1861. 



THE ILLZN-OIS FAEMER. 



49 



for the past dozen years. Our main crop for 

 market last season was planted too late, and 

 we had but few good ones, bat the few that 

 wc set in May did well. 



Josiah Smith, of Lockport, Will county, 

 we believe, was the first person who attempt- 

 ed their culture for market in the north 

 part of the State, and from him, in 1857, 

 we obtained our first plants. Mr. Smith did 

 not find it very profitable, from the fact that 

 he often planted the large kinds that he ob- 

 tained from St. Louis and further south. In 

 the first place he planted too early, but he 

 soon learned that he must wait until the 

 ground became warm. In a letter from him 

 dated January 24, 1849, he says, " To day 

 I have sent you five hundred plants per ex 

 press. I have now planted one and a half 

 acres, and have three and a half more to 

 plant. I sell plants at thirty-seven and a 

 half cents per hundred, and so soon as I 

 keep over my own seed, will sell at twenty- 

 five cents, but the demand is fully up to the 

 supply, if not ahead of it, as the price has 

 not been materially reduced. They are so 

 easily grown that they should be found in 

 every garden, whether of the farm or vil- 

 lage. 



It has been the practice of sweet potatoe 

 men to put up the small tubers for seed, but 

 from a pretty thorough trial we are satisfied 

 that this is a bad practice, as the well ma- 

 tured potatoes produce the most and strong- 

 est plants. Mr. Tenbrook, of Eockville^ 

 Indiana, ia the first man that we know who 

 has for several years been in the practice of 

 putting up large and ripened tubers. Mr. 

 T. publishes a hand book on the culture of 

 this plant, which can be had of any person 

 who purchases of him to sprout; its cost is 

 twenty-five cents. Next month we shall 

 have more to say on this subject. 



List of Premiums. 



The following is the official List of Premiums 

 awarded by the Executive Committee of the Illinois 

 State Agricultural Society, at their regular meeting, 

 commencing January 9th, 1861,. at the Agricultural 

 Rooms, Springfield, Illinois. 



JOHX P. REYNODDS, 



Corresponding Secretary. 



Essays. 



Best approved essay on the breeding^ rearing 

 and management of Horses in Illinois, Dudley 

 Willits, New Boston, Illinois $10 



Best approved essay on Insects injurious to vegeta- 

 tion in Illinois, with suggestions as to the best 

 means for their destruction, B. D. Walsh, Rock 

 Island : 25 



Miscellaneous. 



Essay on the Culture of Flowers, Mrs. John R. 



Woods, Upper Alton, Illinois 10 



Note. — Other essays received too late for com- 

 petition, by consent of the authors, will be 

 published in the " Transactions." 



Why should they be quarreling at Washing- 

 ton about Territories to be acquired fifty or a 

 hundred years hence? Why break up the 

 Union because we can't settle questions that 

 will belong to future generations ? 



Field Crops. 



For the best field of Wheat, not less than five acres, 

 the " Manny Prize " of Combined Reaper and 

 Mower, value $145. Awarded to Hugh Huls, St. 

 Charles, Illinois. Yield per acre, 38^ bushels : 

 the best entered, but not an extraordinary yield 

 for the last season. 



Best crop of Fall Wheat, yield 25 bushels 5 

 pounds per acre, to Matthew McClurkin, Sparta, 

 Randolph county..-. 15 



Best crop Spring Wheat, not less than five acres, 

 nor less than thirty bushels per acre, to Henry 

 L. Boies, Sycamore, DeKalb county 25 



2d best, yield 23 bushels 13 pounds, per acre, to 

 John Mahard, Carter, Sangamon county 10 



Best crop of Indian Corn and not less than fi.ve 

 acres, nor less than 120 bushels per acre, to 

 Caleb Letton, Jacksonville, Morgan county, 

 yield 127 bushels 35 pounds j>er acre 50 



2d best to Jno. A. Gallemore, Lima, Adams county, 

 yield per acre 110 bushels 23 pounds, quality, 

 as per sample, superior 25 



3d best, to Hugh Huls, St. Charles, Illinois, yield 

 112 bushels per acre, quality not so good as 

 that of Mr. Gallemore, , 15. 



4th best, to Hugh Easdale, Sparta, Randolph 

 county, yield 57i bushels per acre 10 



Best crop of Oats, not less than five acres nor 

 less than 80 bushels per acre, Hugh Huls, St. 

 Charles, Illinois, yield per acre 80 bushels 5 

 pounds 25 



Best crop of Potatoes, not less than half acre, 

 to 0. Barnard, Bloom ington, yield 168 bushels 

 to half acre 10 



2d best, yield per half acre lOS bushels, to John 

 A. Gallemore, Lima, Adams county 5 



Best crop Sweet Potatoes, not less than quarter 

 acre, to AVilliam Robertson, Sparta, Randolph 

 county, yield per acre 61i bushels 10 



2d best, yield per quarter acre 46 bushels, to John 

 A. Gallemore, Lima, Adams county 



Best crop of Onions, not less than quarter acre, 

 to S. Wilber, Momence, Kankakee county, yield 



to quarter acre 172 bushels 10 



Best acre of Flax Seed, to Hugh Easdale, Sparta, 

 Randolph county, yield, on four acres, three 

 roods and eight rods,85 bushels 7 pounds 10 



