118 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



Apeil 



Attempting too Much. — The great trouble in 

 this world seems to be attempting too much. No 

 matter how well off a man may be, he must try 

 to do more than he is able to. We know of many 

 farmers that are always in debt, and everything 

 lying loose around their premises. The reason 

 of this is, that they never have time to finish up 

 any one thing as it should be done. A fence is 

 half finished, sonaetbing else needs attention, 

 hurrah, boys ; all hands quit making fence, and 

 go at something else, losing time enough in re- 

 placing tools, in getting others, and moving from 

 one unfinished job to another, to nearly complete 

 the work. He goes to the nursery, gets a Lun- 

 dred trees, half plows the ground, or nine times 

 out of ti^n, don't plow it at all ; eays, " I'll plow 

 it by-and bye, when I get time," half sets the 

 trees, and the consequence is, one half or two«- 

 thirds of them die. Their hedi.es are half set, 

 and of course more or less of the plants are 

 killed by the drouth, leaving unsightly gaps ; 

 his corn is half tended, because he had twenty 

 acres when he only should have ten ; his wheat 

 is half sown, ditches half dug, and the water 

 overflowing where the ditch is most essential; 

 gates are off the hinges, and the chickens roost 

 on the reaper for want of a better place ; and 

 yet, this same man may have an eye for beauty, 

 may go to agriculturar fairs and shows, attend 

 conventions, and there urge the necessity for 

 better culture and less land, more flowers and 

 less corn, but his preaching from home and bis 

 practice at home are in nowise related to each 

 other. 



Ask him why his corn did not turn out better, 

 " Well, a piece that was plowed deep and well 

 tended, turned out twenty bushels to the acre, 

 and the other piece would have turned the same, 

 but I really hadn't time to plow it again ; had 

 to haul wood or fix my line fence." It does very 

 well to keep your irons in the fire, but hava them 

 in just far enough to heat as you can work them. 

 Don't have a dozen all hot at once, and spoil 

 them all by not having time ; cultivate a little 

 land and live comfortably. Don't break up forty 

 of that eighty acre pasture when you already 

 have more land broken up than you can possibly 

 cultivate and do it well. , * 



The Wat to Deal in Trees. — Mr. Biley Hos- 

 kinson,* of RushviUe, Ills., has contracted with 

 us for all the trees he procures orders for. We 

 will tke this opportunity to say to those of" 

 whom he solicits orders, that all orders filled by 

 us for Mr. H. will be such trees as parties would 

 receive from us if they sent their orders directly 

 to us. All orders are filled and packed with 

 care. LEWIS ELLSWORTH & Co. 



Naperville, March 3d, 1261. 



That's the doctrine, and the only way we shall 

 drive out the tree peddler. Instead of sending 

 out agents, or selling to peddlers at wholsale, 

 orders are filled by such men at the nursery with 

 the same care and at the same price as though 

 the order was sent direct. The nurseryman 

 selects and packs the order of each customer, 

 and there is no way in which the agent c n tarn, 

 per with the labels. We have adopted this prac- 

 tice for the past two years, and are pleased with 

 it. Nurseries like those of the Messrs. Ellsworth 

 & Co., cannot retail their vast stock, and hence 

 local agents like Mr. Hoskinson must be employ- 

 ed to take orders and collect the bills. Tiiis 

 makes a division of labor, and is an economical way 

 of doing business. It is one safe for all parties. 

 The agent receives for his services a per centage 

 commission, the trees and plants are duly packed 

 and shipped, and by sending all the packages to 

 the agency at one time, a saving of freight and a 

 greater certainty of safe arrival at destination is 

 secured. Those who have not tried this system 

 we hope will not delay. Give the tree peddler, 

 who deals on his own hook, a wide berth, and 

 send your orders direot to the nursery, or through 

 a reliable, bona fide agent. In contrast with 

 this, some of our eastern nurser'es, who sell the 

 dealer his stock at wholesale, and the dealer 

 affixes the labels to suit himself, the nurseryman 

 giving a certificate that the trees when delivered 

 to the dealer are true to name, but that is no 

 assurance that they will be, after the peddler has 

 put on his own labils. Will our tree planters 

 take this gentla hint and consult their true in- 

 terest ? 



Home and School Journal.— This is a valua- 

 ble paper on Education and Temperance, and 

 should receive » wide and liberal support. It is 

 probably one of the chcapeBt of our western fam- 

 ily papers. Published monthly at fifty cents a 

 year, by Eberhart and Company, Chicago. 



The Peach Crop in Egtpt. — G. H. Baker, of 

 Cobden, writes us under date of March 18th; 

 "We have had quite cold weather since you was 

 here. Some suppose that most of the peaches 

 are killed, but I think there is enough left for a 

 good crop. My tamato plants have suffered se- 

 verely in the hot beds." Further north where 

 the buds had not started, the late cold term could 

 have made no impression on the embryo fruit. 

 The large quantities of snow to the north will 

 give us a backward season, but from our expe- 

 rience we may look for a good growing one when 

 it does open. 



