1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMEK. 



107 



out my land, with hedges around every eighty 

 acres, six inches apart in the row, cultivate them 

 two or three years, and never trim them at all, 

 except to cheek the most rapid growers, and 

 keep the plants even in the row. I shall let them 

 grow right up for a screen twenty feet high, if 

 they will, and as soon as they please. I find they 

 will st.nd this usage much better than I once 

 thought it possible that they could ; and at any 

 time if it is desirable to stop hogs out of the lot, 

 a man with a good slather and a fork can cut 

 limbs off and do it upon the run ; and if the 

 hedge ever gets too high, or needs lowering or 

 thickening, which it will not do for ten or fifteen 

 years, at leBst, it can be cut off right at the 

 the ground, and piled up for a temporary fence, 

 or burned up, as you please, and the hedge will 

 sprout out thicker and better than ever at the 

 bottom. 



Thus the cost of a hedge that Will stop all sorts 

 of cattle, give them shade and shelter, and allow 

 of using every lot in the fall separately, will not 

 cost the farmer twenty-five cents per rod, all 

 told, and it will out last many a board fence, at 

 least, so I think ; and many of our best and 

 and more thinking farmers are beginning to 

 thick so too, and to act accordingly ; and hard 

 as the terms are, there never was half so great a 

 demand on me for hedge plants as there has been 

 this spring. But I sold out long before the 

 spring set in, and can supply no more this year. 



I have no doubt that our railroads are losing 

 millions of money in the west by not taking 

 your simple and sensible advice. 

 Yours truly, 



J. B. TUENEE. 



It is with no small degree of pleasure that we 

 present to our reader the above indorsement of 

 our views in regard to hedges and timber belts. 

 Prof. Turner is one of the pioneers in hedging, 

 and probably more that any other man, has been 

 instrumental in bringing forward the Osage 

 Orange to the attention of the public. Of course, 

 at first it was an experiment, and the habit of 

 the plant was not well understood, but now we 

 know better how to manage it, and hedges will 

 soon belt the land, and make beautiful our wide 

 reachiEg prairies. Ed. 



—9*- 



Advantages of St. Clair County. 



Ed. Farmer ; — Having seen a late nnmber of 

 your valuable journal, and knowing the many 

 advantages that must accrue to all persons, and 

 especially the farmer and mechauio from bo read- 



able a paper, I would commend it to all as a 

 very important document, and I might say that 

 such documents are too rarely read by tie farm- 

 ing community. 



Here, in our own county of St. Clair, is one of 

 the best fields for improvement in agriculture 

 and mechanical arts that can be found in the 

 State ; the soil is exceedingly fertile, and its 

 productions are abundant. Coal of the best 

 quality can be obtained in almost every township 

 and at a small cost Timber is sufficiently 

 abundant for all ordinary purposes ; and sit- 

 uated as we are, in such a fertile district, with 

 ail the facilities for communication and the ex- 

 portation of our products, if sufficient attention 

 be paid to the cultivation of the soil, we see no 

 reason why St. Clair should not rival her sister 

 counties in productions. 



Too much estimate cannot be placed on journ- 

 als that convey the true modes of agriculture to 

 our farming class. Agriculture is said to be the 

 " Basis of a nation's prosperity," and how many 

 hundreds of farmers labor under disadvantages 

 that appear to injure them but little, while in the 

 meantime, is injuring them very much, the 

 greater part of which might be alleviated by the 

 reading of an instructive paper devoted to their 

 cause. American. 



Fayetteville, Illinois, March 17, 1861. 



We have long known St. Clair to be one of the 

 best counties in the State. It was among the first 

 settled in the State, and in point of wealth and 

 population, is one of which we should be proud. 

 She has a population of 37,700, having increased 

 9,146 in the last five years, which shows that her 

 advantages have been somewhat appreciated. 

 Lying so near St. Louis, she has a most excellent 

 market. Near Bellville are some fine vineyards 

 of the Catawba, and at Summerville, on the 0. 

 & M. R. R., is the extensive nurseries of the 

 Messrs. Babcock & Bro. We have large lists of 

 subscribers in this county, and hope some of thera 

 will post us up in the progress they are making. 

 We intend to visit some parts of the county in 

 June. Ed. 



The Nature and Habit of the Honey 

 Bee. 



Ed. Fabmee: — If these few suggestions on the 

 nature and habits of the bees meet with appro- 

 bation, you are at liberty to use them, 



It is a subject that is over looked by too many 

 thinking men. Is there not thousands of dollars 

 locked up in th.e vaults of flowers that are so 



