14 



THE ILLIISrOIS F^mMEK. 



to the comfort of their stock, as they have 

 become convinced that stock well-sheltered, 

 will yield a higher degree of profit on half 

 feed, than stock over-fed, or well-fed, and 

 left to the mercies of the wintry winds and 

 storms. Their fences are neatly and perma- 

 nently built. They have orchards and gar- 

 dens, and various other little comforts around 

 them, which are eeldom seen upon the farms 

 in the West. They cultivate only what land 

 they can cultivate thoroughly ; and, in fact, 

 they generally consider themselves fixtures 

 upon the soil they occupy. They make all 

 their improvements with direct reference to 

 that fact. But how do we find this matter 

 in the West? An eastern farmer wanders 

 away into the " far West," in search of a 

 fortune. He has [and we now speak of the 

 maj ority of eastern men coming west] no 

 other idea in his head, but to make money, 

 and then, perhaps, return to his native State, 

 to spend the balance of his life. Everything 

 in the West seems to be temporary. Farm- 

 ers erect buildings and fences to answer 

 present purposes alone. They cultivate their 

 farms, in every way, for temporary purposes. 

 They are like a saloon or hotel keeper at the 

 terminus of a railroad, who is ever ready to 

 move farther onward as the railroad progres- 

 ses, always aiming to be where the most mo- 

 ney is to be made for the present, that he 

 may make his "pile," and retire. 



There are other and important difierences 

 between eastern and western farming, which 

 we have not space to mention now; but 

 which willl, perhaps, form a subject for an- 

 other artic e. But we will say, in conclusion 

 of this article, to the farmers of the West ; 

 settle yourselves down for life — make all 

 your arrangements for a permanent and life- 

 long residence. Convince yourselves of one 

 fact, which you all know to be true, viz.: 

 that you are living in one of the most fertile 

 valleys that the Almighty ever created. 

 That in all the natural resources, the East 

 beams no comparison with the West. Con- 

 vince your children of the truth of these 

 statements. Let them never understand 

 from your words or actions, that you do not 

 consider yourselves firmly rooted and immo- 

 vable in the soil of the beautiful and fertile 

 valley of the Mississippi. In fact, make the 

 West your home and an inheritance for your 

 posterity. It may, indeed, be difficult [we 

 know it full well] to sever those ties which 

 bind you to another spot of earth — to forget 

 the home of your childhood, and to break off 

 those associations of early life, which you 

 have there formed ; but when you take into 

 consideration the welfare of those you love, 

 the struggle between parental duty and the 

 gratification of a feeling which can render 

 you no real benefit, must cease, and the for- 

 mer prove triumphant. — N. ^y. Farmer. 



*%^ 



Jg@^ The extreme velocity of the 

 w^ind, was found by Dr. Lind to be 93 

 miles an hour. The machine used to 

 measure it with was what is called an 

 anenomcter. 



-<•«■ 



A queen-bee will lay 200 eggs 

 daily for fifty or sixty days, and the 

 eggs are hatched in three day. A single 

 quecn-bec has been stated to produce 

 100,000 bees in a season. 



THE EDITOR'S TABLE. 



We intend to btivs this number out by the 25th of Decem- 

 ber, 60 that our rriunds can make np their dabs in time for 

 tbo next number of the Fabkxr, as the Pablishers want to 

 know what nu i.ber of copies to print. Money is said to be 

 scarce and hard to get, and the way to mako a saving it by 

 getting up clubs. This is an excellent remedy for hard 

 times, and will make yon a large saving. We expeot to send 

 a cop] to aach farmer and to each mechanic in Central and 

 Sonthern J llinois, beside a large number outside of that 

 circle. A little time spent in presenting the claims of this 

 paper to your neighbor will soon double our liat, and be 

 money in your pocket. Every reader can constitute himself 

 an agent, and proceed at once to canvass. If year copy gets 

 soiled or torn in showing around, the Publishers will send 

 you another ; also, circulars and sample numbers. 

 «•> 



Tni Crops or 18&9.— The last Legislature of this State di- 

 rected that the ABsessors should make a list of the number 

 of acres of wheat in one column, corn in another, and other 

 field crops in a third. Every farmer should be ready to an- 

 swer these questions when the Assessi'r makes his annual 

 rounds. This is not for the purpose of taxation, but fur 

 statistical information. 



