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THE ILLIiSrOIS FjVlijNIXilR. 



Wxt ^Wimb £mim\ 



The season has made a steady march 

 into the heart of summer, and the ripened 

 grain waves in golden glory, and is yield- 

 ing to the sickle of the reaper as it goes 

 singiiig through its serried ranks with 

 spikelets all reversed, for with it the bat- 

 tle of life is over, and the blades that so 

 lately stood upright, drinking in the 

 morning dew, and made strong by the 

 summer zephyrs, have bent their ripened 

 heads and yielded up their values to the 

 hand of the husbandman. The farmers of 

 Central Illinois can sing ajubalant har- 

 vest home, for the yield of \Yheat, of oats, 

 oF rye, and of barley is good, even beyond 

 their most sanguine expectations, •while 

 the corn is leaping and laughing and 

 growing more vigorous, from day to day, 

 and giving promise of a most bounteous 

 harvest. The grass is only moderate, 

 and the same may be said of potatoes 

 and garden vegetables. The weather 

 is not scorching hot, so as to shrink the 

 ripening grain, and curl the leaves of the 

 growing corn, but rightly .tempered for 

 the small grains and for labor, while the 

 excellent condition of the soil and the 

 very thorough culture that it has re- 

 ceived, brings the corn forward in the 

 most satisfactory manner. Yesterday 

 (the 25th) we passed over the great 

 Western Kailroad from Tolono to Spring- 

 field, and along the route, the reapers 

 and headers are busy cutting the winter 

 wheat. In one field of fifteen hundred 

 acres, several headers were busy. With- 

 out headers it would be rather difficult 

 to harvest this field, for it will be recol- 

 lected that in our climate we have a 



short harvest, say ten days at most; 

 this would require some twelve reapers, 

 and over a hundred men, but with the 

 header a less number of men are employ- 

 ed, at the same time a larger outlay of 

 capital is required. W^ith the small farm- 

 er, the reaper is his implement fcr the 

 harvest, but the large one must rely upon 

 the header. We have passed over this 

 route monthly for the past six months, 

 but now that we can see the extent of 

 the fields, as thej stand out in their 

 golden glory, we must confess to a great- 

 er breadth of wheat than ire had sup- 



posed was on the ground, and this 

 wheat though no!; as good a stand as 

 might have been, yet with well filled 

 heads, will turn a good if not more than 

 an average yield, in fact much better 

 than for years past. The corn has re- 

 ceived more than its usual share of cul- 

 ture, and in this respect our farmers are 

 inaugurating i new era, and will demon- 

 strate the theory that a small farm well 

 cultivated is worth more than a largo 

 one run over. We must say that the 

 farmers o£ Central Illinois are the best 

 corn growers in the State, that they 

 can produce more corn for the same 

 amount of labor, over and above the ad- 

 vantages of climate, in short, that they 

 understand the business better, but we 

 shall not claim for them perfection, as in 

 this progressive age, with so many val- 

 uable now implements, they \vill con- 

 tinue to improve from time to time. 

 With the new implements we cannot 

 see why planting in drills will not prove 

 the best. Among the improvements in 

 corn culture the roller lias its share, by 

 crushing the clods, and giving us a well 

 pulverized soil for the seed, hiding it 

 from the vermin and protecting it from 

 drouth. No corn planter should think 

 of dispensing -vN-ith this implement. The 

 weather for the past month has been 

 rather dry, yet no crop has been seri- 

 ously injured, though the po aloe crop 

 will suffer most. We would call especial 

 attention to the letter of our good Friend 

 Mr. " Old Firkin, " in regard to the 

 time of planting of this crop. Early 

 potatoes sometimes fail, when a late 

 crop comes in well. Ilye for fall feed 

 of stock, and for early feed for hogs, 

 is of great value, and we take this occa- 

 sion to call attention to it. Many of 

 our new farmers have little or no fall 

 feed, and to such the rye pasture will 

 be invaluable. Sow a few acres in July 

 or August, by plowi g up grain stubble, 

 this will give abundance of feed after the 

 Autumn frosts have cut off the supply 

 on the prairie, and it can be plowed up for 

 corn in the Spring, or allowed to make 

 a crop either for the grain, or in which to 

 turn the hogs. Wheat s'k uld not be 

 allowed to stand in the field, as the grain 

 is bleached by dew and rain, and is less 

 valuable ; if it cannot be threshed as 

 soon as cured, it should be stacked and 

 allowed to go through the sweating pro- 

 cess, which will require four to six 



weeks; either thrash from thos hock, or 

 allow it time to sweat and dry out, 

 otherwise the threshing will be a tctllous 

 process. Do not in the hurry of har- 

 j vest forget the garden; recollect that 

 you owe to that valuable department 

 of the farm, much that has made the 

 country more popular as to good health; 

 better have a plenty of fat vegetables 

 than fat pork, in the long hot days of 

 summer. 



Strawberries as a Paying Crop. 

 When iu Cincinnati, a few da^'s since, 

 we were forcibly struck with the large 

 amount of strawberries sold in that market, 

 which must amount to several hundreds of 

 bushels dally. To produce this amouut of 

 fruit, pick and market it, must require a 

 large amount of farm labor. The retail 

 price was ten cents per quart, with brisk 

 sales; at wholesale was six to eight cent", 

 according to quality, put up in drawers, the 

 drawers either paid for or returned as agreed 

 upon. The cost per quart to Chicago is 

 about two cents, being a net cost of say ten 

 cents, and retail at fifteen cents. When in 

 Chicago the last of 3Iay, we called at the 

 fruit stand of H. Newhall, in Dearborn 

 street, and were shown a lot of Crimson 

 Corn Strawberries, grown at South Pass, 

 (Cobden) iu Union county, picked the day 

 before, shipped G P. M. and at 9 A. M. next 

 morning was in market, as fresh as though 

 they had just come from some neighboring 

 garden. The berries were largo and line, 

 put up in quart pasteboard boxes iu drawers 

 two boxes deep. They were by far the finest 

 in market and were selling at thirty-seven 

 and a half cents a quart, while the best of 

 the Cincinnati berries put up iu dratvers 

 sold at twenty-five cents. The first arrivals 

 of these berries sold at fifty cents a quart. 

 Allowing three hours for picking, and we 

 have them in market in eighteen hours, 

 while the Cincinnati, berries are forty hours 

 in reaching that market from the picking, 

 thus putting the south part of our State 

 some twenty hours ahead of the Cincinnati- 

 ans. The soil and climate aboub South 

 Pass is earlier and more natural to this fruit, 

 the berries are larger and of course more 

 marketable, they go into market perfectly 

 fresh, and consequently must pay a better 

 profit. When we add to this, that land 

 about Cincinnati is worth from one to two 

 hundred dollars per acre and at South Pass 

 from twenty to thirty, we have a realizing 

 sense of the difierence. The Illinois 

 Central llailroad Company have large tracts 

 of valuable land at that point, which they 

 ofi'er at lower rates and on long time ; and 

 to those who wish to grow the small fruits 

 or large, there is no place equal to the sout^ 



