Dear Sir: Yours of the 7th inst., relative to the Fagan corn received. The corn raised by Hezekiah Fagan was thirty years ago, and he received the premium for it at the Iowa State Fair in 1854. The only facts I have relative to it are in the published proceedings of the State Agricultural Society. It states that he raised in Polk county, Iowa, on five acres, at the rate of 139½ bushels per acre, shelled corn. The whole, shelled, measured 697½ bushels, but weighed, it made 151 bushels and fifty-three pounds per acre.
At the same fair, J. W. Inskip exhibited, with all of the necessary proofs, 136 bushels per acre.
I think there was no mistake in these matters, as great care was taken to have statement correct; it is to this crop which his son refers in a late number of the Register. Yours truly,
C. F. Clarkson.
Des Moines, Iowa.
A Charming Letter.
At the head of the agricultural department in The Prairie Farmer I notice a standing invitation, viz.: "Farmers, write for your paper." All right! Now, if you will just move up a little I'll take a seat in your Communicative Association.
We, that is my wife and myself, eagerly read and discuss the interesting articles with which The Prairie Farmer is replete every week, and many are the practical hints that we have found therein.
It is not strange that, in the heart of a new country with vast undeveloped resources and unlimited possibilities, a young farmer who has his fortune yet to make, should be particularly enthusiastic. Tired of the atmosphere of the school-room, fagged out by ten years of study and teaching, and plainly seeing the improbability of being able to lay by enough for a rainy day or old age in this noble, but as a rule, unremunerative calling, my mind involuntarily reverted back to my early life on the old homestead in Illinois, to substantials implied in that word, and to its pleasant memories.
My mind was made up. With my portion of the old homestead in my pocket, I turned the key in the school-house door, grateful for the experience and lessons of patience gained inside of it, a friend of education, and with a heart full of sympathy for the teachers of our public schools. I came to "the land of the Dakotas" once more to break the "stubborn glebe" and enjoy the sweets of farm life. Next June I shall have had three years' experience in my new undertaking. I have succeeded fairly well. At some future time I may communicate something about raising wheat and vegetables in Dakota, to the readers of "our paper."