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THE I3L.LI^NrOIS F^HMiER. 



187 



Illinois Nurscrifs. 



These are amply sufficient to supply all 

 tlie demands for trees and plants which can 

 be made by the farmers of our State. These 

 nurseries are generally situated convenient 

 to railroads, and trees can be delivered at all 

 leading points in the State in two or three 

 days from the nurseries. No sensible man 

 can believe that for our soils and climate, 

 trees and plants raised in the State are not 

 better adapted than trees and plants raised 

 in other soils and climates. 



With all these truths plainly exhibited 

 our nursery men do not supply one-tenth of 

 the trees and plants purchased by our far- 

 mers. Nurserymen of other States have 

 their agents scattered all over Illinois, so 

 that a farmer scarcely escapes from their 

 drummers, and they hang on to him, tell a 

 ''slick" story, and urge him until they get 

 an order — and then he must take the trees 

 when they come, like or dislike them, and 

 he must pay for them. There may be cases 

 where these trees have succeeded well. 

 These, however, are rare. Where are the 

 hundreds of thousands of trees scattered over 

 this State by the Eastern nurseries? Echo 

 answers, "Where?" They are not in exis- 

 tence. Still the farmers will buy them until 

 repeated failures cure them of their folly. 



Do our farmers subscribe for the agricul- 

 tural papers? Do they read them? If they 

 do, they can easily learn where they can ob- 

 tain all the trees they want. They can get 

 them from responsible nurseries and respon- 

 sible men; — they can get good, sound, flour- 

 ishing trees, not covered with insects or put 

 up in straw filled with Canada thistles. They 

 can get trees accustomed to our climate and 

 soils. They can foster an important business 

 in our State, — a thought worthy the consid- 

 eration of our citizens, — and build up a busi- 

 ness that will add wealth to our community. 



In this State there are numerous large nur- 

 series, in which large capitals are employed. 

 These capitals arc taxed and the taxes go to 

 support our State government, schools, &c. 

 The stocks sent into our State by foreign 

 nurserymen. — who employ salesmen at so 

 much a month, pay no taxes here. They 

 are brought into competition with the stocks 

 of our nurserymen, to the injury of them and 

 of our farmers, who purchase the foreign ar- 

 ticles. We propose to do one thing in this 

 matter, which is just and right, to all parties 

 concerned. When a pedlar comes into the 

 city to sell goods for a few weeks, we make 

 him pay a handsome license fee. Our proposi- 

 tion is this, — that the sales of these foreign 

 agents shall be considered and that they shall 

 be made to take out licenses and pay for 

 them in such suras as will place their stocks 

 in the market on an equality with our nur- 

 serymen. This is just and right, and ought 

 not to be complained of. If the nurserymen 

 of this State would memorialize the Legisla- 

 ture for this object, we believe the Legisla- 

 ture would pass such a law as will answer the 

 purpose desired. 



Our readers will notice a communication 

 on this subject in the present number of the 



Farmer; , 



Mr. Morrill's Land Bill. : "^^ 

 y The bill granting lands to the States for 

 /the endowment of Agricultural Colleges, 

 which passed tlie House of Representatives 

 at the last session of Congress, will come up 

 in the Senate in the regular order of unfinish- 

 ed business, at the coming session. We feel 

 a deep interest in the passage of this bill 

 through the Senate. 'V , 



And why? Because we wish to see the 

 profession of agriculture elevated to its true 

 position. Mind as well as muscle should be 

 employed in the operations of farming. 

 These qualities cannot be had or combined 



without education; and the farmer wants pre- 

 cisely that education that will fit him for his 

 duties. He should be a chemist, so far as 

 the principles which affect his business are 

 concerned. He should understand the laws 

 of physiology, for on their observance depend 

 the life and health and growth of all animal 

 and vegetable nature. He should have some 

 knowledge of the veterinary art, learned from 

 competent instructors. He should under- 

 stand botany, horticulture, geology, mineral- 

 ogy, meterology, mathematics, penmanship, 

 book-keeping, map and perspective drawing, 

 and the operations of machinery. 



These branches of education, so necessary 

 to an accomplished farmer, cannot well be 

 learned in our schools. Farming is the 

 great interest of the country, and in the estab- 

 lishment of educational institutions, why 

 should not this great interest be provided for? 

