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164 



THE ILLINOIS FA-HIVEER. 



profitable crop, now is tlie time to know 

 it, so that another spring we shall know 

 what to do about sowing the seed. 



Enquirer. 



The Cane (,'rop. 



Mr. Editor : I have a small patch of 

 cane. It is ripe. It was planted early. 

 I have pealed some of the stalks, taken 

 the pith out, and found that it had a 

 rich and pleasant SAveetness, too sweet 

 and rich to eat. In this pith there is 

 nothing of that strong, unpleasant taste 

 which is found in some of the syrups. 

 This bad taste must come from the out- 

 side or rind of the stalk. The molasses 

 is not pleasant unless this is removed. 



I went to your Sprin;ifield Sugar Mill 

 on thd 28th of September. The works 

 were not perfectly in order, but some 

 seventy gallons of syrup had been made. 

 It was entirely divested of that vegeta- 

 ble taste, which is so disngreoablc ; and 

 was as pleasant as any sugar house mo- 

 lasses. I was informed that ripe cane 

 would make such molasses, if the juice 

 was properly clarified. This is the great 

 object. Molasses which contains acid 

 and vegetable taste, must be refined, or 

 it is of no value but for the distillery. 



I have great confidence in the success 

 of the trial now going on in the south 

 ])art of your city The mill is operated 

 by a steam engine, and when grinding 

 it throws off" a stream of juice nearly an 

 inch in diameter. The boiling is done 

 by steam; the apparatus was not then 

 perfect ; but would soon be. 



The cane was coming in rapidly. The 

 early planted cane Avas in fine order. 

 The mill will soon be going day and 

 night. 



I feel proud that an experiment on so 

 extensive a scale is being made in San- 

 gamon county, and believing in its suc- 

 cess, I feel that an impetus will be given 

 to the putting up of sugar mills and the 

 raising of sugar cane, that in another 

 year will be felt to the great benefit 

 of our farmers. I hope the doubting 

 and distrustful will visit the Springfield 

 sugar mill. S. W. 



-«•»- 



Editor of the Farmer : In common 

 with most of my brother farmers, I had 

 a poor crop of wheat the past season. 

 In truth, though I prepared my ground 

 and put in my seed, as well as my 

 neighbors, I did not prepare the ground 

 with that care that I should have done. 

 I plowed in the weeds, harrowed the 

 land, sowed my seed, and let luck decide 

 the rest. The bad weather of spring 

 came, and my wheat yielded only fifteen 

 bushels to the acre. I believe that, had 

 my ground been ploAved as soon as I had 

 taken off the previous crop of Avlieat in 

 1857, and again in the fall, I should 

 have had a tolerable crop. 



This fall I have reduced the extent of 



my Avheat ground, and have put in my 

 wheat Avell. It is now looking Avell, and 

 I have great confidence that I shall make 

 a fair crop. 



I agree with you that our farmers 

 should divide their crops. They should 

 raise some Avheat, a great deal of corn, 

 some oats, barley, buckwheat and pota- 

 toes. Instead of depending on Avheat 

 as a leading crop, they should rely upon 

 stock. Forehand farmers raise swine, 

 cattle and horses and mules with profit. 

 Less able farmers can soon get into a 

 stock of hogs, and hogs always S(;ll at 

 living and sometimes high prices. Even 

 in the present hard times — for hard they 

 are — pickled p(n-k, hams, shoulders and 

 sides, sell at 8 and \'l cents per pound. 

 AVliat farmer can't make money by 

 turning his attention to raisinn; hoiis, 

 killing them himself, and putting them 

 up at these prices ? And the same 

 prices have ruled for several years. 



I am glad that farmers are not sow- 

 ing wheat now as they did last fall. The 

 Avheat, I hope is put in better than it 

 Avas then. Some I knoAV is put in a 

 great deal worse. If Ave have a bad 

 Avinter, I think a good deal of Avhcat 

 Avill be lost. I suggest to farmers, 

 Avliere they have not already done so, to 

 ploAv ditches for carrying off the Avater 

 from their Avheat lands. I. S. 



