'^;- 



1861. 



THE ILLmOIS FAKMEE. 



iir 



make them friends ; if not, they will pass on to 

 other points ; bribe them by selling them land 

 cheap, and extend to them all needed facilities to 

 make homes among us. 



Chester White Pios. — At this time there is a 

 large enquiry for this new breed of hogs, and we 

 have several enquiries in relation to them on our 

 list. As near as we can learn, a pure bred "Ches- 

 ter white " is a cross of the Suffolk, with the 

 common white hog of Pennsylvania, or for that 

 matter, any other State. We have two fine sows, 

 bre'd in this way, that suit us to a fraction ; at 

 least, we would not pay express charge on one to 

 exceed five cents a pound, live weight. The truth 

 is, there is not a county in the State that need 

 send twenty miles for the best breed of hogs. We 

 like the Chester white because he has more hair 

 on him and looks as if he could stand the cold 

 better than the full bred Suffolk. There are 

 plenty of these Chester whites in our neighbor- 

 hood, and right fine pigs they are. We put up a 

 ton and a half of pork from a litter of them last 

 fall, and now we have a most splendid lot of hams 

 cured a la " Chicago sugar cured." We hope none 

 of our readers will send to Chester county after 

 pigs, for we will guarantee just as good pigs near 

 home, and with just as good a pedigree, to-wit : 

 " White hogs, legs slightly longer than the Suf- 

 folk, more hair and longer bodies," somewhat re- 

 sembling the Suffolk, but with a cleaner skin. 

 Won't some of our readers who learn by this that 

 they have the "pure bredi' advertise them. 

 Suppose we call them the " Illinois Beau'ies," 

 and see if we do not soon have a foreign demand 

 at twenty five dollars, the price for six weeks old 

 pigs. It is time that we got back some of the 

 money guUel from us by breeders of pigs in 

 other States. Who will get up a herd book of 

 "pure bred swine;" it must be did, for the 

 whole country is agape for the best breed of 

 pigs, and our pigs have been crossed and recross- 

 ed so often that the " prairie swine," "the wood 

 scrambler" and the "shark" have, we fear, 

 been lost, swallowed up in the vortex of pork- 

 opolis or mizzled on change. 



Maturation of Fruits. — The maturation, as 

 it is called, or the sweetening of winter fruits, 

 when stored up for their preservation in straw, is 

 the result of a true fermentation. Unripe apples 

 and pears contain a considerable amount of 

 starch, which becomes converted into sugar by 

 the nitrogenous constituent of the juice passing 

 into a sXate of decomposition, and transmitting 

 its own mutations to the particles of starch in 

 contact with it. — Liebig. 



There is a natural period of ripening of fruits, 

 as among apples, we have summer, autumn and 

 winter. It would be impossible by any ordinary 

 process to winter the early harvest, as it 

 would be to have the Golden Russet in eating 

 July direct from the tree. For this reason those 

 planting orchards cannot be too careful in keep- 

 ing a record of the varieties planted, and to see 

 that they are true to name. We will suppose a 

 farmer should grow the Farneuse, Winter Russet, 

 Yellow Belltiower, Raule's Jane and Willow- 

 Twig, and without knowing anything further 

 than that they were all winter apples, put them 

 in the san^e bin, he would find a pretty mess be- 

 fore the end of January, by what he would call 

 the premature decay of a portion of them, but 

 by putting them separate and knowing the time 

 at which they severally mature would have each 

 in its greatest perfection. We therefore say to 

 all, lalrel your trees at the nursery, and make a 

 record where each variety are planted, so that 

 when they come into bearing you can put them 

 away for the proper time of ripening. If you 

 depend upon recognizing them when they come 

 into bearing you will be mistaken, except as to a 

 few varieties. Our besf fruit men can only 

 identify a limited number; the effect of soil and 

 location changes them to some extent — therefore 

 be sure and keep your record. 



Cashmbke Goats. — Mr. Kendrick, of Chicago, 

 has fifteen grade Cashmere goats, which he pur- 

 chased in Tennessee last fall, from which be is 

 breeding, on a farm near that city. He pro- 

 poses to test their profit in this climate. 



Hogs Next Winter. ^The low price of corn 

 last fall and the high price at which pork has 

 been sold during the winter just closed, has in- 

 duced farmers all over the country to fatten all 

 the hogs that could possibly be made fit for the 

 market. In this way alone could they get any- 

 thing like a fair price for their corn. The con- 

 sequence is that the number of stock hogs now 

 in the country is unusually small, and the amount 

 of pork that can be mada ready for killing next 

 fall and winter cannot be very large In this 

 case, prices will most probably again be high, 

 and every farmer should do all in his power to 

 increase the number of his stock hogs. After 

 all, whether corn is high or low, the farmer gen- 

 erally gets best paid for it in the staple of pork. 



