THE ILLIlSrOIS F^Il]Ni:ER. 



189 



direction, and astonished the world with his 

 new sower, which threw the grain in a 

 shower far and wide, it was complicated, lia- 

 ble to get out of order, and soon the novelty 

 wore off, and we hear little of it. But men 

 of genius never die, that is, the race keeps 

 up, and now we hav*e the machine named, 

 in our heading, under the charge of Dr. R. 

 D. Foster, of Loda, Iroquois county, Illinois, 

 who is exhibiting its rare qualities, the seed 

 drops on fans that scatter it like a shower, 

 it does not run through tubes like Gaboon's, 

 to choke up, it is simple, durable and cheap, 

 costing ten dollars, and judging from what 

 we can see of it here on the Fair Ground, 

 we should think it may prove useful, but we 

 shall not be over sanguine until its value is 

 tested in the field. The regulation of the 

 quantity sown depends on the skill of the 

 operator, and though the cards say that any 

 farm hand can use it, yet we know, and any 

 intelligent farmer will know better. 



An Artificial Way of Making Rain. 



A letter from Lynchburg, in the 

 Richmond Dispatch says: "A gen- 

 tleman, who resides near Boynton, 

 Mechle'nburg county, Va., has aspired 

 to a science — that of controlling the 

 clouds in order to make it rain at will. 

 With the view of attaining this end he 

 has built a *rain tower,' which novel 

 structure is said to be thirty feet in di- 

 ameter at the base, which size it retains 

 to the height of forty feet. To this 

 height it contains four flues, each seven 

 feet in diameter. The number of the 

 flues is then reduced to two, which run 

 up twenty feet higher, the top of the 

 structure reaching an altitude of sixty 

 feet. The whole concern was erected at 

 a cost of $1,000. The modus operandi 

 of causing rain to fall is as follows : 

 The flues are filled with dry pine wood, 

 which is set on fine, and w^hich is kept 

 up until the desired efiect is produced on 

 the elements. His theory is that the 

 great heat produced in the air above the 

 * tower' will cause the clouds to concen- 

 trate over it, when plenty of rain will 

 fall in that vicinity. The originator of 

 this novel idea is said to be a firm be- 

 liever in the practicability and utility of 

 his invention, notwithstanding the fact 

 that, after repeated trials, during which 

 he consumed hundreds of cords of wood, 

 his tower failed to produce the desired 

 effect on the unjyropitious heavens, h'^ 

 having been a severe sufferer from drouth 

 during the spring and summer." 



Remarks. — Some years since, Prof. 

 Epsy proposed to Congress to make it 

 rain at pleasure over a given district, 

 but Congress not desiring to furnish the 

 funds for the enterprise, the experiment 

 did not succeed. His plan was some- 



what similar to the one above, that is 

 he produced rain by large fires. It is 

 well-known that when large districts of 

 pine woods have been burned over by 

 fire, caused by long drouth, rain in those 

 districts have been produced, but those 

 showers have in every case, so far as 

 we can learn, been light, not sufficient to 

 be of much value. The same phenome- 

 na occurs in burning over large districts 

 of prairie, often followed by driziling 

 rain without any apparent clouds more 

 than a thick hazy state of the atmos- 

 phere. : / 



If heat is the cause of rain, we would 

 ask why then is not a constant fall of 

 rain over the craters of volcanoes and 

 large furnaces? According to this 

 theory, Pittsburgh and other large man- 

 ufacturing cities, should be constantly 

 inundated ; but such is not the case. 



We have a more certain way of ward- 

 ing off bad effect of drouth, and that is 

 by underdraining, trench and subsoil 

 plowing and deep tillage. Ed. 



■•> '■ — 



Constitation of tlie Illinois St&te Agricaltaral 



Society. 



The name of this Society shall be the 

 Illinois State Agricultural Society. Its 

 ^Dbjects shall be the promotion of Agri- 

 culture, Horticulture, Manufactures, 

 Mechanics and Household Arts. 



