THE ILLINOIS FA^HJNIER. 



149 



quiet but trout steady. Butter active. 

 Cheese in better request. Wool without 

 animation. Hides dull but without quot- 

 able chanfie. Iliohwines rather irregu- 

 lar, but closing a shade firmer at the 

 previous decline. 



Chicago Club — The grain inspec- 

 tion of ChicafTQ has a grade of " Club" 

 wheat, established with reference to the 

 best description of northern spring 

 wheat, and which makes a just discrim- 

 ination in favor of those growers who 

 produce it, and those who handle it. — 

 This season has given to some portions 

 of Illinois, and nearly the whole of Iowa, 

 Wisconsin and Minnesota, the finest 

 spring wheat ever raised in those States, 

 and the producers mny congratulate 

 themselves upon the fact that its merits 

 will receive due acknowledgment in this 

 market. 



But in order to enter this grade, wheat 

 must be plump and heavy, (averaging 

 6) lb or over) and entirely free from 

 admixture with dirt, chaff, chess, smut, 

 or any description of grain other than 

 spring wheat. This week, our inspect- 

 ors just begin to find wheat arriving fit 

 to rank as "Chicago Club," and a sam- 

 ple was shown on 'Change to-day, ex- 

 citing'universal admiration. Nothing 

 L'ke it has ever been seen on the line of 

 tiie lakes before. 



The inspection here is in most capabh^ 

 hands, and no tampering with or mixing 

 of grades is allowed if attempted at the 

 elevators. The best grade of spring 

 wheat to be found in the year to come 

 will be " Chicago Club," in fact, and it 

 would have been so long ago in name, 

 were it not that a phrase has become 

 stereotyped, which was adopted for 

 northern spring wheat when it Avent to 

 market only in wagons, and so took its 

 name from the northern ports of ship- 

 ment. But now, that is all chanrred. 



Chicago is the only place where Club 

 wheat can be found pure, and kept pure 

 The second grade of spring wheat, 

 wiiich we call here "No. 1,*' is as good 

 as any Club we have ever seen from any 

 other large collecting point. 



The coming year Avill probably see 

 over 25,000,000 bush, wheat marketed 

 here. 



The grain crop is light in all of the 

 States south and south-west of us, and 

 we shall therefore have a fair demand 

 from that direction. On the whole, the 

 prospect of fair prices is most encour- 

 aging. As a general rule we would ad- 

 vise farmers to sell when their crops 

 are ready, this holding of crops for high 

 prices most generally ends in disap- 

 pointment. There are times when for 

 local reasons prices are depressed below 

 fair rates, but otherwise our motto is 

 to sell when we are ready to ship. 



Shiftless Farming — Rye jiuil fhess. 



" O wad some power the giftie gie us, 

 To see ourselves as others see us." 



If we could see the beam in our own 

 eyes before attempting to pull the mote 

 out of our own neighbors, it would be 

 a valuable gift, but this is har'Ily 

 in the nature of things, and as Mrs. 

 Widow Bedoit savs, "Natur will be 

 natur anyhow." So we must be con- 

 tent to see the mote in our neighbors 

 eyes and do what we can to get them 

 out. '■■:^-\'' '■^■'■,-.r- 



Wishing to sow stubble land with 

 rye, where we had grown spring wheat, 

 for the purpose of fall pasture for our 

 cows, we sent to a neighbor for a dozen 

 bushels of rye. On receiving it, w-e 

 were at a loss to know what to do with 

 the mixture sent us. Rye appeared to 

 predominate and we concluded to call it 

 rye with a large mixture of chess and 

 other seeds. Having one of Goodrich's 

 $45 fanning mills, we concluded to try 

 its discriminating virtues. The result 

 was nearly nine bushels of rye, three of 

 Well-developed chess, and nearly a peck 

 of seeds of weeds. 



This was satisfactory, the mill had 

 dor.e its duty, fully realizing our high 

 expectations of its capacity to separate 

 grains and seeds of different sizes and 

 weights. We had the rve clean and 

 pare, for seed and the chess and seeds 

 could go to the pig-pen or the poultry- 

 yard. 



Chess will grow as every farmer ought 

 to know, but for fall pasturage it is a 

 very poor article. Should the weather 

 prove dry at the time of sowing, it will 

 not germinate on account of the hard 

 husk which envelopes the grain, and at 

 tha best makes but a feeble growth in 

 autumn. Therefore, it is not suited to 

 the purpose for which we wanted the rye, 

 hence,we object when we send for rye to 

 have it one-fourth chess, subjecting us 

 to the trouble of clearing up a small 

 lot of seed, and that too Avhen the team 

 is harnessed for the harrowing. We 

 will suppose that we had sown this seed 

 as sent us, we would have had the whole 

 field seeded with chess, which would re- 

 main in the land for years and the crop 

 itself next season would have been at 

 least half chess, for the smallness of the 

 seed would have made up in numbers 

 nearly or quite equal to that of the rye, 

 and persons passing would have been 



liable to quarrel over the crop, some 

 calling it rye and others averring that it 

 was chess. Certainly there is no profit 

 in growing chess, it is of no value for 

 feed and even when ground, as it some- 

 times is, it is mainly for the small grains 

 of wheat that cannot be separated from it. 

 The flour itself is nearly all composed of a 

 hard husk enclosing the smallest possible 

 amount of grain and when ground by 

 itself would be of no value. We are 

 surprised that our farmers do not take 

 more pains to keep it out of the winter 

 grains when it can be done so easily 

 with a good mill. 



-«•»■ 



Growing of Winter Wheat. 

 It is an undisputed fact that for the 

 past three years the growing of this 

 grain has in the main proved unprofita- 

 ble, though we tnay partially except the 

 present year. But this is no good rea- 

 son why wheat in a judicious rotation 

 cannot be made to pay. One great loss 

 is bv the severe winds of the northwest 

 in March, drying out the roots and leav- 

 ing them d-ead. This could be remedied by 

 phinting belts of timber to break the 

 force of the wind, and the use of a roller 



to pack the earth- For the next few 

 years we may expect but the usual 

 amount of rain, and wheat will become a 

 paying if not a popular crop. We have 

 undoubtedly again entered upon the 

 cycle of wheat seasons that will restore 

 some of the old fame of the country. — 

 With this immense crop of corn people 

 will pause and enquire what we shall 

 plant for a change. We answer, both 

 spring and winter wheat. 



Good judges estimate the surplus crop 

 of wheat for Wisconsin at 12,OO0.0j0 

 bush, and that twice that amount will be 

 received at Chicago. W^ith good prices 

 as IS now apparent, every available acre 

 will be sown to wheat. South of Bloom- 

 ington but little Spring wheat is sown, 

 and in Egypt we might say none. 

 We may now look forward to an increased 

 amount sown this fall: So soon as we 

 have a change of season, that is, rainy 

 season, of lower temperature, we mu-t 

 be prepared to under drain, as that will 

 be the only true panacea that will save 

 the crop. At present no subject is fast- 

 er sinking out of sight than that of un- 

 der draining, but one rainy season will 

 bring it back with redoubled interest. 



Our prairie soils contain an abundance 

 of lime, which is so essential to the 

 growth of wheat, and what we want is a 

 sward land to sow on, or if old land put 

 in with a drill, and to have the crop shel- 

 tered from the severe drying winds. 



We hope those who sow winter wheat 

 will use good clean seed, sow no chess or 

 cockle, run a plow through all low pla- 

 ces to ensure surface drainage. 