The law stops short of what would have been useful. 

 Uad the number of bnehels of grain been added, valuable 

 results sonld bo arrived at, 



i»i 



t)3=. We have before us a table of the grain and meadow 



crops of Ohio for 18S8, which foot up as follows : 



Bushels 



Acres, Bushels. ( er acre. 



Wheat 1 695,412 17,065,483 10.29 



Corn 1,834,138 60,8t)3,68J 27.7 



Kye 90.101 874,556 9..^9 



Barley 125,745 2,103,100 167 



Buckwheat 71,283 791,921 1111 



Tons 

 Acres. Bushels. per acre. 

 Meadow 1,367,874 1,806,466 1.3 



It will thus be seen that the average yield per acre of the 

 great staples of Ohio is nothing very wonderful. Aside 

 from wheat, it is much below the products of our prairie 

 farms. We hope the next Legislature will give us a list 

 something like the above, with the addition of oats, pota« 

 toes, sorghum, hemp, tobacco, flax, apples and peaches. 

 ••> 



How CoBN Shbinks,— Perhaps our readers may be better 

 able to Judge of the profitof marketing corn in the ear now, 

 or of holding ii until spring, after reading what follows: 

 Mr. Walker, of Champaign county, told as he weighed out 

 seventy»five pounds of corn in the; ear, dried it thoroughly, 

 shelled it, and weighed the corn and cobs. The corn weighed 

 fifty-ou-1 poundf, the cobs nine pounds — total sixty ponuds, 

 having lost fifteen pounds I He thinks that it did not shrink 

 more than must of the corn will that is wintered over. 

 ••» 



Ukiibd States FairJat CaiOAOo. — The Prairie Farmer in- 

 forms as that the sub-committee of the Executive Board, of 

 which the Uon. Uenry Wager is chairman, had a meeting 

 in New York last week, for the examination and settlement 

 of varions matters. ia relation to the late Fair. They 

 "passed upon more than one hundred contested awards. 

 Those cases have been mainly those embraced in the miscel 

 laneous class of implements and manufactures. It was 

 found that in the hurry of business at the late National 

 Fair at Chicago, articles had in same instances been entered 

 in sevaral classes, and the judges of eaeh had passed opinx 

 ions on their merits, so that there were actually awarded in 

 one case five distinct prizes to one and the same article. 

 Again, it happened that after a regular committee had exa 

 amined end passed upon some article, the owners had man- 

 aged to get another committee'appoicted to act in the case ; 

 and the decision perhaps reversing that ot the regular judge, 

 much confnsion resulted. The Kxccutivo Committee have 

 patiently sifted all these cases, and invariably sastaincd the 

 awards of their regularly appointed committees." 

 ••• 



Fawkbs' Stsam Plow.— The Scientific Artisan (Cinn.) says 

 M. Greenwood k Co., of the Eagle Works in that city, have 

 obtaiued the right of Mr. Fawkes to build one of his plows, 

 and it is the intention of Mr. Greenwood to have it at work 

 on his farm early next spring, and to exhibit all its points 

 in great perfection. Several improvements have been sug* 

 gested, which will doubtletis be adopted. 



<•» • 



iLLusTRATino Tus FABKJiB — It is tho intention of the 

 publishers tu make a free use of cuts the current year; but 

 this will depend suuiewhat on the amount of patronage rea 

 ceived. We are now uakiug arrangements to perfect this 

 valuable feature, as fast as tho fiutuccsuf thu paper will 

 warrant. 



To NuBSEBTMCN. — ^To tbose wishing to sell trees ic Central 

 and Soatheru Illinois, tho Faru£r offers great inducements 

 to advertise, and We would eay to nurserymen and others, 

 send in yonr advertisements 



J09> It ibonld be borne in mind that all letters for the 

 editor, such as communications, inqairiea and specimens, 

 should be sent to his address. West Urbana, Champaign 

 county, Illinois ; and tbose on business to the Publishers, 

 Bpringfleld, Illinois. 



