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THE ILLINOIS FA.RMER. 



253 



Set out Orchards. 



Editor of tlie Farmer : 



We are now enjoying favorable wea- 

 ther and, like all others, I ardently 

 hope it will continue. Some farmers 

 who have dry land, are already plowing 

 for spring wheat and oats and before 

 your paper is issued, there will be large 

 amounts of ground sown with these 

 grains. Considering the demands of the 

 country — and considering the condition 

 of the country, it is hoped that our far- 

 mers will put in all the crops possible 

 and to the extent possible. The coun- 

 try is bare of oats, wheat, barley, corn 

 and potatoes — never so bare before, at 

 this season of the year in my recollec- 

 tion. 



I set out with the design of saying a 

 few words on the subject of planting or- 

 chards. We are somewhat discouraged 

 on this subject. The few last years 

 of unusual weather has been destructive 

 to our orchards. Many of those which 

 yielded fruit in abundance, and of which 

 we were proud, cannot now be found. 

 It is thought, that orchards planted on 

 similar land, with the same kind of treat- 

 men:^ will be^likely always to fail. But 

 we have some experience on this subject 

 which may be useful to us. 



We have some idea of what trees are 

 the hardiest. We can get them from 

 the nurseries. We have some knowledge 

 of the kind of soil and the best protec- 

 tion for fruit. We must take advantage 

 of this knowledge. 



The Rull's Jenet, Northern Spy, 

 Maidens' Blush, Early Harvest, Yellow 

 Bellflour, Winter Wine Sap, very gener- 

 ally survive the late hard season. We 

 can rely on the hardiness of these trees 

 with tolerable certainty. There are oth- 

 ers, undoubtedly, equally hardy. 



We know that it will not answer to 

 plant orchards on black prairie soils. — 

 Experience has proved that lands, for 

 apple trees should have dry bottoms. 

 Hence it should be elevated land. Bar- 

 ens would probably be best, and these if 

 protected on the South and West would 

 add great security to the orchard. Let 

 these account for these facts who can. 

 The facts exist. 



I think that the trees should not be 

 set out in dry windy chilly weather, ear- 

 ly in spring. I rather set them out late 

 when the earth is dryer and warmer and 

 is in a condition to receive the trees 

 kindly and make them grow. 



Trees taken up in the fall, and put in- 

 to the ground in trenches, as is done in 

 most nurseries, for sale in the spring, 

 are kept back from growing, so that they 

 can often be set out with good success 

 until May. 



Farmers desiring to obtain trees 

 from Illinois Nurseries, have ample 

 time to order them now. 



"Rock Rimmon." 



The Dairy. 



Editor op the Farmer :— I was glad 

 to notice in your last number an exhortation 

 to farmers on the subject of the Dairy. It 

 is a fact known to all, that except a small 

 portion of the year, when it is too late to 

 keep butter without one has an ice house or 

 othej conveniences for doing so, good butter 

 is scarce in market. I say good butter; for 

 a very small proportion of the butter brought 

 to our markets from the country is it. No. 1. 

 We have better butter from New York and 

 Ohio in winter than we find made in the 

 country. It can be brought a thousand miles 

 — subject to all sorts of handling and then 

 is greatly superior to the home manufactur- 

 ed. I do not say that good butter is no*^^ 

 made here; for I know that we have some 

 excellent butter makers; but I speak of a large 

 portion of them. 



Now the fact that some families here make 

 the best kind of Butter; that they get the 

 uniform price of twenty-five cents a pound 

 for it during the whole year; that they make 

 money by their Dairies, — must be satisfacto- 

 ry that the business can be carried on here 

 with success and profit. 



I wish to call the attention of farmers to 

 this subject. Some of them, at least, are so 

 situated for the right kind of help, that they 

 can make the business pay. If they under- 

 stand how the thing is to be done, they can 

 make it pay well, the while, and it will give 

 them a certain living. 



