VOLUME V. 



SPRINGFIELD, ILL., APRIL, 1860. 



NUMBER 4. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY, 



BY 



BAILHACHE & BAKER, 



Journal Officb, Sprikgfield, Illikois. 



M. L. DXJNLAP, Editor. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. 



One copy, one year, in advance f 1 00 



Five copies, " " 8 76 



Ten " and one to the person getting up club 7 50 



Fllteen copies and orer, 62^ cents each, and one to person 

 getting up club. 



CASH RATES OF ADTERTISISO : 



One dollar per square of ten lines, each insertion. 



CONTENTS. 



April ....88 



Blackberry Wine 64 



Housekeeping '. 64 



Farm Houses , 64 



Varm Callor* luid Timber Orowing .... . . .... 65 



Agricultural Progress in Adam*. ......<...... 66 



Dunlap'8 Weed Hook .1..... 67 



Grafting the Cherry, etc 67 



Small Fruits .' 57 



Winter Wheat 68 



Home Talk 63 



Spalding's Prepared Glue 68 



Wine Sap — Raule's Janet '. 69 



Spring in Egypt 69 



Important Discovery 59 



County Fairs . . 60 



Premiums offered by the Illinois State Agricultural Soc'ty. 60 



Fairbanks' Scales 61 



The Fireside 61 



Spring is Coming '. 6'i 



The Farmer's Enemies 63 



EDITOR'S TABLE: 



The Fanner ...^S 



The Ohio Farmer 63 



Transactions of Ohio Fomological Society 68 



The Rural Annual, 1860 63 



The Architect's and Mechanic's Journal 68 



Editors Work 68 



Bloomlngton Nursery 63 



Weekly Illinois State Journal 68 



Ohio Cultivator 64 



Chfa, or Earth Almond 64 



Northwestern Farmer 64 



Lamoille Nursery 64 



Sweet Potatoes 64 



Silver Maple Seedlings 64 



Steam Plow, Lancaster 64 



Sweet Potatoe Plants 64 



The Horticulturalist 64 



The Sullivant Farm 64 



Woodburn Nursery 64 



Young's Cultivator 64 



The Gardener's Monthly 64 



Make Good Implements 64 



Ca^t Iron Land Rollers 64 



McQuiston's Corn Sheller 64 



Review of Fleishman's New Mode of Plowing 64 



An Illinois Barn and Piggery 64 



Engravings. 64 



Subsoil Plow 64 



Death of A. H. Ernst 06 



Sprouting Osage and Locust Seed 65 



Sweet Potatoe Manual 65 



Exchanges, etc 65 



Tomatoes in Egypt 65 



The Flower Garden 65 



Setting out Orchards 65 



Hubbard Squash 65 



Native Evergreens 65 



The Pnurie Farmer 65 



The Wholesale Nursery Trade and the Tree Peddleri. . 65 

 Oommeroial 65 



APRIL 



Come, gentle Spring ! ethereal mildness, come. 

 And from the bosom of yon dropping cluud, 

 WTiile music wakes around, veiled in a shower 

 Of shadowing roses, on our plains descend. 



[Thompson's " Sbabons." 



March, with its sunshine, its chilly 

 blast and fitful gusts of heat and cold, 

 as it battled with the Winter King for 

 the rights of Spring, has passed, and 

 April, with its more mild and genial, 

 though oft-dripping skies, is hailed with 

 delight, and 



" The glorions sun 

 Stays in his course, and plays the alchemist, 

 Turning, with splendor of his precious eye. 

 The meagre, cloddy earth to glittering gold." 



The wheat, oats, rye and barley are 

 sown, and are sending up their rank 

 foliage to drink in the kindly shower; the 

 vernal flowers are bowing their modest 

 heads, or peering out along the garden 

 borders, almost doubtful if Spring has 

 come ; the buds upon shrub and tree are 

 preparing to burst forth into leafy splen- 

 dor, while the embryo flower will exer- 

 cise more caution until the frosts that 

 have been lurking in the borders of 

 Spring shall have been driven back to 

 the icy north. 



The hum of insects and the chaunt of 

 politicians are upon the April air. The 

 one you must study well, and after him 

 with fire and Knife ; while the oiher 

 should but excite your pity, and caution 

 you to guard well the ballot-box from 

 their depredations. With them, like 

 fish. 



The great thieves eat the less. 



The past winter has no doubt made 

 large inroads in the larvae of the insect 

 tribes, and we shall hope to hear of 

 little damage from the cut-worm and 

 the chinch-bug the coming summer. 

 The Hessian fly is too well armed to 

 heed the effects of winter frosts, and, 

 under the name of wint(.r-killing, he has 

 done no small amount of damage ; for 

 in autumn he had eat into the heart of 



the succulent wheat, where he lay con- 

 cealed, and when spring called forth to 

 the plant to renew its growth, it had not 

 the heart to do so, and its green leaves 

 turned of a yellow hue and died — insect 

 killed in late autumn and early spring. 



This month the vegetable and flower 

 garden will need your care — the one 

 filled with use and the other with 

 beauty. So shall be combined the one 

 that shall give us health and the other 

 joy. Spring, with all its budding hopes 

 and promise of plenty, is upon us ; the 

 winter is past, and March has put him 

 just over the border, yet not so far that 



he may not— :^^*>re' ^--'i-'-rr;'-,''''^ •;";'■...:,'■"" 



■ Come back when the irind Is stin, ■ *" ' 



■ And the stars shine out with their silver light, 

 When with a chill and a silent tread. 

 He may spread his mantle of dazsling white, 

 And the gems of frost, sparkle and dance 

 Over the fields and the herbage green. 

 When the sun in his glory shall rise o'er the land- 

 Then woe to the vines, and the jroung blades of com. 

 The more tender plants, {md the blossoms of fhiit ; 

 For the mantle of white and the setting of pearls, 

 But point to the shroud that envelops them all. 



Deep tillage will ward off the spring 

 frosts to a great extent ; for through the 

 day the soil drinks in the sun's rays, 

 and becomes so well warmed up that no 

 ordinary degree ol cold will affect it. 

 Protection by timber belts will prevent 

 the cold air from robbing the cultivated 

 land of the heat absorbed during the day 

 and thus stimulate the early growth and 

 maturity of the spring grains. The 

 small fruits that produce the great com- 

 forts should be planted in great abund- 

 ance. They are strawberry, currant, 

 gooseberry, raspberry and blackberry. 



Look well to your sowing and plant- 

 ing, for upon the care with which these 

 is done will be } our success. Do not 

 in the hurry of spring work, neglect the 

 garden, from which so many of the 

 essential elements of the table are 

 : drawn. The orchard, that great conser- 

 ■ vator of health, will require looking 

 : after, .new trees to be planted, and old 

 j ones pruned and grafted. 



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