ts^arn^'^ 



THE ILLIISrOIS F^HMiEIl. 



little trouble to procure good seed. Can 

 you expect to raise good crops from 

 poor seed ? Certainly not. Now can 

 you see the reason why mother earth 

 * 'runs out," as you say? Don't any- 

 thing "run out'' when it has a mean 

 origin, and no chance for improve- 

 ment? 



Let U3 tell you what we would do un- 

 der such circumstances. "We would pro- 

 cure the best seed, of all kinds which we 

 wished to plant. We would then be sure 

 to put the ground in the ■ best possible 

 condition. Then we would plant our 

 seeds after the most approved methods, 

 and take the best possible care of our 

 crops until harvest. If we should plant 

 poor seed and take no care of our crops, 

 we should expect a poor return for our 

 labor. 



Again, in a new country, like ours, 

 we would plant orchards as soon as we 

 could get the ground in a suitable condi- 

 tion to receive the seed, or the trees. — 

 This is a matter which is shamefu^ 

 neglected in new countries. A good 

 orchard is a valuable acquisition to a 

 farm, and you have no excuse for being 

 without one, after living upon your farm 

 for eight or ten years. You want ap- 

 ples — both green and dried — and you 

 can certainly raise them much cheaper 

 than you can buy them at present prices 

 m our State. A little sweet ci^r now 

 and then is not an unpleasant affair to 

 manage. And, if it becomes sour, you 

 can make vinegar of it — just the stuff in 

 a family. 



We would set Ledges where timber is 

 scarce, as it is in some portions of the 

 Northwest. We would also plant groves 

 of forest trees. They will afford fuel, 

 and timber for various other purposes in 

 a few years. We would try to make 

 home the dearest spot on earth. We 

 would educate our sons and daughters, 

 not only in books, but in practice of all 

 those great and good principles which 

 make up the character of a good citizen. 

 We would teach them that labor is hon- 

 orable when exercised for an honorable 

 purpose. To the real accomplishments 

 of life we would give all the encourage- 

 ment in our power. "We would impress 

 upon the minds of our children, as 

 they are about bidding adieu to the 

 paternal roof, perhaps forever, their real 

 duty to themselves, their country, and 

 mankind. You need not flatter your- 

 selves with the idea that your children 

 will thank you for depriving yourselves 

 of the comforts of life, for the sake of 

 leaving them a fortune. If you train 

 them aright, they will not need it. If 

 not, they are not prepared to receive it. 

 Enrich their minds, and they will thank 

 you, so will the world at large. The 

 possessor of mental wealth is the true 

 aristocrat of the land. We must stop. 

 If we have said anything from which you 



can learn wisdom, we are very glad. — 

 We wish we had space to say more, but 

 practice upon what you think worthy of 

 imitating, and we shall be satisfied. 



Farmers' Ice Houses. — In order to 

 secure the benefit of the ice crop of win- 

 ter, the preparations must all be made 

 beforehand. If the farmer would enjoy 

 the luxury of a lump of ice in the hot 

 season, he must lay in his own supply, 



and not like the people in cities, depend 

 upon the ice wagons, which bring it to 

 their doors, day by day. The farmer 

 may take advantage of this necessity of 

 having his own ice house, to make it 

 subserve the double purpose of furnish- 

 ing his ice, and also furnishing a cool 

 room and cold bath for dairy purposes. 

