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VOL. IV. 



SPHINGFIELD, APRIL, 1859. 



NO. 4 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY, 



BY 



BAII.HACHE: «b BAKER, 



JODRNAL OFFICE SPRINGFIELD, ILL 



«•» 



S. FRANCIS, Editor. 



<•» 



TERMS OP 8DBSCRIPTI0N. 



One copy, one year, in adyaL.ce fl 00 



Five copies, " " „ 3 75 



Ten " and one to the person getting up club 7 50 



Fifteen copies and over , 62J^ cents each, and one to person 

 getting up club. 



TABI.E: OF CONTENTS. 



How to do it 241 



nungarian Grass 214 



Potatoes in California 244 



now to Raise Early Po'atoei. 245 



Northern Trotters vs. Thoroughbred. ^ ...245 



Draining. ...~ „ ....246 



Detection of Horse Thieve- „ ^ 246 



The Vineyards of the Rhine 247 



Sorghum Convention 247 



The State Fair « 248 



Grapes 243 



To County Agricultaral Societies .248 



The Egyptian Pioneer „ .249 



Shade Trees ^ 249 



A word in Time „ .249 



County Agricaltural Societies .249 



Upland Rice 249 



PpriBg 249 



To the Ladies 249 



Agricultural Society of Union County 249 



Strawberries 249 



Box Edgings ., 249 



A Legson 250 



Rochester Trees 2eo 



Hedging for Open Prairies 250 



Premiam Lists .„ 250 



Who wants a fine Currant Bush .2oo 



Draining Improves the Quality of Crops 259 



Noble Premiums 251 



Draining on the Prairie ..251 



Who wants a Grape Vine 254 



Orchards 251 



Spring Bosineis 2S2 



Ooogeb»rrie8 252 



Sbade Treas .....262 



Camels 262 



Items „262 



Valuable Recipes 252 



Set out Orchards 253 



The Dairy „ .253 



Suggestions to Growers of Cane 263 



Cultivatiou of the Onion .253 



Nesting Hogs 254 



Premium List 264 



Fianklin's Maxims 254 



Illinois State Agricultwral Society Premium List 25 > 



Markeis „ 255 



Advertisements 256 



now TO no jTTf 



GOLD FIELDS IN ILLINOIS, 

 EVERY THiNG BDT MY OWN BUSINESS. 



BY JACOB STRAWN, ■ 

 OP MoBs&ir couiriT ill. 



There has been a continual complaint 

 of hard times. Good people, if you will 

 take my advice I do believe we will have 

 easy times in less than five years. I am 

 afraid it will take three years of close 

 attention to business and good economy 

 with it to get out of debt. I feel certain 

 there is gold enough within less than one 

 foot of the top of the earth to pay ten 

 times as much as we all owe, and please 

 one and all. Pay strict attention and I 

 will tell you how to find it. In the first 

 place when you go to town get everything 

 you want, so that you need go no more 

 than once in two months. Get your fire- 

 wood forthwith; cut and split it up ready 

 to use. In tbe next place, see that you 

 have plenty of flour, meal and meat, to 

 hold out until after harvest. Next, see 

 that your plows, hoes, harrows and all 

 your tools are in good repair. Have a 

 place for all your tools, and every tool in 

 its place. 



Everything about farming, driving 

 stock, fattening cattle, and raising horses 

 and hogs, and almost everything about 

 my whole business I have learned by ex- 

 perience. I feel so certain that there is 

 such a large amount of gold in the soil, 

 that I am anxious that all should try and 

 find it. 



Make it an universal rule to go to bed 

 at 7 o'clock, from the first of October to 

 the first of April, and get up at 4 o'clock 

 winter and summer. Whenever you 

 awake in the night do not lie in the bed 

 awake. Instead of lying and rolling 

 over, roll out and get at something that 

 wants to be done. Get done eating be- 

 fore six o'clock, winter and summer. 



Commence plowing for corn as soon 

 as the frost is fairly out of the ground in 

 March. Plow two inches deeper than 

 you ever plowed before. Get ready to 

 plant it as soon as you can. The first 

 warm days in April commence planting, 



and stick close to it until you are done. 

 Commence plowing your corn when it is 

 not more than three inches high, or as 

 soon as the weeds begin to start. Plow 

 it as often as you can. Plow close to 

 your corn. When your corn gets large 

 enough to bear it, plow it deep, especially 

 the last plowing. Commence cutting 

 your grass before the seed gets fairly 

 ripe, if you have much to cut. W^hen 

 you begin, do not let it have but one dew. 

 Rake and cock it in good sized cocks, so 

 that a peert boy can keep up with a stout 

 man pitching. If it looks like rain when 

 you roll up half a cock, get on it with all 

 your weight and give yourself a good 

 shake. Then run your ferk about five 

 feet from the cock and turn it in the cock 

 Do not pat it with your fork. That is 

 losing time. Remember "time is mon- 

 ey.'' Go as far from your cock as ever 

 you intend to get hay enough to finish 

 it. Put it right on. Just before you 

 finish the cock, spring upon it and tread 

 it two seconds more. Then you may 

 haul it with a grape vine or a rope, which- 

 ever you may have. Forthwith stack it 

 as soon as you cock it. If you are afraid 

 it is too green, sprinkle a little salt upon 

 the Stack, every two or three cocks. — 

 The greener it is the more salt it requires. 

 If there is no appearance^of rain, cock it 

 up as soon as it will do. Then if you 

 do not stack it until the next morning, 

 there is no need of treading it. Do not 

 let it stand in the cock more than one 

 night until you stack it. Take no pains 

 in dressing your cocks; you can cock it 

 up rough and stack it nearly as soon as 

 you can cock it well. I think it is very 

 poor policy to cock hay and let it stand 

 until the bottom and all the outside is 

 weather-b;Baten. You waste half of your 

 hay and it is still to be stacked. Put 

 but one stack in a place and right in the 

 centre of your coeks. It will enable yon 

 to get it stacked a great deal sooner. — 

 Fence your stacks well so that your stock 

 cannot taste your hay. In feeding out, 

 do not leave hay within forty feet of the 

 stack. Every timofj'ou feed, put the hay 

 in afresh place. They eat it much bet- 

 ter, and by taking pains you can manure 

 a whole meadow. With feeding on your 



