THE ILLIIS^OIS FA-HIS^ER. 



158 



is only intended for a screen. Of course 

 the Professor is a great advocate of shelter 

 from the prairie winds, and he says that he 

 can get more crop from the remainder after 

 he has taken a rod of land for the hedge 

 than without it, besides it gives him almost 

 two weeks the advance of the open prairie 

 culture. The hedge plants are the largest 

 that we have seen at this season by at least 

 one-half the size, and yet he uses no manure 

 in their culture. Near his house are two 

 apple trees of the much abused Baldwin, 

 ten inches in diameter, healthy and loaded 

 with fruit, but they are closely walled in 

 on the south and west by forest trees that 

 tower far above, shielding them from the 

 sudden changes; and these forest trees were 

 set out by his own hand to give him shade 

 on his early homestead of eighty feet front. 

 His orchard is closely planted, and among 

 the fruit trees mingle magnificent specimens 

 of the Conifera, which in winter must give 

 them a pleasant look. One-half of a large 

 peach tree, on the east side, is loaded with 

 fruit, at its base on that side is a plantation 

 of Juniper. May not this have some- 

 thing to do with the fruiting of that 

 tree? His pear trees that were fast 

 disappearing, are again robust, full of 

 health and fruit, a peck of old plaster at the 

 base, drenched with a pail full of urine, has 

 been the medicament j this or the more fa- 

 vorable season has wrought the change ; 

 who shall decide ? 



^A NUT FOR THE NATURALISTS TO CRACK. 

 Here stands a ring-leaved willow thirty feet 

 high, and nearly a foot in diameter ; a year 

 or two since, the top was killed down six or 

 eight feet, and now one of the branches just 

 below the dead portion is, in all respects, a 

 weeping willow, with the narrow, smooth 

 leaf, drooping habit, and graceful form of 

 the weeping willow, surrounded by the ring- 

 leaved branches of the parrent tree ; will 

 some of our Savans solve the mystery ? If 

 they do not, we propose to let the advocates 

 of the transmutation of wheat to chess loose 

 upon them; for if the killing of the top of 

 the ring-leaved willow has the eflPect to 

 change the habit and leaf of the adjacent 

 branch, may not the freezing of the wheat 

 plant so change it that it produces chess ? 

 We pause for a reply. ; ' 



His grape experiments have not resulted 

 in anything practical, and though expensive 

 and interesting we have neither the space or 

 time to devote to it, and will refer our read- 

 ers to what we said on page 114. In the 

 grounds are several seedling peach trees, of 

 rather an indifferent quality of fruit, but 

 with the redeeming virtue that they pro- 

 duce good crops nearly every year; no other 

 peach trees in the grounds have borne this 

 season except the one before noted. 



Prof. Turner has been one of the great 

 practical pioneers of the Osage hedge, and 

 has done much to make it a success. If 

 any doubt this, let them visit Morgan coun- 

 ty, and they will see hundrees of miles of 

 it in successful use. After spending a cou- 



ple of hours in examing his grounds and ad- 

 miring the neatness of culture, the thrifty 

 growth and system of management, we took 

 a look into the tool-house, and among the 

 implements, both crude and perfect that 

 are yet to make their mark, and give to our 

 friend a name that shall go down to the gen- 

 erations of toiling humanity, among the 

 most prominent ia a gang plow, (two eleven 

 inch plows,) a roller, seed sower, planter 

 and cultivator, combined, so arranged that 

 it will plow, sow and roll the small grains at 

 one operation ; or it will plow, plant, cover 

 and roll the ground; or it will cultivate a 

 row of corn in the most thorough manner, 

 and crush the clods at the same time, thus 

 killing the weeds, stirring up the soil a 

 foot deep, if you choose, and pulverising it 

 at the same time. His Osage Orange seed 

 is planted in drills, some eight inches apart, 

 in beds of four rows; these are sown with a 

 drill of his own construction; the same ma- 

 chine with the addition of knives and pul- 

 verisers, cultivates these rows in the cheap- 

 est possible manner. The corn cultivator 

 mentioned in our last issue, is one of the 

 most valuable implements we have seen, and 

 cannot fail to give to the great corn zones 

 increased value ; we saw where it had been 

 at work, and know that it cannot fail to give 

 an increased yield over any other process; 

 at the same time it is a great labor-savmg 

 implement, and we are safe in saying that 

 at least one-third of the usual cost of culture 

 will be saved in its use. We hope that 

 manufacturers of Agricultural Implements 

 attending the Fair will take a look at it, as 

 well as the great mass of farmers more im- 

 mediately interested. Here is a cultivator 

 and drill, or sower, to sow or drill wheat 

 among standing corn — an ingenious imple- 

 ment. Without going further into details, 

 which time and space will not at present 

 admit, we will close by saying that Mr. T. 

 is not only a villager, but a farmer, having 

 a farm of eight hundred acres, three hund- 

 red of which is in corn, one hundred in 

 small grains, one hundred in meadow, and 

 the remainder in woodland, and pasture. — 

 He loads and unloads his hay with horse- 

 power, of which we intend to give drawings 

 hereafter. 