 For this the house may be constructed 

 with two rooms, side by side, with the 

 base of the ice room a few feet higher 

 than the floor of the milk room, so that 

 the drippings from the ice can be con- 

 veyed along the main shelf or sink, in 

 which the milk pans are to stand. The 

 ice room must be made with double par- 

 titions, with a foot or more space be- 

 tween, filled in with dry tan bark or 

 sawdust, well packed, and secured 

 against the ingress of rats or other such 

 pests. The room should have a scuttle 

 in the ceiling overhead, or in the side 

 near the top, to be opened or shut at 

 pleasure, to let off foul air. - The build- 

 ing should also have a double roof, to 

 break the heat of the sun and the force 

 of warm winds, but the space between 

 roofs should be sufficiently open to afford 

 ventilation. Choose a northern side 

 hill with a loose subsoil, if convenient; 

 dig out a Step next the hill side for the 

 ice room, and then make the milk room 

 a step lower; guard well with shade 

 trees, or artificial shade; make the en- 

 trance so as not to admit warm currents 

 of air near the floor, and for this double 

 purpose have the floor of the ice room 

 water-tight, and ascending to one side, 

 where there must be a gutter to take 

 the drippings into the milk room. In 

 packing the ice, it should be cut into 

 blocks Avhich will fit well together, and 

 any open spaces that may occur, should 

 be packed full of broken ice. The more 

 ice is put in a solid body, the better it 

 will keep, but a room ten feet square 

 will contain sufficient for a farmer's use, 

 if the house is constructed with care. — 

 [Ohio Cultivator. 



An excellent plan to obtain ice, by 

 those who have no ponds or streams 

 near, is to make a water-tight box about 

 a foot deep, which can be filled from the 

 well. Do not let it freeze quite to the 

 bottom, or in that case the ice will be- 

 come fast and cannot be removed. When 



one crop of ice is formed in the box re- 

 move it for another crop, and so on until 

 the house is filled. Ed. 



The LocEst— Varielici and Cultnrf. 



Messrs. Editors: — In the August 

 number of your paper I observe that a 

 correspondent desires information on a 

 topic of much interest to settlers in the 

 prairie regions, viz: the diflferent varie- 

 ties of locust trees, and the best mode 

 of preparing locust seed to secure its 

 germination. Having given some atten- 

 tion to both these points, for a number 

 of years past, I will briefly give the re- 

 sult of my observations. 



I am convinced that it is a mistake, to 

 suppose there are different varieties of 

 the locust indigenous to this country, as 

 the yellow, black., red, &c. These 

 names have been applied in different 

 parts of our country, in consequence of 

 a slight difference that has been observed 

 in the color of the heart wood on cutting 

 locust timber; but this difference of shade 

 can be accounted for by the effects of 

 climate, soil and location, the age and 

 health of the trees, tfec. The best bo- 

 tanists of our country have been unable 

 to detect any peculiarities of foliage, 

 flowers or seed, that can be relied on to 

 distinguish varieties; and it has been 

 found that the seeds of what is called 

 the yellow locust in New York or Penn- 

 sylvania, and those called the black lo- 

 cust in Kentucky, when sown side by 

 side produce trees exactly alike. In my 

 experience as a seedsman, in former 

 years, I have procured locust seed from 

 a number of States, and also from Eng- 

 land, and never made any distinction, or 

 could discover any difference between 

 "yellow" and "black," except as the 

 one name or the other seemed to be 

 most common in certain districts of coun- 

 try. :/^::;-^.; ■:■•'■/ ; :.; ■/•=■•■':; 



Of course no reference is here made 

 to what is called the honey locust, which 

 belongs to a different genus, is worthless 

 for timber, and tas seeds four times as 

 large as the other. Nor do I notice the 

 several exotic varieties of Rohinia, as 

 the viscosa or gummy locust, inermis or 

 thornless locust, the rose accasia, &c., 

 which are only grown for ornament and 

 not thought of when speaking of locust 

 trees for timber. 



I am persuaded that this error in re- 

 gard to the supposed different varieties 

 of locust, has been a hindrance to the 

 general culture of this tree which prom- 

 ises so much advantage to the farmers 

 of our prairie regions, as I have several 

 times been written to by persons in the 

 west, desiring to procure the "true yel- 

 low locust seed,'' stating that the black 

 variety could be obtained near home, 

 but it was supposed to be less valua- 

 ble. 



The mode of preparing locust seed for 