••» 



OcB ExcnAicoBS.— Exchanges should be directed, "Illinois 

 Farmer, West Urbana, Illinois;" otherwise they will not 

 reach as. 



t^^ Farmers, we must have the nee of your pens. Give 

 us facts. We want no long essays, but living experimental 

 facts. 



Th« Prairix Fruit Colturist.— Mr. Chase, the author of 

 the little " Hand>Book of knovtledge for Prairie Life," has 

 made a happy hit; and done the cause of fruit-growing a 

 real benefit. As a text-book it is valuable, and for its prac* 

 tical detail is entitled to a place on the shelf of every prairie 

 farmer. Mr. Chase has promised us another of the series on 

 the adornment of onr homes. We hope that it it will soon 

 be forthcoming. The Fruit Cnlturist can be found at most 

 gf our book-stores— price twenty*five cents. 



.«. 



Fawkcs' Stbam Plow. — This machine is yet on our farm, 

 housed in for the winter. Mr. Fawkes has gone home to 

 Pennsylvania, and will return early in the spring to pursue 

 his experiments. In the meantime we ask that no one cod« 

 demn it, as we have no doubt that, with a few slight modifi 

 cations, it will succeed. Let it have a fair trial on its mer< 

 ts. Thus far it has been the big elephant of our Fairs; i 

 must now work, or sink out of sight. 



The Hobiiodltubist. — The December number comes to 

 baud with a notice that tho editor, J. Y. .'-mith, will retir 

 from its condnctorship. We have no inkling who is to suc^ 

 ceod him. On the 1st of January the 1st numbei of Volume 

 XV will be issued. In all its varied changes it has continued 

 to prove itself useful. 



It is in good hands, as Soxton lets nothing lag that bb 

 turns his hand to.- Terms |2. Address 0. M. Saxton, Bar 

 ker A Co. 



We will furnish the Horticulturist and the Tabmis for 

 $2 50. 



■«•» 



Plowing by Stbam— We are in receipt of a letter from 



Mr James Waters, the inventor of the Detroit steam plow 



He says that he will be on the prairies early in the spring 



ready to take contracts for plowing old land. We think Mr 



Waters in earnest; that he is a gentleman hns been proved. 



Will some of our large corn growers give him a job of a few 



hundred acres? 



«»» 



SiATc HoRTicuLTVRAL t'ocixTT. — It is With no Small amount 

 of pleasure that we place upon our record the programme o 

 tho next meeting of our State Horticultural Society. It i 

 a rich dish offered, and no iruit-grower can afford to stay at 

 homo. 



«• 



MoBi ABOUT »HB Uoo AHD ITS UisioRT.— We Would call the 

 special attention of our readers to this well-written article 

 It not only ontains much valuable information respecting 

 the history of this useful animal, but gives many practical 

 hints in regard to breeds and management. Mr. Johnson is 

 not a breeder for fancy pricej, and consequently his views 

 are entitled to full weight. We have Been bis pigs, and to 

 say that h'l bus been completely Euccessful in hii> experiments 

 is a fact that has given us much satisfaction. 



4«> 



4^ It is estimated that Champaign county has shipped 

 200,000 buxhels of corn, of the now ciop, without making 

 any serious impression on the surplus. Large numbers of 

 fat cattle and hogs have also gone forward. Who will say 

 that hard times has not had a bsckaset In that county? 

 Stand from uuderl Central Illinois will yet be beard from in 

 tho produce markets of the world, 



««> 



EuQRAviNGS FOB iHi Fabmbb,— It is^tho intention of the 

 Publishers, a< well as the detire of the Editor, to make a 

 fteo use of engravings. We could not complete the arrange* 

 ments in time for this number, but hope to be fully up to 

 grade in the February namber. Perious who have engraV'* 

 ings of stock, machinery, or other subjects appropriate to 

 this paper, and wishing them inserted, will address the £di* 

 tor on the subject. 



A New Fence.— Wonders will never cease, until the last 

 itinerant patent peddler is laid cold in liifl gr:ive. Weaving 

 fence like cloth, is henceforth to be the order of tho day. — 



iiijiL ^i£t.ti'..^;Iiiiii-' /. 