■«•>■ 



[From the New York Times, Aug. 9, 1859.] 



Spaulding's Prepared Glue. — A very 

 meful and convenient article for house 

 keepers and others, is "Spaulding's Prepar- 

 ed Glue." It is one of those inventions 

 small in themselves, which, nevertheless, go 

 far in the economies of household manage- 

 ment, and are an ever-present aid in saving 

 time, expense and trouble. The number of 

 small repairs to furniture, picture frames, 

 crockery, children's toys, leather, shell and 

 other fancy work, with the almost innumer- 

 able uses to which in every houeehold a 

 really good and ever-ready article of this 

 kind may be applied, will at once suggest 

 themselves to the ladies. Damaged book- 

 covers, loosened leaves, dilapidated maps 

 herbariums, will remind the book-worm of 

 its value. This glue is compounded with 

 chemicals which hold it permanently in so- 

 lution until it is applied, without affecting its 

 strength, and which serve to give the adhe- 

 sive matter a firmer hold on the surfaces to 

 be united, after which they quickly evapo- 



rate, leaving the glue to harden with rapidi- 

 ty and tenacity. It is estimated that there 

 are at least five millions of households in 

 the United States, and that an outlay of 

 from one to ten dollars is annually required 

 to make small repairs to furniture alone, 

 apart from the numerous neglects and make- 

 shifts that are necessBrily resorted to. ; 

 • — ♦ — » 



Correspondence. 



Illihois Statk AaBicT7i.TnBAL Societt's Rooks, ) 

 Spbingfibld, August 28, 1860. f 



Editor Illinois Farmer : — I have the 

 pleasure to hand you, and request the publi- 

 cation of the Report of James N. Brown, 

 Esq., the Commissioner of this Society, on 

 the subject of the Pleuro-Pneumonia. 



1 bespeak for it a careful perusal by your 

 readers, and am quite sure it will go far to 

 relieve the fears and quiet the apprehensions 

 of the farmers and stock-breeders who may 

 desire to bring their cattle to our coming 

 State Fair at Jacksonville. Papers through- 

 out the State please copy. 



.. Yours, respectfully, 



John P. Reynolds, 



Cor. Sec^y. 



Gbovb Pabk, August 8d, 1860. 

 J. P. Retkolds, Esq., 



Cor. jS«c'3/ JUiTiois State AgricuUurctl Society: — 



Dear Sir : — The Executive Committee 

 at Bloomington, on the 27th of June last, 

 passed the following resolution : 



"Resolved, That Jas. N. Brown be ap- 

 pointed a Commissioner, with full discretion 

 to take such steps as he may deem necessary 

 to investigate the character of the disease 

 known as Pleuro-Pneumonia^ prevailing 

 among cattle in the eastern States and Cana- 

 das; that he be requested to observe with 

 great vigilance the progress of the disease, 

 and that he recommend from time to time to 

 this Committee, through the Corresponding 

 Secretary, such action as in his judgment . 

 may be required." : .. •. " • -^ vi,* ^ 



In pursuance of the above resolution,' I 

 proceed to communicate to the committee, 

 through you, as follows : 



Pleuro-Pneumonia has long prevailed on 

 the Continent of Europe, and has once or 

 twice extended to Great Britain. When in 

 England in 1857 ,Jas one of the agents of the 

 Illinois Stock Importing Company, it was 

 prevailing, to an alarming extent, in some 

 of the German States, yet there was no fear 

 on the part of stock growers of England that 

 it would appear amongst their herds, unless 

 introduced by stock from the infected dis- 

 tricts. Such were the police and sanative 

 regulations of the kingdom, that they look- 

 ed upon the reappearance of this dreadful 

 scourge as not likely to occur. 



That the disease is contagious, and not 

 epidemic, I never heard seriously doubted, 

 until the unfortunate introduction of the 

 disease into Massachusetts, by four head of 

 cattle imported by Mr. Chenery of Belmont, 

 from Holland, in June 1869. From this 

 importation the disease spread, and back 

 to it every case that has appeared in Massa- 

 chusetts, is traceable, showing satisfactorily 

 that it is contagious and not epidemic. The 

 report of the State Commissioner, Dr. A. 

 McFarland, to the Governor, sustains the 

 view that the disease is contagious, and I 

 recommend its careful perusal to every stock 