 We have our medical colleges, law colleges, 

 divinity colleges — and why not farmers' col- 

 leges? Precisely because farmers, placed in 

 the back ground by customs and usages and 

 institutions of the country, have been unable, 

 had they the disposition, to stand up for their 

 rights. It has been constantly kept before 

 them that farming was a business only re- 

 quiring physical power, to plow and sow and 

 to gather the crop. They are learning now 

 that science added to labor, enlarges crops, 

 lessens toil, and preserves the value and fer- 

 tility of the soil. New light is illuminating 

 his path, and new interest and new pleasures 

 are urging him on to improvement. 



Let Mr. Morrilfs land bill pass and an 

 era will commence with our agricultural popu- 

 lation, that will soon be seen in the improve- 

 ment of the country — and which will place 

 our farmers in the community where they 

 ought to be — fully equal in all respects to the 

 other professions which from time immemorial 

 have looked down upon them as the "mud 

 sills of societv." 



-«•»- 



Sugar Cane Seed. 



Col. M. Pierson, living in the vicinity of 

 this city, raised this season something like an 

 acre of sugar cane. It perfectly ripened its 

 seed, and he is firmly of the opinion, that 

 those of his hogs, living on it, grow quite as 

 fast and fatten quite as rapidly, as those fed 

 on corn. His cattle are very fond of the 

 stalk, eating it with great relish. He believes 

 that as a crop for stock, sugar cane is fully 

 equal to corn. Now, here is an opinion that 

 our farmers can rely upon. 



Fall Planting of Trees. 

 On account of the extraordinary amount 

 of wet weather the present fall, it may not 

 be expedient to plant out the trees ordered 

 from nurseries. It will not benefit the trees 

 to have their roots stand in ground perfectly 

 saturated with water for five or six months. 

 We suggest that when the trees are received 

 late that they shall be put into ground by the 

 heels, and kept till spring. For this purpose 

 select a dry and high piece of soil, digatrench 

 two feet deep, lay down a few trees in the 

 trench, so as to have half of their tops come 

 above ground, throw in the dirt carefully on 

 the roots, so that every portion of the roots 

 shall be covered; then lay in more trees, and 

 continue on in the same manner until all are 

 put away, and then if you cover over the trees 

 with s slight covering of straw it will be all 

 the better for them. We have tried this 

 plan with great success. 



: Upland Rice. . 



We have successfully cultivated the Chi- 

 nese Sugar Cane and have used it profitably 

 in making a rich syrup. A few years will 

 make us entirely independent of other coun- 

 tries for sweets. 



We propose that our farmers shall make 

 a trial of a Southern plant, which we are 

 quite sure will be grown successfully here — 

 Upland Rice. Mr. A. Conner, of Carbon- 

 nale, had some, of very fine quality, on exhi- 

 bition at the State Fair. John Russell, 

 Esq., of Greene county, Illinois, has success- 

 fully raised this rice, the present year, on 

 his farm. Rice, raised in this State, would 

 be a very pleasant and healthful article of 

 diet. ■-, :-/.. '■'■, '■■'.■ :. ■■;■■: 



Cotton was formerly produced in consider- 

 able amounts in the Southern part of the 

 State. Cannot this be started in hot beds 

 and transplanted into the fields? We do this 

 successfully with sweet potatoes. We would 

 like some of our sriends to try it. 



Sweet Potatoes. 



The Early Yellow Nansemond Sweet Po- 

 totoe, introduced into this section of the State, 

 the last spring, proves to be a very superior 

 article — productive, sweet, dry, and keeps 

 well. Now, our farmers having this stock, 

 should take measures to preserve the seed 

 and keep it pure. We lose a great deal by 

 neglecting proper cautions in preserving the 

 purity of our vegetable seeds. 



g@*At the Little Falls Farmer's 

 Club, there was a few days days ago, an 

 interesting discussion on butter making. 

 There was one important point of con- 

 sideration, not often thought of. It is 

 the case of hard and soft water in work- 

 ing butter. Facts were presented show- 

 ing that soft water should always be 

 used, and that bard water injured the 

 butter. 



