THE PRAIRIE FARMER COUNTY MAP OF THE UNITED STATES,
FREE! _This is the most liberal offer ever made by any first-class
weekly agricultural paper in this country._

* * * * *

FIELD AND FURROW.

Says the Iowa Register: One hundred bushels of corn will shrink to
ninety in the crib, and to an extent more than that, depending on the
openness of the crib and the honesty of the neighbors.

The agricultural editor of the New York Times says that no doubt many
farmers who are intending to underdrain their farms would save money by
employing an expert at the first to lay out the whole system and make a
good beginning, and so avoid any possible mistake, which might cost ten
dollars for every one paid for