VOLUME V. 



SPRINGFIELD, ILL., JULY, 1860. 



NUMBER 7. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



PUBLISHED MONTULY, 



BT 



BAIIiHACHE & BAKER, 



Journal Office, Springfield, Illinois. 



M. L. 33IJNLA1P, Editor. 



TERMS OF SUBSCKIPTION. 



One copy, one year, in advance f 1 00 



Five copies, " " 3 75 



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



Fifteen copies and over, 62_% cents each, and one to person 

 getting up club. 



CASH RATES OF ADVERTISING : 



One dollar per square of ten lines, each insertion. 



SPECIAL NOTICE. \ 



All business letters should be directed to the Publishers, at 

 Springfield; and all corainunlcations for the eye of the Editor, 

 and the exchanges, should be directed — Illinois Farhbr, 

 Chaniijaign, III. (The name of the post office at West Ur- 

 bana has been changed as above.) 



CONTENTS. 



July 101 



Our Trip 101 



The Currant or Gooseberry Worm 105 



Fleshman's New Mode of Plowing 106 



Draining and Subsoiling 107 



Poultry Rearing 109 



Fairbanks' Scales 109 



Corn 110 



Strawberries as a Paying Crop 110 



Amount of Rain f >r '6!) Ill 



The Value of Deep Plowing for Corn Ill 



The Cattle Disease Ill 



Straws 112 



EDITOR'S T.4IJLE : 



July 114 



Summer Pruning of the Grape 114 



Land Rollers lU 



Amalcam Bells 1 14 



Vralrie Breaking 114 



Sweet Potatoes 114 



Lime, Sulphur, the Plums and Curculio 114 



Oiirden Engines 114 



AVash your Fruit Trees 114 



Macon County Fair, at Decatur 1 14 



DuPage County Premium List 114 



Durable Wash for Wood Work 114 



Kerosene Oil 115 



Sewing Machines 115 



A good place for Drugs 115 



Married 115 



The Small Fruits 115 



Blackberry Wine 115 



Kye for Hogs 115 



Apples inCentr&l Illinois ..115 



The Corn Crop. 115 



The Late Tornado 115 



The Cattle Disease 115 



A Sweet Boy 115 



Post Office Change 115 



Revolving Hor.se Rake 115 



Chase's Hand Book 115 



Bee Hives 115 



The Weather, Crops, &o 115 



The Orchard 115 



Railroad Fares ... .115 



More Native Wine 115 



Political 116 



How to sell Land 116 



The Great Tornado 116 



The State Fair 1 IG 



The Advertisements 116 



The Farmer on the Fair Grounds 116 



Blaekl>errie8 116 



Cass County Fair 116 



Pike County Fair 116 



Swarming of Bees 116 



Memories of Washington 116 



Cobs for Fuel 116 



Mole Draining 116 



Residence of U. G. Johns 116 



Bloomington 116 



Lee County Fair 116 



Esterly's Self Rnking Reaper 116 



Macoupin County Fair 116 



MARKETS 116 



Jnlj. 



From brightning fields of ether, fair disclosed, 



Child of the sun, rtfulgent suinmer comes. 



In pride of youth, and felt through nature's depth, 



He comes attended by the sultry hours. 



And ever fanning breezes on his way ; 



While, from his ardent look, the turning spring 



Averts her bashful face ; and earth, and skies. 



All smiling, to his hot dominion bow. 



Thomjifion's Seasons. 



July is here witli his ardent fires, simmer- 

 ing down the juices of the plants to plastic 

 wood, and with mystic hand building up 

 their structures layer after layer, with the 

 wonderous mechanism by which nature loves 

 to do her noble work. The gentle rains and 

 warm winds ot spring had opened the bud 

 and expanded the leaf, but it is the duty of 

 summer to envelop the stem in new layers of 

 wood and pile on millions of hexagonal 

 cells, that shall hold the starch in recesses 

 too small for the unaided eye. How wonder- 

 ful the processes ot nature under the ardent 

 gaze of the summer's sun, how apparently 

 simple the growth of plants. Yet man 

 with all his endowments can. only till the 

 soil, water their roots ana patiently wait for 

 nature to build up their structures. Man, 

 with his genius can bridge mighty rivers ; 

 he can call down the lightning of heaven 

 and compel it to become his messenger of 

 thought; he can make the water of the sum- 

 mer cloud transport him with the swiftness 

 of the wind, but he cannot make a rose leaf 

 or paint tis petals with the gorgeous 

 colors of tbe sun. July is an important 

 month for the farmer, it is the month that 

 nature has set to do her noblest work, to put 

 forth her best efforts. If he has planted 

 carefully and cultivated with an unsparing 

 hand, the ardent sun of July will build up 

 for him the structures of his plants, that 

 shall make glad his home in winter. July 

 too pours out her wealth of ripened grain, 

 the rye, the barley and the wheat, now bend 

 their ripened heads to the sickle and are 

 gathered for our use. The sun-browned 

 brow of toil must pour out the sweat like 

 rain, to moisten the muscles of labor and 

 give strength to endure the heats of summer. 

 Nature is all aglow with energy, the gentle 

 rustle of the leaf is but a whisper of the 

 summer growth, and the music of the reaper 

 is testimony to the integrity of the season. 



OCR TRIP. 



Indianapolis, Ind., June 8, 1860. 



The Great Western Railroad cora- 

 incncing at Naples on the Illinois river, 

 runs east through the heart of the great 

 corn zone of the State, passing Jack- 

 sonville, Decatur, Tolono, Danville, to 

 the State line in direction of the Toledo, 

 and connecting at Fort Wayne with the 

 greau through route via Chicago, Pitts- 

 burgh and Baltimore east. 



--^~.__ THE CROPS. 



From Springfield to Tolono we ob- 

 serve but little winter wheat, but what 

 there is looks well. But little spring 

 wheat is sown, though every year in this 

 part of the State this grain is becoming 

 more and more popular, and at no dis- 

 tant day will rank high among the sta. 

 pie products of Central Illinois. Rye 

 looks well and is quite largely cultivated, 

 but it is the great breadth of corn that 

 attracts the eye of the traveler, the large 

 fields stretch far down the prairie 

 slopes, and away over the wave-like 

 swells- Generally the rows have been 

 laid straight, and now as the plants are 

 a few inches above ground, they show to 

 good advantage, but when June with its 

 gentle rain and ardent heat shall have 

 put it in tassel, and when the south-west 

 wind that has kissed the luxurious foli- 

 age of the "tropics'' shall ripple its sur- 

 face of deepest green, then may the 

 eye of the traveler be feasted to some 

 purpose, and the sun-browned brow of 

 toil brighten with the promise of well 

 requited effort Of all the West the great 

 pairie slopes that lie within the corn 

 zone, are the richest and most certain to 

 return value for value, and give to labor 

 the most sure reward. ; , . : 



Most of the stock from points west of 

 Tolono goes east by the way of Chicago, 

 not the most natural route certainly, but 

 northern energy is not made of pliant 



