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V; 



VOL. lY. 



SPRINGFIELD, DECEMBER, 1859. 



NO. 12. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY, 



BT 



BAITHACliE « BAKER. 



JOURNAL OFFICE SPRINQFIELD, ILL 



<•» 



S. FRANCIS, Editor. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. 



One copy, one year, in advance ..m... .$1 00 



Five copies, " " „ 3 75 



Ten " and one to the person getting op clnb 7 5o 



Fifteen copibs and over 62^ cents each, andone to person 

 getting up club. 



CABB BITES or ADVIRTIelNO : 



One dollar per sqaare of ten lines, each insertion. 



CONTENTS. 



Hedging „ _ „369 



Sweet PotatoePie 373 



^DQlftD inOBl IrQiiB****** .,.••, ■•■••■••••■••■•••••••^••••••••••••■■•••••••■dTS 



Shiftless Tricks...... 374 



Fall Plowing 374 



Fowls _ .^376 



Dot Cross Bans i 376 



Heaves in Horses .j. ., 375 



The last Farmer of the year ., „ 376 



December 376 



Fall Plowing 377 



The Donble Michigan Plow as a Prairie Brealier 377 



Orchard and Qarden 378 



The Year 1859. > 378 



The November Edition of the Farmer 379 



Fawkes' Steam Plow 379 



Annnal Meeting ef the Stat« Horticultural Society 379 



Pratt's Ditcher ...........379 



To the Farmers of Illinois .........379 



Fairbank's Scales 379 



Planting Bnlbs ,i^^^ 379 



A.Dont Corn. ■■■•■•••*••■•■■••••••■••••*••«••• ■••■•■■•••••••«»«%«ii»«»«»«*««««JooU 



Raising Cattle on the Prairies '.i.. 380 



Seed Saving .... — 3S1 



Chester county Breed of Hogs .- .381 



How io Detect Imperfect vision or Blindness in Hor8e8...3S2 



Milk which does not yield Butter.....t,». 882 



Propagation of the lilackberry .....> „.383 



Markets. ., 383 



ADVERTISEMENTS. 



A limited number of advertisements (of suit- 

 able character) will be received. There is no 

 better medium of commuDicatiDg with the agri- 

 cultural classes than by putting an advertise- 

 ment in uur oulumns. This is essentially the 

 Farmers' paper, and is ciioulated extensively 

 among the farms and nureeries of Central 

 and Southern Illinois. 



a®"Letter8 on business tbould be directed to 

 ''Publishers Illinois Farmer, Springfield, Illi- 

 nois. 



HEDGING. ■ -^^^^^^^ ■-: 

 This is an increasingly important sub- 

 ject. No more doubt exists in regard to 

 the excellence and durability of the Osage 

 Orange as a Hedge Plant; and that it 

 can bo grown into a good hedge — a per- 

 fect protection against stock — is certain. 

 The winter is the time for farmers to 

 make calculations for the future. Farms 

 must be fenced, — a vast deal of the cap- 

 ital expended in farming is used in fenc- 

 ing the land. How shall that be done in 

 the cheapest and best manner? These 

 are questions very properly to be con- 

 sidered by farmers at this^ season of the 

 year. ;/ f -.; // 



We again refer to Sedging. The fol- 

 lowing article says about all that can be 

 said on the subject. It is long — partic- 

 ular — demonstrates the advantages of 

 Hedge fences, and the proper mode of 

 cultivating them. Let a farmer be guid- 

 ed by this essay in growing hedge, and 

 he has nothing to fear. 



' ON HEDGE FENCE". 



Bt C. R. OVERKAJC, ^/'resident of tht State HoirUaiUurdl 

 tociety, 



INTRODUCTION. ■; 



In making a prairie farm, it will be 

 readily admitted that the most important 

 item, and the one involving the heaviest 

 outlay, is the erection of a secure and 

 permanent fence, without which no man 

 can be completely "lord of his own 

 soil." 



The history of fencing is coeval with 

 that of agriculture, the oldest of the 

 ■arts. :■ . ;■; 



Anciently, men built cities, and sur- 

 rounded them with huge fences or walls, 

 to guard them against the ferocity of 

 their neighbors; the most stupendous of 

 which were the walls of Babylon, sixty 

 miles in circuit, eighty-seven feet thick, 

 and over three hundred feet high. Pow- 

 erful nations have even been known to 

 build fences on a vast scale, for the same 

 purpose; for example, the Chinese wall, 

 built to prevent the incursions of the 



Tartars, fifteen hundred miles long, 

 twenty-four feet high, and of great 

 thickness. Its cost must have been in- 

 calculable, and yet, though it has with- 

 stood the storms of two thousand years, 

 this *'fence" did not prove eflfectual 

 against the unruly Tartars. The races 

 of mankind have so far progressed in 

 peace and good order as to render such 

 expensive fencing no longer necessary. 



On the other hand, the domestic ani- 

 mals, 80 essential to the welfare of civil- 

 ized man, require the same restraint 

 they were subject to in the primitive 

 ages of the world. And so, to the end 

 of time, will the noble horse, the gentle 

 kine, the flocks and herds, concomi- 

 tants of civilization, require to be fenced 

 in or out. We shall never consent to 

 be without them, though their presence 

 pre-supposes the perpetual necessity of 

 fences to restrain them. Since then, it 

 is settled that we must have fences, is 

 becomes an important query to all con- 

 cerned, what kind of fence will be the 

 most expedient? In solving this ques- 

 tion, tLree items are generally consider- 

 ed: Ist — the availability of material. — 

 2d — the cost of construction, and 3d — 

 the efficiency and permanence of the 

 fence. Timber, stone and iron have been 

 most commonly employed for the pur- 

 pose in our country, but the first, in a 

 great variety of forms, composes, per- 

 haps, over nine-tenths of «4 the fences 

 in the Union. 



So, in nearly all agricultural coun- 

 tries, wooden fences are generally used, 

 until that material becomes too scarce or 

 too valuable for such uses, when recourse 

 must be had to some other means. It 

 appears that England was the first coun- 

 try to adopt the expedient of live fenc- 

 ing., and in no other part of the globe 

 have hedges been brought to greater 

 perfection. From time immemorial they 

 have constituted the charm of the rural 

 districts of England, where they form, 

 not only the most effective and secure 

 fences, but impart to the landscape a 

 richness of finish which nothing else can 

 equal. There they take great pride in 

 their hedges, and bestow upon them 



v.* 





