294: 



THE ILLIISTOIB E^HjMER. 



should be sowed on an acre for fodder ? 



[A bushel, if you have a plenty of | 

 seed.] I 



lloAv lorg -R-ill it do to put off the soav- 

 ing of Millet ? 



[kSi.'AV it just as soon as you can. If 

 you do not grow seed, you can get an 

 abundance of fodder from it.] 



Did you over, Mr. Editor, see corn 

 sowed broadcast for a forage crop ? 



A. 



[Yes, we have. Sow it now and you 

 will have a fine yield of the best fodder 

 for soiling stock in the months of Au- 

 gust and September when feed is scarce. 

 It is capital food, then, for milch cows.] 

 ••. 



Uiidenlraiiiiog. 



Editor of the Farmer : — I beg leave to 

 offer you a few thoughts on the subject sug- 

 gested by the line at the head of this article, 

 which I have had considerable experience in. 

 L'nderdraining will be considered the sheet 

 anchor to western agriculture. Our lands 

 are rich enough, but in a country where it 

 is said that sixteen inches of water can fall 

 in a single month, and not half try, we need 

 special appliances for getting rid of the sur- 

 plus. This excessive wet lies at the bottom 

 of the almost total failure of crops every two 

 or three years, which i^ sure to befall the 

 country. If our lands are drained, and far- 

 mers prepared for wet weather, these things 

 would not be so. Here we have the mole 

 ditchers which is applicable to drain our lauds 

 in the most thorough manner desired, which 

 presses a hole three feet under ground, the 

 size of which is five by six inches, intersect- 

 ing numerous little springs and water seeps, 

 so that no ditch whatever, should be much 

 over one hundred and sixty rods in length, 

 as they, of this length, will intersect enough 

 of water seeps to cause them to run full. — 

 All wet land and sloughs that have from two 

 to three inches fall to the one hundred feet, 

 can be drained to satisfaction. So also can 

 most ponds, without any extra labor or ex- 

 pense whatever, the land around them gen- 

 erally being from a foot to eighteen inches 

 higher than in the center, making a rise to 

 come over with the ditch, notwithstanding it 

 generally drains them to perfection. We 

 had one drained on our fjirm that wps near a 

 tenant house, by which was a well of water, 

 fifteen rods from the ditch that run through 

 the yard. It drained the pond in less than 

 one day's time, and sunk the water in the 

 well some three feet in the same length of 

 time. This ditch was some sixty rods in 

 length, with a great fall to it. Becollect 

 the shorter tlie ditch the sooner the land 

 will be drained by it. Will it pay? Icon- 

 tend that it will pay, even pay a tenant in 

 many cases, that has only the use of the land 

 for one year. There has been many a farm- 

 er this season while plowing, has had to 

 swamp his team through muddy places knee 

 deep, from four to six rods in width, whore 

 once he growed good corn. These are the 

 places where it will pay a tenant the first 

 year to have ditched, making the land equal- 

 ly as dry as the rolling land on either side of 

 it, and growing decidedly the best corn in 

 his field on those muddy places, making 

 Qnough to pay rent and all cost of ditching 



the first year, leaving a clear saving to him 

 of swnmping and slaving his team through 

 the mud. 



Where the land is applicable to being 

 ditched by them it mnttcvs but little wheth- 

 er it is done at a cost of twenty-five cents or 

 fifteen cents a rod, as the extra amount of 

 grain grown upon the ditch is most general- 

 ly amply sufilcient to pay the cost of the ditch 

 the first year after it is cut, and every per- 

 son that is acquainted with ditches would 

 rather have them at double the cost we charge 

 for cutting them, than to have an open ditch 

 dug for nothing. For a large scope of wet 

 land where the ditches would require to be 

 of greater length than above stated, 1 would 

 advise digging open ditches deep enough to 

 make connections witli the inolc ditcher, 

 and then all ponds within one hundred rods 

 or more may be drawn in this, provided 

 tliey have the requisite amount of fall. 3Ir. 

 John ]jce, of New Berlin, has a large tract 

 of wet land that he has worked in this way, 

 and used the mole ditcher to considerable ex- 

 tent in cutting in side drains, and he tells me 

 that he has a fine prospect, at this time, ibra 

 good crop of wheat on land that used to be 

 perfect goose ponds. He has had these un- 

 derground ditches cut about one year, and 

 he is so perfectly well satisfied about their 

 durability and adaptableness, that he designs 

 going on to thoroughly drain his land with 

 them. 



