490 



XEW ENGLAOT) FARMER. 



Oct. 



In an article like this, and in a State as new 

 as Illinois is, it •would, perhaps, be just to notice 

 the wild grasses of the country, which have 

 contributed so largely to the convenience, 

 ■wealth and credit of the State. Without be- 

 ing tedious, I can only say that there are sev- 

 eral varieties, naturally adapted and almost 

 always found in peculiar localities. Eleva- 

 tion, humidity, and texture of soil being al- 

 most always truly indicated by peculiar natu- 

 ral grasses. They all form tough sod, some 

 of them much more so than any tame grass. 

 Most of them bear seed, stand burning, graz- 

 ing and considerable trampling, with impunity. 

 Yet, when once subdued by cultivation, I have 

 never known them to re-occupy the land, as 

 tame grasses sometimes do. They are never 

 sown by man, and are disappearing from the 

 State very rapidly. Ten to twenty years ago 

 they furnished by far the larger portion of 

 summer grazing for the live stock of the State. 



The great want in Illinois is cheap farm la- 

 bor ; and one reason why the grasses of the 

 State have become so important, (aside from 

 natural adaptedness,) is the ease and cheap- 

 ness of their management. Pastures, of 

 course, when fenced and established, require 

 little outlay for annual labor. The stock live 

 in them all the time, except during the se- 

 verest winter weather, when the hay crop, or 

 corn in the shock is made a substitute. 



Hay is now secured on our level meadows, 

 almost entirely with machinery, worked by 

 horses, in a horse-raising country, like this, 

 horse labor is cheaper than Chinese. An in- 

 telligent lad of fifteen to eighteen years old, 

 with a good pair of horses, will cut about eight 

 acres per day, with a forty-eigbt-inch iron 

 mower. The hay is raked with one horse into 

 windrows, at the rate of twenty or more acres 

 per day. A bunching rake, with a horse at 

 each end, managed by two small boys, will 

 throw these wind-rows endways into piles, 

 very fast. The piles are brought from differ- 

 ent directions, and left in pairs— two and 

 tv?o, — near each other. The men then come 

 with forks, throw one pile upon the other, 

 • trim down and top off. The shocks thus 

 made should contain from three to ten hun- 

 dred pounds. Toward the latter part of the 

 week, the day of stacking comes. The two 

 boys, with the bunching rake, bring the hay 

 cocks to the stack. Some eight to ten are 

 pressed together by the horses, for the foun- 

 dation of a rick. The balance are brought 

 alongside for the superstructure. The inevi- 

 table horse, with his crane, puUies and fork, 

 managed by a boy on his back, hoists the hay 

 on to the rick as fast as one man can stack it. 

 Often two are required. One man is required 

 to set the fork. Thus two men, three boys 

 and three horses will stack an immense weight 

 of hay in a day. Were it not out of season, I 

 would describe some of our peculiar hay ma- 

 chinery. It will be more appropriate next 

 June. 



Haying is not the human drudgery it once 

 was. It is much like going to war when the 

 men are all officers. For the boys it is a reg- 

 ular gala day. On the spring seat, mowing, 

 riding the bunching rake, or pitching hay on 

 horseback, it is little else than fun for them. 



Box 50, Decatur, III., Aug. 16, 1870. 



ENCOURAGE HOME PRODUCTION. 



At the opening of the recent exposition of 

 Textile fabrics, at Indianapolis, the following 

 remarks occur in the opening address of Presi- 

 dent Boweut of Chicago : — 



"I need not tell you of the great improve- 

 ment that has been made by our manufacturers 

 during the past few years, for any one that 

 has given any thought to the subject would 

 readily notice, in examining the beautiful 

 goods now on exhibition at this place, that we, 

 as manufacturers, are marching on in the high- 

 way to success, and the question is, shaM we 

 make our success certain? The practical 

 question is, shall we receive from the good 

 people of our common country words of en- 

 couragement that shall make our services the 

 more certain, or shaJl the people's verdict be 

 against us, and the great market of our land 

 be given to strangers, in part to our enemies ? 

 Are we able to produce such articles of textile 

 fabrics as the market demands ? Shall we in- 

 fluence our approval of the men and women 

 of our nation in the use of American goods ? 

 Give us these and the fostering care of our 

 government, and we shall soon see our glori- 

 ous land with factories and foundries both 

 north and south, and the tide of prosperity 

 will be with us as heretofore unknown. 



"We say, then, let us encourage these in- 

 dustries. Let us assert, in the full develop- 

 ment of our great country, in which we all 

 justly take pride, and with a prosperous and 

 healthy state of our manufacturing interests 

 ail over the land, we shall enjoy thrift that 

 will be most gratifying, and a page in the his- 

 tory of our political economy, yet unwritten, 

 will be revealed unto us. I am greatly re- 

 joiced to see so large a display of goods on 

 exhibition from the Southern States of Ken- 

 tucky, Tennessee, South Carolina and Geor- 

 gia, showing to us the great interest our 

 friends of the South are taking in this matter, 

 which is indeed one of great importance to us 

 all." 



He called upon the ladies to wear shawls 

 of home manufacture, instead of going to 

 Scotland or France to obtain them. The 

 West made just as good ones as the world 

 could produce from wool. 



— The Farm at the Maine Agricultural College, 

 Orono, Me., contains 375 acres, about half being 

 wood land. About 80 acres are in pasture and 

 meadow. Only 17 acres are under the plough this 

 season. 



