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12 



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THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



her to sly off h^r work qs she chose; and 

 though a good housekeeper herself, was al- 

 together too indulgent, and, like some oth- 

 ers, thought more of getting Sally well mar- 

 ried, than of making her fit for a wife; 

 while mother McKearn was determined that 

 Jenny should be fit for any man's wife, wheth- 

 er she got married or not. Perhaps there is 

 no more certain criterion by which to judge 

 of a woman's character for ne&tness and good 

 housekeeping than by the quality of her but- 

 ter. Find on the ft-rmer's table a good, 

 solid, properly salted, well worked slice of 

 butter, and you need not fear to eat the 

 cakes or hash; but see a splash of half-work- 

 ed butter — salt in lumps, and sprinkle of 

 hair and flies' legs, you may be sure that if 

 you board there long, death will not be 

 obliged to wait much for you* to finish your 

 peck of dirt. 



• My advica to young farmers is, to make 

 it a sint qaa non in a wife that she makes 

 prime butter — and the young ladies who 

 aspire to be their wives had better be im- 

 perfect in filagree and muatc, than he defi 

 cieiit In that most important art of maklug 

 butter, which smooths not only the 8b«r; 

 corners of crust a"^ crackers, but wiii 

 smooth the asperities of the hasband'e tem- 



per- 



-*»•- 



Thi: Fcr Tradh. — Tne Journal of Com- 

 ';jifi/":e stare:- that en -oartiaular inquiry the fur 

 trade in Xew York will reach $1,375,000 this 

 year. The price of American furs has lately 

 risen considerablj'. Mink, which formerJy 

 commanded from 30 to 50 cents,, now brings 

 §2,50 ; other furs, too, are much higher. 



The JoMrwrtZsays: " We lately saw a box of 

 Russian sable, not more than three feet long, of 

 camphor wool, which contained 400 small skins 

 bearing the seal of the Rus^".an Government, 

 valued at fourteen thousand dollars Some of 

 che skins cost S25 00 each. A lower grade of 

 inferior color are worth $23, and some not more 

 t&an $16. These are commonly sold at a nrofit 

 of 30 to 32 per cent. Sixteen or eighteen skins 

 are required to make a full sized cape, so that 

 the cost of a clioice quality garment of this de- 

 scription would be about nine hundred dollars. 

 Adding the cost of making and the profit, such 

 an article could not be procured for much less 

 than $1,400. Hudson Bay sable cost this year 

 about $25 00 per skin.' 



4»» 



About thirty fresh water springs are discov- 

 ered under the sea, on the south of the Persian 

 Gulf. 



A wasp's nest usually contains 15,000 or 

 16 000 cells. 



Dr. Bright publishes a case of an egg pro- 

 ducing an insect 80 years after it must have 

 been laid. 



HORTICULTURE. 



Culture of the Blaekberry. 



Within a few years the attention of Hor- 

 ticulturists has been drawn to the cultiva- 

 tion of the Blackberry. Occasionally, there 

 have been found varieties in a wild state that 

 promised to do well when cultivated, feut 

 few of them, however, have proved to be of 

 any value. The Blackberry produces good 

 fruit in favorable seasonu. When the sum- 

 mer is dry the fruit is small, imperfect and 

 sour. This same variety, if cultivated in a 

 garden, and the roots kept damp by mulch- 

 ing — (that is, by having leaves from the 

 woods, or tan-bark, to keep them moist, 

 placed about the roots) will bring you good 

 fruit. The New Rochelle or Lawton Black- 

 berry is a ntiw variety, and is worthy ail that 

 has been said of it. Such is the demand for 

 the ^.lants, th^t prices are kept up. Few ^f 

 them have been brought to the western coud- 

 irv 



Ml. D 0. Richmond, of Sandusky, Ohio 

 t, . - . , i... i "nt and energetic fruit grower, 

 has given bis esperiencs in the cultivation of 

 the Blackb»ii., ;r. the foilowirig article, co- 

 pied from the Cjii'tAJ CixUiydtor : 



Mr. BaTeham : You are aware that the 

 Blackberry is universally esteemed as one of 

 our most wtolesoaie '■ummer fruits; c;omir>g 

 ill at just the right time to counteract the 

 bilio'is disea-^es incidental 10 oar ciiciaie, 

 and (illi'g ii gap ia the succession oi small 

 fruiis. >vhen strawberries, raspberries and 

 currants have disappeared tVoxn our mar- 

 kets. 



Being convinced that this valuable fruit 

 could be much improved by the selection, I 

 commenced, six years jjgo, selecting from the 

 woods and fence rows the most promising 

 plants I L'Onld find when in fruit — spending 

 much time, and traveling many miles each 

 season, in m«king observations. In this way 

 I collected three or four varieties that I deem 

 quite valuable. One of these has very tall, 

 dark canes, resembling the New Rochelle, 

 and I think it is the same species, (not the 

 same variety;) another has light green canes, 

 also a strong grower, and good fruit; anoth- 

 er still, is of a dwarf habit, hence perhaps 

 better suited for garden culture, with scarce- 

 ly any thorns, fruit very fine. 



The new Rochelle I have had in bearing 

 the two past years, and I consider it a most 



