THE ILLINOIS F^IIM:EII. 



To 



home, and wishes that he might remain 

 in that blessed spot until he shall change 

 for his spirit home. Home, the best 

 boon given ns by our father above, that 

 ■we may have one spot consecrated to 

 beauty, in which shall be shadowed forth 

 to us the beauties the loveliness of our 

 heavenly home. Then adorn it with 

 wisdom, enrich it with the gems of beau- 

 ty and science. Let its guardians be 

 the bright angels. Truth, Purity and 

 Love, thus securing to ourselves a para- 

 dise o£ joy on earth, and faithfully ful- 

 filling our mission of love and mercy, 

 strictly obeying the laws of nature's God, 

 and ere we are aware, bright spirits from 

 above become our companions, hold with 

 us sweet converse. 'Tis then we realize 

 all the joys, all the bliss, of our Spirit 

 Some. Maria. 



South Pa3g, ni., April 21, I860. 



Old Firkin Heard From. 



Obiqos, III., April IS, 1860. 



Editor Illinois Farmer : — If you 

 please to accept a few rambling thoughts 

 from 0. F., of northern Illinois, here 

 they are : No doubt in the estimation of 

 all Egypt (bounded on the north by the 

 Ohio and Mississippi R. R.) according to 

 your notion of things geographically, we, 

 who live in this ice bound region are much 

 to be pitied, because we cannot have the 

 pleasure of listening to the first notes of 

 the feathered songsters, or participate in 

 the enjoyment of early vegetables, &c. 

 By this notice of Egypt, (which undoubt- 

 edly has its advantages,) I only wish to 

 remind you and others, who like you 

 seem to have forgotten the fact, that by 

 special resolution, passed unanimously, 

 at the Farmers' Congress at Freeport 

 last fall, Egypt now extends to Lake 

 Superior ; so let us have no more of 

 your narrow contracted Egypt. Is not 

 that 80 friend Roots? — [a.] 



We have had a very remarkable spring. 

 In March, weather warm and pleasant, 

 very dry, springs and wells low, and 

 sloughs no where. Most of the spring 

 wheat where the ground was prepared 

 in autumn was sown in March, seeding 

 all done and a good share of land pre- 

 pared for corn, by far the greater share 

 of which will be planted by May 10th. 

 We have with us a large area of rye, 

 which looks remarkably well, and bids 

 fair of a large harvest, (b. ) 



If I should judge by my own orchard, 

 we certainly have a prospect of fruit. 

 The Red June, Early Harvest, Yellow 

 Ingestrie, are full ot'^fruit buds, almost 

 ready to open. Currants are in full 

 bloom, (c.) 



You know that the mind of the man 

 who holds the plow is not necessarily oc- 



cupied about the business of his hands, 

 and that the farmer has many an hour 

 when he may look inward and upward 

 too, while he follows his team. Now I 

 never could see how it is possible for a 

 man to be a farmer, to be out in God's 

 own creation in the time of the singing 

 of birds *' when the voice of the turtle 

 dove is heard in the land " when all na- 

 ture animate with new life and beauty 

 seems to sing praises to the Most High 

 — I say I never could see how such ft 

 man can profess infidelity and say "there 

 is no God.'' There are such farmers ! 

 You are making promises of vists to 

 several counties in your April number. 

 Mr. Editor, let me say for one we should 

 be very happy to take '' Rural '' by the 

 hand, if in his migration he should come 

 as far north as Ogle county, where 

 dwells (d. ) Old Firkin. 



Ah ! " Old Firkin," (we like the 

 name. It reminds us of good solid win- 

 ter butter, such as our mother used to 

 put up in our old ash Firkin, all aglow 

 with gold and the aroma of white clo- 

 ver,) we welcome you to the columns of 

 the Farmer, and herewith introduce 

 you to our thousands of readers in "Cen- 

 tral Illinois," and in *' Egypt." (a.) 

