8 



THE ILLIISrOIS FA-RIMEH. 



SPRINGFIELD, JANUARY J, i860. 



BAILHACHE & BATCER, Publishers. 



M. L. DUNLAF, Editor. 



.^ ' 



Upon taking charge of a journal of 

 this character, it is customary to make 

 a bow to its readers. In accordance 

 yrith this time honored custom, we now 

 make due obesiance and give you our 

 jfS^. You will perceiye that it is the 

 hand of a farmer, hardened by toil; that 

 the brow is one from which the sweat of 

 toil has been wiped from its sunbrowned 

 surface, and that our muscles hare had 

 full exercise with the varied implements 

 of our calling. You will thus see that 

 no carpet knight of pen and sclsors, is to 

 do the honors of the fireside and give 

 you lessons in farming, but one of your 

 own number, one who is taking daily 

 lessons in the cultivation of the farm, 

 the orchard and the garden; and one 

 who delights in the carving out and the 

 beautifying of his new home. 



For twenty-three years have we re- 

 sided upon and admired the beautiful 

 prairies of the great West, — we have 

 looked down their vast slopes — have wor- 

 shipped with awe struck- wonder the sin- 

 ious belts of forest that skirt the streams 

 — have paid our adorations to the sylvan 

 groves that lie like gems of beauty upon 

 its bosom of waving verdure, — but more 

 than all have we been touched and our 

 pride rose up in view of the vast im- 

 provements made by the hand of art — 

 the music of a nations progress, — the 

 silent whispering of the magic wire, — 

 the thunder of the train as it whirles 

 along the thread of iron that guides its 

 swaying force — the scream of the pent 

 up steam, ever ready to obey the hand 

 of its master and work with a titon pow- 

 er — the fields of waving grain — of tas- 

 sellated corn — the quiet homes, bathed 

 in luxurious shade — the distant school 

 whose murmuring chant, falls upon the 

 ear — the village spires that point the 

 highway of the iron horse — the marts of 

 commerce and the workshops of the ar- 

 tisan. All these have been called into 

 being to fill up the picture, ^to add the 

 useful and the beautiful in art, to the 

 artless simplicity and beauty of the rich 

 undulating drift of these cis-Atlantic 

 slopes, and to awaken the^solitudes that 

 only resounded to the heavy tread of the 



bufi'alo or rang with the war whoop of 

 the savage. It is here that the genius 

 of man has taken some of his most lofty 

 flights, — the steel- clipper, the reaper and 

 the mower have challenged the admira- 

 tion of the world. The one turns up the 

 elements of vegetable nutrition from the 

 prairie drift, while the other sweeps down 

 the harvest of the world. The one glis- 

 tens in the sun as the rich mould is 

 thrown from its polished surface, while 

 the other lays low the swelling grain 

 that so lately waved its serried ranks of 

 golden spears, and bending beneath the 

 ripening heat of summer. 



It is of the farm, the garden and the 

 orchard that we^should hold our free con- 

 verse with the readers of the Farmer, — 

 the productive soil and climate of Illi- 

 nois and more especially of Central Illi- 

 nois, shall be our vantage ground, and 

 which we intend to make an especial 

 study. An agricultural paper must of 

 necessity be local, and to attempt to 

 make it otherwise is simply out of the 

 question. To general subjects we shall 

 pay some attention, but until our field 

 18 thorougJily jplowed we shall go upon 

 the old adage that charity begins at 

 home. We shall endeavor to raise the 

 standard of western farming, to make it 

 not only profitable but pleasurable, to 

 have the home made pleasant by fruits 

 and flowers, sunshine and shade, and to 

 this end we ask the aid of every friend of 

 progress, — every lover of our beautiful 

 prairies — every one who would wish to 

 have our country dotted with pleasant 

 homes around which wave the leafy 

 treasures of Gods watchful care, and 

 where bloom the beauties of the Floral 

 world, set to the music of the feathered 

 songster of plain and woodland. 



To sum up, we must make it a farmers 

 paper, for being but a farmer ourself we 

 cannot be expected to make anything 

 else if we should try, nor do we claim to 

 be a perfect farmer at that, we are plod- 

 ding along like the rest of you, trying to 

 eke out the odds and ends in these hard 

 times. If farm products bear a low 

 price, we must try and lessen their cost. 

 This is the true end and aim of all agri- 

 cultural papers, and we do not intend 

 to be a laggard in the field ot progress. 

 But it is useless to say anything fur- 

 ther, for in the past twenty years our 

 pen has acquired such habits that we 



fear that it will keep on in the old way 

 dealing mt\\ facts, both old and new. 

 We shall now close by wishing the rea- 

 ders one and all of the Farmer a happy 



thrice happy new year. 



«•» 



Size Wins. 



At all our State and county fairs the large 

 ox, horse, apple, squash, potatoe, pig or pul- 

 let, take the premiums. It matters not 

 what the offer may be, whether for the best 

 or the biggest, it is the latter that will win. 

 Little or no regard is made to quality, it is 

 the monfiter that fills the eyes of the com- 

 mittee — corn twenty feet high; squashes of a 

 hundred and fifty pounds; huge yellow 

 fleshed potatoes, unfit for domestic use; an 

 overgrown, slab-sided, coarse haired calf; a 

 stall fed milch cow, all fat but no milk; a 

 working ox fit for tht shambles; a roadster 

 puffed up with "Jqpe;'' a breeding sow too 

 fat to stand up, or a huge frame where beef 

 is wanting. 



This is all wrong, and it is time that our 

 agricultural societies looked to it, that com- 

 mittees give a just award; to this end they 

 should be specially instructed, that quality 

 was the first requisite, and size next. As 

 the winter months is the time to make the 

 premium lists, we throw out these hints in 

 time. Another thing, too large a proportion 

 of the funds are given for cattle and horses, 

 thus leaving out a great number of small, 

 but useful articles. We shall look for a re- 

 form in this matter, and hope that our county 

 papers will give their valuable aid to effect 

 this reform. 



What variety of Apples iliall we plant? 



A farmer asks the "Ohio Farmer" what 

 variety of apples to plant, to which he gives 

 response as follows: 



"The best varieties, in our opinion, are 

 those that bear best, and for which there ia 

 a demand in the market; and these are the 

 Belmont, Baldwin, Richfield, Nonsuch, 

 Rhode Island Greening, Peck's Pleasant, 

 Red Astrachan and Queen Ann or Lowell 

 apples. To these might be added the Early 

 Harvest; but the Red Astrachan is a much 

 finer looking fruit, sells betterj and is almost 

 as early. Sweet apples have no sale. But 

 the best early one is the Sweet Bough; and 

 it is a good annual bearer. Amateurs will 

 add to this list, but farmers raise fruit to 

 sell." 



In our soil and climate the Baldwin is 

 considered almost worthless. The Richfield 

 Nonsuch we are not acquainted with, the 

 others we can fully indorse as valuable in the 

 south part of the State, but for the central 

 and north we would leave out Peck's Pleas- 

 and Rhode Island Greening, and substitute 

 Yellow Bellflower and Fameuse. So much 

 for difference in soil and location. To the 

 first part of his remarks we most cordially 

 respond, amen, 



