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THE ILLIZSTOIS FA.R]M:ER. 



299 



The Time to Tut Timber. 

 The experience of the writer of the 

 following article can be made worth mil- 

 lion? of dollars to the country. We 

 copy from the Jfadison WccJchi Record. 

 Charles IToward is one of the most esti- 

 mable citizens of our State. 



Mr. Editor. — I am an old man and 

 an inhabitant, for the last thirty years, 

 of your county, and for the benefit of 

 my fellow beings I propose, from time 

 to time, as opportunities cermit to give 

 you a few lines detailing some of my ex- 

 'periences in ray journey of life. As I 

 intend to say nothing of which "I shall 

 be ashamed or afraid, or which will be 

 offensive to any person, I shall append 

 ray real uame to my communications, 

 in order that my readers may be the bet- 

 ter enabled to place a proper estimate 

 upon what I shall write. 



I noticed in your issue, of May 14th 

 some remarks relative to the time for 

 cutting fence timber. Now on this sub- 

 ject I shall state a few facts which, if 

 properly appreciated, will save millions 

 of dollars to those who may lose by the 

 unnecessary decay of timber. Those 

 are the facts : When I came to Alton, 

 in 1829, I brought with me a little book 

 called "The Farmer's Guide;" contain- 

 ing a short article on the tinie to cut 

 timber. The author said the proper 

 time was when the sap was up and the 

 tree in full leaf, and gave his reasons 

 for so believing, which were based on 

 actual experience, forced upon him by 

 his father, growing out of the following 

 facts : 



When he was a boy, of about ten 

 years old, his father cut and prepared 

 in the winter, sills for a new barn, to be 

 built in the ensuing summer; so that 

 they should not have the sap in them, 

 when cut, least according to the notion 

 of all, they would last longer by being 

 cut when the sap was down. When 

 summer came his father commenced to 

 build, his barn, but he discovered that 

 one of his sills had a decayed place in it 

 and he did not like to put it in his barn; 

 neither did he like to cut a new sill 

 while the sap Avas up. After due con- 

 sideration he thought he would rather 

 risk it than the decayed sill, and accord- 

 ingly cut a sill while the sap was up and 

 put it in. Afterwards his father died, 

 leaving the barn to him. Some forty 

 years afterwards he found the other sills 

 very much decayed, so much that it be- 

 came necessary to pull the barn down, 

 when to his surprise the sill which had 

 been cut Avhen the sap was up he found 

 to be sound and hai-d in all parts, while 

 the three sills which had been cut in the 

 winter were in many parts t.oo rotten for 

 fuel. 



Now I will give my experience on the 

 subject. In the winter ol: 1829 I had 



a few rails made to fence in a piece of 

 ground, about two miles from Alton, and 

 in 1831 I put them up; and in June of 

 the same year I had a thousand more 

 made to inclose a calf pasture. The 

 workmen said they would not last long 

 if I had them cut in the summer. I re- 

 plied that I would risk it in that small 

 number. And now for the result, and 

 comparative durability of those cut in 

 the winter and those cut in the summer. 

 Those cut in winter were valuless in ten 

 yoars, while those cut in summer are 

 still sound and good, as any person may 

 see by giving me a call, for, although I 

 have moved several times since, I still 

 have some of them, to remind me of old 

 times, they having lasted twenty-eight 

 years, afid perhaps willlast twenty-eight 

 more. 



Now, Mr. Editor, no man can calcu- 

 late the millions of dollars wdiich may 

 be saved by cutting timber in the sum- 

 mer. I talked to several persons on 

 this subject, but I had not the exper- 

 ience then that I have now, and gave it 

 up on that account. I Was greatly sur- 

 prised when I learned that the Superin- 

 tendents of our old State Railroads 

 bound the contractors to have their tim- 

 bers cut in the winter time, the result of 

 which all know was its decay in a few 

 years. 



Posts should be set with the butt end 

 of the tree upwards. Salt I proved to 

 be a substance that creates moisture 

 and causes timber to decay near the 

 ground. 



