THE ILLIIsrOIS F^RIVIEK. 



333 



From the Frpei'ort Jcurnal. 



A Prairie Farm. 



In another place we mention the re- 

 ceipt of some large heads of wheat from 

 the farm of Wm. Shannon. Subse- 

 quent to that, on Saturday last, Mr. 

 Shannon came and invited us to ride 

 with him to his farm and see Avith our 

 own eyes -wliat sort of crops the prairie 

 in that section is producing — an invita- 

 tion which we accepted very cheerfully. 

 The day was a pleasant one for such a 

 trip — being just cloudy enough to make 

 it cool and delightful. Mr. Shannon's 

 farm lies twelve miles south west of the 

 city, in the heart of one of the most ex- 

 tensive prairies of north western Illinois. 

 To reach it, by the most direct route, we 

 took the Savanna road to a little past 

 Mr. Van Brochlin's on the Yellow Creek 

 and thence turned south, past Esquire 

 Turneare's, going in that direction about 

 five miles, until we reached hisf arm, 

 which lies upon that road, on the left. — 

 Some two miles this side of the farm we 

 passed a high point in the prairie, from 

 which, although the day was hazy, we 

 enjoyed a landscape view covering prob- 

 ably a broader extent of beautiful prai- 

 rie already for the plow of the husband- 

 man, than is afforded at any other place 

 in the country. The view extends for 

 miles in many directions, skirted on the 

 southwest by the Mississippi timber, on 

 the north by the Richland timber, with 

 Yellow Creek timber intervening, and on 

 the east and south with nothing but the 

 horizon, all the space being filled with as 

 handsome rolling prairie as ever was 

 made, dotted here and there with farm 

 houses, orchards and gardens, and half 

 covered with corn, wheat and other 

 grains. The person who has never look- 

 ed upon one of these prairie scenes, has 

 no idea of the west, nor can any notion 

 of the emotions it produces on beholding 

 it to be correctly conveyed by mere de- 

 scription. It must be seen to be appre- 

 ciated. Mr. Shannon's farm contains 

 640 acres — being just one mile square 

 — ^just a section of land. 



He become its owner last year, and 

 has but just commenced making improve- 

 ments and converting the prairie sod 

 that was, into a well tilled farm. "VYhen 

 he bought it, all but 170 acres of it, was 

 unbroken and unfenced prairie. During 

 the year, he has had the whole of it save 

 a few acres of meadow, broken up, has 

 had it all surrounded by a good post 

 and rail fence, has planted an orchard 

 of fruit trees, a grove of locusts, and is 

 rapidly changing its appearance from 

 that of a wild, to that of a pleasant 

 homestead. To the energy, tact, and 

 good sense of his tenant — Mr. Wm. 

 Wimer — is much of his success justly 

 due, as Mr. W. proves to be just the 

 man for this important place. He and 

 his enterprising lady, manage to carry 



on his large farm, with their family of 

 laborers, ranging in number from half a 

 dozen to forty, without giving cause for 

 any dissatisfaction. On the contrary, 

 everything is managed in that systematic 

 orderly way, that ensures harmony, and 

 conduces to the benefit of all concerned. 

 It was a fine sight, to look upon the 

 work progressing when we were there on 

 Saturday. The whole farm lies in sight 

 from the farm house, and as we stood at 

 that point, three reapers were in view, 

 with attending gangs of men, in three 

 different parts of the farm — one a full 

 mile distant in a southeast direction, 

 another perhaps half a mile, in an east- 

 erly course, and a third in a southwest 

 direction, three quarters of a mile away. 

 Still another gang of men wore at work 

 haying in the meadow bottom. Some 35 

 men were in employ at that time. Du- 

 ring the week, about 40 acres a day, of 

 wheat, had been cut, and the work of 

 stacking had commenced. Among the 

 stacks, was one which was larger than 

 any we had ever seen before. It con- 

 tained forty lai'ge loads of wheat, or 

 twelve thousand, three hundred and sixty 

 sheaves. At a fair calculation, it con- 

 tains 700 bushels of as good wheat as 

 ever grew. , 



Mr. "Wimer says that he is satisfied 

 that the 410 acres of Avheat on the place 

 will give an average yield of 22 bushels 

 to the acre. He ventures the assertion 

 after careful examination it will not vary 

 half a bushel from this estimate. Besides 

 the wheat, there are 150 acres of corn, 

 80 of oats, and 15 of barley. 20 acres 

 of corn failed for want of good seed, the 

 seed saved on the farm not proving quite 

 sufl5cient to plant all that it was finally 

 decided to plant. Where the seed did 

 not fail, the corn is as good a piece as we 

 have seen. It stands about nin'^ feet 

 high now, on an average, and if the sea- 

 son is favorable, must give a large yield. 

