^r?!'^^- 



, - . s-r';o»5!«-KT't5^^g|5^(;^7Brf F??wip?^s!rT^^ 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



345 



Let ns Look at Home! 



Yes, brother farmers, laborers and 

 mechanics, let us look at home a little. 

 How much of our present suffering, from 

 our pecuniary concerns, arises from our 

 neglect of household economy? "We 

 fear much of it. 



In the last Farmer we gave our views 

 on that subject. We see that the article 

 has been copied into many of the news- 

 papers of our State, showing that our 

 views are held by many others. But the 

 question is, what is to be done now? 



If we are in debt, let us sell all we 

 can for money, even at a sacrifice, and 

 pay our debts. If we have produce 

 don't wait for better prices. They are 

 not likely to come; and if they should 

 come, still it would be better for you to 

 sacrifice something, pay your merchant, 

 so that he may pay others. The very 

 clothes some of you wear, and the food 

 that you have eaten long since, belonged 

 to others, whose very homes are to be 

 sacrificed because you do not pay them 

 their dues. There is a moral principle 

 about this thing, too, that is worth some- 

 thing to the conscientious. If you have 

 the means to pay, and don't pay, what 

 is your condition "in the eyes of Him 

 with whom you have to do?'* 



That is not all we must do. We must 

 economize. We can live at one half the 

 expense it has usually cost us. Per- 

 haps, at one quarter the expense. Study 

 economy at home. Save all you can. 

 And more than this — farmers would do 

 well to consider whether they .are more 

 happier now than when their cloths were 

 made in their families — than when they 

 made and brought butter and cheese to 

 market — and woolen socks and linseys 

 and janes. A farm should be held to be 

 an independent government, as far as 

 it can be — and every article of common 

 necessity should be manufactured at 

 home, if possible. This used to be the 

 creed of farmers — and did it not pay? 

 Did you not get along better when you 

 practised it? What is your condition 

 under the system of free trade that you 

 have been following for the last three 

 years? Free trade has injured you at 

 home, and has injured us a nation. 

 While we are suffering the present 

 pecuniary pressure — while our crops will 

 not pay the cost of production — we are 

 buvingthe pork and wheat ami potatoes 

 of English farmers, which make a part 



of the cost of getting up their dry 

 goods and other articles imported here. 

 Let our families try the protective tariff 

 at home — "taboo" the gimcracks of 

 foreign manufactures — live on their own 

 productions; witness the effects of this 

 home policy, and then they can appre- 

 ciate the value of the principle applied 

 to our nation. 



We are aware that it is not a very 

 good policy for a preacher to scold the 

 steady church-goers in order to reach 

 those of his flock who stay away from 

 church. The readers of the ^armer^ 

 we hope, are not affected by the pecunia- 

 ry distress general in the country — that 

 they have been cautious and prudent 

 through the last three years. If so, we 

 shall rejoice with them, but we are appre- 

 hensive that this has not been universal- 

 ly the case; and our remarks are made 

 In all kindness, with the view of doing 

 good. 



Chinese Sngar Caae. 



We have no doubt that the sugar cane 

 will become a staple crop in Illinois ; but 

 it will be a work of time. This cane 

 can Jbe made to pay well — better than 

 corn or wheat now does ; but to do this 

 we must have experience and knowledge 

 of the proper manner, and proper ma- 

 chinery for working it up. We can ea- 

 sily, with simple apparatus satisfy our- 

 selves of the rich qualities of its juice, 

 and we can make a palatable article of 

 syrup ; but we must have with knowledge 

 and experience, good mills and evapora- 

 tors to insure success. The experiments 

 of Mr. Lovering, last year, near Phila- 

 delphia, were altogether successful, ma- 

 king superior syrup and sugar, and in 

 quantities to pay. In our own State, in 

 many localities, there was not as much 

 seed planted last spring as in the spring 

 previous, growing out, as we suppose, of 

 the fact, that imperious necessity re- 

 quired the farmer's attention to ordinary 

 crops. In the northern part of the 

 State, we regret to say, that much of 

 the cane was injured by the frosts on the 

 4th and 5th. The cane, however, is a 

 hardier plant than corn, and much of it 

 is still maturing and will make syrup. 



At the recent State Fair there were 

 many mills and evaporators on exhibi- 

 tion. Cane was brought from near Pa- 

 na, to give them a trial. This was done 

 by a competent committee, and their re- 



port, to be found in this paper, will show 

 the reader the results of their investiga- 

 tions. 



Mr. Hedges (of the firm of Hedges, 

 Free & Co., Cincinnati,) informs us that 

 he has sold the present season, and is 

 selling a large number of evaporators. 

 The cultivation of the sugar cane seems 

 to be rapidly increasing in some sections 

 of the West. 



«» • * 



Moro " flumbuggery." 



Last spring we exposed the humbug- 

 gery attempted to be practised on our 

 farmers, and which was to some extent 

 on those who did not take agricultural 

 papers, in the vile swindle of selling the 

 seed of the Hungarian Millet for ''Hon- 

 ey Blade Grass." There are men, now, 

 who, as we have said before, are open- 

 ing their eyes in wonder at the discov- 

 ery that their Honey Blade Grass turns 

 out to be Hungarian Millet ! Marvelous 

 discovery to be sure ! 



The same party who got up the Hun- 

 garian Grass sw indle (and which they 

 so successfully practised on that class of 

 farmers who affect to consider themselves 

 too wise to read agricultural papers,) 

 are again attempting to impose on the 

 public. They have got up a medicine 

 for trees — fruit and other trees. They 

 call it "Tyler's Tree Permeating 

 Powder." They say an application of 

 this powder kills bugs and insects on 

 fruit and other fruit trees, shrubbery 

 and plants. An incision is to be made 

 in the tree and the powder is to be put 

 into it. The originator of this humbug 

 proposes to send powder enough for 

 thirty trees for one dollar. Professor 

 Johnson has analyzed this powder. It 

 is nothing but calomel. It may physic 

 and kill the trees and shrubs, and the 

 fruit if any is yielded, may, physic chil- 

 dren ; but the whole is an arrant hum- 

 bug, by which no sensible man should 

 be swindled. 



Sugar Mill. — A large sugar mill has 

 been erected near Pana, by A. Folsom, 

 Esq., formerly a West India sugar plan- 

 ter, at an expense, as we are told, of 

 many thousand dollars. We hope he 

 will have everything in order — cane, 

 wood, mill and experienced workmen — 

 to make the enterprise profitable — in 

 which case he will do much for himself 

 and his country. 



K 



-J 

 ■4. 



% 



