

TIIT^. ir.LI^^OIS T^ A^IllNIIilR. 



"Wc mii^lit tuld, nil ovrr tlio ■wurM, is l)ci;iii- 

 uiiiir to do its work. The iiksh nf slrnuL;- 

 powers of thon.ii'lit must control the influ- 

 ences which mould society. Wlio.'vcr gov- 

 ■ ci;n.'; ii nation well is worthy of liiL^h c-iia- 

 mondation; whoever con.-eerati^s the lahor of 

 his heart orbr.'iiu to the elevatini of human- 

 ity is a public benefactor; but the man who 

 has awakened a wide spread interest in Agri- 

 culture, wher^l'V a class of men who form 

 the bone and t-incw of the hind arc led to 

 look at themselves in tlieir true relations, he 

 Kas done a work far j:reaier and nobler. 

 Even he who well ex])rcsses his thon;j,hts in 

 fields of L'rowin"- ijrain and a well tilled and 

 ■well ordered farni;sets an exampU-at work in 

 the eonmiuMity when' he lives^ which shall 

 result in its lastiiiu'iinod. 



To brinij abinitrc sidtssodcsirablc, n<.thinu- 

 is so p;ood as tlio or^- Dii/.atinu of Faniitrs' 

 Clubs. They are proplutie of a better day. 

 They are cxperimontal "class mcetiniis," at 

 ■which a great deal of practical information is 

 weekly obtained. A topic is usually chosfu 

 at a former mi.'ctimr; a committee is apjioint- 

 ed to prejiare a rcpoit upon it; after tlio lead- 

 ing of whieh, every member is inviteil td 

 pive in his ''experience." Thus, in ;i short 

 time, the rxpcrimental and theoretical kiio'iv- 

 ledi^e of a wlmh" commuiiitv is laid side by 

 side for tlie use of ;dl. Assneiation controls 

 the destinies of the world, and by thus biiiii^- 

 ini!; it to bear in the olevation of the WvirkiuLi' 

 man's interests a noble germ may bv' planted 

 in tl'.e ]>rca^ts oi' untold millions. Ilmnla- 

 tion s])rings up from tiiis coiitaet of minds. 

 And the farunr, wlio lias beeiiaceiistonied to 

 go grumbling by to bis work, as the horse 

 that sweats with him in tltc dust and toil of 

 the noon-dav sun, soon oi>ciis his eves to tlie 

 fact that h(! jHbngs t.) a great and noble 

 army of workers, where e-ieh mu.-t think and 

 act and develop the higher faeulties of tlu' 

 soil. 



.Then, farmers, organize and support yonr 

 clubs. Ami ill tlie hope that it luay as.-i.si 

 some of you in so gooi' a work, 1 append to 

 these remarks the (.'onstitiition recciitlv 

 adopted by the farmers of Sterling and vi- 

 cinity : 



TtlK FAllMF.l'.s' CMli. 



On Saturday evening, .lannary 'J, the 

 club met pursuant to adjournment, and 

 adopted the following Constitution : 



Article ]. \.\Mi:. — This assoeiatioii shall 

 be known by the name of the J-'armers' Club 

 or Sterling. 



Art. 2. On.iECT.s. — Its objects sludl b" 

 the promotion (;f Agriculture, Horticulture, 

 and the Meclianic Arts; which are to be ae- 

 comjdished l)y lectures, essays, drb.ates, and 

 also a library, to consist of such books as tiu' 

 Association may receive by i)urclia.-e and do- 

 nation. 



Art. 3. Officers. — Tlie officers .sliall 



I '! 



' consist of a ]*resident, A'icc I'lesident, Sec- 

 retary, Treasurer and Librarian, to be elected 

 by ballMt, upon the' adoption of this Consti- 

 tution, and to hold their offices for three 

 1 months, and until tlieir successors shall be 

 elected. 'J'hese, in their olVicial capacity, 

 ! shall constitute an executive committee. 



Art. 4. )> 1. I)i;tif,.s of Offiokus. — 

 The PresidiMit shall preside at all meetings, 

 deciile controverted ])oiiits, give the casting 

 vote in all ties, jireserve order, and perform 

 all other duties usually elevolving upon such 

 an <»fficer. 



i^ 2. — The A'ice President in absence of 

 the 1 •resident, shall take his place and ])erf( rm 

 his duties. 



ij •>. — Till' Secretary shall kee])a record of 

 all busiiiess done, carry on ail necessary cor- 

 respondence, and cause jmlilicity to be given 

 to all meetings reijuiiing the same. 



i^ I. — The 'J'lvasurer shall receive all iiion- 

 lys jiaid in. disbur.^e the same, as the E.xccu- 

 tive CoiUiuitlee shall direct, and keej) a faith- 

 ful account of the linaucial matters of the 

 .\s-oc;ation. 



>j •), — Till' liiiirarian shall take charge of 

 ail books, papi-rs, essays. a(lilresses,an(l otiier 

 ilocuments tlcit may ciuni* into the j-osscssion 

 of the club, and keeji a strict account of the 

 same. 



