268 



THE ILLIISTOIS FA.IIM:ER. 



Experience with the Imphcc. 



Mr. Taylor, of Loudon county, Virginia, 

 thus gives a synopsis of his experience witli 

 the Iniphee : 



"Last spring he procured from A. O. 

 IMoore, of Nevr York, four packages ©f Af- 

 rican sugar cane seed, of an ounce each, 

 marked Boomowana, Ncesana, Oomsceaua, 

 Enyana. The Boomowana and Neesana 

 were marked 'early,' and the others 'late.' — 

 They were planted on the 15th and 20th of 

 May, on ground which would have produced 

 forty bushels of corn to the acre, in rows four 

 feet, and in hills two feet apart. The stalks 

 were largef than the sorghum, but not so 

 tall, seldom above eight feet. The heads 

 were more compact, and yielded much more 

 grain. The Boomowana yielded at the rate 

 of 66 bushels per acre, and weighing 51 

 pounds per bushel. Neesana and Oomseeana 

 yielded at the rate of 50 bushels, of 60 

 pounds, per acre ; and the Enyana, being on 

 inferior soil, yielded but 36 bushels, of 60 

 pounds per acre. Some of the seed was 

 ground by him, and produced flour, far su- 

 perior to buckwheat in yield and quality; 

 which mixed with i wheat flour made fine 

 light bread. 



As a sugar-producing plant it was much 

 superior to the Sorgum, at that place. The 

 juice marked a density of 1,125 to 1,144, 

 or of 16 ° to 18 ° Beaume, and would yield 

 from 29 to 33 per cent, saccharine matter. — 

 He boiled some of the juice and had no 

 trouble in granulating it into cane sugar. — 

 Showing a quality one half better than sugar 



cane. 



-«o*- 



Cutting Fence Tirohcr. 



A practical farmer in a communica- 

 iton to the Germantotvn (Pa.) Telegraph 

 advances a peculiar theory in regard to 

 the period for cutting timber intended 

 for fences, especially for posts. The 

 prevalent opinion in regard to the best 

 time, is •when the timber is most free 

 from sap, and the very Avorst time is when 

 it contains the most sap. This practical 

 farmer referred to, entertains the verv 

 opposite opinion. On one occasion he 

 cut down some excellent white oak in the 

 month of February and set it out in 

 fence posts, and after this he cut down 

 the same kind of timber in the month of 

 May (when it contained most free sap*) 

 and set it out into posts also. The for- 

 mer posts lasted only iix years; the lat- 

 ter endured twenty-two years. 



This correspondent also advocates the 

 cutting of timber for rails about the 

 month of May when it contains most sap. 

 He says if timber is cut for rails when 

 tbe sap is running, the bark then strip- 

 ped off, and the rails made immediately, 

 they will last one fourth longer than if 

 cut at any other time and have the bark 

 left on. The inside bark of the wood is 

 the first to decay and rot ; being of a po- 

 rous nature it contains air and water 

 wbich carry the process of decay into the 

 wood. When the bark is peeled oflP, the 

 sap soon dries and prevents decay. All 



experience goes to prove that the bark 

 should always be peeled from chestnut or 

 other rails in order to render them more 

 durable : this is well known to every far- 

 mer, but it will hardly be conceded that 

 the best time for cutting rail timber is 

 when it contains most free sap. This is 

 a practical question, however, which can 

 only be decided by experiments, and it 

 is one of no small importance, as a vast 

 outlay is caused annually for repair of 

 decayed fences. 



Health and Hogs. 

 A foolish idea prevails that hog meat 

 is unhealthy. Experience in the army 

 and navy, and the mercantile service, 

 prove that no meat is more healthy than 

 salt pork or bacon. The reason why 

 people arc sick from eating pork is, be- 

 cause they eat too mxich at once. Pork 

 is highly nutritious, and too much is eas- 

 ily and too often eaten. In hot enerva- 

 ting climates much meat of any kind is 

 unhealthy ; mutton among the least so, 

 because the least concentrated. The 

 Americans eat too much meat of all 

 kinds. I rejoice to see fruit, milk, and 

 nuts coming more and more into fashion. 

 I think a small slice of ham with lettuce, 

 "greens," turnips, beans, &c., &c., will 

 never give one the "scrofula,'' nor 

 tape-worm!" nor necessary *'damna- 



u 



tion !"- 



-American Stock Journal. 



