jfKi'^e'eri^sT^' . 



THE ILLINOIS FA-RMEH. 



327 



enlarge their hearts toward all that is good 

 and beautiful in the world. It would form 

 a bond of attraction to the old homestead, 

 quite as strong as potatoc patches, and corn 

 fields. 



The trouble in many cases would be gmall 



as the groves are already grown, and the 

 fingers of the boys are itching to make the 

 boxes, and put them up, shall they have the 

 privile 



ge 



The Times. 



Editor of the Farmer : It is very certain 

 that the country is in great pecuniary diffi- 

 culty, and I would be glad to see the ques- 

 tion discussed — llow it came into this situa- 

 and how arc the people to get out of it? 



Now, my ftpinton is, that one great cause 

 for our present difficulties arose from good 

 crops of wheat, and high prices during the 

 Russian war. These high prices begat ex- 

 travagance in various ways. It induced persons 

 who had small farms, and were doing well to 

 increase their farms and to buy farms, blieving 

 that if they were clearing 820 on each 

 acre of their wheat, they would make at the 

 same rate if the farm fields, were quadrupled 

 in size. They bought lands, hired labor, 

 lived high in their families, (I mean they 

 lived a good many on the grocery and provis- 

 ion stores, and dealt liberally in dry goods,) 

 bent on improving, lost their crops, lost their 

 credit, and many of them their farms. 



But how arc we to get out of our difficul- 

 culties ? AVho can tell ! We have some 

 wheat to sell — beef and pork are falling, the 

 great staples of the country will not bring 

 their cost. "What can be done ? We know 

 of no step but by selling our pooduce for the 

 price we can get for it. If any portion of 

 it is sent to Europe, it must be sold by our 

 farmers very low — lower than than they can 

 affiard to raise it. We must go to work and 

 work hard, we must live on the food we raise, 

 we must wear our old clothes; we must sell 

 off portions of our farms; all the stock we 

 can; and we must pay every cent we can; — 

 and we must be content to do so for years to 

 come. 



But, will times for farmers never be better? 

 The prospect is, indeed, a bad one. The 

 importation of foreign goods will keep break- 

 ing down our manufacturers in the cast, and 

 the operators there will go to work and raise 

 their bread on their sterile lands or they will 

 come west, and here add to the amount of 

 produce for which we get so poor a market. 



I see but two ways to change the present 

 and perspective condition of things. One is 

 to reduce the price of labor to the condition 

 it is in Europe, so that our farmers can com- 

 pete with European farmers in their own 

 markets. Our people, however, do not like 

 the idea of working for 10, 15 and 20 cents 

 per day. That don't suit the American peo- 

 ple. 'J'hat don't please the foreign born cit- 

 izens, who came here to benefit their condi- 

 tion. But that is one of the ways in which, 

 after the country has been convulsed and 

 broken up, a state of things can be brought 

 al)OUt by which we can compete with Euro- 

 pean farmers. 



There is another remedy, but politicians 

 .nterfere here to prevent its being carried 

 Ufcet. It is governmental protection to 

 ^'nable our people to manufacture goods to 



meet the wants of the country — thus keep- 

 ing our money at home — giving employ- 

 ment to our people, and furnishing a hoiiie 

 market for the produce of our farms. 



I believe that one of these two systems 

 must be adopted or years must pass before 

 we shall have any permanent relief. W. 



Strawberry Culture. 



The following practical article on this 

 subject was prepared by a correspondent of 

 the Connecticut Homestead: 



There is, yet, a good deal of mystery and 

 doubt in the minds of manv, in regard to 

 the successful cultivation of the strawberry. 

 Some of the theories put forth on this sub- 

 ject involve it in still greater obscurity. One 

 for instance, tells us that the ground should 

 be trenched two or three feet deep, and well 

 filled with manure. Another object to all 

 kinds of animal manure recommending ashes 

 and leaf mold; and a third lays great stress 

 on the efficacy of tan bark. 



Now, instead of trenching the ground two 

 and a half feet deep, at an expense of $500 

 an acre, as a man recently did not a hundred 

 miles from New Haven, or ran-sacking the 

 forests for leaf-mold, the best and simplest 

 way is to prepai'e the ground as we do for 

 any other hoed crop, corn, we will say, ap- 

 plying any kind of animal manures which 

 are at hand, and using any kind of land that 

 will give good crops of corn. 



GARDEN CLLTURE. 