^ <!. — The Kxeeutive Committee shall pro- 

 cure sjieakeis, essays, books, ]iapers, and 

 whenever they deem lit to awaken an interest 

 in the objects of the Association, order the 

 j»aying out of ali moneys, and exercise <i gen- 

 era! sup'rvi^ioii over the linaucial and other 

 int(rests of the club. 



/Xrt.o. .'MKMliKltsiiip. — Any person in- 

 I;re.-ted in the objects of this club, may be- 

 c(Uiu' a mciuber by signing the Constitution, 

 paying into the trca-ury < \\v dollar, aiidconi- 

 }ilying witli all iicces-aiy regnhitions. 



Art. (■>. A MF.xD.MK.NT. — 'liiis Constitu- 

 tion iiiay be altered or ameuued bv a two- 

 thirds vote of ilie meniliers jirescMt at any 

 regular inccling, notice liaving Ijeeu given 

 two weeks ])revious in writing. 



'J'lie club then ]iroceed to ballot for officers, 

 with tlu' following results: 



L. S. rKXXI.XCTOX, President. 

 Ji. r>. W'KTJiKKnFK, ^■ice President. 

 Jami;s SiiAV,", Secretary. 

 d. A. pATTKitsiix, Trtasurcr. 

 Xki.son Maso.n, jjibraiian. 



To this 1 -will add an abstract of the min- 

 utes of the lii>i regular meeting: 



The J'^iriners' Club met ]iursuaiit to ad- 

 join iinient, on S.-ilurchiy evening, Jan. i)th. 

 at lioyiiton's Hall. The coinmittee on by- 

 laws asked more time in which to prepare 

 the s.imc. The ctunniittee to ]>rc]are an 

 aklros, also additional time. Craiited to 

 both, coninutiei's. 



\j. i'emiingtoii then read an able j.aper 

 upon fencing — the tlu-nu; chosen for the 

 evening's discussion. He stated the expense 

 of iiroperly fencing to be about 8o,0U0 per 

 >ection, making i\tv the county ??1,44<.I,UUU, 

 and ibr the whole State the enornu.us sum oi 

 •SH!,OUO,(.IUO. Kvery fifteen years this 

 must be renewed. 'J hus, tiic fencing inter- 

 est is parainonnt to all other, save that oftlie 

 land itself, lie alluded t(j the doctrine ot 

 fencing for ]»asture ami making the grain 

 growing lanel do Avithout fences, and thought 



one-half of the above sums might be saved 

 thereby. The time spent in hunting, and 

 the losses incident to stock grazing on com- 

 mon lands, he thought more than the pit- 

 tance our cattle and hogs can gather from 

 the public highways. He then remarked at 

 length, on the various kinds of fences, as 

 timber, wire, and hedge. Of timber fences, 

 good ])osts are the most essential requisite. 

 Charring well the bottoms, is the best method 

 of preserving these. He spoke favorably of 

 wire fences when well built; also of hedges 

 when properly taken care of. 



Col. AVilson reported verbally. He favor- 

 ed the fencing theory. He thought board 

 fences expensive and ill-adapted to the wants 

 of the farnuir. He gave his preference to 

 good wire fences, both in view of utility and 

 exi)cnsc. He also spoke well of osage orange 

 liedgcs. 



Alter this, the subject wasdiscusscd in all 

 its bearings by a number of other gentlemen, 

 with neiirly the same results — hedges and 

 wire fences seeming to be preferred. Much 

 useful information was elicited by farmers 

 giving in their various experience; and the 

 meeting was both interesting and profita- 

 ble. 



The subject chosen for examination at the 

 next meeting, was " T/ic various hrccds of 

 cattle snitahlc fur ifn's section o/the countri/." 

 Your friend and co-worker, 



JAMES SHAW. 



The >ortlicrii Sugar Cane. 



"We liave liitherto given communications 

 from many persons who succeeded in manu- 

 facturing last fall, a palatable syrup from 

 the Xorthern Chinese Sugar Cane. It will 

 readily be admitted that all their experi- 

 ments and apparatus for making syrups were 

 imperfect. It is a wonder that they suc- 

 ceeded at all in making a fair article. The 

 experiments, however, have settled a few 

 facts : — the cane contains a large amount of 

 .saccharine matter, whieb can be converted 

 by experience and skill, into the best sugar 

 and molasses. There is not a doubt in re- 

 gard to these facts. 



P>ut the same experiments have satisfied 

 us, that to make the business profitable and 

 certain, more and jicrfect a])paratus, more 

 and perfect experience and knowledge for 

 the manufacture are rerpiired. That man 

 who erects expensive establishments for the 

 manufacture of sugar and molasses from this 

 cane, without he has practical and certain 

 knowledge of the processes' rc(piircd for suc- 

 cess, will assuredly fail in his undertaking: — 

 with these he will be successful. 



We have two communications on this 

 subject, — valuable we consider them, — that 

 we here introduce to our readers. Should 

 any of our friends desire to confer ■with the 

 writers, they can do so by addressing them 

 by letter at their respective places of resi- 

 dence. 

 Haffday, Lake Co., 111., Jan. 28, 1858. 



,Sir : — The writer of this has not the 



