104 



THE ILLIXOIS FAKMEK. 



Apeil 



condition may be benefitted by watering, or 

 would die without it, it is death to the sweet po- 

 tato plant, and so dangerons is water to the 

 leaves when packed, that the plant should never 

 be taken from the beds when the dew is on. We 

 have known thousands of plants lost by watering, 

 both by express agents and dealer.s If you think 

 water is needed, you can wet the roots by putting 

 the bottom of the box in water, which will moisten 

 the material in which the roots are packed, but 

 never otherwise. 



No farmer should fail to set out a patch of 

 sweet potatoes, as they are cheaply and cer- 

 tainly grown, Mosc people are fond of them, 

 and tliey ai3d another valuable vegetable to the 

 list of our garden and field products. 



ON SUirPlXG. 



Farmers who grow this vegetable for market 

 should always ship ia cheap barrels. They 

 should be carefully sorted, for a . lot of small 

 roots in a barrel will lessen the price more than 

 they wiU weigh. Vhen sent in bulk they wid 

 become wilted, and if the city dealers put ihem 

 »p to ship north, they do not arrive in good or- 

 der. It is not necessary to give much air, as 

 flour barrels are sufficiently open without having 

 holes bored in them. We have sent them to the 

 north part of Wisconsin in this way aa common 

 freight, and they went through in fine order. 

 Farmers who sprout their own plants will find 

 this a profitable crop, if their soil and aspect is 

 euitable. and they give tliera the proper attention. 

 It is probable tiiat dry sawdust or any other like 

 Bubstance would be valuable to pack them in, 

 when t;> be kept for a long time. As it is, nei- 

 ther farmers or dealers take any correct method 

 to have tliis valuable vegetable presented in the 

 market in a good condition. The consequence is 

 that the market ib an uncertain one both in de- 

 mand and price, and no other vegetable is subject 

 to such great fluctuations If the farmer will 

 send them to market in barrels, in good order 

 and well selected, the trade would extend to all 

 the north ports where our shipping and railroads 

 reach, hut so long as they are sent forward in 

 bulk, in sacks, and in gunnies, the trade will 

 maintain its present stutus. Fi,Utt.AL. 



The Crop of Acorns. 



There came a man in days of old, 

 To hire a piece of land lor gold; 



And urged his suit in aeeunt meek — 

 '• One crop alone is all I seek ; 



That harvest o'ef my chiim I yield, 

 And to its lord resign the field. 



The owner some misgivings felt, 

 And coldly with the stranger dealt; 



But found his last oldcetion fail, 

 And honeyed eloiiuoncc prevail; 



lie took the proffereil price in hand, 

 And for one crop he leased the land. 



The witty tenant sneered with pride, 



And sow'd the spot with acorns wide; 

 At iirst like tiny shoots tliey grew. 



Then broad and wide thuir branches throw ; 

 But long before those oaks sublime. 



Aspiring, reached their forest prime. 

 The cheated landlord mouldering lay, 



Forgotten with his kindred clay. 



A Rational way to Grow Celery. 



The past ten years have made great advances 

 in the art of culture, not only on the farm, in 

 the orchard, but more particularly in the garden. 

 Old long-time practices that had grown gray with 

 age and superstition, have been swept away. 

 Paving the bottom of vine borders and aspara- 

 gus beds, sowing in the moon, and cutting weeds 

 when the sign was in the heart, have become 

 matters of history, and this young generation al- 

 most begin to disbelieve in th3 fact that they 

 once existed, much less in their potency. The 

 practice of growing celery in trenches is just on 

 the eve of leave-taking, and our present object 

 is to send it out altogether. Just think of it, 

 you lovers of celery, you who have been taught 

 to believe that the growing of this luxury is at- 

 tended with severe labor with the spade, to set 

 out the trenches two feet deep, that after the 

 plants are set, the first heavy rain will destroy 

 the greater part of them by the falling in of the 

 walls of the ditch ; that, from time to time, you 

 must, with hoe ia hand, gradually fill in aronnd 

 the plants until the ditch becomes a mound or 

 ridge, your plants not over strong and prema- 

 turely blanched. In taking up. you must again 

 go through the excavating process, and unearth 

 your favorite. You p^ck it away in the cedar -n 

 earth for winter's use, and find half of it spoiled 

 bj heating or dampness. You murmur over your 

 ill-luck, but you cannot dispense with the plant, 

 and on the return of spring, another hot ted is 

 made, and you again go through the same round 

 of partial success. 



Did you never wish there was seme other way 

 to grow celery? Perhaps you have, but you 

 must follow in the way of old professional gard- 

 ners, and be content. Well, let these old profess- 

 ional gardners have their way, of which they are 

 so much in love that they never allow a thought 

 that any improvement can be made over what 

 they have been taught, and we will proceed to 

 give you a cheap and rational way of growing 

 this plant that shall please you to an almost in- 

 definite extent. In the first place, you need not 

 sow the seeds in a hot-bed, but in the open 

 ground, in April. These will be ready to set out 

 in July, and be ready for use the first of Septem- 

 ber, certainly as early as hot -bed plants set in 

 the bottom of a two foot ditch. The plants will 

 need cutting back once or twice, to make them 

 more stocky — with a shears or sythe cut the tops 

 ofl" a third of the way down, as they stand in the 

 seed beds. 



About the first of July, the early peas, pota- 

 toes and onions can be cleared off, the groud 