Hoping, dear sir, that these facts may 

 have their desired effect. I am yours, 

 CHAS. HOWARD. 



Items Worth Rememherinj. 



To drive striped bugs from cucumber 

 and squash vines, take an ounce of aloes 

 and put it into a gallon of water, and 

 syringe^tlie plants. 



Loaves of the elder bush placed about 

 squash vines, it is said, will keep away 

 insects from them. Perhaps so. The 

 experiment is worth trying. 



Mechi. of England, Insists that thin 

 Seeding is best for rich grounds. 



Ill Connecticut 1,300 bushels of Ruta 

 Bagas have been grown on an acre of 

 land. 



A large kettle is said to make a cheap 

 and excellent water trough for stock. 



Mr. R. Sells, near Clcavelana, has 

 twenty acres of strawberries. 



Seize a favorable time late in July, just 

 before a shower, if possible, to sow your 

 buckwheat. A bushel of seed ought to 

 sow two acres. 



Hungarian Grass can be sown until 

 the middle of July. 



Sugar Mill for Sale. — The Sugar 

 Mill which was gotten up in this city, to 

 demonstrnte the value of the Chinese 



Cane, for sugar and molasses, will be 

 sold on reasonable terms. It does its 

 work well, and can work up two hun- 

 dred acres of cane if required. See ad- 

 vertisementjOr write to the editor hereof. 



-«•► 



The Cashmere Shawl Goat. c- 



Gallatin, Summer Co., Tenn., June 5,1856. 

 To {lie Editors ofiht Cultivator 



and Country Gentleman : 



I have been thinking for some time of 

 calling your attention, and that of the 

 numerous readers of our widely circula- 

 ted agricultural journals, to the recent 

 importations of the Cashmere Shawl 

 Goat, an animal as remarkable for the 

 extreme ficeness of its fleece, as for the 

 enormous prices which it at all times 

 commands in market. The first and 

 only importations to the United States, 

 were made a few years since, from Tur- 

 key in Asia, by Dr. James B. Davis, of 

 Columbia, S. C, w^ho resided some 

 years in the East, and procured them 

 under great difficulties, and at much cost 

 and personal hazard. They have been 

 recently introduced into Tennessee, by 

 Messrs. Williams, Adams & C. an en- 

 terprising firm of public spirited gen- 

 tlemen, at Gallatin, Tenn., and are now 

 on my farm near this place. The Com- 

 pany have a charter of incorporation 

 granted by the last Legislature of the 

 State, which is doing all in its power 

 for the encouragement of the farming 

 interests, having in successful operation, 

 societies under the direct charge of a 

 State Bureau, in the three grand divis- 

 ions of the State, in connection with 

 county societies in most of the large and 

 populous counties. The fact is, Ten- 

 nesse, so long behind hand, in that pub- 

 lic countenance to these interests, is now 

 far ahead of most of the older States in 

 the encouragement and fostering of as- 

 sociations for the advancement of agricul- 

 tural and mechanical arts. 



Most of our readers are doubtless fa- 

 miliar with the history of the Cashmere 

 Goat, and it is scarcely necessary to 

 speak of the intrinsic value of the wool 

 over that of any other fleeced animal 

 known. The alrao-st fabulous prices at 

 which the shawls have sold, is known 

 to almost every one, often approach- 

 ing thousands of dollars each. One of 

 the chief causes of its high value is the 

 imperishable nature of the goods man- 

 ufactured from the Cashmere wool — 

 surpassing in durability of wear all 

 other articles. The adaptation of the 

 animal to our climate has now been 

 fully tested, while its hardy and lively 

 nature, its habits, and self protection 

 from dogs and other enemies, are qual- 

 ities which highly recommend them. — 

 They can be raised advantageously, and 

 thrive upon weeds and briars, &c., which 

 are rejected by othfir animals. Not the 

 least remarkable is the manner of ffath- 



