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106 



THE ILLINOIS FA-RMEH. 



ties — raise enough — take care of them 

 when raised — sell them "when you can 

 get a fair price for them — and thus put 

 money in your pocket. 



You can raise good crops of beans if 

 you yrill plant them immediately. Piow 

 your ground well, and then put the 

 weeds where they will give you no 

 further trouble. Your beans will re- 

 quire but little attention unless they are 

 weedy. The navy bean is a good varie- 

 ty to plant. 



Don't forget buckwheat I 

 visions rise in writinj; this word 



Ah, what 



ter, smoking cakes and the like! 



Win- 

 Sow 



buckwheat before the ground becomes 

 too dry to germinate the seed. Buck- 

 wheat will fatten ho2;s as well as men. 



See to it that you secure winter food 

 for your stock. Hangarian grass (Ger- 

 man millet) and Italian millet can yet 

 be sown with a certainty of good crops. 

 You can make good forage crops of 

 these millets if you have to cut them be- 

 fore they are ripe. That new and valu- 

 able plant, Chinese sugar cane, makes a 

 most valuable forage crop. Sow this 

 broadcast now, or rather drill it in ; it 

 will grow rapidly, and you may cut it 

 twice before frost I Corn sown broad- 

 cast, and thick, v.'ill also make good for- 



age. 



Turnips — but farmers know all about 

 sowing turnip seed. Wo suggest, that 

 as we all want a good crop of turnips, 

 to sow some land early, and keep sowing 

 every few days, till you have a good 

 stand. Make this a point, and stand to 

 it, and you will secure a crop, and no 

 mistake. If you want a crop of Ruta 

 Bagas, sow the seed no-w^ and well. — 

 We have seen seed put into the ground 

 in a manner that would disgrace nature 

 to have it make a crop ! 



In a week your wheat harvest will be 

 over. The prospect is now that you will 

 have a good crop of wheat. Your labors 

 are now severe, but you will labor cheer- 

 fully. Notwithstanding all your com- 

 plaints and all your fears, the crop is 

 good. Your Heavenly Father has dealt 

 more kindly with you than you antici- 

 pated. You complaiucd in advance, bo- 

 fore there was necessity or justification. 

 We have sinned with you. Let the pre- 

 sent learn us a lesson. 



We have passed through many wet 

 springs in Illinois, when the prospects 



seemed dark, but the summ«rs and au- 

 tumns were fine, and the farmers' gra- 

 naries were filled with abundance, and 

 we had just cause of thankfulness at 

 "Harvest Home." 



-»•»- 



The Patent Office. 



The papers contain a communication from 

 the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to 

 Hon. J. HoiT, Commissioner of Patents. 

 The letter complains that the moneys of the 

 government are used to purchase coimnon 

 teeJs to distribute through the coun- 

 try, free of expense to the people, and that 

 thus the government couics in competition 

 with a large class of citizens engaged in' rais- 

 ing seeds for market. The communication 

 also suggests that the office .should only pur- 

 cliase and distribute seeds collected in for. 

 eign countries and which could not be ob- 

 tained by our seeds men. Tlic communica- 

 tion we refer to, comes from an interested 

 class, and the only answer we now propose to 

 ofifer is, that a much larger interested class 

 favor the distribution of seeds by the Patent 

 Office. The only question reully is, whether 

 a smaller number shall bo accommodated at 

 the expense of the many. 



While it is very likely that many common 

 garden seeds have been distributed by the 

 Patent Office, it is certain that the office has 

 distributed many new and valuable seeds, 

 which would not have found their way into 

 the hands of our farmers, by means of ordi- 

 nary seeds men, for years; and we add the 

 conviction that the distribution of the seed 

 of the Chinese Sugar Cane will prove of more 

 value to the people of the United States than 

 all the office has as yet,^or will cost them. 

 While, therefore, VxQ admit that some im- 

 provement could be made in the manner of 

 obtaining seeds, we are as ready to aver that 

 the people of the West, at least, would not 

 be willing to dispense with the seed branch 

 of the Patent Office. 



