24. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



2he ^Wim^ ^mnn\ 



SPRINGF'ELD, FEBRUARY 1, 1800. 



BAILHACHE & BAKSR, PubUsherfc 



M. L. DUNLAP, Editor. 



Corn is the great staple of central and 

 southern Illinois, and it ia doubtful if it 

 is not the most valuable crop even in the 

 northern counties. 



The premium crops of this year for 

 the State will be found in another part 

 of the Farmer. The modes of culture 

 are as various almost as the counties in 

 which it is cultivated. It is conceded 

 that on the "whole it is the most valuable 

 crop in the State, and should hold the 

 first position in any system of rotation. 

 The great prairie slopes appear to be 

 peculiarly fitted for its growth, and their 

 fertility seems but little if any impaired 

 in a long series of croppings. Deep 

 and thorough culture is needed to insure 

 good returns. The system too much in 

 vogue with our farmers of putting in a 

 certain number of acres without regard 

 to the manner in which it it done, cannot 

 be too strongly condemned. Some far- 

 mers always have good corn crops, while 

 others are as notorious for failures. 



It is now too late to urge the necessity 

 of fall plowing for this crop, and we will 

 suppose that most of our farmers have 

 stubble land, or where corn was grown 

 last year upon which to put the new 

 crop. 



OV STUBBLE LAND. 

 Stubble land should be plowed as early 

 in the spring as the ground will work 

 free and friable, and eight to ten inches 

 is deep enough unless a subsoil plow is 

 used. By this depth the seeds of weeds 

 will be buried below the point where few 

 of them will vegetate. Before planting 

 the ground should be thoroughly harrow- 

 ed and marked off. Straight rows are 

 very desirable and no pains should be 

 spared to attain this end. The planting, 

 whether by hand or machine, should be 

 shallow, say an inch deep, and the field 

 rolled with a heavy two-horse roller. 

 This will prevent mice, birds and other 

 vermin from digging up the seed, for as 

 the roller obliterates all traces of the 

 hills, they cannot find them, and hence 

 must wait until the blides are above 

 ground. Rolling pulverizes the soil and 

 insur.^s not only greater certainty of 

 germination, but the ground being ia 



fine tilth the young roots soon speead 

 themselves out in the soil and defy the 

 birds from pulling up the young plant ; 

 they may break it off, but in this case it 

 will continue to grow. We therefore 

 look upon rolling as of great value in 

 the culture of this crop. Sectional iron 

 rollers are much the best and the cheap- 

 est in the end, but if these cannot be 

 had a log roller should be made and 

 used. As the time of planting varies in 

 different parts of the State, we can only 

 say that early planting is the most de- 

 sirable. If manure is to be used, it 

 should be drawn on while the ground is 

 frozen, and before plowing spread out 

 and plowed in. Manure is of great value 

 to this crop, and we have yet to see the 

 piece of land in our State that will not 

 be largely benefitted by its use. As 

 soon as the blades are above ground, 

 some farmers go over their fields with a 

 common two horse harrow. In case the 

 ground is free of clods, sods or rubbish, 

 this is a good plan and will not injure 

 the corn plant, but kill the young weeds 

 and let the air into the soil for the ben- 

 efit of the corn roots. The single shovel 

 plow is the best implement, but a good 

 six tooth cultivator can often be used to 

 advantage. The shovel plow should be 

 slightly concave, but never convex, as a 

 convex plow will seldom scour. Four or 

 five workings should be had, the last one 

 with a cultivator to level down the soil, 

 that the roots may have a uniform level 

 surface to spread themselves out in. 

 Ammonia is an element that enters large- 

 ly into this crop, the supply of which is 

 obtained from two sources, the soil and 

 the atmosphere. The showers condense 

 this gas and dash it on the ground ; if 

 the soil is worked deep and friable it is 

 carried down into the soil by the rain- 

 water, and there retained for the use of 

 the plants. On the other hand, if the 

 surface of the field is compact, the water 

 runs off and carries with it the ammonia 

 which was held in solution in it, and 

 thus it is lost to the crop. If the soil 

 is deeply worked the most drenching 

 rains are taken up in it, and either find 

 its way out at the bottom of the furrow, 

 or rises by capillary attraction and is 

 evaporated. Underdiaining is therefore 



valuable to dispose of the surplus water, 

 after the soil has robbed it of its value. 

 Land for this crop must be well djained, 

 if not naturally so, either by underdrain- 



ing, sub soiling, deep plowing, or throw- 

 ing into ridges or narrow lands. It is 

 of no use to plant corn in the water, or 

 on a sodden soil. If our farmers would 

 plant less and do the work better, the 

 profits would be fa> greater. We may 

 be disposed at some future time to show 

 up the corn fields of some of our would 

 be great farmers, who boast of their hun- 

 dreds of acres of half- tilled crops. 



^t- 



Advertlsing Gratis. 

 Baltimore, January 1, 1860. 



To the Editor of the JUitiois Farmer: 



Bear Sir — We take the liberty of 

 enclosing a grand scheme to you in the 

 Delaware State Lottery Class 48, to be 

 drawn January 28th. Our object in 

 writing to you is to offer a very liberal 

 proposition in this superb scheme. We 

 will send you a very finely arranged 

 package of 26 tickets in the enclosed 

 scheme for the risk of only $40; this 

 package gives you the advantage of $65 

 worth of tickets for the cost of $40. 

 This is the most successful way to pur- 

 chase, and to convince you of our confi- 

 dence in its success, we will promise to 

 sen* you another package free of charge 

 if the first fails to draw a threa number 

 prize, the lowest being five hundred dol- 

 lars — see full scheme within. We make 

 this offer in good faith, with a desire to 

 sell you the grand capital of $100,000, 

 and we hope that you will accept it. 

 Enclose us the $40 and the package will 

 be sent by return of mail, the result of 

 which we confidently think will be satis- 

 factory to you. Hoping to hear from 

 you, we remain, respectfully, 

 [Box 546.] & Co. 



Kemarks. — The west has been and 

 continues to be flooded with these swind- 

 ling lottery schemes, and we regret to 

 say that too many of our young men, 

 sons of our well-to-do farmers, have been 

 the victims of these leeches, under the 

 garb of law. Their promises are as 

 baseless as those of the confidence man 

 or the counterfeiter, and their contact is 

 almost as dangerous as the pickpocket. 

 The only safe way is to give them all a 

 wide berth. These vampyres have taken 

 enough money out of our State to pur- 

 chase a good library in every town, and 

 yet they continue to find willing victims 

 to their repeated rascalities. If any of 

 our readers can give us a single instance 

 where a dollar has been drawn on any of 

 these sham lotteries, we shall be glad to 

 make an extended notice of it. • ... 



OUR SCHEMB, V ; 



for alubs of subscribers, ib one that wilj 



