VOLUME V. 



SPRINGFIELD, ILL., AUGUST, 1860. 



NUMBEll 8. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY, 



BY 



BAIL H AC HE & BAKER, 



Journal Office, Springfield, Illinois. 



M. L. DUNLAP, Editor. 



TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. 



One copy, one year, In advance |1 00 



Five copiei, " " 3 75 



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



Fifteen copies and over, C'2)^ cents each, and one to person 

 getting up club. 



CASH RITES OF ADVERTISING : 



One dollar per square of ten lines, each insertion. 



SPECIAL NOTICE. 



All builn«9« letters should be directed to the Publisherg, at 

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

 and the exchanges, sheuld be directed — Illinois Farmkr, 

 Champaign, 111. (The nameof the post offlca at West Ur. 

 bana has been changed as above . ) 



CONTENTS. 



August 121 



The Cattle Disease 122 



Ornamental Gardening 123 



Crops in Adams County 128 



Letter from "Egypt"' 123 



Letter from Tamaroa 124 



The Bishop Hill Colony 125 



Report of Wisconsin Fruit Growers Association 125 



Illinois Natural Hiistory Society 125 



Rats 125 



The Culture of Broom-Corn 126 



Fairbanks' Scales 126 



Amount of Rain for 1859 127 



Please Observe This 127 



Spaulding's Prepared Glue 127 



The Cattle Disease 127 



Our Canadian Visitors 128 



The Season 130 



Horse Taming 180 



History of the Steel Plow 131 



Strawberries 132 



Rust and Smut In Wheat 133 



Linen and Flax 134 



Agricultural Lecture 134 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



Introductory ^ 184 



Peach Trees and Silver Maples 134 



Drilling Wlicat 1.34 



Peddlers Trees 135 



Bees on the Prairie 135 



Adams County Fair 135 



School and Family Readers 135 



Ogle County Fair 185 



Fawkc's Steam Plows 135 



The Best Tomato Pickles 135 



To Clean Knives 1.^5 



Letter fniiu Tennessee 135 



Kxhibitiou of the United States Agricultural Society. .135 



Hancock County Fair 135 



Tho Next Great F.iir 135 



The Cattle Disease 135 



Curing Hay 137 



Sugsr from Chinese Sugar Cane l;-;5 



The State;Fair 135 



From North-Western Slissouri 135 



The Farmer's Zeitung 136 



Bees 136 



Strawberries 186 



The State Fair Grounds l.'ie 



An Important Invention 136 



Our Exchanges 136 



MARKETS 136 



Aognst. 



The last month of summer is at hand, 

 crowned with the golden sheaf, the rip- 

 ening corn, the apple and the peach. — 

 Nearly allof the small fruits have passed 

 away and given place to the larger and 

 longer keepers. The great corn fields 

 are standing out in the August sun, and 

 ripening up the huge ears under its ar- 

 dent gaze. The sweet potatoe is coming 

 in use, adding another to our creature 

 comforts; melons abound,' and yield up 

 their lucious sweets, much to the gratifi- 

 cation of all. August is laboring with 

 herculean strength to perfect the gifts of 

 summer, ready to pour them into the lap 

 of autumn. The sound of the reaper 

 and of the thrasher is the^music of the 

 morning, and all through the sultry day; 

 the sun-browned brow of toil is moist 

 with dewy sweat, as the*golden sheaves 

 bend to the sharp sickle, or are sent 

 through fast revolving cylinders to rob 

 them of the yellow grain. The banners 

 of the season float out on the gentle 

 breath of August with^Jdeeper foilage, 

 all mature and ready for the change that 

 is so near at hand ; the reapers will soon 

 close their labors for the year, and all 

 the golden glories of luxurient summer 

 will soon pass to the garner of Autumn. 

 The season has been one of deep inter- 

 est and of stirring activity, as its genial 

 smiles gave pi'omise of abundant^croiDS, 

 so long Avithhcld, it nerved the arm of 

 labor and made glad the brow of care. 

 The roseate flush of heath mantles the 

 cheek of toil, and the summer zephyrs 

 that kissed the waving grain, has left its 

 impress of robust health on the cheek of 

 youth and beauty. The graneries of 

 the Northwest will be stored with ample 

 harvest, and her farmers, her mechanics 

 and her merchants shall sing a jubilant 

 harvest home, and bow down in thank- 

 fulness to the great Giver for the abun- 



dance that the August sun is now finish- 

 ing up for their use. With all the re- 

 turning blessings that abundant crops 

 always bring in its train, if we are pru- 

 dent, if we are industrious we may bid 

 hard times defiance, and look a bad sea- 

 son in the face with comparative impuni- 

 ty. But if in good season we live up to 

 our means, no wonder that a bad season 

 crushes out our hopes. And now when 

 success flushes upon us when the August 

 sun is pouring down its blessings, and 

 every thing is joyous, let us resolve that 

 in the future we will live like rational 

 beings ; let us resolve to live for our- 

 selves and for our families, let us cease 

 the worship of broad acres that^we can- 

 not use ; let -us car je out homesteads . 

 that shall glow with contentment and 

 abundance ; let us enjoy the substance 

 while the shadow is passing; let our 

 homes be shrines for the household to 

 which in after life the young members 

 may look back with feelings of pleasure. 

 To do this we have but to cultivate less 

 acres, but to cultivate them better, to 

 ])lant trees and 9owers,^for now when 

 the sun is pouring down his heats is the 

 best time to enforce the value of .shade, 

 and the necessity of planting trees now 

 when the evening calls to repose, when 

 the toil of the day is over and tlic dra- 

 pery of flowers would be most agreeable, 

 but that the spring time called for too 

 much labor and they were not planted. 

 It is a good time to cast back and see 

 when we gave the bond that has bound 

 us to all toil; it was of our own free will, 

 but was it not unfortunate? Had we 

 not have better stipulated for time to 

 plant a few flowers, to plant a good gar- 

 den, to plant an abundance of small 

 fruits, whose sharp acid is so agreeable 

 in tho heats of summer, and to plant the 

 larger fruits that are so desirable in win- 

 ter? Now when the golden'.harvest is so 



