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THE ILLIISTOIS FA.II]M:ERv 



251 



Noble Premiums. 



The Mass. Society for Promotion of 

 Agriculture offers two premiums of ex- 

 traordinary liberality. 



For the best Plantation of Forest 

 Trees, $1000. — "The above sum is of- 

 fered for the best plantation of trees, of 

 any kind commonly used for, and adapt- 

 ed to, ship building, grown from seed 

 planted for the purpose, or otherwise, on 

 not less than five acres of land, one white 

 oak, at least, to be planted to every 

 twenty square yards. Notice in writing 

 must be given to the Secretary of the 

 Society, on or before January 1, 1860, 

 of the intention to compete for the pre- 

 mium, stating where the land is situated 

 the nature of the soil, and what has been 

 done in relation to the plantation up to 

 the time of giving notice. The premi- 

 um will be awarded in 1870, in case the 

 success of any competitor has been such 

 as, in the opinion of the Trustees, or of 

 those appointed by them to adjudge the 

 same, or give a reasonable probability 

 that the plantation will produce eventu- 

 ally a fair supply of ship timber, in pro- 

 portion to the number of acres planted. 

 The Society likewise claims the right, 

 after awarding the premium, to desig- 

 nate from time to time what trees shall 

 be reserved for timber, and the success- 

 ful competitor shall give security that the 

 trees so designated shall not be cut for 

 any other purpose.'' 



Premium for the Best Farm. — The 

 Massachusetts Society for promoting 

 Agriculture, in their Annual Report for 

 1858, offer the liberal premium of |500 

 for the best conducted farm in Massa- 

 chusetts, of not leoS than forty acres, 

 taking into consideration the mode of 

 cultivation, farm buildings, breeding, 

 selection and keeping of stock. Farms 

 devoted to market gardening will not be 

 admitted to competition. The trustees 

 reserve the right of withholding the pre- 

 mium, in case no farm offered shall be 

 considered worthy, and also of dividing 

 it, in case no one farm shall be consider- 

 ed decidedly the best conducted. Notice 

 of intention to compete for the premium 

 must be given to the Secretary of the 

 Society, on or before the first day of 

 April, 1859, accompanied by an entrance 

 fee of ^10. A written statement, veri- 

 fied by oath of the competitor, will be 

 required, containing an accurate state- 

 ment of the farm, with an account in fis- 

 ures showmg the results of the year's 

 operations. To commence on the first 

 day of April, 1859, and to terminate on 

 the thirty first day of March following. 

 All farms entered for the premium shall 

 be subject to the visits and inspection 

 of the Trustees, or by others appointed 

 by them for the purpose. No Trustee 

 or officer of the Society will be allowed 

 to compete. 



Draining on the Prairie. 

 There are many truths in the following 



article : 



While upon the subject of the weather 

 and particularly wet weather, I wish to 

 confess my entire conversion to the doc- 

 trines of the advocates of thorough 

 drainage — I mean as a grand national 

 measure, called for and demanded by the 

 nature of soil and the extreme humidity 

 of our climate, referring especially to 

 the season for farming operations. I 

 have read everything that has fallen in 

 my way for several years on this subject 

 but while admitting its application to 

 several localities, have been skeptical as 

 to its general value. Observation, con- 

 nected with the digging of a cellar on 

 ground supposed to be as dry as land 

 "ever gets to be," has opened my eyes, 

 and I now firmly believe that the time 

 is not far distant when "thorough drain- 

 age" will be considered the "sheet 

 anchor" of western agriculture. Our 

 lands are rich enough, but' in a country 

 where sixteen inches of water can fall in 

 a single month, and "not half try,'' we 

 need special appliances for getting rid 

 of the surplus. This excessive wet^ lies 

 at the bottom of the ainost total failure 

 of crops every two or three years, which 

 is sure to befall the country. Here we 

 are to-day in the heart of the richest 

 farming country in the Union, and yet 

 starvation prices for the common neces- 

 saries of life, before the next harvest, are 

 boldly staring us in the face. If our 

 lands are drained and farmers prepared 

 for wet weather, these things would not 

 be so. Fruit growing ivill never suc- 

 ceed here on undrained land. Fruitmen 

 will please stick a pin there. Its as 

 true as holy writ. We greatly need a 

 Tile manufactory, somewhere along the 

 river. I know of none in the river 

 towns. Can't some of your enterpris- 

 ing men come Out and start the busi- 

 ness ? It's sure to be established, and 

 the man who first sets the ball in motion, 

 will deserve a higher place in the hearts 

 of the people of this valley, than all the 

 miserable demagogues who now disgrace 

 them in the halls of National Legislation. 