-•— 



The One Crop System. 



Editor of the Fanner : A good many 

 of us have been in the habit of depend- 

 ing on one crop, mainly, to make money. 

 Latterly, Avith many of us, this crop has 

 been Avlieat. For myself I have aban- 

 doned this system, Tavo years loss of 

 the Avheat has satisfied me that it is not 

 a system to depend on. We can groAY 

 Avheat, barley, oats, corn, potatoes, tim- 

 othy — Ave can give more attention to the 

 dairy — we can raise hogs Avith great fa- 

 cility, and Ave can raise some other 

 stock and it never was yet knoAvn that 

 all these different things failed or tliat 

 some of them did not fetch fair prices. 



We have another year to pass over 

 before avc can hope to realize enough to 

 pay up our past ijulobtedncss and to be- 

 gin the Avorld again fairly. That is my 

 case, and I think it is the case of a 

 great many others. "We must make up 

 our mind to change our mode of farmin'' 

 — that is, a good many of us. Two and 

 three years ago I had good crops of 

 Avheat and they sold avcII. The tAvo last 

 years the crops have failed. All my 

 labor and the money I spent on these 

 crops were lost. I dare not proceed 

 any further in this way. I am even 

 nervous on account of the little Avheat I 

 have soAvn this fall. 



I Avant to hear your correspondents 

 on tliis subject. It may be that a series 

 of disappointments has made me faint- 

 hearted. J. N. 



Corn. 

 3Ir. Editor : The Avet weather contin- 

 ued so long last spring, that many per- 

 sons, despairing of the maturity of the 

 common corn of the country, procured 

 and planted early kinds. Noav the far- 

 mers would be glad to knoAV if any of 

 these early kinds, late planted, produced 

 good crops. Some of them, it is well 

 knoAvn, did not. Noav if there is a va- 

 riety of this early corn that matured 

 well, and yielded a fair crop of corn, 

 such a variety must be of great value to 

 our farmers for early feeding. I hope 

 some of those aa'Iio have groAvn the dif- 

 ferent varieties of corn, the past season, 

 Avill inform the public, through the col- 

 umns of the Farmer, of their success 

 and the value of the different A'arieties. 

 I have heard many farmers speak on 

 this subject, and I knoAv their anxiety 

 to hear all that can be said on it. 



G- 



-n. 



OiltS. 



Editor of the Farmer: I have been a 

 somcAvhat attentive reader of the agri- 

 cultural papers for the last fcAV years, 

 and have been struck with the coinci- 

 dence of many farmers in the fact that 

 r/round plowed in the fall for oats, and 

 the oats soioed earhj in the spring, in all 

 most every, ease produeed good crops. 



NoAv this is an important item to our 

 farmers. Ground can yet be plowed for 

 the oat crop next spring. It will bo 

 in good order for ploAving ihi^ fall. The 

 ploAving will then be done. Spring 

 Avork generally crowds, and if a fcAV 

 days' pioAving can be saved, it will be an 

 object Avith our farmers. 



I think next to securing teed corn in 

 the fall, ploAving for oats is an object. 

 Who Avill try it ? I Avill venture to say 

 a great many Avill not, and if such lose 

 their oats, they will make a charge 

 against Providence on account oi the 

 loss. M. 



Labor the Creator of Weaitii. 

 A novice in rcficction Avould naturally 

 consider the possession of inexhaustible 

 money, gold and silver, as the greatest 

 si ITU of Avealth, national or individual. 

 The false position money has been per- 

 mitted to assume as a supplier of the 

 necessities and luxurious tastes of society 

 has begotten the impression that money 

 is the chief Avealth. But truly consider- 

 ed how far this conclusion is from fact. 

 Gold and silver bear but a mean relation 

 to those Avants of man upon Avhich life 

 depends ; intrinsically they are, as an 

 application to his temporal necessities, 

 less valuable than the simplest weeds by 

 the Avay side. Can a man eat, or drink, 

 or Avear gold ? But for the fictitious 

 value allowed to it, what pleasurable im- 

 pression Avould it produce on any of the 



