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170 



THE ILLINOIS F^HjVIEH. 



Trim of Steam Plows. 



A trial of steam plows will take place, 

 under the supervision of the Illinois State 

 Agricultural Society, at Decatur, com- 

 mencing on the 10th of' November next. 

 It is expected that three steam plows will 

 be upon the ground, viz : J. H. Fawke's, 

 from Pennsylvania ; J. W. Fisher's, 

 from Dayton, Ohio ; and Charles F. 

 Mann's, from Troy, N. Y. 



Manufacturers of plows, all over the 

 State, are invited to bring their plows for 

 trial. 



Adequate arrangements will be made 

 at Decatur to accommodate with board 

 and lodging, the crowd expected to be 

 present. 



Jfti^i^PIows can be sent by Railroad to 

 the care of Dr. II. C. Johns. The Cen- 

 tral Railroad Company will sell half fare 

 tickets to the plow trial. 



From "Esypt." 

 A late letter to the Editor says ; "Wo 

 already see ih(* advantage of having the 



fair in Egypt. Many farmers are pur- 

 chasing fine stock ; tine class farming 

 implements, &c., that probably would 

 never have thought of such things had 

 it not been for seeing such on exhibi- 

 tion. The fair has been, and will be, of 

 great advantage to the farming inter- 

 ests in Southern Illinois. 



"Fawk's steam plow is * a great and 

 glorious success,' as all who have wit- 

 nessed its work will testify. We all bid 

 the ingenious inventor — ' God speed.' " 

 «• 



Sheep Husbandry. — We give an arti- 

 cle on this subject by Mr. A. B. McCon- 

 nell, Vice President of the Illinois State 

 Agricultural Society. lie has placed the 

 advantages of sheep husbandry in a light 

 that cannot be misunderstood. We com- 

 mend it to the attention of wheat 

 growers. 



EfST'Now is a good time to look over 

 your young orchards for the borer. The 

 rascals have been hard at work the last 

 summer. You can find them by obscr- 

 vinj; the fine dust about the holes. If 

 you don't like to cut them out, get a 

 wire and punch them to your heart's 

 content. 



j3@^Mark R. Cockrill, the "Tennes- 

 see Shepherd," appeared at the State 

 Fair, at Nashville, dressed in a suit 

 manufactui-ed from wool of his own 

 growth. He had with him a portion of 

 his flock, among them the sheep whose 

 wool took the premium at the World's 

 Fair, at London, in 1851. 



Sheep for the West. 

 Fine South Downs. — We saw two 



splendid bucks in this city a day or two 

 since, recently purchased by Hon. John 

 Wentworth of Samuel Thorne, of Thorn- 

 dale, New York. Each of these bucks 

 took the first prize in his respective class 

 at the recent State Fair at Syracuse. The 

 yearling was by " 112" from the import- 

 ed ewe No. "11." She was a first prize 

 ewe at the Royal Agricultural Society ef 

 England in 1855. 



The two year old was also by "112," 

 from a ewe, imported by Mr. Thorne, 

 from the celebrated flock of Jonas Webb. 

 The ram "112'' was also a prize animal 

 at the Royal Show of England. He was 

 imported in 1853, and was bred by Jonas 

 Webb, from whom he was purchased for 

 ^650. He Weighed not long since within 

 a trifle of 30# pounds. They can now 

 be seen at Mr. Wentworth's farm at 

 Summit in this county. — Friarie Far- 

 mer. 



Syracuse State Fair, N. Y., 

 October 8th, 1858. 

 Hon. John Wentworth : — 



JJear ^ir : I forward you, by Ameri- 

 can Express, to-day, the yearling and 

 the two year old rams that you selected, 

 and am happy to inform you that they 

 each took the first prizes in their respec- 

 tive class. I send their pedigrees, as I 

 do not remember your making a memo- 

 randum of them. The yearling ram was 

 by " 112" from the imported ewe No. 

