22 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



Jan. 



ciable smaller quantity would be imported 

 for some time. The large duties now im- 

 posed on sugars, amounting to one third of 

 value is for the protection of the sugar in- 

 terest of the South, and if the duty was 

 withdrawn, it would hardly be worth while 

 to bring the sorghum in competition with 

 the cheaper and better sugars of the South. 



Opinions of the Press. 



It is customary to give the opinions of the 

 press, especially in any new enterprise of the 

 kind. We shall, therefore, to a limited ex- 

 tent, avail ourselves of this privilege, and 

 copy what a few of our cotcmporaries have 

 to say of the Illinois Farmer. 



The past three years have been unfovora- 

 ble to the agricultural press, and even at 

 this time the excitement, moved by the lever 

 of secession, usurps the place of the study 

 of agriculture, and until the public mind 

 shall have become settled down to a more 

 calm point, we may not forward to a rapid 

 eminence of our calculation. 



The past year has demonstrated to us that 

 the people of the State are in favor of a 

 practical agricultural paper devoted to home 

 matteis, and a medium through which to 

 discuss the peculiarities of our soil and cli 

 mate. 



When the nresent Editor took charfre of 

 the Farmer, he had little time to devote 

 to it, with one of our county papers on his 

 hands, besides corresponding for two others, 

 together with his largo private business, it 

 is a wonder that he has been able to perform 

 irhat he lias, and had'it not been, as he says, 

 a labor of love, we are sure that it would 

 not have been done ; but we enter the new 

 year under more favorable auspices, the edi- 

 or has made arranorements to devote more 

 the enterprise, and with this 

 view we have enlarged its size. With the 

 exception of a week y series of letters to 

 the Chicago Tribune, his pen will be devo- 

 ted to the pages of the Farmer. Practi- 

 cally engaged in farming, orcharding, the 

 nursery and the garden, the readers of the 



Farmer may rely upon having practical 

 advice in the industrial interest in which 

 they are engaged. 



terms. 

 Instead of offering premiums for subscri- 

 bing, thus hiding canvassers to obtain sub- 

 scriptions, we have put the price so lo»v that 

 the inducement is in the price of the paper. 

 We believe that there is scarcely a post 

 office in the State but that if so:jie friend 

 will show the paper, that a club of twenty 

 cannot be obiained. It is certainly the 

 cheapest agricultural paper in the Mississip- 

 pi Valley, and being devoted entirely to in- 

 dustrial pursuits, does not come in contact 

 with the family papers that are sent forth in 

 such abundance, both from the city and 

 county press. 



The Publishers. 



The Illinois Fabmer comes to us bearing the 

 ini|riut, as -- ditor, M. L. Dunlap, tbe successful 

 nurseryman, and fiimous "Rural" of the Chi- 

 cago Press and Tribune. This ii fortunate for 

 the Farmer, for no maa in the whole Northwest 

 better understands what is required to advance 

 the Agriculture anrl Horticulture of this region, or 

 who can tell what he knjws more graphii'ally, as 

 the pnges of the Farmer abundnntly testify. 

 With him theory ard priictice go to ether. Ex- 

 ercising a thorough supervision over a nursery 

 andafarm of several hundred acres ihreeorfour 

 miles south of Urbana — going everywhere a rail- 

 road will take him — seeing everytliing pertaining 

 to his chosen pursuits, he yet finds time to write 

 a great deal for the instruction of fiirmers and 

 horticulturists. Early last June we paid him a 

 visit, and v»aa preatly surprised to see the won- 

 ders he had accomplished, starting upon the bare 

 prairie only three years before. Dost remember, 

 friend Rural, the famous feasts of strawberries 

 and cream which thy better half, "on hospitable 

 thoughts intent," prepared for us ^nd the patri- 

 archal housebold ? — Henry County Dial. 



The Illinois Fabmer. — The December number 

 of the Illinois Farmer is out with its usual punct- 

 uality. 



Mi. Dunlap is a practical farmer, and is noted 

 fir prosecuting with energy any enterprise 

 which he may undertake. Shnulil he devote his 

 whole literary labors to his own piper, and fry 

 experiments upon his farm, and give the details 

 thereof, we have no doubt but that he would 

 make his paper one of the most interesting' 

 Monthlies in the State. — Chicago Democrat. 



Illinois Farmer. — The December number of 

 this useful periodical is at hand. It completes 

 the fourth volume. S. Francis, Esq , who has 

 heretofore edited the paper, having departed for 



