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188 



TH]b: ILT_.I]SrOIS FARMER. 



1 1 



A hint for sugiir cane sroAvrrs. 



A year H'^o the present fall, Lucius C. 

 Francis, ofliermanj Prairie, about four miles 

 from this city, by accident or design, we don't 

 know which, scattered some ripe sugar cane 

 seed on a patch of dry ground, which in fall 

 and winter was trod into the ground. Tliat 

 seed germinated early last spring, grew well, 

 was not injured by early Irosts, and the cane 

 was matured, if we recollect right about the 

 middle of August. 



We repeat that the plants came up early 

 in the spring and were not injured by fro.st. 



Those who are going into the business of 

 su2;ar cane <rrowlnu" licod nut be inf'oriiiod of 

 the advantage of having a porti(»n of their 

 crop mature early. If the seed can be plant- 

 ed in the fall, and tho {ihmts come up early 

 in the spring, ivmain uninjured by the frost, 

 and thus sec\ire the maturity of the crop by 

 the middle of August, — these facts arc very 

 Important and should be heeded b}^ sugar cane 

 growers. We know that the foliage of cer- 

 tain plants, young and tender as they may bo, 

 are not injured by early frost, — though when 

 near maturity they are killed at once by frost. 

 The same facts may apply to thj sugar cane, 



We suuirest to those who design to irrow 

 sugar cane the coming year, to prepaaea small 

 portion ofground this fall in a dry warm place, 

 and plant a few rows of sugarcane. It if suc- 

 ceeds, as we hope it may. an important ques- 

 tion will be settled — of groat value in the cul- 

 tivation of sugar cane. The trial will cost but 

 a few hours labor. 



P. S. Professor Turner has bad some ex- 

 perience OQ this same point. Ciiinesc sugar 

 cane seed was left upon his farm lust fall, and 

 it sprouted in the spring and made good cane; 

 but he suggests that last winter was unusually 

 mild. 



Ifo?s. 

 Hogs arc now bringing 85 per 100 lbs nett, 

 in most of the Western markets. This is a 

 fair price, and would be a great price if we 

 had our usual stocks of corn. We allude to 

 the fact here for the purpose of again calling 

 the attention of small farmers to the business 

 of hog raising. Hogs have paid well in this 

 market for years — sometimes giving the far- 

 mer a very large pi"ofit and in no aise, as we 

 recollect, failing to give him a fair profit, 



when he raised the hogs himself. We do 

 not speak of those, who, anticipating very 

 large prices for hogs, in some seasons, paid 

 extravagant prices for hogs to fatfen. 



With a little attention, a farmer can soon 

 get into a stock of hogs. He can have 

 iiis pastures; he can have his rye fields; he 

 can grow very early corn to feed and fatten 

 them, and later corn, if he wishes to bri.ig 

 them into market late. But to do all this 

 successfully, there must be care and system. 

 There must be suitable shelters, yards, water, 

 conveniences for breeding. The farmer must 

 make it one of his principal objects — keep it 

 always in view to get the best stock; — he 

 will soon take a pride and pleasure in it — 

 will be interested, — and everything will be 

 ikely to go on right. If a farmer could 



h:ive two hundred Berkshire hogs, or of any 

 other good variety, as large and fat as those 

 taken to market, last year by Job Fletcher, 

 Jr., of Sugar Creek, in this county — it 

 would make him feel tolerably comfortable iu 

 these severe times. 



Rhiibarl) or Pic Plant. 



As this is the best period for setting out 

 the rhubarb roots, some remarks on the sub- 

 ject will not be out of place. Some tw'enty 

 years, or more ago, the word rhubarb had 

 anything but a pkasant sound. Some per- 

 son, however, in England, tested the plant 

 for sauce, and found it had, in some degree, 

 a pleasrant taste and acidity, which he thought 

 could be improved by cultivation. In its 

 natural state, the stalks were small, wirey 



and hard. The seed was planted, the growth 

 of the plants stimulated, now varieties were 

 introduced, until but little of the char- 

 acter of tlic original plant remained, and 

 until Myatt's A'ictoria was produced. This 

 fine plant, in this country, was followed by 

 Downing's Collosal, and Cahoon's Mammoth. 

 In England, again, was originated Scotch 

 Hybrid and Linnajus. All these varieties 

 have their admirers. 3Iyatt's A'ictoria is ex- 

 cellent where it succeeds. Downing's Col- 

 losal is very largo and fine. Cahoon's Mam- 

 moth tSeedling, is the largest that grows — a 

 sour, coarse })lant. The Scotch Hybrid is 

 quite large and produces wonderfully. It is 

 claimed for the Linnjous that it is the best. 