 " 11.'' She was a first prize ewe at 

 the show of the Royal Agricultural So- 

 ciety of England in 1855. The two 

 years old was also by "112" from a ewe 

 imported by me from the celebrated fluck 

 of Jonai Webb. The ram "112" was 

 also a prize winner at the Royal Show of 

 England. He was imported in 1853, 

 and was bred by Jonas Webb, from 

 whom he was purchased for §650, He 

 weighed, not long since, within a trifle of 

 300 pounds. Trusting they may both 

 reach you safely, 



I am yours truly, 



Samuel Thorne. 



P. S. I inclose you the two blue rib- 

 bons which should have been sent with 

 the rams. S. T. 



An Extensive Farmer. — Jacob Car- 

 roll, of Texas, is the largest farmer in 

 the United States. He owns 250,000 

 acres of land. His home plantation con- 

 tains 8,000 acres. Col. Carroll has, on 

 his immense ranges of pasture-lands, 

 about one thousand horses and mules, 

 worth $50,000 ; one thousand head of 

 cattle, $7,000 ; six hundred hogs, $2,000; 

 three hundred Spanish mares, $15,000; 

 fifty jennies, $2,000 ; fifteen jacks, 

 $0,900 ; and five stallions, $2,500. His 

 annual income from the sale of stock 

 amounts to $10,000, and from cotton, 

 020,000. 



From the Indiana Farmer. 



Bust— Us Cause and Remedy. 



The rusting of the oats crop this year 

 has imparted new interest to the ques- 

 tion — " What is the nature and cause of 

 rust, and what is the remedy ?" We be- 

 lieve that we understand it. This is our 

 opinion : — 



It consists, chemically, in fermentation 

 of the sap. It may occur when the 

 weather is either wet or dry. When it 

 occurs lately, before maturity of the 

 grain, it depends on rain, fog or a very 

 humid atmosphere, in the presence of 

 great beat. Too rank a growth, by keep- 

 ing the sap thin too long — until very hot 

 weather occurs, induces rust in a dry at- 

 mosphere. Thus early sown wheat, by 

 providing a thick sap and mature fiber, 

 before the weather gets hot is hardly ever 

 rusted. When it does rust it is only in 

 the presence of very moist and very hot 

 weather. In this case we suppose it re- 

 sults from the absorption of external 

 moisture, into the bark sap, thus thin- 

 ning the semi-fluid sap, and inducing 

 fermentation. 



In the latitude of Indiana, wheat sown 

 early is ripe before the sun gets hot 

 enough to ferment its sap. On the other 

 hand, wheat sown late has scarcely finish- 

 ed building the stalk \i\\Qni\xQ hot harvest 

 weather occurs — has not thickened ts 

 fibers, and consequently it may rust in the 

 dryest weather, if the sun shines very 

 hot. 



Wheat sown too thin on the ground, 

 although it may be sown early, by pro- 

 ducing too large a stalk, continues the 

 stalk building process too late, and is most 

 likely to rust. 



Again, wheat sown on new loamy soil, 

 which abounds in unoxydized vegetable 

 pulp, because it over builds the stalk, 

 matures so late that it is nearly sure to 

 rust. 



Indiana contains more of the latter 

 kind of soil than any other State in the 

 Union. We allude to our swamp lands 

 when drained. It behooves us then to bo 

 the most inquisitive as to the cause of 

 this malady, and its proper remedy. 



If, then, we regard wheat rust as a 

 mere fermentation of the sap, we may 

 expect to find other hardier crops rusted 

 under extreme circumstances. We have 

 often seen oats rusted in small patches 

 which contained too much vegetable mat- 

 ter in a high state of fermentation, whilst 

 the remainder of the field was sound. 

 We doubt not nearly all farmers can call 

 to mind similar patches in their oats 

 fields. 



In 1842, we rented a clay farm to a 

 German who was to clear up an enclosed 

 7 acres which had been deadened twenty 

 years, and on which nearly all the tim- 

 ber of a heavy forest had rotted, and re- 

 turned to earth again. 



By seed time a portion of this dead- 



