prsi^ipji/^T-^S"; ,. 



THID ILLIjSTOIS F^I^IMER. 



309 



short intervals — as muclias they can swallow 

 and as often as they will eat. 



The period at which they are left to shift 

 for themselves depends upon the disposition 

 of the hen. Some will continne their atten- 

 tion to their chicks till they are nearly full 

 grown; others will cast them off much earlier. 

 In the latter case, it may be as well to keep 

 an eye upon them for a few days, till they 

 have established themselves as independent 

 members of the fowl communitv, for chickens 

 in this half grown sta<^e arc at the most criti- 

 cal period of their lives. They are now 

 much more liable to disease than when they 

 were apparently tender little weaklings 

 crowded under their mothers' wings. It is 

 just before arriving at this point of growth, 

 that artificially hatched chickens are so sure 

 to fail, whatever be the substitute for the 

 mothers' care. More incubation has lontr 

 ago been performed artificially with success 

 in various ways. The mere hatching de- 

 serves little credit, however ingeniously it is 

 done. Any one at any time of year can ef- 

 fectually complete that process by means of a 

 spirit lamp and a sand bath in a warm room. 

 But to rear them is the difficulty that has 

 not yot been surmounted in this country. 



Wire Vermin Proof Corn Crib. 



3Ir. Editor: — Allow me to call the 

 attention of your readers to a wnrc corn 

 crib, gotten up by me, and now in pro- 

 cess of beino; patented. This crib is 

 very simple and cheap, and durable and 

 will allow the drying of corn much more 

 perfectly than any timber crib. 



When Ave reflect that the corn crop 

 of the U. S. amounts in the aggregate 

 to about 700,000,000 bu.^hels annu- 

 ally, and that it needs careful prepara- 

 tion and drying in cribs to be marketa- 

 ble at its fullest value, and that Avhere 

 the largest proportion of it is produced, 

 timber is scarce and lumber high, it will 

 be seen that a cheap crib constructed of 

 wire is a valuable addition to our agri- 

 culture. 



Nearly or quite 75,000,000 bushels 

 will be grown the present season in this 

 State, and in addition to the more per- 

 fect curing, we have to protect it from 

 the ravages oF the vermin which infest 

 our cribs. This can be fully and per- 

 fectly done by my crib, and any farmer 

 can build one, as the wire costs but §8 

 or ^10 for a thousand bushels or more, 

 and if he has timber of his own, this is 

 all he need to pay out for a crib 7 feet 

 Avide by o2 feet long. I can buy here 

 all the material for a crib holdinir one 

 thousand bushels for less than ^20. 



I request all farmers desiring further 

 information in regard to the crib to send 

 me their names, and I Avill send them 

 the plan for a crib which will cost less 

 than it will save in a single year, from 

 vermin, etc. The cost will not be more 

 than a couple of dollars for the ri"-ht — 

 according to the size of the farm. 



Any one wishing to buy territory is 

 invited to correspond. This device af- 



fords the carpenter and jobber an ex- 

 cellent opportunity by buying a small 

 territory for the exclusive supply of 

 these cribs to the resident producers. — 

 Send on for cuts and descriptive circu- 

 lars to W. H. Gardner, 



Amboy, Lee County, 111. 



Vi!l you Erer Learn? 



Editor oftTie Farmer: — I have lately 

 traveled over a section of country from 

 Carrollton to the south part of Christian 

 county; and took some pains to notice 

 the crops on the line of my trip. On 

 the rolling lands on the route, the corn, 

 wheat and other crops look, generally, 

 well. But there is a large portion of 

 the route passing over level lands, the 

 soil of which contains a good deal of 

 clay, and the sub-soil even more. — 

 Where this is the case, the ground is 

 dry, baked, and the crops are, without 

 exception, in a bad way. The wheat 

 was drowned in the winter and spring; 

 the early spring crops were sown when 

 the grounds were in bad order; and corn 

 was planted in adhesive mud, which by 

 subsequent rains, and hot weather, has 

 become baked and impervious to gentle 

 rains, and the roots can scarcely be 

 reached by atmospheric air. 