For garden culture, August is the best 

 time to start abed. Our plan is to plow or 

 fork in manure euough to get seventy or 

 eighty bushels of corn to the acre. After 

 harrowing and making mellow, we mark off 

 into rows two feet apart, and set the plants 

 one foot apart in the row. If the weather is 

 hot and dry, they are watered and perhaps 

 shaded. The plants are kept well hoed in 

 the fall, and stimulated with soap-suds or 

 liquid manure, and if attended to will make 

 runners, and form beds or belts a foot wide 

 by winter. They are then mulched with 

 straw, and if it is not blown ofi" they will 

 need no mora attention until after picking. 

 They are then cleaned out, and kept free 

 from runners until fall. We then give them 

 a top-dressing of manure, and mulch as be- 

 fore. 



The next season, after bearing, it is gen- 

 erally best to fork up the alleys and part of 

 the beds, leaving a narrow belt of plants to 

 fill up with runners. After these are set 

 the belt of old plants are forked under, and 

 this used as an alley. 



If pistillate plants are used, we set one 

 fifth of staminate to fertilize them, commen- 

 cinir with a staminate on the outside then five 

 rows of pistilate, then a staminate, and so 

 on. 



Field Culture. 



For field culture, or where we cultivate by 

 the acre, our method is somewhat different. 

 In this case the plants are set in April. — 

 Green-sward will do for this, if carefully turn- 

 ed under, and the top made mellow. But 

 we prefer land that has been used under a 

 hoed crop the 3'ear previous. We manure 

 and plow under the same as for garden cul- 

 ture, harrow and roll it, and then mark off 

 into rows four feet apart; wo set the plants 

 from eighteen inches to three foet apart in 

 the row; three feet is near enough for the 



strongest growers, while the less ram{)ant 

 varieties will need to be set nearer, the object 

 being to get the beds well filled with plants, 

 and at the same time avoid the necessity of 

 thinning out. We keep them clean with 

 the cultivator and hoe until July. After 

 that the hoe only is used — letting them form 

 beds three f^t wide. Should the soil be 

 gravelly, or of such a nature that it will not 

 hold manure, a good plan is to manure it 

 just enough in the spring to ensure a good 

 gtowth of plants, reserving the remainder for 

 a top-dressing in the fall. This is an excel- 

 lent protection from the frosts of winter, and 

 the spring rains will carry the soluble parts 

 to the roots of the plants, at the very time 

 they most need it. For field culture, we 

 never get two crops in succession on the 

 same piece of land. We think it cheaper to 

 start a new plat than to clean and take care 

 of the old one. When plants are set in the 

 spring, the fruit stems should be cut ofi" if 

 we wish to have them make runners. 



Early Corn. 



3Ir. Editor : — I recollect that last 

 spring, in view of the scarcity of corn, 

 that you recommended the plantintj ot 

 early corn, so as to promise food early in 

 the fall for fattening and feeding stock. 



Some days since (14th August,) I 

 passed the farm of Mr. Howlet, a few 

 miles North of Springfield, and North of 

 Sangamon river, where I found a large 

 field of eight-rowed yellow northern 

 plant, and also another large field of 

 King Phillip corn, perfectly hard and 

 ripe; and what most agreeable and aston- 

 ishing to me was, that the yellow flint 

 corn had produced, as estimated by the 

 neighbors, eighty-five bushels, and the 

 King Phillip one hundred and twenty- 

 five bushels of corn to the acre. The 

 crops are wonderful, indeed; and Mr. 

 Howlet has at this -time ample supplies 

 of corn for feeding and fattening stock. 

 He intended to have a lot of the corn 

 ground into the meal at once. 



Here is a practical illustration of the 

 benefits of sometimes going out of the old 

 beaten taack in farming. 



The Yellow Flint and King Phillip 

 corn, used for seed by Mr. Hawlet was 

 grown in this country the previous sea- 

 son. These varieties now are thorough- 

 ly acclimated, and all farmers who desire 

 an early crop for fall feeding, or to take 

 oflT the land for seeding down to wheat 

 or grasses, can hereafter procure seed 

 from Mr. Howlet. A. 



-«»• 



§,owing Timoihy. 



Mr. Editor: — I am satisfied that wo 

 do not cultivate the grasses as we ought to 

 in this country. They furnish a very cer- 

 tain crop, and with little labor. I have 

 neglected my own interest in not extending 

 my meadows. I desire to do this, and I ask 

 farmers who have had experience in raising 

 timothy, what is the best time to sow the 

 seed so as to be sure of-a crop. Among 

 your readers I have no dor.bt that many can 

 \ answer this inquiry, and much oblige, F. 