Section Ist. The Society shall con- 

 sist of such citizens of the State of Illi- 

 nois as shall pay to its Treasurer the sum 

 of one dollar annually, also, of Hon- 

 orary and corresponding members. The 

 Presidents of County Agricultural So- 

 cieties or a delegate from each State 

 ex-officio be members of this Society. 



Sec. 2. The officers of this Society 

 shall consist of a President and one 

 Vice President, for and to reside in each 

 Congressional District, a Recording Sec- 

 retary, a Treasurer and an Executive 

 Committee to consist of the President, 

 Vice President and one ex-President, 

 whose term of office has last expired, of 

 whom a majority shall constitute a quo- 

 rum. And the ex-Presidents of the So- 

 ciety not members of the Executive 

 Committee, shall constitute a Board of 

 Councilors to whom may bo referred for 

 consultation and advice, all questions 

 that may from time to time arise. 



Sec. 3-. The Recording Secretary 

 shall keep the records of the Society. 

 The Corresponding Secretary shall carry 

 on the correspondence with other Socie- 

 ties, and with individuals in the further- 

 ance of the objects of this Society. 



Sec. 4. The Treasurer shall keep the 

 funds of the Society, and disburse them 

 on the written order of the President, 

 or the Executive -Oommittee countersign- 

 c by the Recording Secretary. He 



shall make a Report of receipts and 

 expenditures at the biennial meeting. 



Sec 5. The Executive Committee 

 shall take charge of and distribute and 

 preserve all seeds, plants, books, mod- 

 els, etc., which ^ay be transmitted to 

 the Society, ana shall have charge of 

 all communications designed or calcula- 

 ted for publication, and so far as fhej 

 may deem expedient, shall collect, ar- 

 range and publish the same in such man- 

 ner and form as they shall deem best 

 calculated to promote the objects of this 

 Society. They may also establish such 

 By-Laws, rules and regulations as they 

 may deem necessary for the government 

 of the Society, provided the same does 

 not conflict with the requirements of the 

 constitution. 



Sec. 6. There shall be a biennial 

 meeting of delegates to be appointed by 

 the County Agricultural Societies of 

 this State. Each County Society hav- 

 ing a legal organization and holding 

 annual Fairs, to be entitled to three 

 delegates and no more. Said delegates 

 shall meet on the Fair Grounds of the 

 Society, and at 6 o'clock, p. m. of the 

 third day of the holding of the State 

 Fair proceed, under such rules and regu- 

 lations, as may be prescribed by the 

 Executive Committee to elect the otficers 

 of this Society, who, when so elected, 

 shall enter upon the duties of their re- 

 spective offices on the second Monday 

 of January, following their election. 

 Said election shall be by ballot, unless 

 two-thirds of the number of delegates 

 present shall otherwise elect. 



Sec. 7. The Society shall hold an 

 annual Fair at such time and place as 

 shall be designated by the Executive 

 Committee. ' - :\ 



Sec. 8. This constitution may be 

 amended by a vote of two-thirds of the 

 delegates present attending any biennial 

 meeting. On motion of Mr. Bridges, it 

 was resolved^ That the thanks be, and 

 are hereby tendered to all the officers 

 of the Society, for their faithful and per- 

 severing eff'orts to discharge their re- 

 spective duties. :v; -v' ^^ 



On motion of Mr. M. L. Dunlap, it 

 was Resolved^ That the thanks of this 

 Society is hereby tendered to our Pre- 

 siding officer, Lewis Ellsworth, for his 

 faithful and persevering efforts in pro- 

 moting the best interests of this Society. 



E. H. Deebb 



I. A. PiCKRBLL 



Sec'ya pro tern. 



LL, V 

 m. ) 



Lawn Ellswobth, 

 President. 



Wine Cnllare in Ohio. 



Cincinnati, on the Ohio, has a rival 

 in Kelly's Island, in Lake Erie. The 

 grapes and wines of the latter are cov- 

 eted by connoisseurs. Charles Carpen- 

 ter is the most enterprising of the score 

 or two of cultivators on the Island, al- 

 though several others have gone quite 

 extensively into the business. The soil 



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