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234: 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



Aug. 



cultivates eighty acres should be without a 

 good cast roller, and as these are . made in 

 sections of a foot each two of these sections 

 would make admirable pulverizers to pre- 

 cede the cultivators, and thus lessen the cost 

 of the implement. What we want is cheap 

 well constructed implements. They must, in 

 the first place, be simple in their arrange- 

 ment, not liable to get out of order, and to 

 be made strong and durable. A large por- 

 tion of our implements are worthless from 

 these defects. It is time that we had a 

 change ; in fact, as the price of corn com- 

 pels it, in regard to cultivators, inventors and 

 makers will thank us for pointing out the 

 necessity of a change in this respect. So fiir 

 as we can learn the number of any particu- 

 lar form of the two- horse cultivators made 

 have been limited, no one being willing to 

 risk a large amount on the experiment until 

 their practicability was more thoroughly 

 tested. This is now settled in their favor, 

 and we will now see who will get up the best 

 and cheapest one. One of our neighbors 

 had an old wheat cultivator made for the 

 purpose of putting in wheat. The wheels 

 were some twenty inches high, with an ap- 

 paratus for lowering and raising the teeth. 

 It was made for two horses and contained 

 seven teeth. He took out the middle tooth, 

 fastened a common chair to the frame on 

 which he rides and drove it into the corn 

 field at the rate of eight acres a day, doing 

 most excellent work. As a machine for cul- 

 tivating wheat it was of little value, but for 

 its new application it will rank among the 

 first, for it has adaptability and strength. 



Pall Plowing. 



So soon as the small grains are taken from 

 the field it is time to begin to consider the 

 importance of fall plowing. Seeds of weeds 

 at once spring up, and if they are now turn- 

 ed under an after crop of seeds will be pre- 

 vented, the land will become areated and in 

 much better condition for the next year's 

 crop. When corn is intended to follow, the 

 stubble can be turned under shallow if spring 



plowing is to precede the planting ; if not, 

 a good deep furrow should be used. Fall 

 plowing for corn has not as yet become a fa- 

 vorite on account of the early start that it 

 gives to the weeds, but the day is not dis- 

 tant when fall plowing for corn will be as 

 popular as it now is for spring wheat. In 

 this case two small shovel plows can run 

 ahead of the planter to destroy the weeds in 

 the row or drill, and the other can be taken 

 care of at the time of the first werking. It 

 is often the case that a wet sprijg, like the 

 last, puts back the plowing for cjrn, and the 

 crop is got in late* Now, if the land had 

 been fall plowed the water could more read- 

 ily soak away and the sun would sooner warm 

 up the plowed than one covered with stub- 

 ble, that would reflect rather than absorb its 

 rays. The water from all undiained clay 

 and clay loam soils must be evaporated, and 

 this will be the more readily accomplished 

 when the suns rays are absorbed. 



When stubble land is plowed early it pro- 

 duces no small amount of fall feed, which is 

 valuable at that season. The sooner land is 

 plowed after harvest the better, the stubble 

 becomes rotted and the soil in fine tilth. 



Corn land that is clear of weeds will not 

 pay for plowing, if sown to spring wheat, 

 but if well set to biennial weeds it should be 

 plowed without fail. In the fall the teams 

 are in fine condition for work, and as the soil 

 is not full of water, is easier turned over ; it 

 also prevents so much crowding of the 

 spring's work. In the spring of 1860 we 

 had ample time to get in the crop, make gar- 

 dens and look after the orchard, but in the 

 spring of 1861 the spring work was not com- 

 pleted until late in June ; had a large share 

 of the land been plowed in the fall of 1860 

 the ease would have been difi"erent, and the 

 fear of frosted corn would be less prevalent 

 than at present. In the north part of the 

 State this matter is pretty well understood, 

 but in the center is only being introduced, 

 while in Egypt the thing is scarcely thought 

 of, and it is there we see the worst farming 



