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86 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMEE. 



Mar. 



Color or Fruit. — The pears exhibited by Dr. 

 BoyntoR, at the late meeting of the American 

 Pomological Society attracted much attenlion, 

 from the unusually waxy and glossy appearance 

 of the skin, and the extraor iioary brilliancy of 

 of the coloring. Dr. B. offered to the Society, 

 in some extended remarks, bis idea of the prob- 

 able cause of this color and gloss of the skin, 

 but no correct report has yet been given of those 

 remarks in any of our journals. The chief idea 

 ■was, that the effect above noticed was produced 

 by growing the fruit upon a soil containing a 

 great variety of mineral or inorganic substances, 

 and by <ree use of superphosphate of potash, 

 soda and the common carbonate of lime, which, 

 acting upon the silicate, produced the silicate of 

 potash, ih„ silicate of soda and lime in abund- 

 ance, and thus coated a covering upon the pears 

 similar to the silicious coating on the corn stalk. 

 On this dense surface the rays of the sun pencil 

 the prif-matic hues with a degree of brilliancy 

 and perfection rarely witnessed. 



The Doctor thought it not impossible that be 

 could so perfect his metaliccoating that he could 

 at some future meeting present bis best specimens 

 of fruit with his own photographic portrait on 

 the other side. — -Horticulturist. 



Dr. Boynton is a bit of a wag, as we well know 

 from a personal acquaintance, and has made a 

 splendid sale of "silicates" and "metalic sub- 

 stances.". Bah ! why, we bad a splendid lot of 

 pears from New York at our late State Agricul- 

 tural - ociety, similarly coated with "silicates,'" 

 but they attracted no great attention, and we 

 suspect that the Doctor has been stealing thunder 

 instead of manufacturing it himself. We don't 

 say what was the composition on those pears, 

 but we will bet two cents that a penny's worth of 

 gum arable dissolved in water, make a thm so- 

 lution, dip in the paars and wipe dry with a cot- 

 ton cloth, w'll bring out the colors wonderfully, 

 and make a beautiful coating of " silicate of potr 

 ash like that on the coin stalk." We tender the 

 above to the American Pomological Society with- 

 out charge, -nith the privilege of taking out a 

 patent if they choose. 



*•»- 



The Wisconsin Chief. — This staunch temper- 

 ance sheet comes to us from Fort Atkinson, Wis., 

 with all the freshness of spring. Pleasant and 

 yet sharp are the pens of T. W. and Emma 

 ;Brown ; sharp when they wage war with the 

 hydra, and pleasant when they discourse of less 

 sinful subjects. This paper has a large circula- 

 tion in our State, and the senior editor has a 

 large array of friends hereaway. Hear him on 

 •shade trees : 



The Southern Cayuga Union Agricultural So- 

 ciety have offered a prize of $5, $2, and a diplo- 

 ma for the greatest number of shade and orna- 



mental trees to be set out in the fall of 1860, and 

 spring of 1861, which shall be alive on the Ist 

 of September, 1861. — Recorder. 



It would seem that some society in this locality 

 had offered a premium for cutting down shade 

 trees, instead of settiug them out. The oaks by 

 the M. E. Church have not only been cut down, 

 but the fine one in front of Chester May^s, 

 girdled. Such taste ought to win a leather 

 medal. * 



It would appear that even away up north, 

 folks will be folks : 



We never saw two put ten thousand to flight 

 but we have seen two hold several hundred in 

 check, and with the most apparent ease. They 

 take a strong position in the church d:or after 

 service, and commence "visiting." The whole 

 crowd has to wait until all questions are asked 

 and answered, and each invited to "come up" 

 and see the other, at least fifteen times. ^ 



If we were a military man and wanted to take 

 a strong position, we should station two of our 

 females in the church door. No enemy could ever 

 pass and get through the natural size. 



Well, friend Brown, it Ft. Atkinson should be 

 invaded by the Fire-eaters, just station one of 

 jour churches in the line of march and you wi 1 

 be safe. 



Corn — Mud. — But little corn was brought lo 

 town last week, on account of the muddy roads. 

 The farmers were afraid to venture out with their 

 teams, for faar they would go down so deep that 

 they would not be able to communicate with 

 their friends livitig and remaining on the earth ! 

 We cannot bnt regard such an exhibition of cau- 

 tion on the part of our farmers as highly com- 

 mendable. They are all right on the mud ques- 

 tion. — Champaign Union. 



Illinois Central R.\ii road. — The Illinois Cen- 

 tral Railroad is doing an immense busines in 

 freight. Every station along the southern divi- 

 sion is full of freight, and although the Company 

 have all their rolling stock, (about 2,500 cars) 

 in use, besides a large number from the Terre 

 Haute & St. Louis, and Great Western Railroads, 

 they cannot meet the demands on them. From 

 eight to fifteen heavy trains, loaded with corn, 

 flour, &c , for the south, pass down daily. 



To Correspondents. — We must ask of onr 

 correspondents that they write only on one side 

 of the paper. When both sides are written on, 

 it sometimes puts us to inconvenience in making 

 corrections, and is always inconvenient for the 

 printer. 



