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172 



THE ILLINOIS FA-HMER. 



mediate share which cuts the furrow for 

 the second plow using the landside pres- 

 sure, for this purpose, of both plows ; 

 thus the second plow has only a sod to 

 turn already cut for it by the patent in- 

 termediate share, and which also acts as 

 a brace to bind the two plows together. 



The result has fairly astonished all 

 concerned. The possibility of making a 

 plow to turn twenty- four inches of prai- 

 rie sod easily with two horses, was more 

 than either the patentee or manufacturer 

 dared to anticipate. Mr. Stcnton affirm- 

 ed that three horses must and could work 

 the plow with ease, but the actual result 

 — 725 lbs. draft on a 24 inch sod three 

 inches thick, shows that hereafter any 

 man using an old-fashioned twenty- four 

 inch breaker, requiring five or six yoke 

 of oxen, will be sadiy behind the age. 



This plow will be the easiest working 

 plow for two yoke of oxen ever yet used, 

 and the draft shows that one good yoke 

 can work with it when needed. We are 

 informed that the price will be but little 

 more than what is usually charged for 

 the complete 24 inch breakers, as here- 

 tofore made. 



Our esteemed and enterprising fellow- 

 citizen, John Dcrre, will be pleased to 

 make these plows for those who are en- 

 gaged in breaking prairie, or to show 

 the plow and explain the principle de- 

 veloped in its construction, to any one 

 who may visit his manufactory. This 

 is certainly the " Plow of Plows," and 

 cannot fail in coming into general use 

 in a short time. — MoUne Paper. 



"t/f- 



Gov. Wise on Horse-racing. — Gov. 

 Wise, of Virginia, has declined to attend 

 the Horse Fair at Springfield. In his 

 letter he thus denounces horse-racing : 

 *' It has been said that nothing else than 

 horse-racing will improve and keep up 

 the breed of fine blooded stock. I am 

 not willing to believe any such thing. 

 Improved agriculture and the wealth it 

 produces will, in my opinion, do far more 

 for the horse than ever the turf did. 



Race-tracks, with a fashion for the sport 

 of racing among the leading proprietors 

 of a people, will impoverish them and 

 dwindle the horse to a poncy. The fine 

 blood ought to be kept pure, iu order 

 that it may be crossed on the larger and 

 coarser stock. The thorough-bred stal- 

 lion crossed on the large Conestoga mare, 

 till the cross attains three-quarters of the 

 blooded stock, is superior, I think, to the 

 Cleveland bays of England. A venerat- 

 ed friend, Alexander lleid, Esq., now no 

 more, of Washington county, Pa., intro- 

 duced that cross, and I commend it to 

 every man who knows how to make a 

 spire of grass to grow where one never 



grew before." 



II — 



American Tra. — A Mobile paper 

 states that Mr. D. W. R. Davis, in the 

 vicinity of that city, has been cultivating 



the tea plant for several years. He has 

 now quite a number of plants in the 

 most flourishing condition, which seed 

 annually. 



••• 



What can be Done on an Acre of 



Ground. — The editor of the Maine Cul- 

 tivator lately published his management 

 of one acre of ground, from which we 

 gather the following result : 



One third of an acre usually produced 

 thirty bushels of sound corn for grinding, 

 besides some refuse. This qualitity was 

 sufiicient for family use, and for fatten- 

 ing one large or two small hogs. From 

 the same ground he obtained two or 

 three hundred pumpkins, and his family 

 supply of beans. From the same bed of 

 six rods square, he usually obtained sixty 

 bushels of onions ; these he sold at $1 

 per bushel, and the amount purchased his 

 flour. Thus, from one-third of an acre 

 and his onion bed, he obtained his bread- 

 stuiBfs. The rest of the ground was ap- 

 propriated to all sorts of vegetables for 

 the summer and winter use — potatoes, 

 beets, turnips, cabbage, green corn, peas, 

 beans, cucumbers, melons, squashes, etc., 

 with fifty or sixty bushels of beets and 

 carrots for the winter food of a cow. 

 Then he had a flower garden, also rasp- 

 berries, currants and gooseberries, in 

 great variety, and a few choice apple, 

 pear, plum, cherry, peach, and quince 

 trees. 



