p!isf^w»sRe^T^-.'-r7T;g8:'^T''^^^^?5»7'?P':>" 



^- ' . V. TT^^f;?* : ; ".-I'r^rT.r— ;-!V,"*;«^~ '7* V7t ■ 



■ti^p';.- . , ; 



.^-- 



■iiBMMM*M 



THE ILLINOIS F^HMEH. 



89 



The Season. 



We bad occasion to congratulate our readers 

 in April on the beautiful opening of spring. 

 The weather continued favorable until near the 

 middle of the month, and since, until the pre- 

 sent writing, we have had such deluges of rain 

 aa we have not for seven ye&rs witnessed in 

 this State. At this time (May 27th,) the earth 

 is completed saturated, and on level grounds, in 

 many places, the water lays on the surface. In 

 consequence of the rains, but little spring grain 

 has been sown, and not a twentieth part of the 

 ground designed for corn has yet been i>lanted; 

 and, unless lands are rolling and naturally dry, 

 they cannot be planted for several days even 

 with good weather. Much laud intended for 

 corn, with present appearances, will not be 

 planted this spi'ing. 



A good farmer, as much as a good general, 

 must make the best of the circumstances by 

 which he is surroundod. With our ordinary 

 corn, a crop can be made if planted by the first 

 of June, and we have known good crops made 

 when planted as late as thelOth. Butthecorn 

 usually planted here, requires at all times, too 

 long a season to mature. We should plant an 

 earlier corn. Some farmers are prudent enough 

 always to plant such corn. You can find a few 

 o£ these farmers all about the country, and they 

 will be able to furnish the seed of com, (if their 

 supplies are not exhausted,) which will have 

 ample time to mature, in ordinarj^ seasons, if 

 planted by the 15th of June. There is a species 

 of corn called "Yellow Dent," and which is the 

 kind raised f )r the main crops in Western New 

 York, Northern Ohio and Indiana, and Northern 

 Illinois, Avhich at this time, would be t.he very 

 best to be planted by our formers. This corn 

 will at all times mature in advance of frosts. 

 Our common corn is that of Kentucky and Ten- 

 nessee, and though very desirable When it ma- 

 tures, is always in danger of beiug frosted. Had 

 not the frosts held off very late last fall, none of 

 it would have matured, and as it was, the crop 

 has generally proved to ba unsound. 



We do not despair of a corn crop, though the 

 crop under the most favorable state of the sea- 

 son, hereafter, ca not be hardy. 



The grass is fine, but will there be bufieient 

 to meet the deficit in the corn crop, as food for 

 stock. We fear not. We must save all the 

 hay and other fodder we poissibly can. The 

 Hungarian Grass will come to our aid, as well 

 as the larger variety of ^lillet. These will 

 yield heavy crops of forage even if sowed as 

 late as the lirst of July. We see in the North 

 that corn, to be sown broadcast, will be resorted 

 to for feed fur !?tock. The. rugar cane sown 

 broadcast, produces a large quantity oja choice 

 article for fo'ider. 



We have .said mu.'h corn grown will not be 

 planted with corn. Some of this may be occu- 

 pied with be; us. If the land can be put in 

 good order, beans can be made a profitable 

 crop. The N.avy Bean is a capital variety, and 

 brings the highest prices in market. We do 

 not suppose cur farmers wiil go into the"culti- 

 vation of root crops for stock; but we would 

 susrgest that Manguel Wurtzell (the large stock 

 beet,) will scarcely ever fail, with fair cultiva- 

 tion, in producing an enormous quantity of 

 roots to the ajre — in many cases known to 

 reach as high as thiitj-five Ions! Our soil 

 seems to suit this beet exactly. 

 The heavy rains have not destroyed the 



t 



wheat as was feared. Where the grounds are 

 flat and water has stood long upon them, the 

 wheat will be injured. This injury, we hope, 

 will not be extensive. Some fields aie rank 

 and may fall. We are told that the heavy 

 rains have killed most uf the winged insects in- 

 jurious to vegetables. On the whole, we look 

 for a larger wheat crop than b aa ever been 

 erown in Illinois. It is now heading out with 

 us. Generally the weather most favorable for 

 wheat and the grasses, is against the crop of 

 corn. 



Now is the very time our farmers need to 

 exercise all their moral courage and physical 

 powers. They will be in their corn fields so 

 soon as they can possibly be tdowed and plant- 

 ed. You want Brown's Planter now, sure! 

 "A faint heart never won a fair lady." A 

 faint heart should not belong to a farmer. 

