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THE ILLINOIS FA-HIMEII. 



153 



Farmers should see to it that the 



drains in their wheat land are properly 

 opened this fall. 



4*> 



A correspondent ■writes us that 



there will not probably be more wheat 

 gathered this season in Rock Island 



county than was sown the present fall. 



.♦. ■ 



The fair in Logan county, three 



days, commencing on the 8th September, 

 was well attended, although the weath- 

 er was rainy. Those present say that 



there was pres ent some valuable stock. 

 «»> 



The Cass County Fair came off 



on the 31st of August. There was a fine 

 show as well of stock and agricultural 

 products, as of the people — a much 

 larger number being present than at any 

 previous fair. 



Deep plowing is found to bury 



The Oregon Farmer savs that 



the excitement in relation to the Frazer 

 mines, is fast subsiding there. It sup- 

 poses that when trails can be found for 



passing through the mountains, so that 

 men can reach the mines without risking 

 their lives, and provisions can be carried 

 there, the "diggings" will be found to 



pay fair wages — nothing more. 



«•» 



A. R. "West, of Kentucky, cau- 



the eggs of insects so deep that they will 

 not hatch in time to injure the coming 



crop, 

 of. 



This is a matter worth thinking 



There was a balloon ascension at 



the late State Fair. "When it returned 

 to the earth, a father, for amusement, 

 put two of his children into the basket. 

 The rope slipped from his hand, the bal- 

 loon ascended, staid up in the air nearly 

 all night, was found lodged in a tree 

 next morning, and the children safe and 

 unhurt. 



Chufas or Earth Almo^^d. — A cor. 

 respondent suggests new uses for this 

 plant. As an edible root for the genus 

 homo, it will never amount to much. 

 He says that cattle are very fond of the 

 green blades and the plant produces a 

 great many. They would serve as fall 

 feed for stock; and when the blades were 

 taken off, the roots or tubers would afford 

 a large quantity of dainty and rich food 

 for hogs. We hope some one will give 

 the Chufa a trial for the piirposes men- 

 tioned. 



Early White Wheat? — Is there 

 such a Avheat? If so, what is its name, 

 and where can it be had? 



-••t- 



The wheat crop was fine in 



Oregon the present season. The crop 

 of apples poor, and many of the bearing 

 trees had died. It was supposed that 

 the moles had done this mischief by eat- 

 ing the small roots of the trees. 



tions persons not to let their cattle eat 

 the stalks of sugar cane after the juice 

 is expressed from them. He had lost 



some stock in this way. 



— ■ — <•• 



The Rural Agricultural Society 



of England have awarded Mr. Fowler 



^2,500 for his steam plow. The}'- ex- 

 press the belief that it will save much in 

 the cost of plowing land — from 2.1-2 to 

 25 per cent. We presume the plow is 

 only intended for large farmers, and 

 that it is not yet a perfect machine. 

 The premium, indeed, may be regarded 

 as a tribute to the ingenuity of Mr. 

 Fowler. 



Uses of IxsECTy.— If insects speak 

 to us neither by the voice nor by their 

 physiognomy, by what do they appeal to 

 us? By their energies. By the prodi- 

 gious destruction, which they effect in the 

 over-productiveness of nature; by their 

 Colors, fires, and poisons, and by their 

 arts. In all these manifestations, if pro- 

 perly understood, there is nothing but 

 wisdom and beneficence. Even the per- 

 secution of domestic animals by flies, 

 constitutes, according to our philosophy, 

 their safety. Without the stimulus ffiven 

 by these tiny persecutors, cattle would 

 remain at times stupidity resigned, till, 

 no longer capable of movement, they 

 would perish on the spo:^. Flies drive 

 them to running waters, or to more salu- 

 brious places. In Central Africa the 

 nam regulates the migrations of whole 

 herds. The tetse,. it is to be supposed, 

 is sent by some such similar provision of 

 nature^ Even this terrible ant, when it 

 invades a house and expels the inhabi- 

 tants, does so for wise purposes. They 

 destroy every living thing; mice, toads, 

 snakes, are all devoui'ed — not an insect, 

 nor even an insect's egg is left. The 

 house is thoroughly cleansed, and then 

 the visitors leave it to its master, jroinir 

 on to another. The si)iders of the An- 

 tilles are such good servants, and so 

 useful in the destruction of flies, that 

 they are sold in the markets as birds are 

 with us. 



jJig^'The potatoe crop in Ireland, the 

 present season, is excellent, and but few 

 are found to be diseased. It is said that 



1,250,000 acres are occupied with the _ ^ ^ 



crop of potatoes in Northern Ireland. 1 firm' for duty, truth and right, as did thi 



Heroism. 



"A marshal of France never surrenders," 

 said Ney, as he plunged into the frozen 

 stream, with the exhausted remnant of the 

 French army, in the very face of a Russian 

 foe much superior in numbers, and fough^ 

 his way through them into Napoleon's pre- 

 sence. Nothing perhaps in military history 

 has exceeded this fete, the chances of war, 

 the elements, everything being against it. 

 Some of tlie marshals that France broujrht 

 forth in her stern conscriptions, were the 

 very beau ideal of all that we can conceive in 

 military glory. Murat would expose his life 

 with as much unconcern as he would take 

 his coffee, daring and reckless his fine person 

 and superb bearing as a cavalry oflBeer were 

 the delight of France, as they were the ad- 

 miration of her enemies. The slucrirish na- 

 ture of General Larmes was like a flame of 

 fire in battle, he stood for hours at the 

 Bridge of Lodi, before tlie muzzle of the 

 Austrian cannon, which were cuttinsr his 

 men down as the mower cuts the grass, liis 

 enemy, meanwhile, being screened behind 

 the buildings, and carried it against these 

 vast odds. The higher natures of Dessaix 

 and Klebcr were full of hope and promise, 

 but they were lost to France in the earlier 

 wars. Junot was the impersonation of brave- 

 ry, but he was passionate, avaricious, profli- 

 gate and cruel, a character not unlike that 

 of General Avnold, who was singularly brave 

 in his earUer career. Heroism in the French 

 people stands out as a distinct creation, de- 

 pends less upon the nobler characteristics, 

 has less conscience in it, or moral power, 

 than honor. Heroism is frequently the only 

 redeeming thing in bad wars, it " is to them 

 what the good is in bad men, and makes 

 them to that extent worthy of respect and 

 love. Single combat, the abuse of the duel, 

 the degradation of the prize fight, have some- 

 thing attractive in them. Strength and 

 power were deified in the heathen mythology, 

 and are the expression of congenial spiritual 

 power, as beauty in the natural world is the 

 reflection of that which is celestial. The 

 celebrated Pass or Canon at Thermopyle, 

 where three hundred Greeks under Leonidas 

 resisted the overwhelming force of Xerxes, 

 broke his prestige and absolutely saved 

 Greece, stands out as an oblation to one's 

 country that mankind have delio-hted to 

 dwell upon. Do you remember that boy who 

 stood upon the burning deck at the 'Battle of 

 Nile,' and reliised to come down at the cry 

 of many voices? 'Father shall I come down,' 

 said the dutiful child, but, alas, the father's 

 voice was hushed in death, and the child 

 perished at his post in the whelming flame. 

 May we in the vicissitudes of our lot, stand 