The above may appear somewhat chi- 

 merical to some, but amateur editors, 

 wide awake horticulturists and gardeners, 

 who are in the habit of doing similar to 

 this " down-easter," might be increased 

 indefinitely. 



m 



l^™"I haven't done seeding yet." 

 " You haven't ? well you ought to have 

 done, even a month ago. Don't you 

 recollect that the last season the early 

 sown wheat was the best, and that it al- 

 ways is so nine times out of ten ? Won't 

 you learn something from your own ex- 

 perience, and that of others." ' 

 . — <•» 



||@°- Turnips to be kept well must be 

 put where they can be kept cool and from 

 the air. Gather them, cut ofi* their 

 tops, throw the turnips in heaps and 

 cover them with the tops. When it be- 

 comes colder, cover them again with 

 straw and corn stalks until they are safe 



from freezing. Save the turnips. 



■•I 



More Camels.— The New Orleans Picayune 

 notices that the ship Thos. Watson and bark 

 Lucerne, the former having tighty camels on 

 board, and the hitter forty, have arrived off 

 the South-West Pass, and have been ordered to 

 Galveston. The camels are imported by the 

 Government, aud are intended to join "those 

 already dning so well at Camp Verde, above 

 San Antonia, Texas. 



Orchard Grass. 



The following wc clip from the German- 

 town Telegraph, in testimony of the value of 

 a grass we have often taken occasion to com- 

 mend. For a permanent upland meadow it 

 is unquestionably the best grass now known 

 to us — taking into consideration both hay 

 aud pasturage, Timothy is the popular hay 

 grass, and those who make hay for market 

 must confine themselves chiefly to that. But 

 for consumption on the farm and pasturage 

 combined, it does not compare with Orchard 

 grass. For pasturage the latter is especially 

 valuable. It springs early and continues 

 later ; endures drouth and requires close feed- 

 ing to keep it in order. With seed enough 

 to put on the ground, it makes a close turf 

 and it never runs out. 



Let us give a word of caution, however : 

 the seeding with orchard grass is costly, and 

 it should not therefore be sown except on 

 well prepared ground in good condition. 



I have just finished the perusal of a Trea- 

 tise on Grasses aud Forage Plants, by Charles 

 L. Flint, of Massachusetts, a second edition 

 of which I found had been recently published 

 by a New York bookseller. It is, in my 

 opinion, an excellent and practical little work 

 which every farmer should possess himself of 

 and study. In connection with the subject, 

 I propose to give my experience of the value 

 of a variety of grass which I think is not un- 

 derstood or appreciated by most of our far- 

 mers. It is the Orchard grass or Rough 

 Cocksfoot. Flint says this grass was intro- 

 duced into England from Virginia in 1764, 

 iu which latter place it had been cultivated 

 for several years previously. It is now one 

 of the most widely dift'used grasses in Eng- 

 land and is highly prized there. 



Orchard grass, in my experience, yields a 

 greater amount of pasturage than any other, 

 and is better suited to sustain a drouth than 

 any other grass we are yet acquainted with 

 in this country. In the severe drouth of 

 1856, in this section, my farm book reads as 

 follows : 



"July 15, Grass fields suffering greatly 

 for want of rain, 20th. Clover and rye 

 grass fields look as if a fire had passed over 

 them. Pasturage in these fields quite gone. 

 The field of green grass of thirty-five acres, 

 but little better, affording scanty pasturage 



to a few sheep and cows. The orchard grass 

 field of twenty acres, supporting entirely the 

 store cattle, forty head, and still looking 

 green, and our only dependence. If it fails 

 us, we must feed away the sheaf oats," 



It did not fail us, but carried the cattle 

 through the drouth, which was not broken 

 until the 15th of August, while the same 

 field had been well pastured during the whole 

 season. When the rains of August started 

 the other grass fields, and we could relieve 

 the orchard grass from duty, it looked as if 

 an invading army had passed over it. But 

 with a little rest and a few showers, in ten 

 days was ready for pasturage again. 



Orchard grass is of rapid growth, and a 

 field well set with it affords earlier and later 

 pasturage than any other, green grass not 

 excepted. When cut in blossom with red 

 clover it is said to be an admirable mixture 

 for hay, although of this I have had no ex- 

 perience. For pasturing be sure to keep 

 it well grazed, to prevent it from forming 