 "God will help those who help themselves." 

 We are passing through a troublous time. Let 

 us do our duty at all events, and the results 

 must be left to a Higher Power. 



-■ — —, 



- Tlie Next Sugar Crop. 



The floods in the Mississippi are 

 breaking down the levees, and submerg- 

 ing many of the cotton and sugar plan- 

 tations. The New Orleans papers say 

 that the cane crops have been already 

 destroyed, to the amount of hundreds of 

 thousands of dollars . Such are the 

 number and extent of the crevasses, that 

 there is no attempt to repair them. The 

 floods of the Mississippi pass over them 

 in mighty streams. The waters are 

 troublesome in New Orleans, and even 

 graves cannot be dug to bury the dead. 

 The remnants of mortality are placed 

 away in vaults erected above ground, 

 until the Avaters subside. 



The loss of even a portion of the cane 

 crop will enhance greatly the prices of 

 sugar and molasses. We shall not be 

 surprised, if these essential articles of 

 living reach the prices of '57. With 

 such prospects, Illinois farmers will do 

 well not to neglect the culture of the 

 Northern Sugar Cane. With ordinary 

 apparatus, a very good article of mo- 

 lasses can be made, while with good ap- 

 paratus a syrup can be produced, which 

 will be better, and bring higher prices, 

 than any Louisiana syrup. In Cincin- 

 nati, at this time, a fine article of Chi- 

 nese Sugar Cane syrup is retailing at 

 80 cents per gallon — when Louisiana 

 syrup is worth but 70 cents. 



The prospect of higher prices of su- 

 gar and molasses will stimulate our far- 

 mers to raise more of the Chinese Sugar 

 Cane, than would otherwise have been 

 the case. There is ample time to plant 

 the sugar crop. The sugar cane, though 

 planted early, grows but little until Ju- 

 ly. The heats of our late summer and 

 fall months rapidly advance the growth 

 of the plant. Its culture is as simple as 

 that of corn. Its yield, of stalks is great, 

 and the most reasonable estimates of the 

 yield of molasses to the acre, is 200 and 



250 gallons. Some have estimated it, 

 from experiments, at considerably more, 

 300 gallons. 



An offer has been made, by a respon- 

 sible party, to establish a sugar mill in 

 the city of Springfield, provided farmers 

 in the vicinity will raise for his use, 

 and deliver to him the product of fifty 

 acres of land planted with sugar cane. 

 He will express and manufacture the 

 juice into molasses, and give them one- 

 half of the proceeds. This is a favor- 

 able proposition to our farmers. They 

 should desire nothing more fair. 



Such sugar mills as we here have spo- 

 ken of, should also be put up in other 

 sections of the State. Why should we 

 not have sugar mills as well as wheat 

 mills? and why should there be any 

 thing more strange in the farmer bring- 

 ing his sugar cane to the sugar mills, 

 and taking away his barrels of molas- 

 ses, than there now is in conveying 

 wheat to the mills, and returning with 

 the flower ? 



That this course of things will ulti- 

 mately take place in regard to the cul- 

 tivation of the Chinese Sugar Cane, and 

 the manufacture of its juice into sugar 

 and molasses, we have not a particle of 

 doubt. ' 



The Centralla Fair. 

 We continue to receive evidences from 

 all parts of the State, of a general ap- 

 proval of the location of the State 

 Fair at Centralia. We have letters 

 from the North, West and East, which 

 state that great interest is manifested 

 to be present at that fair . In the 

 central part of the State, we are sure 

 that there is quite a general disposition, 

 as far as possible, to contribute to the 

 successful result ot that fair. 



The premium lists are now in circu- 

 lation all over the State. More than 

 fifteen thousand dollars are ofiiered as 

 premiums. Accident threw into our 

 hands a notice of the premiums offered 

 for the coming State Fair in Rhode Is- 

 land, which do not reach three thou- 

 sand dollars. In the amount of pre- 

 miums ofi'ered, we believe the Illinois 

 State Agricultural Society is behind no 

 State in the Union. Elinois has not 

 yet held her sixth annual fair. The 

 facis here presented will show some- 

 thing of the progress of Dlinbis in pop- 

 ulation, improvement, and enterprise. 



Southern Illinois will receive an im- 

 petus for good under the direct and in- 

 direct influences of the next State fair, 

 that will be seen in the rapid apprecia- 

 tion of real estate, the increase of emi- 

 gration into her borders, and the stim- 

 ulus that it will give to agricultural im- 

 provement and enterprise throughout 

 that most desirable portion of our State. 



