330 



THE ILLINOIS F^HMEH. 



Items. 

 Tawke's Steam Plow is to be exhibi- 

 ted in New York on the 21st of Septem- 

 ber; and to make experiments in ptow- 



ing. 



Timothy Seed does well if sowed, the 

 present month. We know farmers who 

 intend to prepare ground purposely for 

 seeding down with timothy. Thorough 

 cultivation pays well with this grass. 



Orchards can be planted out in the 

 fall to advantage, if the ground is dry, 

 rollinf; — so much so that the roots of his 

 trees will not stand in water in the win- 

 ter. Apple trees three years old are of 

 a good size. They should-not remain 

 out of ground but a few days, if pos- 

 sible, though well packed. This fact 

 should induce our farmers to purchase 

 trees from the Illinois Nurseries. 



Strawberry grounds can be laid out 

 and planted this month. If the fall 

 season is favorable after setting out, 

 they will bear some next season. The 

 year after they will produce a full crop. 

 Among the best strawberries are the 

 Early Scarlet, the Hudson, M'Avoy's 

 Superior, and Hooker and Wilson's 

 Seedlings. The latter is a very produc- 

 tive sort, large and beautiful, but very 

 acid. 



Boys should now be selecting articles 

 for exhibition at the County Fairs. — 

 Have they not fine specimens of corn, 

 potatoes, fruit, melons — calves and 

 colts ? Take such to the fair, boys. 



Save your seed corn. Go into your 

 fields and select the earliest, largest and 

 best ears. Select from the different var- 

 ieties you have planted. Few farmers 

 now plant only one kind. There were 

 some varieties ripe enough to feed at the 

 commencement of last month — an object 

 with some who had no old corn. 



Don't expect to make good crops of 

 wheat without you prepare your ground 

 and put in the seed well, — and more es- 

 pecially if you sow your wheat on old 

 ground. The plan of half plowing your 

 land, half harrowing it, sowing the seed 

 broadcast, and leaving the ground in a 

 condition to be covered by water next 

 winSer — ivontpay. 



It would be well to recollect that 

 grounds for spring wheat, oats and 

 spring barley, ought to be plowed well 

 in the fall. Next spring plow it shallow 

 early, and put in your seed, and you 



Avill be very likely to have good crops. 



Is'nt it a' fact the present season, that 

 the earliest planted corn is the best ? A 

 report from the office of the Society of 

 the Farmer's College in Iowa, states, 

 that the best crops of corn raised in 

 Iowa last season were from grounds 

 tvliich had been plowed very deejpy — say 

 ten to twelve inches ! 



Potatoes are very fine in this section 

 of the State, but the yield is small to the 

 acre, not more than seventy-five bushels. 



—'- 



Cut Worms and Corn Grubs. — 

 Doubtless salt is the best remedy for this 

 nuisance. Horace Greely (in a letter 

 which we find in the Working Farmer, 

 with a note by the editor, advising lime 

 and salt mixture — by which we under- 

 stand quick lime slacked with a strong 

 lime — instead of salt alone — we doubt 

 its being any better) advises its use. — 

 Salt alone we have used with 'first rate' 

 results — sixteen bnshels to the acre 

 broadcast and harrowed in before plant- 

 ing. It is valuable as manure as a weed 

 destroying agvnt, and as thoroughly dis- 

 agreeable and in considerable measure 

 destructive to cut worms, and grubs. 

 Mr. Greely writes thus : 



"Mr. Charles Bctts, in the OJdo Far- 

 mer^ of this date, says there is no remedy 

 for the cut worm in green sward corn, 

 but killing the vernnn separately, — a 

 tedious and repulsive operation — that 

 "it is worse than a waste of time to ap- 

 ply any nostrums, however strongly ad- 

 vised and recommended.'' I hold a dif- 

 ferent opinion, and ask your readers, 

 who may this year be troubled with cut 

 worms, to give the "nostrums'* each a 

 fair trial. Mine is as follows : 



Tiie moment you perceive that the cut 

 worm is at work in your young corn, ride 

 to the nearest point at which salt can be 

 had, (fine, I should prefer, but a dirty, 

 refuse article will do as well as the clean- 

 est and dearest, ) and with this salt, sow 

 your corn field lightly, avoidmg the ten- 

 der corn blades, so far as practicable. 

 Treat half you field in this way, the resi- 

 due as Mr. Betts advises, and await the 

 result. If the salted corn should seem 

 burnt at the ends of the leavos, never 

 mind that — the corn will be good not- 

 withstanding. When you come to hoe 

 if you find any wire-worms in the salted 

 corn, give your corn field another mod- 

 erate sprinkling with salt. Charge the 

 cost of the salt and sowings respectively 

 to the land covered by it; and the cost 

 of the worm killing to the other piece, in 

 like manner. If you find some stalks 

 killed by the salt, when you come to hoe 



the first time, replace them by replanting. 

 Measure the product of the two fields, 

 separately, at or after harvest, if the 

 salted portion does not yield more and 

 better corn than the other, say I was 

 mistaken, and that Mr. Betts understands 

 killiniT wire-worms better than 

 Yours, ever, 

 Harace Greeley. — Neiv York. 



Washington's Habits as a Farmer. 

 — Washington was an early riser — often be- 

 fore day -break in winter when the ni<!;hts 

 were long. On such occasions he made hi» 

 own fire, and wrote by candle-light. He 

 kept his own farm accounts, posted up his 

 books, and all the articles produced on his 

 farm and sent to market, were got up in 

 order. He breakfasted at seven in the 

 morning in summer, and at eight in winter. 

 Two small cups of tea and three or four cakes 

 of Indian meal, formed his frugal repast. — 

 Immediately after breakfast he mounted bis 

 horse and visited these parts of his farm 

 where work was going on, or work was re- 

 quired, lie had his dinner at two. He ate 

 heartly of plain food. Ilis drink was small 

 beer or cider and tv»o glasses of old Maderia. 

 He took tea early in the evening, and retired 

 for the niy;ht about nine o'clock. 



J8@°" Elderberries are about ripe. These 

 make good cordial and wine, and dried, mixed 

 with Zante currents, make excellent pies. — 

 They are dried in great quantities, and made 

 an article of commerce. 



JB®"- C. II. Grifiith, of Shelby county, 

 writes to the Prairie Farmer, ''that he has 

 in his possession ahead of wheat, which has 

 both wheat and chess on the same stem on 

 which it grew." 13y all means send that 

 specimen to the State Fair for examination. 



liC%- It is understood that the Southern 

 Horticultural society oflUinais, will be well 

 represented m the Horticultural department 

 at the State Fair. N. D. Ingraham, Esq., 

 the active corresponding secretary, is visiting 

 different portions of southern Illinois, with a 

 view of securing a large stock of fruit of that 

 for exhibition. 



85^ Persons who desire to cultivate black- 

 berry plants should bear in mind that the best 

 berries always grow in the shade. 



B@„ We are satisfied that the wheat crop 

 in Central Illinois is not yielding, on thresh- 

 ing, one half the amount anticipated at the 

 Close of the harvest. 



5*3°" Lloyd Shaw, Esq., of Tremont, sold 

 ' from his grounds the present season, one 

 I hundred and forty bushels of strawberries. 



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