186 



THE ILLIISrOIS F^mVEER. 



to sell butter off of one cow, they can 

 afford to use their cream.'' 



"But, raama, you said pa was richer 

 than Uncle George, -why can't we afford 

 to use more cream." 



"Because if we live on the farm and 

 keep so many cows we must soil butter 

 enough to make it pay. But, come 

 Mary, don't take a book to idle awny 

 your time reading >Yheu we have so 

 much sewing to do." 



"Oh, mama, I do wish I could get 

 some time to read. My cousins are 

 getting so far ahead o£ me that I am 

 ashamed oE myself; they have such 

 good schools, and then, since Aunt has 

 her sewii);;":aachine they have plenty of 

 time to read. How I wish we had one.'' 



"Your pa did think of getting one 

 this spring, but when he saw the new. 

 corn planter and the double plow, he 

 thought he could save a hand by buying 

 them, and then he wants a reaper and 

 mower this summer, and we must wait 

 for the sewing machine, though I do 

 think we need it worse than he did the 

 corn planter.*' 



"What did they do about the summer 

 school, mother, are we to have one?'' 



"No dear, we cannot have a free 

 school in the summer, and as none but 

 the little children can bo spared to go, 

 they concluded that it would not pay to 

 hire a teacher this summer." 



"Oh, dear! I am so sorry, for Willy 

 and Susie will forget all they learned 

 last winter, for we have no time to teach 

 them.'' 



" Well, it can't be helped, I suppose. 

 But come, Mary, we must go and hoe in 

 the garden, or we won't have anything 

 but beans and potatoes all summer. ' 



" Oh, ma, its hot work, and it does 

 seem to me, we have enough to do in 

 house. If papa would put the hands 

 into the garden an hour or two in the 

 morning, they would do all we can do 

 in two or three days, and so much easier 

 and better. Don't you wish we had a 

 good drink of ice water ? If papa would 

 only build an ice-house, how nice it 

 would be, and then we would use our 

 milk and not have to throw it all to the 



pigs." 



Now, I ask, is not this a truthful pic- 

 ture of the condition of most farmer's 

 families. The farmer, who of all men, 

 should have the finest and earliest fruits 

 and vegetables, the greenest lawn and 

 gaye^it flowers, who could with ease have 

 all the luxuries which a good dairy and 

 ict -house affords id the very man who 

 enjoys the last of these. His sons and 

 daughters desert the farms, and seek 

 almost any other manner of life, because 

 their home has never been anything but 

 a place of unremitting toil, with no 

 luxuries, either mental or physical. 

 Their early education neglected and no 

 time given them for after culture by 



reading, is yet any wonder that our sons 

 leave the i'arras and our daughters to 

 seek husband from amongst the mechan- 

 and tradesmen of the towns. 



But why is this ? Are farmers as a 

 class, any less ambitious of the joys and 

 comforts of a happy homo and a good^ 

 education? Have they any less love of 

 the beautiful any less desire for the 

 sweets of intelligent, socinl intercourse? 

 Is it not that the farmer himself has too 

 little appreciation of his own advanta- 

 ges and is led by the force of example, 

 to feel and act, as though thought and 

 culture were incompatible with labor. 

 " The first great want of the farmer, as 

 such, is that the efficiency of his labor 

 should at once be increased by the in- 

 crease of his intelligence." The final 

 end of such an augmentation of his re- 

 sources, and power is not only the pro- 

 tection of better crops, better stock, a 

 nobler race of mere animals ; but a 

 nobler race of human beings, nobler 

 sons and nobler daughters." The re- 

 proach of the profession has always 

 been that it required incessant labor, 

 with little profit and little thought, 

 whereas, the labor should be lightened 

 hy the most vigorous and profound 

 thought, and in no profession can a 

 liberal education and a refined culture 

 add more both to the profit and pleasure. 