 The first demand for tile would be for 

 gardens and orchards. The transition 

 to the farming fields would be natural 

 and easy, and the final demand far exced 

 the demand for building brick. This 

 country must and will be drained. Who 

 will be the pioneer in this work ? 



I had intended to have put in a few 

 words about farm gates in general, and 

 that one figured in a few numbers back 

 in particular, but as my sheet is full, 

 will stop by asking ^ou to say to that 

 man with the tall heel post and long brace 

 runninjr down to the foot of the head 

 post, that if he will cut down that post to 

 the height of the other, and turn his 

 brace the other end up, and then bolt it 



with smalt carriage bolts, costing about 

 three cents each, to each of the rails, he 

 will have a genuine self-supporting gate 

 and not otherwise. — Hawk ^YE.—Keo- 

 kuk, loiva. — County Gent. 



••» — • ' .■ ^ ■ 



Who Wants a Grape Vine f 



Boys, do you want to sit under the shade 

 of your own vine and eat the fruit of it be- 

 fore you are three years older ? If so, get 

 some grape-cuttings either now or before the 

 sap starts. Your father or elder brother will 

 get them for you, and do you keep them hur- 

 ried in the earth in the cellar where they 

 will not freeze, till warm, pleasant gardening 

 weather in May, then you can set them out, 

 and they will each, or most of them, form a 

 grape vine. Select the best kind, such as 

 the Diana, Hartford Prolific or Concord, if 

 you can get these kinds, otherwise take the 

 Isabella. This last named grape is not sure 

 to ripen in the northern parts of this State, 

 except in very warm exposures, and there 

 are kinds of Isabellas which ripen earlier 

 than others, so select these to get cuttings 

 from. There is not a boy or girl either who 

 reads and understands this, who may not 

 raise this summer from the cuttings obtained 

 at this season several fine grape vines. — Se- 

 lected. 



Orchards. — Drainage is an indispen- 

 sable necessity to thrift with young or- 

 chards. If Nature does the work — well; 

 if not she must be helped. In setting 

 out trees do not dig too small holes, and 

 putting a little hot manure in the bot- 

 tom set the trees upon it. Men who 

 have been in the habit of setting trees 

 Avith no manure except a few sods 

 thrown into the bottom of the pit, think 

 they do admirably well for their young 

 trees if they give them a heap of horse 

 or cow -yard manure to luxuriate in. It 

 is a great mistake. All varieties of 

 fruit trees need soil rather than manure 

 yet a good compost is essential as a sort 

 of home bank of deposit, to be drawn 

 upon for whatever the soil may lack. — 

 W^e prefer to dig holes at least four feet 

 wide; but a compost of muck, leaf-mould 

 yard-scrapings, bone dust, ashes, leath- 

 er scraps, etc., which has no heat in it ; 

 add to such a compost about half a peck 

 of slacked lime, and throw on a layer of 

 earth upon it. Spread the roots so as 

 to lead out in every direction, and fill in 

 three or four inches of fine soil^ not yel- 

 low dirt, and tread it down upon the 

 roots; then fill up. The roots should 

 spread naturally from the crown, which 

 should be, if an apple tree, two inches 

 below the general level of the ground in 

 a slight depression; if a dwarf pear set 

 the junction of the stock and graft two 

 inches below the ground. When set, 

 throw around the trees a mulch of coarse 

 grass, straw, tanbark, or something of 



the kind. 



-«#» 



J|@^ A friend writes us that he wants 

 to purchase 1000 sheep, with a view to dri- 

 ving them to Texas. 



