THE ILLIN^OIS F-^RMiER. 



377 



browned brow of the farmer was mois- 

 tened by the sweat of labor, that when 

 winter called for the summer stores, that 

 December could give response, and show 

 in her keeping the necessities and luxu- 

 ries that should make winter one of the 

 pleasant seasons of the year. 



The planting is over, the cultivator 

 and the hoe are resting in masterly in- 

 activity, the grain and vegetables are 

 harvested and naught but the tassellated 

 corn waves its banner to the autumn 

 wind, and reflects back the faint glare of 

 the December sun from the golden ears. 

 The plow is still busy turning under the 

 russet remnants of the summer's growth, 

 and preparing for the new year that will 

 Boon be ushered in, when the frost king 

 will assert his sway and march down our 

 prairie glades and through the leafless 

 forests, bridging the streams with chrya- 

 tal ice — crumbling down yonder ledge, 

 solidifying the clays and preparing 

 them to yield their elements of fertility. 

 How much of the labors of the year is 

 garnered up in December? How much 

 of the future will depend upon its in- 

 tegrity, how much of squalid want will 

 it relieve, and how many peons of praise 

 will go up for him who has paid tribute 

 to this month and bent down at its 

 shrine? December, the richest month 

 of the year, crowned with glories of the 

 ripened harvest, the great steward of 

 winter, of which Cowper has well said — 



"I crown thee King of iutimata delights 

 Fireside enjoymeuts, home born happioesi 

 And all ibHcotnfurtB uf the lowly roof 

 Of UDdisturbed retirement, and the hours 

 Of long unioterrupled evenluga knows " 



The busy season is over, the long 

 social evenings are at hand — the prairie 

 fires are lapping up the russett setting 

 of the landscape and exposing its chared 

 surface to the rude blast of the north. 

 The winds of winter may rave and roar, 

 the snow and sleet may pour down in 

 eddying drifts, but the farmer's fireside 

 should present a picture of contentment 

 and be all aglow with happiness; but if 

 his stock is browsing on the frosted 

 corn, or seeking a precarious living 

 among the russett leaves that autunan 

 has left in her whirling eddies, his peace 

 of mind will be of short duration, and 

 the bleak winds of winter should re- 

 mind him that December is no longer his 

 steward; that he has neglected to provide 

 the stores against the winter's want, 

 and must suffer the penalty thac follow 



close after the shiftless farmer. De- 

 cember too has the holydays in her 

 keeping, when the farmer should have 

 everything in order, that he and his 

 family should have its uninterrupted en- 

 joyment. And last, though not least, 

 December is the time to make up clubs 

 for, and to renew the subscription to 

 the Illinois Farmer, so that you can 

 profit by its useful teachings. Rural. 



FAIL PLOWING. 



Fall plowing in this and the south 

 part of the State, has been too much 

 neglected, and it is high time that our 

 farmers give this subject their attention. 

 For corn we believe fall plowing is sel- 

 dom resorted to. Let us take the farm 

 of John Do-well, and see how he man- 

 ages to produce such large crops, and 

 obtain such large dividends from that 

 little patch of a farm of his. Eighty 

 acres, just the one eighth of a section. 

 In the first place the road takes off one 

 acre, the building grounds and yard two 

 acres, the garden three acres, the orch- 

 ard four acres. Twenty acres are fenc- 

 ed off for meadow, twenty acres for pas- 

 ture, twenty for corn and potatoes, and 

 ten for wheat. We will see what he is 

 now doing with the several fields. 



The five acres of potato ground has 

 been trench plowed a foot deep, and will 

 be sowed to spring wheat, five acres of 

 the adjoining corn field has been husked 

 on the hill, and the stalks are being 

 turned to the bottom of the trench fur- 

 row a foot deep. On this he will also 

 sow spring wheat, making up his ten 

 acres.^ On this deep plowing he can 

 sow very early, say first of March, and 

 on account of the thorough draining the 

 crop will grown rapidly and be out of 

 the way, of chinch bug, and run little 

 risk of rust; twenty to thirty-five bush- 

 els to the acre is what our friend John 

 averages annually. John has plowed 

 the wheat stubble; but here he has pur- 

 sued a different plan by just covering up 

 the stubble say three inches deep. John 

 says that by plowing eight inches in the 

 spring he will have this rotton stubble 

 and all the seed of weeds buried out of 

 the way; he will then plant it with corn 

 and roll it. He intends to plant five 

 acres of potatoes, and for this purpose 

 he is trench plowing and turning under 

 the corn stalks the same as for wheat; 

 the remainder of the corn is cut up and 



put in shock. This he will not have 

 time to haul off until it freezes up and 

 then it will be too late for plowing; but 

 as it is clean of weeds he has no par- 

 ticular regret, as he intends to plant it to 

 corn. His orchard is still young and 

 he crops it with corn. The ground was 

 plowed a foot deep before planting it out, 

 and hence the roots run deep and out of 

 the way of the plow. He plows this in the 

 fall about eight inches deep, spreads on 

 manure during the winter and plows it 

 in shallow in the spring and plants it to 

 corn. His trees have made a rapid 

 growth, and now produce quite a crop of 

 fruit. Most of his success and especi- 

 ally his large crops are due to fall plow- 

 ing. John's system of rotation is also 

 interesting, but we must attend to that 

 when we have more leisure. E.DKAL. 



The DonMe Michigan Plow as a Prairie Breaker. 



The last of February and first of March 

 we broke up seven acres of prairie with one 

 of these plows. The small plow was run one 

 inch deep, turning the soil over like a scroll, 

 upon which the lower plow turned two 

 inches of the turf and soil; this after a few 

 days would fall to pieces, as the roots of 

 course were dead. We have never seen 

 June breaking in so fine order as this spring 

 breaking. We broke up about the middle 

 of June three acres with a common break- 

 ing plow, and it will require a dollars worth 

 of extra team work to put this in as good 

 order as the spring breaking. Should we 

 have heavy rain so as to make the turf sofl 

 and yielding, we shall break up more in this 

 way this month, and at any time during the 

 winter when the frost is out enough to 

 break, we shall put our idle teams to work. 

 We have done with summer breaking, and 

 hereafter the Double Michigan Plow is our 

 breaker until something better shall turn up. 



To the new settler, and those having 

 prairie to break, we commend this new use 

 of this plow, which as a deep tiller has 

 made little progress, but as a breaker is of 

 no small value. Late in the fall and early 

 in the spring, when no other plowing can be 

 done, this plow can be run at a great ad- 

 vantage. Three horses will break one and a 

 half to two acres per day, thus making a 

 great saving, at the same time the land is in 

 better condition. This breaking can be 

 harrowed the first of May and planted and 

 cultivated like old land. Some of the most 

 eminent agriculturists of this and other 

 States have examined the breaking on our 

 farm, and pronounce it a complete success. 

 We hope others will give it a trial this 

 month, or early in the spring. Rural. 