Let then, the social ecomomy and 

 neighborhood intercourse, occupy more 

 of tho thoughts of our beat men, let the 

 labor of the wives and daughters be 

 lightened hy the inconveniencies of a 

 comfortable house, and the help of the 

 few labor-saving inventions which man's 

 ingenuity have given to lighten female 

 toil. Let us sustain our anrricultural 

 associations, jour county and State fairs, 

 our free schools. Let it not be forgot- 

 ten that it was lack of these institu- 

 tions whose tendency is to elevate the til- 

 ler of the soil to fill intelligently his 

 true place in society, that caused the 

 decay and overthrow of all the republics 

 of the past. ^' Moreover, as agents in 

 rendering a people really intelligent and' 

 truly prosperous, in rendering social in- 

 tercourse the means of elevated pleas- 

 ure, these modern institutions inspire 

 more confidenc in the breasts of think- 

 ing men, any and all others whatever. 



Then let all else be second to the 

 high importance of moulding the plas- 

 tic minds of our household treasures 

 aright, and cultivating them for the 

 spheres of usefulness they should attain, 

 for it is true that *' those renovating 

 and conservative elements that give 

 purity, stability and vigor to the insti- 

 tutions of learning and religion, of law 

 and medicine, trade and commerce, are 

 mainly 'Irawn from the agricultural por- 

 tion of the people, and when the human 

 tide that rolls from the farm house to 

 mingle in the streams of commercial and 



political life shall cease, these institu- 

 tions shall have passed their culminat- 

 ing point, and decay be written upon 

 the crumbling monuments of human 

 greatness." Let, then, the [farmer cul- 

 tivate a more just respect for himself 

 and his vocation, and a love for the 

 beautiful in nature and art. There are 

 very few so engrossed by the cares of 

 life as to be unable to devote a little 

 leisure to the embellishment of their 

 homes, by cultivating a few ornamental 

 plants ; and still fewer so destitute of 

 worldly comforts as to be unable to af- 

 ford these inexpensive luxuries, which 

 conduce both to mental refinement and 

 bodily vigor. 



Contrast the neat cottage half con- 

 cealed by graceful climbing plants, fes- 

 tooned with flowers. A finely kept 

 lawn and garden, shade trees and shrub- 

 bery, which presents an indiscribable air 

 of domestic enjoyment, with those cheer- 

 less homes where all forms of vegetation 

 seem to be proscribed, save those that 

 have immediate reference to the al" 

 mighty dollar and choose between them, 

 " Let us cherish then, the flowers nature 

 proffers as her choicest gift. Let them 

 illuminate the pathway of life and adorn 

 our last resting place, as emblems of im- 

 mortality more exquisite in beauty than 

 the sculptured marble." 



«•► 



TentilatloQ of the Apple Barrel. 



By this we mean the boring of holes 

 in the head staves of the barrels that 

 will allow the escape of the moisture 

 that is constantly passing off from the 

 newly gathered fruit. We hazard 

 nothing in the statement that one-half 

 of the fruit sent to this market this 

 season so far, has been materially in- 

 jured from this cause. The effect of 

 confined vapor upon the apple is not at 

 once apparent. The fruit appears un- 

 commonly bright on the first opening — 

 but as the surface dries off, the apple 

 begins to grow dull looking, and if ft 

 light skinned apple, in a day or two will 

 present the appearance of half baked 

 apple. 



But this steaming from confinement 

 not only injures the sale of the fruit, 

 but to the great disappointment of the 

 consumer, his fruit does not keep as he 

 supposed it would, and as the variety 

 of apple he purchased led him to sup- 

 pose it would. Premature decay is sure 

 to follow as a consequence of this want 

 of ventilation. — Chicago Fruit Dealer. 



A Good Receipt. — Take forty 

 Ions of rain water, one gallon of molas- 

 ses, and four pounds acetic acid. It 

 will be fit for use in a few days. Acetic 

 acid costs twenty-five cents per pound. 

 This is the receipt by which most 

 of the cider vinegar is made, which is 

 sold in the country stores. 