Indeed, the people of the West would ex- 

 tend the duties of the office. They would 

 make of it a department of agriculture, and 

 place an agriculturist at its licad. This 

 ought to be done. The interests of the coun- 

 try require it to be done. Commerce and 

 manufactures have their department; war has 

 its department; foreign affairs its department; 

 but the leading intcrestof the country is only 

 represented bji-the head of a bureau. This 

 ought not to be; and the fact herein set forth 

 shows that the great industrial interest of 

 the country — excelling in the amount of the 

 capital invested, in the number of individuals 

 engaged in it, in its importance, transcending 

 all the interests separate and united, is not 

 properly represented in our government. 



Cost of Hedges. 

 The editor of the Indiana Farmer has 

 given, in the f»lbwing figures, the cost 

 of growing 230 rods of Osage Orange 

 Hedge. He says that after next year 

 he "shall let the hedge take care of it- 

 self:" 



March 15, 1864, one bush. Osage Orange seed $20 00 



April 15, " 81 aking and gprouting 2 00 



May 10, " preparing grouud 1 50 



May 19, " 4 days planting 6 00 



June 15, '^ 4 dayB weeding aud hoeinfi; ..■•••>• -• 5 00 



Augustl'2,'< 2 di do 2 50 



April 1, 1855, 10 days taking up plants 12 50 



April 4, " 4 days preparing hedgerow 8 00 



April 15, " 30 days setting out plants 37 50 



Miiy 12, " odayshoeing 3 75 



June20, " J^ day'splowing 1 25 



July 12, " adayslioeing 2 60 



Feb'y 20, 1856, 2 days cuning down 2 50 



April 15, " 1,000 plant.s to fill up uacancics 4 00 



April 15, " 2 days re-plrnting 2 50 



May lo, " ] day plowing 2 50 



June 15, " 1 day cutting down 125 



June 18, " 2 days hoeing 2 50 



July 29, " 1 day plowing 2 50 



August I, " 2daysbccing 2 50 



March 1, 1857, 2 days cutting down 2 50 



May 20, " 1 day plowing 2 50 



May21, " 2>^ days lioeing 2 81 



June 10, " 2 days cutting down _ 2 50 



August 1. " 3 days hoeing 3 78 



Feb'y 10, 1858,. T days cutting down 3 75 



The probable co.>»t of tending the coming summer 12 00 



Total $151 66 



Or a little over 17 cents per rod. 



This Hedge next year will be suflBcient 



to turn stock. It is now eighteen inches 



high, thick set, "and a terror to small 



animals." 



.♦.^ 



Paragraphs on Several Subjects. 



Skillman's melon is said to be the best 

 nutmeg class. There is no better mar- 

 ket melon. When ripe it parts of itself 

 from the vine. 



Whortleberry bushes are now cultiva- 

 in gardens in some parts of Pennsylva- 

 nia, and the fruit is greatly improved. 



The seeds of soft maple are now ma- 

 tured. The should be gathered and im- 

 mediately planted* If the season is 

 good, the plants will be six inches or 

 more high by the middle of September. 



Hovcy recommends that those who 

 cultivate blackberries should train them; 

 alloAving four sprouts from a root, and 

 these roots to be planted eight feet 

 apart. 



Many earth almonds (chufas, or 

 ground nuts) have been sent out from 

 the Patent Office this season. They 

 arc to be planted about eighteen inches 

 apart; a single plant will sometimes pro- 

 duce a pint of the nuts. We do not re^ 

 gard them as of much value. r-v'>«f^' '' 



Dahlias should now be planted out, 

 and if possible, in a place whore they 

 are not likely to be broken down by 

 winds. 



Cherry trees of the Heart variety can 

 be made to flourish here if their bodies 

 are protected from the heat of the sun. 

 This can be done by inclosing their bo- 

 dies with plank, leaving a space of a few 

 inches between the planks and the tree. 



