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The Illinois Farmer. 



VOL. VI. 



SPRINGFIELD, FEBRUARY 186L 



XO. 2. 



rebmary. 



Now, shepherds, to your helpless charge bekinJ; 

 Baffle the raging year, and fill their pens 

 With food at will; lodge them below the storm, 

 And watch them strict ; far from the billowing 



west. 

 Iq this due season oft the whirlwind's wing 

 Sweeps up the burden of whole wintry plains 

 At one wide waft, and o'er the hapless flocks, 

 Hid in the hollow of two neighboring hills. 

 The billowy tempests whelms, till upward 



ursred, 

 The valley to a shining mountain swells, 

 Tipt with a wreath high-curling in the sky. 



Thompson. 



No less now than when the poet sung of 

 wintery storms have we need to have care 

 of our live stock. February is one of the 

 stern winter months on the great far-stretch- 

 ing prairie, over which the hyperborean 

 blasts sweep with resistless fury, it is to the 

 winter months what June is to those of 

 summer. It is the month when, 



" Stern, unyielding winter drives .along, 

 The January thaw has closed its short career, 

 and the gates of the north are opened, and 

 from whence the great mountains of ice on 

 which sits enthroned the King of Winter 

 pours out their accumulation of arctic frost. 

 It is not only humanity to our dumb beasts, 

 but it is a matter of dollars and cents 

 whether we house them or let them shift 

 for themselves throughout this short but 

 wintery month. The corn field may answer 

 for the middle of the day, when the sun 

 gives a little warmth, but at night they 

 should be in the stables, under a shed, or at 

 least under the lea of a friendly grove or 

 timber belt. 



In this month we must be preparing to 

 sow the spring wheat, and. in the south part 

 of the State the weather will permit of its 



being sown the last of the month. Will 

 some of our Egyptian friends try the ex- 

 periment of early seeding. We have little 

 doubt but that fair crops of this grain can 

 be grown in that part of the State, but we 

 beg of you not to try the experiment unless 

 you have fall plowed your ground to sow on, 

 we would not like to run the risk of plow- 

 ing in the spring.* If there is any oats in 

 your seed, wash thorn out by using strong 

 brine ; this will also destroy the smut. 



If you have any winter wheat that you 

 wish to seed with, this is a good time. 



Look to your corn fields, and, if possible, 

 finish husking j we know that it is an un- 

 comfortable time for this work, but during 

 the few sunny hours of each day something 

 can be done. Corn stalks that are to be 

 broken down and rolled in windrows to be 

 burned, should be attended to at once j for 

 so soon as the frost i« out, this work cannot 

 be so cheaply done. 



Fence posts should be got ready and 

 sharpened for driving, so soon as the frost 

 is out, and the ground is yet soft and yield- 

 ing. This is not only the cheapest but the 

 best way to set them ; see that they are 

 placed top end down, or the reverse of the 

 way they stood when growing. 



The wood pile is an important institution, 

 and should not be neglected ; do not punish, 

 the kitchen help, whether wife, daughter ori 

 Biddy, with poor wood, or an old worn out 

 stove. If you want your meals well cooked, 

 and in time, or that this arm of the service 

 shall be always eflicient, provide it with the- 

 implements and munitions for active and 

 protrac'ed duty. Purchase your groceries 



