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THE ILLINOIS F^HMEH. 



As soon as the grass is ■vrcll up, turn 

 into a small pasture or yard where the 

 feed is good and provide shelter to which 

 thej can retire at pleasure. Beware of 

 practicing a common, but fatal piece of 

 false economy by putting them on a short 

 allowance of milk. Do not attempt to 

 wean them too soon. The young calf 

 can no more subsist upon grass alone 

 than the infant can live upon meat and 

 vegetables. 



Calves should be fed milk at least 

 twelve weeks. — Stock Journal. 



More St&plci. 



Editor of the Farmer : — The Agri- 

 cultural press has had much to say of 

 the benefit to be derived by our farmers 

 by increasing the number of their crops, 

 so that if one fails, they will have others 

 to fall back upon. This subject should 

 be pressed upon the attention of our 

 farmers. We have tried wheat as a 

 great staple, and in its failure all have 

 Buffered. Now my opinion is that if we 

 had succeeded with our large wheat crops 

 for the two last years, they would not 

 have paid as well as good crops of corn. 

 "Wheat is not high in the Eastern 

 markets. Although the crops last year 

 was confessedly short, the prices in 

 New York would scarcely justify the 

 wheat operators in the West to buy, at 

 low prices, wheat for shipping. The 

 trutl^s, wheat raising will not pay well 

 here unless there is a war, or short crops 

 in Europe, to raise the prices. Europe 

 don't want our wheat when she has good 

 crop seasons. This fact shows that our 

 farmers are leaning on a frail support 

 when they expect to derive benefits from 

 an European market. Our farmers here 

 fts a whole, would have been better off 

 now, had they never received war prices 

 for their wheat. 



Central Illinois is a stock country. — 

 Good farming here will always raise 

 food for raising and fattening stock. — 

 Cultivate well and you can do this. Con- 

 tract your farms. Do your farm work 

 well and it will pay. The best farms in 

 the world arc in Belgium; and fifteen 

 acres of land there is considered a good 

 farm. Every inch of it is cultivated, no 

 waste grounds; no crops drowned out by 

 standing water. The farmer can go to 

 work on his farm an hour after a heavy 

 rain. 



One fact I desire to suggest ? What 

 farmers among us best pay their store 

 debts and have money to lend to their 

 neighbors ? They are the snug farmers 

 — who have small farms and cultivate 

 them well. HOMO. 



"less Land and Better Culture." 



Editor of the Farmer: — A friend 



sent me some days ago the "Wisconsin 



Farmer," a monthly agricultural paper, 



published at Madison Wisconsin. I was 



struck with a remark in the first article 

 I read. It was headed "Less land and 

 better culture,'' and, said the editor, 

 "If we had a voice like a trumpet, that 

 might be heard all over our State, our 

 first utterance would be, '■'•Farmers con 

 tent yourselves with such farms as you 

 can thoroughly cultivate.'' 



That's the doctrine, Mr. Editor ! We 

 have wasted our labor and lost our crops 

 and got our lands into a bad state, by our 

 system of cultivation. Unless blasted 

 with frost, or hail, or hurricane, we can 

 make crops every year, of such as are 

 suited to our climate and soil, by thor- 

 ough cultivation. And to do this, we 

 must so drain our lands, that the water 

 will run off from them. We must plow 

 deep, so that the roots of plants can go 

 down deep if weather be dry, and if wet 

 so that water may be encouraged to settle 

 and get out of the way. Whenever 

 you are working upon land where you 

 find water by going down two feet, that 

 ground should be drained. 



Why is it that the English Farmer, 

 always produces crops, and often double 

 and treble the amount we obtain from 

 our rich soils ? This is done by thoi ough 

 cultivation. If his land is wet and sog- 

 gy, he underdrains it, and he plows it 

 deep and well — not content with a six 

 inch deep plowing, but he goes down 

 twelve inches. His grounds dry and 

 light, he harrows and works them until 

 the soil is as fine as that of the best gar- 

 dens. Then with good after culture, he 

 is sure of good crops. 



