52 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMEE. 



Feb. 



Editor's Table. 



A Soci.AL Chat. — The year 1801 is now fairly 

 inaugurated, and iis working machinery just be- 

 ginning to move on its axles, not rapid'y, but to 

 show that all is in order and but waiting for a 

 greater pressure of tteam. Well, as the sun 

 climbs the southern sky, the developed caloric 

 will evaporate the steam and the great wheels of 

 human industry will beg:n to move with acceler- 

 ated speed. Let us sit down by the fireside and 

 have a social chat, bu let us ask you if your hogs 

 have a good warm place sheltered from the wind 

 and driving storms in which to run through the 

 day and to take their meats in quiet? IIow is it 

 about the cows — do you stable those that give 

 milk, or at least have a warm shed for them — for 

 if you do not we will warrant that your coffee is 

 without milk and your breakfast table destitute 

 of butter. Did it ever occur to you, my good 

 friends, that not one-half of our farmers have 

 miik and butter to use during the winter, 

 not because they do not feed corn, but 

 because they do not provide a warm sta- 

 ble for their cows. We have an abundance 

 of corn, but have fed none of it to our 

 cows, and yet we have plenty of milk and make 

 nearly all the butter used in our large family 

 We simply feel well cured corn stalks through 

 the day, nice well cured upland prairie hay at 

 night, with a feed of sma'l potatoes in the morn- 

 ina. When the weather is fair the cows run in 

 the yard through the day, at other times are in a 

 warm well ventilated stable. Now you may say 

 that to feed small potatoes to cows here, in this 

 great corn yard, is small business ; but allow us 

 to assure ycu that it will pay, besides we wil not 

 promise that we may not add to this a feed of 

 meal to our new miich cows in the course of this 

 month, but thus far the small potatoes hare given 

 us good satisfaction. Totatoes can be cheaply 

 grown, and when you S3rt them over the large 

 ones will bring as much in market as all taken 

 together, for what do people in town or city want 

 of small potatoes, they -lave no cows to feed, and 

 in sorting them out you have them to feed and 

 save your freight. Let us tell you in coniidence 

 that vfe find potatoes to be a profitable crop — we 

 sell the best at a good price and feed the remain- 

 der. Is it not too bad for the farmer's children 

 to do without milk {during much of the winter '! 

 Why there is our friend H., over in the next town, 

 with a farm of five hundred acres, half of which 

 he puts in corn, and with a dozen good cows has 



not a drop of milk. He says his cows will go dry 

 as soon as cold weather sets in. Of course they 

 will friend II., so long as you let them run in that 

 stalk field. 



It is the little com^'orts and conveniences that 

 go to fill up the measure of country pleasure and 

 gives to country life its actual zest. While our 

 big farmers are grasping after large farms and 

 great herds, they lose the real pleas^uies of life. 

 If a farmer had none but himself to live for he 

 might gloat over these idjls to his heart's con- 

 tent, and like the miser receive the scorn and 

 contempt of his neighbors, but it is not right that 

 he should deprive his wife and children of the 

 comforts of life that he m y gloat over broad 

 acres and revel in riches that they are not al- 

 lowed to use, it puts us in mind cf the Hollanders 

 who keep the best room in the house, shut up 

 fr, m use, and only enter it during interims once 

 a year, like the high priest entering the holy of 

 holies. Out upon all such stupidity, we as farm- 

 ers have the right to the pure air of heaven, 

 good water, plenty of vegetables, small fruits, 

 eggs and chickens, nice butter, pure milk, rich 

 cheese, luscious hams and good b ef — if we but 

 will it these are ours; and shall we not at this 

 time lay our plans so as to get them. Let us help 

 each other in this undertaking, and if one of us 

 makes an improvement give it to all the others 

 through the Fakmer. We do not Avant t) build 

 up castles to worship, but we want happy homes 

 filled with the comforts of life. 



Tee Peoria Clipper Plov. — Messrs. Toby & 

 Anderson have sent us one of their plows for the 

 purpose tf having it tested with others that have 

 proved great favorites with us. The plow sent 

 is Clipper No. 6, and intended for stubble or 

 cross plowing,. There is no casting about this 

 plow; it is very strong and yet it is not heavy. 

 The land side handle is connected jusi under the 

 beam with a bent iron attached to the land side, 

 and is out of the way of any rubbish that usu- 

 ally accumulates on this part of the plow ; in 

 some places high Innd sides are used for the same 

 purpose, but these add both to the weight and 

 cost of the plow. The clevis is the most simple 

 and best that we have seen ; it is made of three 

 pieces of iron besides the bolts, an ingenious and 

 valuable impi'ovement. The timber us.d in 

 wooding the plow is Tery superior, being furn- 

 ished from the Illinois river bottoms. It is a 

 singular fact that while nearly every stick of 

 timber in our groves are more or less worm eaten, 

 that on the river bottoms is comparatively sound. 

 We shall report further progress in due time. ^ 



