1861 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEK. 



241 



rould do better in the stable than in his present 

 osition. We hope for the credit of this house, 

 jhich has under its former proprietors held a 

 liigh place in the estimation of ihe traveling pub- 

 lic, that it be not ruined with this class of up- 

 I tart insolence. As a general thing the public 

 have no high opinion of these railroad eating 

 houses, and unles.s they n>- b« some improvement 

 it would be just as well not to lose any timewith 

 the trains in stopping the twenty minutes for 

 meals. A s.^ndwich of boiled ham, bread and 

 butter, as a geueial thing, is the safest, and it is 

 a curious fact, and one of no email significance 

 to these men, that the better class of passengers 

 carry their own rations with them. It is time 

 there was a reformation in this regard ; it is 

 alike due to the railroad companies that travel- 

 ers should not be swindled at the houses where 

 trains stop for meals, as it is to the traveler. — 

 Men and women will not travel for pleasure un- 

 der any such circumstances. A hotel that fails 

 to call its guests at the proper hour and then 

 charges them for meals when they are thus de^ 

 layed, is unworthy of patronage, and especially 

 when puppies are allowed to 1 11 the place of ju- 

 dicious servants. 



At ten o'clock, a. m., July 24th, we reached 

 Sandoval, aud found our young friend Charles 

 Kenuicottiu waiting for us. His nursery is about 

 one mile east ot the station and adjoining the 

 south side of the 0. & M. R. R. The ground 

 slopes gently to the south, and the long rows of 

 trees now full robed for summer, formg an at- 

 tractive feature, and are in strong contrast to the 

 wide sweep of uncultivated prairie to the north 

 and east. Never have we s en fifteen acres of 

 apple tree nursery better cultivated nor 

 trees more nnitorm and so well grown — nothing 

 of the wh p-stalk order, nothing of the " tree 

 peddle " look in them, but with well formed low 

 heads and stocky trunks, just such as the farmer 

 wants for his orchard, just such as the market 

 orchardist needs to lay the foundation of his 

 success, and just such a selection of varieties as 

 have been found adapted to the soil and climate 

 of this part of the northwest. Born almost in 

 the nursery, at all events reared in one filled with 

 the useful and the beautiful, making it a life 

 study, a business and a pleasure, in which good 

 taste and training have been combined, it is no 

 wonder that our young friend, here on the prai- 

 rie slopes of Egypt, has commanded a success- 



The grounds devoted to ornamental and the 

 small fruits cover some three acres. Among the 

 small fruits we notice nearly the whole family of 

 —2 



currants and raspberries — Houghton's gooseberry 

 stand' solitary as the only reliable kind in this 

 section. About half of the nursery is budded 

 six to fifteen inches high, and the remainder root 

 grafts. The heads commence at two or three 

 feet from the ground. 



The rose is a great favorite here, and the cul- 

 tivation is extensive and select. Evergreens 

 make a fine growth and are much in demand. — 

 We remained here fourteen hours for the next 

 train, which gave us an opportunity to visit the 

 grounds of Mr. Price, which adjoin Mr. K. on the 

 west. Mr. P. is a farmer and a botanist, aud his 

 grounds are rich in rare hardy plants. He has 

 done considerable underdraining, and finds in it 

 a marked advantage. In one part of his garden 

 on which it was difficult to grow plants, they are 

 now the most luxuriant. The drains are put ia 

 below the band of "scald" clay before attend- 

 ed to ; in fact, there are several out-crops of it 

 on his farm. In this part of the State the rains 

 fall in torrents, and not as at the north, in long 

 continued gentle showers ; it is therefore of im- 

 portance to get rid of the water before the plants 

 are drowned out, and a3 it cannot penetrate the 

 band of scald clay it must evaporate or be car- 

 ried off in underdrains. Mr. P. thinks the mole 

 plow cannot be forced through the subsoil at any 

 season of the year, and that nothing short of the 

 shovel and pick will be of use in putting in the 

 tile. At nine o'clock a. m. of the 25th, the con- 

 ductor put us down opposite the commercial gar- 

 dens of Messrs Overmann & Mann, three miles 

 west of Bloomington. 



To be continued in next No, 



[For the Illiaois Farmer.] 



Corn Culture Again. 



Ed. Farmer : I think somo of the remarks of 

 one of your correspondents in the June number 

 of the Illinois Farmer in preparing the ground 

 for a corn crop are good. I approve of rolling 

 the ground to crush the clods and close up the 

 pores of the ground in order to retain the moist- 

 ure of it in dry weather, and this should not be 

 done until the corn is p anted. The process of 

 rolling pays the farmer well, if for nothing else 

 but to get the clods out of the way, where gang 

 plows are u«ed to cultivate the corn, and this 

 done, the farmer has only to go into his field witk 

 one of Leepers & Kidders' wheat plows, put on the 

 small shovels next to the corn and drive ahead, 

 without any fear of covering the small corn, aod 

 the work is done in au improved manner. 



