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THE ILLIJSrOIS ir_A.IlMER. 



11 



suflfered to run at large. Sheep and 

 other animals do not trouble more than 

 once a hedge of Osage orange. In many 

 counties oi this State, fences are not re- 

 quired to guard against hogs, and in 

 this way thousands and tens of thousands 

 of dollars are saved in those counties 

 every year. The fence upon a farm is a 

 heavy item, and especially is it heavy on 

 a new beginner. 



The last year has given a new impulse 

 to the planting of the Osage orai^e 

 fence, and we anticipate a large demand 

 for the plants the coming spring. 



Great Yield of Corn. 



At the late Indiana State Fair, a silver 

 pitcher was awarded for the best five acres 

 of corn. The award was made upon the 

 decision of three disinterested men in each 

 town, who examined the corn growing in 

 the fi«ids, and measured one acre of each 

 plot. They then made oath to the yield of 

 the single acrt, and of the whole five esti- 

 mated from the acre actually measared. 

 The award made, under oath, was for eight 

 hundred and fifty-seven and half bushels of 

 shelled corn on five acres, or one hundred 

 and seventy-one and a half bushels to the 

 acre. 



This corn was raised in Vanderburgh 

 county. It shows what can be done when 

 the corn is properly cultivated on the best 

 grounds. Here, in many cases, the object 

 of the farmer docs not appear to be to get 

 the greatest quantity of corn from t'le 

 smallest piece of ground, but it is to spr«ad 

 his crop over the largest number of acres 

 pessible! It is much easier and pleasanter 

 to make eighty bushels of corn from one 

 acre than it is from two. Cultivate well is 

 th« word. Put your ground in proper con- 

 dition, and thoroughly cultivate your crop. 

 With such cultivation, every season, you 

 can reasonably expect a good crop, —and in 

 favorable seasons the yield will be likely to 



be very great. 



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Fifteen Varieties of Good Apples. 

 Two premiums were awarded at the late 

 Illinois State Fair for fifteen best varieties 

 of apples for all purposes. The second 

 premium was awarded for the following, 

 which were grown in the "Franklin Grove 

 Garden and Nurseries," Lee county, A. R. 



Whitney, Esq., proprietor. They were in- 

 deed, beaatiful specimens. The list em 

 braced the following varietiei: 



Yellow Belleflower, 



Winesap, 



Whitney's Russett, 

 Willow Twig, 



Great Crops, and the Mode of their Cultivation. 



Mr. Harrison Hancock, of Tazewell county, 

 entered for premium, to be decided at the mee<^ 

 ing of the executive committee of the State Ag- 

 ricultural Society, on the Vth inst., the following 

 crops, raised upon his farm. The statement of 

 the quantity of land and the amount of the crops, 

 are duly proved by affidavit. We submit his 

 mode of cultivation to our agricultural readers 

 as embracing important facts worthy of imitation 

 by them. 



40 acres of wheat................;. 30 bush per acre. 



5 " " 35 " « 



5 « Oats 95 " •' 



5 " Corn 122 bush, 22 pounds per acre 



1 " Timothy 15 bah per acre 



1 " Bluegrass 40 " " 



14 " Beans ; , 42 " 40 pounds per acre 



14 " Potatoes 500 " acre 



14 " Turnips..... 360 " " 



CULTIVATION OF WHEAT. 



First I plow my ground seven or eight inches 

 deep. I sow my wheat with a drill. I sow one 

 bushel and a half to the acre. I sow my wheat 

 about the 25th of March. I sowed three kinds 

 of wheat this season, Italian, China or Tea 

 wheat and Canada club. The club, though 

 strewed with the rest so as to shrink the grain 

 one-third, it yields better than the Italian. The 

 China wheat is an excellent wheat ; it is, I think, 

 a better wheat than any I have ever come across. 

 The drill is the thing to sow wheat with, I can 

 sow thirty acres of wheat quicker with a drill, 

 than I can sow ten by the old way of getting it 

 in. The grain sowed with the drill will produce 

 three or four bushels more to the acre. For oats 

 T prepare my ground the same as for wheat. I 

 sow my oats with a drill. I sow two bushels 

 and a half per acre. Oats sowed with a drill 

 will produce ten bushels more to the acre than 

 by any other way. 



CULTIVATION OF CORN. 



