THE ILLIjSrOIS F^Il]MER. 



379 



been sent to trarket. This is wrong as all 

 of these staples can be grown at a good prof- 

 it, and would find a ready market. 



Our people have been economical in their 

 expenditures, industrious, and have a fair 

 surplus to send to market, and which bears 

 a good price, and they cannot well help 

 looking forward with strong hopes that witb 

 another favorable year they will again be on 

 the high road to prosperity. 



The land speculators must wait the last 

 turn inthe wheel of fortune, as the last act 

 in the drama of hard times will come to 

 them. ; ' RuRAii. 



The New Editor of the Farmer. 



Our readers will perceive by the accompa- 

 nying prospectus (on a supplemental sheet,) 

 that Hon. M. L. Dunlap has been engaged 

 as the future editor of the Farmer, to sup- 



f ply the place left vacant by the departure of 



,| S. Francis, Esq., for the distant shores of 



.."the Pacific. 



/? Mr. Dunlap is better known to the reading 

 public as the author of numberless articles 

 signed "Kural,' which have appeared from 

 time to time in the newspapers of Chicago. 

 We are glad that we^have been able to se- 

 cure the services of a gentleman so compe- 

 tent to fill this important post; and wc are 

 sure our readers will be equally well pleased 

 This number of the paper was made up 

 in part by the retiring editor and in part by 

 his successor. The January number will go 

 to press about the 20th of December. We 

 intend making some improvements during 

 the coming year, and they will be governed 

 in a great measure by the support that is 

 extended to the paper. As heretofore, it 

 will continue to be identified with the people, 

 and entirely free from the dictation of clique 

 or party. It is thus thrown upon the Farm- 

 ers, for support, as their own advocate, and 

 we doubt not they will give it a cordial wel- 

 come. The Publisuers. 

 Springfield, Nov. 26, 1859. 



-—h- 



Annnal Meeting ot the Illinois State Horticul- 

 tural Society— Its Objects and who will at- 

 tend. 



The annual meeting of this society is to 

 come off at Bloomington on Tuesday, Wed- 

 nesday, Thursday and Friday, the 10th, 

 11th, 12th and 13th of January next. It 

 had been proposed to hold it earlier, but for 

 sufficient reasons, it was deemed best to de- 

 fer the gathering until that time. 



The meeting is for the benefit of the fruit 

 growers and gardeners of the State. The 

 nurseryman as such will not be expected to 

 figure largely in it. What the Society want 

 to know is what trees to plant, where to 

 plant them, how to plant them, how and 

 when to prune them in the orchard, and 



lastly what to do with the fruit to prepare it 

 for the market. The garden and house 

 grounds should also receive the attention of 

 the meeting. Dr. Warder of Cincinnati, 

 and other prominent hortieulturalists are 

 expected. Every orchardist should make it 

 a point to be on hand; in fact no such per- 

 sons can afford to be absent. 



-«•»- 



To tlic Farmers of Illinois. 



We now ask your aid in the circulation 

 of the Illinois Farmer. With pur new 

 arrangements we shall be able to give you a 

 home paper, invaluable in your vocation, 

 edited by one of your number, who has long 

 and ably wielded the pen in behalf of prairie 

 farming. To the farmer, the orchardist and 

 the gprdener he will be of great service, 

 from his practical knowledge of our soil, 

 climate and productions. Will you help 

 roll up a list of subscribers and of contribu- 

 tors, for we want both. Show the paper to 

 your neighbor and ask him to subscribe. 



We send this number to many who are 

 not subscribers, all of whom we shall hope 

 to add to our list. 



—- 



Pratt's Ditcher. 



This machine was on the ground with 

 Fawks' steam plow, having been entered for 

 the S500 award offered by the Illinois Cen- 

 tral Railroad Company for the best machine 

 for open drains. It promises to be useful. 

 Wc hope to be able to give a good account 

 of it in our next issue. 



Fawlics' Steam Plow. 