 Mr. Shannon has stocked the farm 

 with seven or eight teams, and furnished 

 it with agricultural implements to match. 

 We noticed a new threshing macbine, 

 rotatmcr, with double harrows, &c., &c. 

 As soon as harvest is finished, Mr. Wi- 

 mer said he should start the plows. It 

 will take eight teams, about six weeks, 

 of good favorable weather to finish that 

 job ! This gives some idea of the extent 

 of farming on such a scale. 



Mr. Shannon is a late resident of Lou- 

 isiana — but for all that, he is a man of 

 agricultural enterprise, and with the 

 abundant means at his command, will 

 do a great work of agriculture in our 

 midst. -He contemplates investing still 

 more largely in this enterprise, and in 

 spite of our detestation of his politics, 

 we congratulate our people upon the fact 

 that he has permanently settled -among 

 us, and will, with his capital and energy 

 contribute to our growth and prosperity. 



Fruits Increased in Size by the 

 Use of Copperas. — M. Dubreuil, a cel- 

 ebrated European horticulturalist, says 

 that it has been proven, **that melons 

 and various species of fruit trees, the 

 green parts of which had been watered 

 on several occasions with weak solu- 

 tion of sulphate of iron, yieldes much 

 larger fruits than those not so treated. '* 

 He adds: "One of my pupils repeated 

 the same experiment in 1854 and 1855 

 on pear trees. He gave the first water- 

 ing as soon as the fruits were fairly set, 

 in the end of June. He repeated the 

 moistening every fortnight, ie the even- 

 ing, in order to prevent eyaporation, 

 and that absorption wight be completely 

 efi'ected during the night. The solution 

 ' was at the rate of twenty-six grains ta a 

 quart for the grst three, and thirty- ffve 

 per vuart for the two last waterings. — 

 He sent us, in the end cf February, from 

 a tree thus treated, an Easter Beurre, so 

 large that it could scaecely be recogni- 

 zed. He obtained like results the fol- 

 lowing season. But we doubt whether 

 the results would not be still more suc- 

 cessful, if the fruits alone were moisten- 

 ed with the solution ; for then they only 

 would experience the stimulation of their 

 absorptive powers, and would thus draw 

 to themselves o much greater buantity of 

 sap, inasmuch as the absorption by the 

 leaves would be much less intense. 

 Experiments should therefore be made 

 with regard to this point." — Trnslaiion 

 Money i Magazine. 



lU 



Specific for Bugs on Vines. — Hav- 

 ing seen by your paper that many truck- 

 ers in your section are anxious to ascer- 

 tain a simple and sure remedy to destroy 

 bugs on sqashes. cucumbers, and the 

 like, I will give you one which is almost 

 a specific, and within the reach of eveiy 

 one, especially those living on the sea- 

 board. 



Procure fresh fish — of any kind what- 

 ever, the commonest and cheapest just 

 as good — a sufficient quantity accordmg 

 to circumstances, say one peck to a bar- 

 rel of water. Let them stand therein a 

 day or two, in order to commence de- 

 composition and emit their necessarily 

 unpleasant odor; then remove the barrel 

 to your patch, and with a watering-pot 

 go over your whole patch, just dampen- 

 ing the leaves. 



In addition to driving away the bugs, 

 your plants will become green and heal- 

 thy, and soon grow beyond the reach of 

 any future swarm of depredators. It 

 may be necessary to use the water two 

 or three times in the course of two weeks, 

 but remember that every application is 

 equivalent to a dressing of manure, which 

 will amply repay for the labor, which is 

 very trifling. Fresh fish offal is of 

 equal value with the fish. — v 

 Co. Gent. ■,'■'---:. 



B. B., in 