In the Farmer, I think of last October 

 there was a notice of what one farmer 

 had done by plowing a portion of his 

 corn land with that excellent implement 

 the Michigan Double Plow. He said 

 that on the land on which he used that 

 plow, his corn yielded more than fifteen 

 bushels an acre over other corn grounds 

 on which he had used the common plow. 

 He said he was well paid for the extra 

 labor of his team, and it gave him a little 

 insight of what could be produced by 

 thorough cultivation. 



Is there any reason why our corn field 

 should not yield 80 or 100 bushels of 

 corn to the acre, when even in Michigan 

 and New York, thorough cultivation 

 enables farmers there to raise more than 

 100 bushels of corn to the acre ? Would 

 it not be better for us to raise 100 bush- 

 els of corn on one acre than on three 

 acres ? Better to grow seventy bushels 

 of oats on an acre than on two acres ? 

 Better to grow 250 bushels of potatoes 

 on an acre than to grow forty, and per- 

 haps not that ? 



I know it is hard to change old habits; 

 but this is an age of enquiry and an age 

 of improvement. I fully subscribe to the 

 sentiment of the W^isconsin Editor, and 

 would raise my humble voice in echoing 

 his declaration — '■'Farmers content your- 



selves with farms of such size as you 

 can thoroughly cultivate." W. 



Breeding Ewes. 



We find in a late number of the Mark 

 Lane Express, an article in relation to 

 the selection, care and management of 

 breeding ewes, from which we extract 

 such portions as* are of most interest to 

 American breeders : 



The acquiring and maintaining a flock 

 of ewes in good and uniform condition 

 and character requires a vast amount of 

 judgment and perseverance, combined 

 with care and attention; judgment in 

 selecting that breed or description which 

 will give the greatest return, taking into 

 consideration the soil and situation where 

 they are to be kept, also in choosing 

 male animals that will rectify and im- 

 prove the imperfections of the ewes; care 

 and attention are also necessary in draw- 

 ing the ewes to that ram which appears 

 most calottlated to correct their faults, 

 persevering in this course till they be- 

 come of one uniform character; that is, 

 not resting satisfied before you obtain 

 them as near alike as possible as regards 

 symmetry, description of wool, and gen- 

 eral appearance, it being well known 

 that an even matching lot of ewes is 

 highly appreciated, and commands a 

 better price in market than motley or 

 mongrel-looking ones. The ewe should 

 have a straight and broad back, wide 

 loins, deep breast, good neck (or scrag, 

 as termed by some, ) the head rather long 

 but not broad, an open cheerful counten- 

 ance crowned with a tuft of wool, which 

 not only adds to its beauty, but is in a 

 measure a preventive of sore head, and 

 last, not least, a robust hardy constitu- 

 tion. I will commence with or at about 

 the time of weaning the lambs — a period 

 that must be partially regulated by cir- 

 cumstances, as how you are provided 

 with proper and suitable food to keep 

 them in a healthy and thriving state, as 

 also if there is any tendency to scour, if 

 80, the sooner in reason they are removed 

 from their dams the better, a change of 

 the system which is most eff'ectually ac- 

 complished by a change of food — being 

 the likeliest means of checking it. In 

 an ordinary way I believe the first or 

 second week in June to be as good a 

 time as any; this will allow of having 

 the ewes washed and shorn. A few 

 days should then intervene for them to 

 get accustomed to the loss of their coats 

 or at any rate the weaning of the lambs 

 should take place at as great a time as 

 possible from the shearing of the ewes, 

 either as long before or as long after; 

 for if they take cold at this time, it is 

 more than probable it will fly to the ud- 

 der, producing inflammation, which often 

 turns to mortification, and generally 

 ends in the death of the ewe. I prefer 



