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324 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



wool growing. It always lius paid well hero; 

 and uow when tlic cereals are at a very low 

 price, wool-growers are making handsome 

 profits. 



Sangamon county is famous for good 

 swine. We have the best stock in the Uni- 

 ted States. We have no doubt but that the 

 swinish heard will be well represented at the 

 fair; and farmers of this and the adjacent 

 counties will have a capital opportunity of 

 purchasing fine animals. 



Wc want a full exhibition in the Ladies' 

 Department — but cpecially we want a better 

 representation than we have ever had of the 

 Agricultural products of Sangamon county. 

 Let us have nuniero\is specimens of potatoes, 

 sweet potatoes, corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, 

 buckwheat, squashes, pumpkins, melons, 

 sugar cane syrup and sufj^ar, Hungarian grass 

 seed, clover seed, timothy seed. We want 

 the young men to do their best to fill up this 

 department. 



13ut our article is becoming long. Wo 

 must close it. No entrance fees are charged 

 and the premiums are good. The plate can 

 now be seen at Chatterton's. We want 3,000 

 exhibitors. We want every farmer, and 

 farmer's wife, and farmer's boys and girls to 

 bring something. Help to swell up the 

 good agricultural character of old Sangamon. 



One word more. The grounds of the fair 

 will be greatly improved and beautified. 



Old Sangamon Forever. 



Good Corn. 



Mr. Editor: I am getting rid of some 

 of tlie old notions wliicli we western men 

 have about farming. I know our soils are 

 rich and will lust, no telling how long, with 

 proper care; but mj experience is entirely 

 satisfactory upon tnat point, that no soil 

 feels the virtues of manure better than ours. 

 I have tried it and know this fact. Last 

 spring I manured a part of my cornfield; I 

 put the manure on the poorest part of my 

 field, which was a knoll, aad where the soil 

 was thinnest. Now the land on which this 

 manure was placed, is burdened with the 

 heaviest crop of corn I ever did ^ee. I will 

 not undertake to tell how much is growinsr 

 on an acre; but its appearance is wonderful 

 indeed. On the other land of this field, 

 which was not manured, I have fair corn — 

 good for the season. 



I shall not, hereafter, as it is said Illinois 

 farmers have done, move my stables to get 

 clear of my manure. I shall put it upon my 

 land. I shall be careful to save all I can, 

 and if my neighbors, who do not belicre in 

 manuring will let me, I will ha-l from their 

 piles. 



Why, sir, is it not much plcasanter to 

 gather a thousand bushels of corn from ten 

 acres, than from twenty or twenty-five — 

 better to get three tons of timothy from an 

 acre than one ton ? 



Let me digress a moment. Many farmers 

 have sighed because they had not large 

 farms. Let mc tell the small farmer, with- 

 out much means, that he is better off with a 

 small farm than a large one — that such a 

 farmer is richer with a small farm than with 

 a large one, strange as it may appear. On a 

 small farm, well cultivated, he can make 

 more money; on a large farm, half cultivated 



and which re([uircs hired help, he is very 

 likely to lose money. 



Mr. Editor, I like to read the articles in 

 the Farmer, on thorough cultivation. This 

 cannot be done at once, but we can do a 

 great deal. We can surface-drain our 

 grounds; wc can plow deep, if we can make 

 them dry by draining; we can put our seeds 

 in well; and we can attend to the after cul- 

 ture. We can get, with proper cultivation, 

 as much from one acre ot'land, as we do now 

 from three. Forty acres of land well culti- 

 vated Avill re<iuire a large amount of labor — 

 and will pay better than if the same amount 

 of labor was expended on one hundred and 

 twenty acres. Therefore, our farmers need 

 not be ambitious to have large farms. In 

 f^ict many farvners would consult tlieir own 

 interest by selling half their farms, and 

 using the money to stock and improve the 

 land, that will then remain to them, I 

 apeak now, of course, of farms of mixed lius- 

 bandry, where vaiious crops and stock are 



raised. ~ Wolf Creek. 



■■« 



Whisky. 



Editor of the Farmer : — Whisky is 

 well known to be the product of corn. — 

 This is almost entirely the case in the 

 West. Pure whisky is not destructive 

 to life. It makes a fool of and ruins a 

 man, but generally a drinker of pure 

 whisky lives out half tns days. 