Get twenty cows — have good pastures — 

 sow a few acres of land with corn broadcast 

 in June, — so that it can be cut and fed in 

 August and September, when the feed is 

 short, — raise crops of carrots and corn to 

 feed out in winter — keep your cows under 

 cover through cold, wet and sleety weather 

 — treat them as a human ought to treat a 

 brute which lives and eats and breathes on- 

 ly for his benefit — and you will have rich 

 milk, a good deal of it, and if you take of it 

 and manufacture pure, sweet, rosy scented 

 butter, you can always find a ready market 

 for it at high prices. Should there by pos- 

 sibility he a surplus in summer, you can put 

 it up and make it bring you an advanced 

 price in winter. 



I had the duty a few days ago to hunt 

 about Springfield for Butter, and there was 

 scarcely a pound to be had and that which I 

 got was about No. 5, and I paid for it 30 cts. 

 a pound. 



In the midst of these hard times a plan is 

 here pointed out by which some farmers can 

 make a good living, and at the same time 

 furnish our towns with a very necessary arti- 

 cle of food. 



Mr. Editor, will you give our farmers a jog 



on this subject. A. 



*%» 



Suggestions to Growers of Gane. 



1st. Select the highest and dryest land, 

 bordering upon sand, marl or clay, and avoid 

 as much as possible the black prairie muck, 

 which grows a large, coarse cane, not very 

 sweet, and is later in ripening. 



2d. Plow deep and ridge the same as for 

 corn ; plant on the ridges from 3 to Si feet 

 each way, it being less trouble to tend than 

 when drilled, and will produce as much 

 juice. 



3d. Soak the seed in warm water until 



about ready to sprout ; plant as early as the 

 ground will admit, and not later than the 

 last of May ; cover from 1-4 to 3-4 of an inch 

 deep ; cultivate two plants to a hill ; allow it 

 to stool well ; keep it clean until about three 

 feet high, when it will take care of itself. 



4th. When the seed becomes fully black 

 and ripe, strip the leaves by hand or with a 

 stick prepared for that purpose (which is 

 better ;) then cut oflF the tops below the up- 

 per joint, as all above injures the syrup ; 

 then cut the standing stocks and grind. 



5th. Cane should all be cut as soon as ripe, 

 as it injures by standing ; keep it clean from 

 dirt ; reject all green succor stalks. If you 

 have much to work, you had better commence 

 as soon as a few heads begin to turn dark, a.s 

 it will then make good synip, although it will 

 not grain well until ripe, and an early begin- 

 ning will enable you to work up your cane 

 before it freezes and sours, or sours standing, 

 which it will do if permitted to stand long 

 after it is ripe. 



6th. The working of early planted cane, 

 with a good season, may be commenced by 

 the first of September, when everything 

 should be in readiness. It maybe kept safely 

 for weeks after it is cut, if protected from 

 freezing by overflowing with straw ; fre- 

 quent freezing and thawing spoils it. In any 

 case, it must be cut before heavy frosts, as 

 they will cause it to sour. 



-«•>- 



Culture of the Onion. 



Eds. Country Gentleman. — In your 

 paper, Vol. XIII , No. 9, are instruc- 

 tions about growing onions — some of 

 which are very good; others not so good 

 First it is well to have new seed, of the 

 right kind — to be sure of this, grow it 

 yourself, by selecting onions of the size 

 and quality you wish to grow, and setting 

 them out where they will flourish without 

 any intermixture of the baser sorts. — 

 Onions, like persons, aro known by the 

 company they keep; he, therefore, who 

 would have his product pure, must be 

 careful that they have no bad associates. 

 Spare no pains in preparing the soil, 

 pulverizing and fertilizing it well, and 

 clearing the surface of all extraneous 

 matter, so that the seed may be evenly 

 distributed — in rows about fourteen 

 inches apart, and thick enough in the 

 row to admit of the young plants being 

 thinned, so as to leave them growing 

 about two inches apart. No harm will 

 accrue from their being thus thick; this 

 will enable them to grow two inches in 

 diameter, and when they grow larger 

 than this, thev are coarse and not so 

 palatable. H. speaks oi applying 

 twenty cords of manure to the acre. It 

 cannot be necessary to apply so much 

 if the land is at all decent; one-half this 

 quantity will be enough if properly fined 

 and intermingled with the soil. 



No crop better rewards care in culture 

 than the onion. It has an extreme aver- 

 sion to weeds, and every thing else that 

 disturbs the tender fibres of the young 

 plant. Although the bulb forms chiefly 



