70 



THE ILLINOIS F^HIMER. 



May. 



I murked the Spring as she passed along, 



M'ith her eye of liRht and her lip of song ; 



While she stole in peace o'er the green earth's breast, 



While the streams sprang out from the icy rest, 



The budi bent lower to the breeze's sigh, 



And their breath went forth in the scented sky; 



When the fields looked fresh in their sweet repose, 



And the young dews slept on the new born rose. 



Willis G. Clark. 



The great stretches of prairie again have 

 on their coat of green, dappled with tlie 

 vernal flora that nestles close to the scorched 

 turf, where the autumn fires had lapped up 

 the herbage of the departed year; the 

 meadows lay smiling in their green vesture 

 and the new sown fields are sending out 

 their luxuriant blades to drink in the morn- 

 ing dew; while the great corn fields of the 

 teeming west are now receiving the seed 

 from the hand of the busy farmer; the flocks 

 and herds are feeding in lazy quiet on the 

 prairie billows; the orchards are clothed in 

 gorgeous livery, and all nature partakes of 

 the joyous spring. 



The weather has been genial for the sea- 

 son and rural labor ha> made wonderful pro- 

 gress, and tlie season gives promise of most 

 ample harvests. Should no untoward weather 

 occur, the summer will throw into the lap of 

 autumn such stores of agricultural products, 

 that the railroad trains shall groan under 

 their weight and the ships that go down to 

 the sea shall be filled with golden grain; aye, 

 cheap grain for the toiling sons of want and 

 those crushed under the iron heel of mili- 

 tary despotism. 



The planting of orchards has been at- 

 tended to, 80 far as time and means would 

 j^ermit, and in this respect our farmers have 

 fiiiown their appreciation of the great value 

 of fruita, and more especially of the small 

 fruits, which should enter more largely into 

 the economy of the hou.sehold. A farmer 

 who can grow strawberries at fifty cents a 

 bushel, raspberries and blackberries at three 

 cents a quart, currants and grapes at twenty- 

 five cents a bushel and gooseberries at the 

 same, to which only the trouble of picking 

 is to be added, and neglects to do bo, is 

 blind to his own interest and is hardly en- 

 titled to the right to be called a good farmer, 

 though he own thousands of aorea of land 

 and ships his stook by the car load. A 

 farm ia the place to live and enjoy real life, 

 not a place on which to stay, to vegetate, or 

 to play the miser, but the place to enjoy 

 roseate health; it is the place that nature 

 has provided for the worn out people of the 

 city to retrieve and renew their worn out and 

 exhausted energies. It Is from the ranks of 

 the farmer that the active business men of 

 the city have filled their ranks, and when 

 age creeps on, it is their desire to return to 

 the country. The country then should be 

 made beautiful and attractive, and the 

 farmer live on his abundance, enjoy good 



health and feel at peace with all mankind. 

 But to enable him to do so, he must not 

 own too much land, be a slave to his broad 

 acres, or a drudge to his ambition to grow 

 rich. It is the farmer's right to live well, 

 to enjoy good health, to have his family 

 grow up intelligently and industrious; but 

 we fear too many make themselves and fam- 

 ilies slaves, not so degrading as the toil of 

 the unwilling plantation negro, but free 

 slaves to the potent dollar, for which the 

 roseate hues of health are blanched by un- 

 ceasing ill directed toil. It is intelligent 

 well directed toil that is required on the 

 farm, labor in the right time and in the 

 right place, the ability to command your 

 time to drive your plans to maturity, not 

 your plans to drive you. 



The farmers of the Northwest have made, 

 and are still making good progress. From 

 being considered the most unhealthy people, 

 cursed with intermittent fevers and all the 

 ills that flesh is heir too, they have acquired 

 a reputation for good health. Have the 

 seasons changed, has the climato become 

 more genial or have the people become more 

 rational in their habits and mode of living? 

 A diet of fat bacon; potatoes, if cooked at 

 all, swimming in grease; strong cofiee, with- 

 out sugar or milk, and forty rod whisky, 

 are not well calculated to add to the health 

 of a country, especially when the farm 

 house is flat on the grDund, the well at the 

 edge of a slough and the cellar with its 

 stores of vegetables nowhere; the garden a 

 patch of weeds and the orchard but a thicket 

 of brush. 