 All those varieties arc distinct. There are 

 many others in market. We like them all 

 belter than Cahoon's. 



The cultivation of the Pie Plant is simple. 

 The ground should be trenched deeply be- 

 fore planting and filled with manure. The 

 ground should not be heavy or wet. The 

 plants should then be set out, four feet apart, 

 one bud on a root in each hill. Thencxtsea- 

 son you may carefully pull off a few leaves. 

 Every fall manure your plants, By this mode 

 of cultivation jou will have immense crops 

 of lariic and fine stalks. 



Sii?!ir Cane as a staple crop. 



Many farmers will grow sugar cane next 

 year as a staple crop. Its value as a saccha- 

 rine plant is now known; and its cultivation 

 and the working up of its juice into syrup 

 can be made as regular and as safe a business 



as any other. If grown for stock, no more 

 care is needed in growing it and saving it, 

 than corn. It it is grown to work up into 

 syrup, whoever does this, must take time by 

 the forelock and bave his apparatus ready to 

 work as soon as his cane is ripe. He must 

 regulate the quantity of cane he proposes to 

 raise by the means he has to work it up. Few 

 realize the amount of giwd cane on an acre of 

 ground. It will yield forty tons, or tijliti/ 

 thousand 2youn(h. 



-»•»- 



ei?g="W. II. Ladd, of Ohio, recom- 

 mends farmers who wish to preserve 

 their oats from rust, to be prepared to 

 sow the seed without plowing next 

 spring. 



Tlif Steam Plow. 



Editor of the Farmer : — I liave seen the 

 veritable steam plow. I have seen it at work; 

 plowing up six furrows at a time of strong 

 blue grass sod; turning about as readily as a 

 team of two yoke of cattle. I certainly ad- 

 mired the results of the genius of man. lie 

 had even made fire and water do the work of 

 the ox and the horse; and he had shown the 

 ability of increasing power to any extent re- 

 quired. 



I went home, Mr. Editor, and did a good 

 deal of thinking while my hor.«e plodded his 

 weary way through the mud. The improve- 

 ments of the age are wonderful. It is scarce- 

 ly safe for any man to say where these shall 

 have their limit. I have seen much and 

 hoard much of the project of steam plows. 

 I now believe the steam plow will succeed. 

 It can be made to break up our prairies. It 

 can do a vast deal of work when the machine 

 is perfected and when all circumstances, 

 water, fuel, suitable condition ot the soil, 

 favor the work. Twenty acres a day can be 

 plowed by these machines. I believe it. So 

 much for the prairie. And more, I believe 

 it can be made to work on stubble ground, 

 though it did not work at Decatur. Vast 

 improvements will be made in these steam 

 plows. How much time was spent even in 

 making a plow to scour in our prairies? AVlio 

 docs not remember the old Carey? How 

 little little like its successors, — which are 

 seen almost everywhere, and especially the 

 beautiful Derre Plow? 



Believing that this steam plow Is to suc- 

 ceed, — succeed after a good many improve- 

 ments and trials, — what is to be the result? 

 The plow is to cost 82,5U0. Common far- 

 mers will hardly want such plows. It ap- 

 pears to me that the rich can only use thoiu 

 successfully. A man who has two thousand 

 acres of prairie and has loose capital enough, 

 can own the plow — cini have have his engi- 

 neer — can use the machine to ditch his 

 gnmnds, — to force the mole plow under the 

 ground and drain it, to throw up immense 

 embankmeutg on which he can plant his 

 fence, to move his threshing machine, to saw 

 bis lumber, to grind his corn and wheat, to 

 cut his wheat, and do many other things. 

 Doing all these things successfully, he can 

 raise crops far cheaper than his poor neigh • 

 bors, that have to do their work with horses 

 and oxen. 



Now all these things are so; and what is to 

 be the result? Are the rich to swallow up 

 our small farmers, the ''bold and hardy yeo- 

 manry," always the richest to a country? 

 Who can tell'/ 



Mr. Editor, If all that Is anticipated of 

 this steam plow and others in prospect, (for 

 I am told that in this country there are al- 

 ready /rye steam plows that promise to be a 

 success.) I ask what is to be the result upon 

 the farming and general interests of the coun- 

 try? I wish some of your correspondents 

 would give their views upon the subject. If 

 the steam plow succeeds, great revolutions iu 

 farming are to take place upon our prairies. 

 Th?se revolutions are not to be confined to 

 Illinois, There arc millions of square miles 

 of prairie in the United States that have not 

 been touched by the plow. H0310. 



