1861. 



THE rLLIKOIS FAHMER. 



149 



should it succeed as we think it will there will be 

 no further excuse for contending with the birds 

 for an occasional dish from the groves. 



Egyptian Blackbkrries. — We have a fine 

 plantation of these selected and sent us by G. H. 

 Baker, of Cobden. Some of the canes are nearly 

 an inch in diameter and give promise of a fine 

 crop. Ihey have thus far proved hardy, having 

 stood out two winters without damage. The 

 trailing blackberry, or as it is often called dew 

 berry, also promise well. We hope to be able to 

 report favorably on these plants. The Lawton 

 stood out without protection the past winter un- 

 harmed. The demand for this variety has until 

 this season prevented our having any fruiting 

 plants left over. 



Onion Culture. — The essays from which we 

 made up our chapter on onion culture in our 

 March issue should have been credited to the 

 American Agriculturalist, where they first appear- 

 ed and are now published in pamphlet form and 

 for sale at that establishment. The price of the 

 work is twenty-one cents sent free by mail ; it is 

 richly worth the money, as it combines the expe- 

 prience of some dozen of the moat prominent and 

 successful growers of that valuable, but in this 

 section too much neglected edible. 



Horse Powers and Threshers. — The card of 

 Messrs. Wheeler, Melick& Co., of Albany, N. Y., 

 will be found in another part of this number. 

 Their work, both in materials and workmanship, 

 will bear the severest test, and cannot fail to give 

 satisfaction. The senior of this firm is the orig- 

 inal inventor of the railway horse powers, which 

 have become so popular throughout the East and 

 in most parts of the West. From several years 

 experience with them we are firm in the opinion 

 that they are the most economical machines used. 

 We would call the especial attention of wheat 

 growers to the value of their Improved Thresher 

 and Winnower ^fcjTtey have several agencies in 

 the State, and it will be seen that they invite 

 others to add to the number. Their commissions 

 are very liberal and terms favorable. 



Garnet Chili Potato. — We are in receipt of a 

 box of this new and valuable variety from Mr. 

 A. G. HanfoHd, of Waukesha, Wisconsin, for 

 whiqh he will please accept our thanks for the 

 same. Mr. H. has done a good work for Wis- 

 coQsin in the introduction of choice potatoes, 



trees and plants. He is now a partner in the 

 Columbus, Ohio, nursery, one of the most flour- 

 ishing institutions of the kind in that State, and 

 from which our Illinois tree planters have, and 

 will continue to draw largely from. Wisconsin 

 will find it difficult to fill his place in her pomo- 

 logical department. 



ft 



Lightning Rods. — It is again the time of the 

 year when lightning rods will prove useful, and 

 we will jog the elbows of our farmers to the 

 point. E. P. Marsh & Co., of Chicago, furnishes 

 the copper rods, which are said to be much more 



eflFective than the common iron ones. 



— — «•» 



Lost Copt. — Some six pages of copy for the 

 February number of the Farmer came up miss- 

 ing. As there are twenty-two Springfield post 

 offices in as many States of this Union it is prob- 

 able that it has turned up at some one of them. 

 Among the articles lost was one on Spring Wheat, 

 the New and Old Officers of the State Agricultu- 

 ral Society, and part of the Editor's Table, all 

 of which was a provoking disappointment, for 

 besides losing the seasonable notes we were com- 

 pelled to make it up in the April number, as part 

 of the copy for the 3Iarch number had to go into 

 the gap. Should they turn up from that heca- 

 tomb of the loved and lost, the dead letter office, 

 they would be out of season. 



American Agricultttetst. — This paper, under 

 the management of Mr. Judd, has reached an 

 unparalleled circulation throughout the nation. 

 This is mainly due to the mamner in which it is 

 edited. For convenience it is printed and mailed 

 at New York city, while its several editors reside 

 in the country, and thus send forth practical 

 every day facts, instead ot the usual theories 

 gotten up from books in a city office. We have 

 for years been convinced that if we broke loose 

 from "book farming" it would be when our ag- 

 ricultural journals were edited by men who had 

 a practical knowledge of the subject which they 

 attested to teach. On the general subjects of 

 stock growing and a thousand other points the 

 work is of no small value to the Western reader. 

 The work is a large monthly, three column quar- 

 to of thirty-two pages, and furnished at the low 

 price of $1 per annum. For cheapness and abil- 

 ity it has no superior. It is connected with no 

 mercantile establishment, and down on humbugs 

 of every class. During the past year it has sav- 

 ed its readers thousands of doltars by a timely 

 warning against the numberless confidence spec- 

 ulations gotten up in " Gotham," to swindle the 

 unwary public. May its shadow never be less. 