But better counsels have prevailed, and 

 with few exceptions, the whole social aspect 

 is changed, and the census now being taken 

 will prove the Northwest to be as healthy as 

 any part of our broad country. This ia not 

 due to any change of climate, but to the 

 change in the mode of living and of labor, 

 Farmers, can we improve upon this, cajinot 

 we go up another notch in the scale of 

 social and of moral progress? Let us try. 



-••»- 



For the IlUnois Farmer. 



The Farmer's Enemies — No. 2. 



In the rapid review of the injurious 

 Mammals of Illinois, in my previous article, I 



expressly omitted the Rodents. Therefore, 

 I shall now take up tliis numerous order, 

 which contains more than half the species 

 of the North American Mammals, and an 

 equal proportion of the Illinois Mammals. 

 But before I commence the list I must be 

 allowed to state, that to the labors of that 

 persevering young Naturalist, Robert Ken- 

 nicott, are we indebted for the beet history 

 of Illinois Rodents extant, and from which 

 I shall draw largely. The works of Audubon 

 and Buchman, and llobcrt Keunlcott, to- 

 gether with the Monograph of North 

 American Mammals by Dr. S. F. Baird, 



have exhausted the subject so far as de- 

 scriptions are concerned. Yet the geo- 

 graphical distribution of species, their habits 

 and peculiarities, still afford an open field 

 for inquiry. 



The Roihntia are distinguished by two 

 large incisor teeth in each jaw, with sharp, 

 cutting, chisel-shaped edges, fitted for 

 gnawing. 



One of the most abundant and best 

 known groups of this order is that which 

 comprises the squirrels — {tSciuridae.) 



The largest species of the squirrels found 

 in our State is Western Fox Squirrel — 

 (^Sciui-us ludovicianus.') This species is 

 met with in considerable numbers through- 

 out the State in the timber, to which it is 

 confined, and together with the next species 

 often does great injury to the corn crop, 

 frequently destroying entire fields of this 

 grain. 



The {Sciurus Carolineusis,') which in- 

 cludes the gray and black squirrels, Is the 

 most abundant species of the family, in this 

 State. 



To this species Dr. Baird, in his Jlono- 

 graph. refers to the S. migraioriut of Aud. 

 Bach.; and the iS. niger of Godman. The 

 gray variety ot this species is the most 

 abundant of all the squirrels in the southern 

 portion of the State. This variety Is given 

 by Mr. Kennicott as the S. Caroliuentis. 



The Little lied Squirrel, (S. hudsonius,') 

 is occasionally met with in the northern 

 part of the State. 



The Cat Squirel, (*S'. cinereus,') may pos- 

 sibly be found in the State, but if so, it is 

 very seldom. 



The common Flying Squirrel, {Pteromys 

 volucella,') is found throughout the State in 

 the timbered districts, and is one of the 

 most beautiful and interesting quaprupeds 

 found in the State. And although it may, 

 when pinched by hunger, occasionally steal 

 into the crib or grain store of the farmers, 

 yet It can hardly be classed as one of his 

 enemies. 



The Ground Squirrel, (Taynais striatus,) 

 is not sufficiently numerous to do the 

 farmers of Illinois any serious injury;* and 

 the industry and frugal habits of this species 

 should teach all idle farmers a lesson they 

 would do well to imitate, and this would 

 amply repay for its occasional thefts of re- 

 cently planted corn. 



The Spermophiles or Prairie Squirrels, as 

 their comipon name Indicates, are confined 

 to the prairies, and are found only In the 

 northern part of the State. And as they 

 can scarcely be counted enemies of the 

 farmer, we will leave them and pass on. 



The well known Woodchuck or Ground 



Ilog, (^Arctomys tnonax,^ is found in all 

 parts of the State, especially around the 

 clearings and cultivated grounds in the 

 timbered portions. Although well known 

 even to the children, he Is quite a shy chap, 

 keeping close to his hole, in which he hides 

 at every approach of danger. 



In pa.ssing by the locus of the American 

 Beaver in the list, I must add that a speci- 

 men may even yet be found in this State. 

 So late as 1848 one was killed In this county 

 (Jackson,) and another has been reported as 

 seen but a few years since. 



The Pouched Gopher, {Geomys hursar. 



