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260 



■^I'lW-"-"''-- 



'THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



Last spring and before, we urged a 

 thorough trial of the Chiuese cane plant. 

 We had seen and tested syrnp made from 

 this cane, and did not believe that we could 

 possibly be mistaken in its value. We did 

 not anticipate a failure where a fair trial 

 conld be made of it. Our expectatiop.s are 

 realized. Illinois at least will produce 

 syrups for her own use, and for exportation, 

 in a short period of time. The rane will 

 hereafter be a staple production of liliuoi.s. 



And we believe, not for the production of 

 syrup only. Sugar has been made of the 

 syrap, the present season, in many parts of 

 the West. Vfe hear of it in Ohio, in Dela- 

 ware county; in Indiana; in LaSxlle and 

 Winnebago counties in chis State, thatsu^-iir 

 has been made from :he syrup, aiid what 

 has been done, can be done and more ex- 

 tensively. It requires nice judgment and 

 practical skill to make sugar from this 

 syiup; but these will be obtained, and we 

 now give it as our belief tliat next season 

 large amounts of sugar will be made from 

 this cane. In Louisiana, at their sugar- 

 making establishments, they have a man 

 expressly as a sugar maker, who, by long 

 experience, skill and judgment, is enabled 

 to granulate the syrups. 



The cultivation of the Chinese sugar 

 cane will greatly benefit Illinois. We have 

 aliout one and a half millions of people. 

 Their consumption of sugar and syrups will 

 amount to an average each of three dolhirs a 

 year. That will amount to $4,500,000. 

 Let this amount of money, or half of it, be 

 kept in this State and circulate among us, 

 instead of being sent oflF, and our people 

 will feel the benefits of it. 



The Chinese plant is now naturalized 

 here, and we are in favor of throwing away 

 its usual names of Sorghum, Chinese 

 Millet, Iraphee, fee, and of giving it an Eng- 

 lish name, one that all can understand. 

 The South has its Southern Sugar Cane, 

 and the North has its Northern Sugar 

 Cane. Let us call them by these names, 

 and no man need be mistaken in regard to 

 the plant. 



Prepare for Winter. 



Be sure and gather your seed corn. Pro- 

 vide protection, as much as possible, 'for 

 your stock in winter. See to the buildings, 

 that they are put in order for cold weather 

 — cellars banked up, window glass put in, 

 stoves ready, fuel on hand. See that your 

 farming tools are under cover, and your 

 garden tools {nit in place. Your potatoes 

 should now be d'jg and placed beyond the 

 reach of frost. Your cabbages should be 

 gathered, trenches made, the roots put in 

 the ground, a shed made over them, loaded 

 with straw, bean vines or otijer articles, to 

 keep them from freezing. Beets should be 

 taken up, put into the cellar, and covered 

 with sand. Apples should be put into cel- 

 hirs. All these articles do best in an at- 

 mot^phere a few degrees above freezing 

 point. If you expect eggs, you must have 

 warm places for your fowls to lay in and to 

 roost, and they should be provided with 

 meat to eat and lime und ashes to wallow in. 

 The great weeds should be removed from 

 your garden, and if you trench it two feet 

 deep, it will be ail the better for working in 

 the spring. 



Pi-otect ihe tender plants and shrubs in 

 the garden. Tender roses may be bent 

 down and covered over with earth, or the 

 earth may be hlled up ten inches high on 

 the wood. Asparagus and Rhubarb do best 

 by being covered up with manure in the 

 fall. You can plant beds of both, if you 

 choose, now. A piece of the root of the 

 rhubarb with a single bud, will make a good 

 plant. Celery should now be taken up, 

 and carefully protected in trenches and well 

 covered. Be cauiious about fires on the 

 prairies; m^iny a farmer has lost his crops, 

 his fences and sometimes buildingsby prairie 

 fires. Apple and other trees gan be planted 

 out. The evenings are now long, and when 

 the labors of the day are over, you should 

 have an agriculiural paper, to see what im- 

 provements are being made in your profes- 

 sion, that you may keep np with the im- 

 provements of the day. What you read, 

 understand if possible. Those who read 

 most are not often the most intelligent. 



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