In times past whisky generally sold 

 for about twenty-three cents per gallon. 

 This was when corn was worth fifteen 

 cents per. bushel. Corn is now worth 

 seventy cents, and yet wliisky is sold at 

 near the old rates. 



Persons, hoAvovcr, who are drinking, 

 whisky now exhibit the proof that it is 

 not the article of old times. Go to one 

 of the low groceries and two drams of 

 whisky will make a man drunk, invaria- 

 bly, so much so that he is robed with 

 perfect impunity. Many men from the 

 country have come to this city, with 

 money in their pockets, have gone to the 

 grocery, drank once or twice, and after- 

 wards found themselves on their backs, 

 where for a time, they lay dead drunk 

 waked up to find thoir pockets empty their 

 heads stoild; or, which is perhaps, often- 

 cr the case, after having drunk, are 

 thrust out in the streets, to make their 

 way home, or to the calaboose — to be 

 brought up next day before a police jus- 

 tice and undergo the degrading opera- 

 tion of being fined for getting drunk ! 



Now I wish to come at the point of 

 this communication. Why is it that 

 whisky sells at the same price now that 

 it did when corn was worth fifteen cents 

 per bushel; and why is it that it has the 

 effects we have stated upon the persons 

 who drink it V 



The answer is this : Corn makes no 

 more pure whisky now than it did fifteen 

 years ago; but it is drugged Avith tobac- 

 co, Coccolus Tndietts and Strychnine, or 

 some other drugs, so that one barrel f)f 

 whisky as it comes from the distillery, will 



make several; and this drugged stuff is 

 what makes drunkards now. There is 

 no wonder that men are brutalized and 

 made miserable by the articles that would 

 kill dogs and wolves, and thrown into 

 the river, set all the finny tribes crazy 

 with its influence. 



This is the stuff, fellow farmers, that 

 is offered you to drink at these establish- 

 ments, which would rob you of your 

 money, your reputation, and would steal 

 from the mouths of your wives and chil- 

 dren the food on which they live. 



A Warning. 



Galls and Wounds on Horses. 



Galls on the Skin. — A horse newly 

 put to work, and working in a new harness 

 or under a new saddle, which touches parts 

 not inured to the pressure, is very likely to 

 have the skin on the back and shoulders 

 abraded. 



Unless there is an ab-solute necessity for 

 the animal to be used, he should in all cases, 

 be allowed a few days rest, that the wound 

 may heal and become somewhat hard; even 

 then, until tho hair has fairly grown out, 

 the greatest care must be used to see that 

 the change of the harness is entirely obvia- 

 ted, as when the skin is in the least sore it 

 is peculiarly susceptible to irritation. When 

 a gall is fresh and bleeding, nothing will soon 

 dry it and cause it to ciatraie, as a little dry 

 table salt sprinkled upon it. 



After the wound is in a measure healed 

 if it be absolutely necessary to use the 

 horse, a careful examination of the harness 

 or saddle should be made, and padding 

 should be taken out, or parts of the leather 

 removed, to prevent any part of it from 

 touching the wound. To prevent friction, 

 when caused by the saddle or collar, there is 

 nothing so useful as a piece of raw sheepskin 

 worn with the Jtesh side next to the horse. 

 In riding long journeys, it is the safest plan 

 to have such protection always under the 

 saddle. 



If the chafing is caused by loose straps 

 striking and rubbing against the skin, they 

 should be covered with sheep skin having its 

 woolly side turned towards the horse. 



Saddle galls are unlikely to occur, if the 

 saddle fits the back, and is left on the horse 

 for at least one liour (and it had better re- 

 main on two or three hours) after he is put 

 into the stable. If convenient, he should be 

 saddled half an hour before going out, as it 

 is much better that the saddle should become 

 warm, or slightly softened by the insensible 

 penspiration of the back, before the rider's 

 weight is put upon it. 



The following is a good lotion for galls of 

 the skin : 



Sal ammoniac, 1 ounce. 

 Vinegar, 4 ounces. 

 Spirits of wine, 2 ounces. 

 Tincture of arnica, 2 drachms. 

 Water, half a pint. Mix. 



If no other remedy is used, a mixture of 

 burnt leather, gunpowder and lard should 

 be occasionally rubbed on the gall to prevent 

 the growth of white hair. 



Sit-fasts, and their treatment, are thus 

 described by Stonehenge : 