If I want to get a good crop of corn, I sub-soil 

 my ground to the depth of thirteen inches. I 

 lay off my ground with a corn marker made on 

 purpose for that business, into checks of three 

 feet ten inches square. I plant my corn from 

 the 15th to the 20th of May. I have my com 

 dropped by hand, and covered with the hoe. I 

 plant the white flint, it is rather of the goardseed 

 order. When my corn is planted I roll the 

 ground, so as to put it in good order for the plow, 

 and harrow my corn as quick as I can see a row 

 across the piece. I then take a bar plow. Next 

 I run the bar as close to the corn as I can each 

 way. The next time I use the shovel plow each 



blues, and N^shanicks.' They are good potatoes. 



-* BEANS. '■■:. . .' . 



My 'beans were planted on new ground, in 

 rows laid off only one way, and dropped in a 

 drill form, say twelve inches apart. I plow and 

 hoe them once ; that is sufficient when planted 

 on new ground. I plant one half a bushel to the 

 acre ; if they are too thick, I thin them out to 

 three and four in a hill. They are what are called 

 the large white pea bean. 



TIMOTHY. ■■.■ 



1 sow twelve quarts per acre of the pure seed, 

 after taking the first crop off. To get a heavy 

 crop it is best to dress the meadow with fine 

 manure, which pays me well. J generally sow 

 my meadows with wheat or oats in Miurch. It 

 does timothy good to harrow the ground every 

 spring. 



BLUE-GRASS. 



Blue-grass cultivated in the same way as tim- 

 othy, will produce bountifully. There should 

 be about half a bushel of seed sown to the acre. 

 After the ground has become swarded, it should 

 be harrowed early in the spring in order to get 

 a good crop. 



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The Sngar Prospect. 



We give some communications from cor^ 

 respondents in relation to the Northern 

 sugar cane, and its products. Two of these 

 correspondents have made sugar, the present 

 season, and they are confident that they can 

 give the process for making it without dif- 

 ficulty. We have written to them for 

 directions. Oar faith is strong, that 

 sugar will yet be profitably made from the 

 Xorthern sugar cane. 



Mr. Kroh, of Wabash county, we think, 

 it will be found, was the first man in thig 

 State who made syrup from the Northern 

 or Chinese sugar cane. 



Sweet Jnne, 



Hocking, 



Early Pennock, 



Keswick Codlin, 



Rambo, 



White Winter Pearmain. 



Famense, or Snow Apple, 



Whit) Pippin, 



Little Romanite, (for cider,) 



Swaar, 



Domine. 



way, throwing the dirt to the corn. I hoe my 

 corn once. I give a few days space between 

 each plowing of the corn. My land is a clay 

 loam ; it is a good soil for most kinds of grain. 

 I use about eight quarts of corn per acre, and if 

 it comes up too thick, I thin it out to three and 

 four stalks to the hill. 



POTATOES. 

 For potatoes I lay my land off three fect Wide 

 In straight rows, and drop them in a drill form, 

 say twenty inches apart along the row. For 

 winter potatoes, I plant about the 15th of June. 

 I plow twice and hoe them once. To have good 

 potatoes, they should be thinned out like corn to 

 three and four stalks to the hill. If the potatoes 

 are large, they should be cut in suitable pieces, 

 and only one piece put in each hill. My kind 

 of potatoes are what is called the Mowhawk 



Potatoes Lost. 

 Notwithstanding the fine fall weather, 

 we learn that many farmers have lost most 

 of their crop of potatoes. They were cal- 

 culating for just about a week or ten days 

 of good weather, when the cold weather 

 came upon them. This is a serious loss not 

 only to individuals, but to the country. 

 Large stocks of potatoes must continue to 

 be brought from the north, to supply our 

 market. In the northern counties potatoes 

 are plenty and can be had at fair prices. 



Eably Nansemond Sweet Potatoes.— We 

 received a barrel of these delicious potatoes, 



some days ago, from J. W. Ten Brock, of Rock- 

 viUe, la. We submitted them to the trial of 



some of the best tasters in this region, and they 

 pronounced them most excellent, superior to 

 any they had ever eaten. We intend to get a 

 supply of plants of this variety for planting next 

 spring. 



Will some friend send us one copy of the 

 April No., 1857, of the Farmer. 



f>>;jiZ.i.«itf«ja;:r- 