 The question of the northern boundary 

 of Egypt is yet an open one, as it has 

 not as yet to our knowledge been settled 

 by any authoritative body. Certainly 

 the Southern Illinois Horticultural Soci- 

 ety did not pass upon it, though such a 

 report has been made, and we still ad- 

 here to our geological line, the north 

 shore of the old lake or sea, that at last 

 broke through the " grand chain '' and 

 drained the prairie portion of Egypt, and 

 which is a little south of the T. H. & A. 

 R. R. 



(b) The practice of fall plowing so 

 general in northern Illinois, is a most 

 valuable one, and we hope the farmers 

 in all parts of the State will get into this 

 valuable habit. That is what makes 

 your spring wheat and rye look so for- 

 ward and so thriving, and which has 

 given you time to prepare your corn 

 grounds, but we well remember when 

 this practice was as much neglected there 

 as it is here now, which fact gives us 

 encouragement that we shall soon get in 

 the good way. ^ ' 



(c) Red June, Early Harvest, and 

 Yellow Ingestrie are valuable fruits, 

 though the E. H. bears only moderate 

 crops every alternate year at the north, 

 and might be exchanged for Red Astra- 

 chan. The Yellow Ingestrie is one of 



the best for that part of the State, and 

 our friend Whitney of Franklin Grove, is 

 entitled to much credit for introducing 

 it. It bears young, and abundantly, is 

 hardy, good for cooking and eating, and 

 though not large, must prove a favorite 

 fruit. We have planted it largely. — 

 Fruit trees here with the exception of 

 Peaches, promise abundantly, as they 

 are now in bloom — (21st.) We have 

 225 of the Keswick Codlin six years old 

 three years set, that are sheeted in gorge- 

 ous livery presenting to a new home like 

 ours no small attraction. If they fulfill 

 the present promise we shall have from 

 these young trees an abundant supply of 

 the best cooking apples for three months 

 of the season, ending with September. 

 We would commend this variety above 

 all others for the new settler, and the 

 old ones without fruit, (d) The far- 

 mer who can calmly contemplate the 

 change of seasons, the waking up of 

 vegetable and animal life, the song 

 of birds, the development of the useful 

 and the beautiful, and say that it is all 

 a chance show is to be pitied, it is use- 

 less to labor with him, for if he cannot 

 appreciate the wonderous working of 

 nature, he will be deaf to the argument 

 of his fellow man. 



We had contemplated a general tour 

 of the counties, but our health is so 

 much impaired within the past three 

 months, that we shall not be able to car- 

 ry out our plans, yet we do not quite 

 despair of meeting maay of our readers 

 and contributors, and making their per- 

 sonal acquaintance. Ed. 

 «•> ■ — 



The Iktebiob of China. — The voyage of the 



Earl of Elgin, two years since, up the great river 

 Yang-tse-kiang, of China, the particulars of 

 which are only now first made known to the 

 ■n-orld through the publication of the narrative 

 of the mission, has furnished some interesting 

 facts relative to the interior of this empire. The 

 ruin which the rebels have caused can hardly be 



believed — populous cities had been destroyed, 

 and the country everywhere laid waste. Chir- 

 kiang, which once had a population of 500,000, 

 did not contain 500 souls. The great city of 

 Ching-kiang-foo, which had been taken by the 

 rebels, was in a most deplorable state. "A single 

 dilapidated street, composed only of a few mean 

 shops, was all that remained of this occe thriv- 

 ing and populous city; the remainder of the 

 area, comprised within walls six miles in circum- 

 ference, contained nothing but ruins, weeds and 

 kitchen gardens." At AYoo-chang, a city of 

 400,000 inhabitants, the parly landed. They 

 fourid its wall thrown down, large tracts were 

 covered with the ruins of houses destroyed by 

 the rebels, and so solitary were portions of the 

 ruined city, that in its very centre the officers 

 scared up two brace of pheasants. 