At this writing, Nov. 25th, this plow is on 

 our farm undergoing important alterations in 

 the arrangement of the gang of plows. On 

 Tuesday last the trial was commenced, but 

 in consequence of the breaking of a wheel, 

 it was partially suspended, half of the gang 

 (4 plows) was taken off and two and a half 

 acres of prairie sod turned over. The en- 

 gine appears to have sufficient power to drive 

 the whole gang, and steam can le kept up 

 for almost any distance with good fuel. The 

 real difficulty is now how. to arrange the 

 plows to good advantage, numerous attempts 

 have been made to run plows in gangs, but 

 thus far without much success. As gener- 

 ally arranged the friction is very great, as 

 Fawkes is now turnin2; his inventive energies 

 to the solution of this important problem we 

 may reasonably hope that the difficulties will 

 be oversome. The trial will be resumed 

 from day to day- — weather permitting — until 

 a thorough trial will be had. The plow will 

 not be at Gentralia and Bloomington as ad- 

 vertised, but should the weather prove fa- 

 vorable may get out, otherwise it will be 

 j housed wiiere it is. Next month we shall 

 ' present a full account of its doings. 



:■ ■..;-^-. ^S .. -/-Rural. 



Pianling Bnlbs. 



The present is the proper season for plant- 

 ing out bulbs of hyacinths, tulips, narcissus, 

 crocus and neai^ly all the hardy varieties of 

 bulbous flower roots. The best soil for all 

 such is a sandy loam, well drained and richly 

 manured with well rotted cow dung; each 

 bulb should be surrounded with about one 

 inch of sand; this keeps the bulb from rot- 

 ting". If the soil is not good, it is better to 

 dig it out to the depth of a foot or more, and 

 fill in with good soil. Leaf mold, if dry, is 

 good; but it must be mixed with a fair pro- 

 portion of sandy loam. In selecting bulbs, 

 the clean bright skinned ones should be pre- 

 ferred. When spotted or molded, they are 

 in a bad condition, and seldom do well. 

 Hyacinths and tulip bulbs should be planted 

 about eight inches apart, and four inches 

 deep. A covering of leaves or manure 

 should be spread over the bed for protection 

 during winter, removing it in early spring. 

 The bed should be kept clear of weeds, but 

 great care must be taken that the young 

 leaves and fiower buds are not injured; for if 

 this is the case, the blossoming will be sure 

 to be inferior. 



A good collection of these bulbs is oflea 

 difficult to obtain; and our seed stores too 

 often have no great variety. 



From the Chicago i'rean aud Tribune. 



The Fairbanks Standard Scales. — 

 Both in the State Fair at Freeport, and at 

 the National Fair in this city, the Fairbanks 

 Standard Scales maintained their prestige 

 won in over a quarter of a century of ex- 

 perience, and bore away all the prizes where 

 they were competitors. Messrs. Fairbanks 

 & Greenleaf, from their establisliment in 

 Burch's building, on the corner of Lake 

 Street and Wabash avenue, gave to their 



department at these Fairs an attraction 

 which drew crowds of visitors, curious to 

 look through the multiform list of weigh- 

 ing appliances, from railroad track scales to 

 the letter balances, all the product of the 

 celebrated St Johnsburj Works and their 

 branch New York manufactory. In all 

 cases they won the blue ribbon and medals 

 to match, and after tests, applied much more 

 rigidly and intelligently than has become 

 too common in these exhibitions. 



There is one point in this which all manu- 

 facturers, of every grade, will do well to 

 profit by. It is the wisdom of the Messrs. 

 Fairbanks in ''keeping up their standard." 

 There has been with them no such thing as 

 falling back on a reputation already made. 

 Every scale must bear the identical accur- 

 acy of its predecessor, and not palm off 

 seeming merits on the strength of credit 

 previously gained. Manufacturers are too 

 prone to lower their mark T\'hen success has 

 given them the temptation to indolence and 

 inattention. For this reason blue ribbons 

 and first premiums following a success of 

 twenty-five years, mean something more 

 than an empty formality, to-wit: that the 

 skill which won still guards a splendid repu- 

 tation. 



««> _ 



Green Gage Jam. — Hub ripe green 

 gages through a coarse hair sieve, put the 

 pulp into a preserving-pan along with an 

 equal weight of lump sugar, pounded and 

 sifted. Boil the whole to a proper thickness 

 aud put it into pots, v 