These lands, every year, in their 

 present conditio?!., are likely to he affected 

 in the same loay. 



Now, unless a new mode of cultiva- 

 tion is adopted and a new system of 

 rendering these soils friable and cultiva- 

 ble, is gone into — the occupants may 

 make up their minds to fail in making 

 good crops four years out of five; — and 

 they probably had better sell their fiirms 

 for what they can get for them and go 

 where there is no need of draining land, 

 or of giving it but little cultivation to 

 make their "hog and hominy." But 

 those locations will be found to be 

 scarce. 



I, however believe, that farms on 

 the tract I have described, can be 

 made productive and profitable. This 

 can be done by labor, governed by good 

 sense. For corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, 

 the rolling grounds should only be 

 used. Mellow grounds should bewoik- 

 ed when it can be done, should be drain- 

 ed and put into gi'asses for pasturing 

 and meadows. 



Here let me suggest that we should 

 thoroughly try the value of all the 

 grasses that succeed in other States. — 

 We know that clover, timothy and 

 blue grass will do; but few farmers know 

 the value of red top on low flat lands. — 

 In the eastern States, this gra?s is sown 

 with great advantage on such land. 

 Perennial rye or ray grass, sometimes 

 called English blue jrrass, has succeeded 

 in some localities better than either of 

 the named grasses. Philip V»'inenian, 

 Esq., on Sugar Creek, who has had it 



for the last four years, speaks of it as 

 most valuable for pastures — for early 

 and late feed, furnishing a very large 

 amount of feed, twice the amount of 

 blue grass — and also that it is a valuable 

 grass for hay. 



Some other favorable facts are to be 

 considered in reference to grass farms. 

 They do not require the amount of la- 

 bor that a grain farm does — and I am 

 confident that they are more profitable 

 than grain farms. 



I would be glad to liear from my 

 bi'other farmers in regard to the profit- 

 ableness of changing our grain crops 

 for grass crops. It is a subject of great 

 importance to our farmers. M. S. 



-«e»- 



Rcmarkablc Fountain in Florida. ; 



Taking a narrow path, we crossed 

 through some dense iinderAvood, and at 

 once stood on the banks of the Wakulla 

 Spring. There was a basin of water 

 one hundred yards in diameter, almost 

 circular. The thick bushes were almost 

 growing to the water's edge, and bowing 

 their heads under the unrippled snrface. 

 We stepped into a skiff and pushed off. 

 Some immense fishes attracted mj at- 

 tention, and I seized a spear to strike 

 them. The boatman laughed, and asked 

 me how far below the surface I suppos- 

 ed they were. I answered, about four 

 feet. He assured me they were at 

 least twenty feet from me; and it was 

 so. The water is of the most wonder- 

 ful transparency. Dropping an ordi- 

 nary pin in the water — forty feet deep 

 — we saw its head with perfect distinct- 

 ness as it lay on the bottom. As we 

 approached the centre, I noticed a jag- 

 gish, grayish limestone rock beneath 

 US, pierced with holes ; one seemed to 

 look into unfathomable depths. The 

 boat moved slowdy on, and now we hung 

 trembling over the edge of the sunken 

 cliff, and far below it lay a dark, yawn- 

 ing, unfathomable abyss. From its 

 gorge comes forth, with immense veloc- 

 ity, a living river. 



Pushing on just beyond its mouth, I 

 dropped a ten-cent piece into the water, 

 which is there one hundred and ninety 

 feet in depth, and I clearly saw it shin- 

 ing on the bottom. This seems incred- 

 ible. I think the water possessed a 

 magnifying power. I am confident that 

 the piece could not be seen so distinctly 

 from a tower one hundred and ninety 

 feet high. We rowed toward the north 

 side, and suddenly we perceived in the 

 water the fish which were darting hither 

 and thither, the long, flexible roots, and 

 the wild, luxuriant grass on the bottom, 

 all arrayed in the most beautiful pris- 

 matic hues. The gentle swell occasion- 

 ed by the boat gave to the whole an un- 

 dulating motion. Death-like stillness 

 rcigued arouiul, and a more fairy tjceue 

 I never beheld. 