I have not gone into any thorougli drain- 

 age on my farm, but have some 2U00 rods 

 cut in sloughs, hollows and wet places of 

 about two years standing, all of which is do- 

 ing well and running as flush as the day they 

 were cut. I have conversed with gentlemen 

 of undoubted veracity, that say they have 

 seen the ditches that were cut seven years ago 

 equally as good as the day they were cut, and 

 giving entire satisfaction. I suppose Ave 

 have cut some 20,000 rods since we have 

 been engaged in the business, all giving pret- 

 ty general satisfaction, except some few ca- 

 ses, and those being in the manner the work 

 Avas done. Indeed so fully am 1 persuaded 

 oftheir durability, that 1 have an abiding 

 confidence that they will last for ages. 



Fruit growing Avill never succeed here on 

 Aindrained land ; therefore, every farmer con- 

 teu;])lating setting out an orchard, or plant- 

 ing a grape vine Avould do Avell to have the 

 mole ditcher run every two rods apart, where 

 they contemplate setting their trees. It makes 

 no difference how rolling the land is, it will 



pay- 

 It seems that the mole ditchers are just the 

 thing that Ave Avaiit, and need, and nui.st have, 

 and they Avill ultimately make the blooming 

 State of Illinois groan under the luxuriant 

 and heavy burdens of crops that they will 

 cause it to produce. 



If I have not stated facts, let those answer 

 that we have ditched for in the Avestcrn part 

 of k^anganion county. 



SAMUEL HENSLEY. 

 Berlin, 111., June 10. 



A Good Prospect for AVheat 



Editor of /he Farmer : — A few days 

 a':!;o I visited the neighborhood of the 

 farm of Mr. Neil M. Taggart, about four 

 miles south-east of Springfield. I ob- 

 served that every crop on his farm prom- 



ised Avell ; and I did not discover that it 

 possessed any natural advantages over 

 the farms ot his neighbors, either as a 

 rolling farm, or one more easily drained 

 than tlieirs. 



Mr. M. Taggart is a Scotchman, 

 brought up a farmer in Scotland, and 

 understands the advantages of draining, 

 and of doing Avork Avhcn it ought to he 

 done. He has-been on his farm here 

 some five years, and has made it pay all 

 the time. He does all his Avork thor- 

 oughly — plows his land deep; tills it Avell 

 and does not suffer his work to drive 

 him when he can possibly help it, but 

 drives his Avork. By thorough and deep 

 ploAving, he has made good crops of corn 

 and Avheat, Avhen his neighbors have par- 

 tially failed in making crops. 



^Ilc has capital fields of wheat this 

 season. His land being low, he plowed 

 it into eijihteen feet lands ; so as to leave 

 a deep furrow every eighteen feet for 

 carrying off the water. Late in the fall, 

 in wintci" and in Spring, when heavy 

 rains filled up his drain furrows, he took 

 his shovel and opened them, and the wa- 

 ter ran off. The wheat is nOAv of good 

 height, Avith enough on the ground, and 

 the heads of unusual length. He says 

 that he has made forty-two bushels of 

 wheat from an acre in this country, and 

 his Avheat at this time promises a great- 

 er yield than any he has yet groAvn. — 

 The wheat is of the Avhite blue stem va- 

 riety. 



There can be no question that this ex- 

 cellent prospect for Avheat is caused by 

 thorough cultivation. A farmer may 

 cheat himself in the cultivation of his 

 land, but he can't cheat his crops. — 

 "Draining'' is the word which ought to 

 be first in every farmer's vocabuIar3\ — 

 Land Avell drained, Avill bring the crops 

 all the time; and that farmer Avho ex- 

 pects to make great crops on the old 

 system oF scratching his land, and let- 

 ting the seed after it is planted, in a 

 good measure, take care of itself, had 

 better give up farming altogether. 



A. M. C. 



The rnitcd Slates Fair— Its Interference ATith 

 tlie Stiile Soci'Jy. 



We have already'' announced that the 

 United States Agricultural Society has 

 determined to hold its next annual 

 fair at Chicago. This, of course, can- 

 not be done Avithout a very manifest 

 interference Avith the Illinois State So- 

 ciety, whose next fair is to be held at 

 Freeport. We doubt not the press and 

 the people of this State generally Avill 

 disapprove of the unfair course which 

 the former society is pursuing. It looks 

 like intrusion for it to have selected 

 Chicago for its shoAV grounds, when our 

 own Slate Society had previously loca- 

 ted its fair at another point so near. — 

 We believe that no fair can be held at 