C. M. CLAY. 



—f 



To Make Excellent Bread. — Take 

 eight quarts of wheat flour, spread it in your 

 mixing dish, so as to leave a large cavity in 

 the center; pour a suflicient quantity of 

 boiling milk, or water, over two quarts of 

 sifted white corn meal to scald it thoroughly, 

 and let it stand till it is only lukewarm, 

 turn it into the flour, add a teacupfull of 

 good hop yeast and a little warm milk or 

 water ; stir it well, mixing in a portion of 

 the flour, and let it stand ten or twelve hours 

 in a warm place ; knead it well ; make it into 

 loaves which will rise, near the fire, in less 

 than an hour. When baked well, this bread 

 is light, sweet, and nutricious ; quite as good 

 as bread made of potatoe yeast, and it keeps 

 moist longer, besides being a saving of flour. 



An excellent dish may be made to tempt 

 the ap])etitc so apt to fail at this season of 

 the year, by slicing dried beef very thinly, 

 and giving tlie bits a quick broil over a 

 blaze ; after which immerse them in a gravy 

 of sweet cream, and add a few eggs, boiled 

 soft in clear water, pepper it well^ but the 

 meat is generally sufficiently salt without 

 adding any, and for this reason cream is pref- 

 erable to butter. 



«•• 



BSy^A Mr. Field, from St. Louis, was in this 

 city a day or two since en route for Seneca Falls, 

 N. y., where he lias contracted for the con- 

 struction of a steam engine, which is to work 

 a series of spades, the mnchine to be used in 

 cultivating the Illinois prairie lands. Ilis ap- 

 paratus is to be finished early in Juce. 



4*, 



Lima Beans. — Do best in poor 

 ground. They mature earlier and are 

 certain to produce crops. The poles 



should be six feet high and the tops 

 should be pinched off when they reach 

 that height. 



Under Draining. 



This was the subject of discussion at the 

 Farmers' Club, at one of its recent meetings; 

 and, perhaps, at no former time has the sub- 

 ject of under-draining been more fully dis- 

 cussed. The Club had the advantage of the 

 presence of Judge French, of Exeter, New 

 Hampshire, who lately returned from Eng- 

 land, after a thorough investigation of the 

 English methods of under-draining, and who 

 is now engaged in writing a work on this 

 subject. It was generally admitted by all 

 present that thoroughly under-drained land 

 cannot suff"er from drouth; that the mere 

 getting rid of redundant water from the soil 

 is not the greatest benefit of under-drains, 

 but that the airation of the soil is full as im- 

 portant as the absence of redundant water; 

 that soils thoroughly under-drained require 

 less manures; that the chemical changes 

 which are continually going on in the soil 

 occur more rapidly in the absence of redun- 

 dant water, and the occurrence of air through 

 the drain permits the surface of every par- 

 ticle throughout the soil to be reached by 

 atmosphere and motion; the difference in 

 temperature between these particles of the 

 supernatant atmosphere causing a slight 

 condensation, and thus furnishing all the 

 conditions for those changes necessary for 

 the development of the inorganic portions of 

 the soil. 



In answer to various questions, Judge 

 French remarked as follows: 



"The best depth of drain, it is thought, is 

 four feet; and that is so, according to my 

 observations, though it depends upon circum- 

 stances. Where tiles are dear, and labor 

 cheap, the less tiles we can use the better. — 

 Drains three feet dee/p, or forty feet apart, 

 arc not so effective as at fve feet deep and 

 ffty feet apart. Tiles, in this country, must 

 be laid below frost and sub-soil plows, and 

 that should be at least three feet deep. No- 

 body contends, now, in England, for less 

 than three feet depth of drains, and those 

 who advocate three feet are called shallow 

 drainers. As a general rule, it costs as 

 much to dig the fourth foot as it does the 

 other three feet. A four-foot drain is opened 

 in England, only one foot wide at the top, 

 and just wide enough to lay the tile at the 

 bottom. I open my drains four inches wide 

 at the bottom, because that is as narrow as 

 I can dig with a pick. The digger must 

 have rof»m for his feet at the bottom, to 

 work with that tool, and our soil is so hard 

 that nothing else will do. 



As to the size of tiles, I never would use 



a one-inch tile, because I do not believe it 

 sufficient to carry off the great amount of 

 rain-water that falls in this country, which is 

 u'uch greater than falls in England, and it 

 does not come in that gentle, drizzling way, 

 but with a rush, just as we do many things, 

 and the pipes nmst be large enough to carry 

 it all off. AVe have no sufficient tables, as 

 yet, but we are getting posted up, and from 

 what I have seen, I think we have got to 

 provide against a rain full of forty-five 

 inches a year. Our New England showers 

 are sometimes little deluges. In 1852, we 



