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VOLUME V. 



,OS: 



SPRINGFIELD, ILL., MARCH, 1860. 



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NUMBER 3. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLr, V ' 



BT • 



BAILHACHE & BAKER, 



Journal OrricB, Springfield, Illinois. 



M. L. DUNLAP, Editor. 



TERMS OP SUBSCRIPTION. 



One copy, one year, in adrance $100 



Five copies, " " 8 75 



Ten '* and one to the person getting up club 7 50 



Fifteen copies and over, 62^ cents each, and one to person 

 getting up club. 



CASH BATKS OF ADVERTISINa : 



One dollar per square of ten lines, each insertion. 



CONTENTS : 



March 87 



Rearing Calves. ...>...... 87 



Milk Sickness 88 



Chinese and African Sugar Cane 88 



Value of Sorgho as food for stock 89 



Chine" S«»8a» Cana -^'^'■~~^.M:,;i::i..:^ 89 



Vegetables faied by UB in 185)^^.. ,^^j|5jg|,g*^;j^^ ........ 40. 



The Appiary ~. .,,,.41 



Manny's Patent Adjustable Reaper and Mower .... > ... .',,. 42 



To keep Potatoes from Rotting .42 



South Pass Horticultural Society ^ 



Pear Culture 43 



The Weed Hook 48 



State Natural History Society...... . ... 48 



Spring Duties ....44 



The Culture of Potatoes 44 



The Farm and Garden 45 



Bethlehemite Apple 47 



Newtown Spitzenburg Apple . , . , . .^ . . 47 



A'etches .>.,'.,. 47 



King Phillip Com ^ 47 



The Wholesale Nursery Trade and the Tree Peddlers 47 



Young's Adjustable Cultivator and Weed Exterminator. . . 48 



Commercial ....*. i..v... >...... ......... 49 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



Meeting of the Executive Boai-d of the State Agricultu- 

 ral Society 49 



The corn market 49 



Scarlet fever 49 



The Orchard 49 



Engravings 60 



Osage hedging 50 



Subst^lplow 50 



Care of plants 50 



Edwards' Lamoile Nursery 50 



Sweet potatoes .^ ............ . .50 



Melodeon agency , .60 



Bloomington and Woodbum Nurseries 50 



Dunlap's Nursery 60 



Silver Maple Seedlings 5l) 



Fairbanks' Scales .80 



Double Michigan Plow for prairie breaking , 50 



Steam Plow Lancaster 50 



The Rural New Yorker 60 



The Architects' and Mechanics' Jeurnal 50 



Gardener's Monthly 50 



Cincinnatus 50 



Wisconsin Farmer. .,.\..... 50 



The Homestead .60 



Trade and Commerce of Chicago 60 



Cairo and Fulton Rulroad 50 



Personal 50 



HARCH. 



: M is tere, just ushering in the 



spring, born of winds, frost, sleet and 

 rain. Winter is moving out with his 

 household goods, leaving the debris of 

 his camping, in house, in court yard and 

 in field, and before the laughing, joyous, 

 leaping Spring can stttle down in her 

 quiet home, so long usurped by grim, 

 stern, hyperborean winter, and his thou- 

 sand sattelites, who have held high car- 

 nival on the stores that the summer sun 

 threw into the lap of autumn, she must 

 clean up the ground thus desecrated ; 

 the orchard trees must be looked after 

 for dead and decaying branches, and 

 their heads like a jBchool boy's, must be 

 thinned of superabundant locks and 

 insects. The garden walks must be put 

 in order, for winter, with his ever busy 

 frost, has been crumbling down th«ir 

 borders ; trees must be tied up, roses 

 uncovered and cut back, and every part 

 of the garden searched and carefully 

 examined, with pruning knife in hand. 

 The farm fences must be examined for 

 decayed posts and nails broken by the 

 frost. Water courses must be opened to 

 carry off the heavy showers that come to 

 the aid of spring, to wash out all trace 

 of the bad housekeeping of winter. The 

 stock must also be looked after, that no 

 bad effects of the winter's ordeal shall 

 rest upon them, when the new grasses 

 first greet their longing appetites. The 

 busy bee should be also looked after, for 

 to make sweet honey for us, it is neces- 

 sary that it has sufficient honey for him- 

 self in the first place, and before the 

 balmy spring has opened the flowers. 

 But a few weeks hence and a grassy 

 carpet shall be spread at our feet, the 

 vernal flowers shall greet us with a smile 

 and fill us with thankfulness, that the 

 Great Euler of the Universe has wisely 

 ordered the seasons in their course. 



From the Rural American. 



^ ' ^ Rearing Calves. 



Mr. Editor: — ^WJth a little care and 

 attention, it is as well to raise good 

 cattle as poor ones; but in order to do 

 this, care must be taken in the first step; 

 BO I will speak of calves. 



I deem it wrong to let calves remain 

 with the cows a week, or any number of 

 days — better not be allowed to suck at 

 all, as they will learn to drink much 

 quicker, and if the cow be a heifer, the 

 longer she remains with her calf, the 

 more she will resist being milked. 



I will here mention, although it is a 

 little from my subject, that a heifer's 

 calf should not be fattened for veal, as 

 a heifer becomes so attached to her calf, 

 while remaining with it so long, that un- 

 less she be ot an uncommon mild and 

 pleasant disposition, it will worry her 

 much, when the calf is taken away from 

 her, and it will be very hard to make 

 her comply with the milker's terms. I 

 have known some to break so hard to 

 milk, that they were obliged to be dried 

 up, and were lost for the season. 



Force should never be used to get the 

 cairs head into the pail. I have fre- 

 quently had calves drink on the first 

 trial, but I never force their heads into 

 the milk, as it does no good. Humoring 

 them is better than force. 



In about a week, when the calf gets 

 well learned to drink, a little sour milk 

 can be mixed with the sweet milk, and 

 by gradually increasing the quantity of 

 sour milk, in a short time it can be fed 

 on all sour milk, which is just as well 

 for them, and they never will obserye 

 the change. '; ; ; ; : ; , •■ .-v *-':^-^ - *:; 



I warm my milk some, in the cold 

 days of spring, but not so much as to 

 separate the milk from the water, — it 

 had better be cold than too warm, as this 

 nearly always produces scours. Calves 

 should have an even mess, and be regu- 

 larly fed, although the quantity may be 

 increased with benefit, as the calf in- 



i creases in size.' V; ;-'a'V;^L' •-' r»? -r^^ 

 I have now seven calves, for which 

 my neighbor has offered me seven year- 

 , lings. But mine are far preferable. 

 j Franklin Co., N. Y. -/::'> :% 



