-T-r"i»Tajp |j, l41,cA!gi 



242 



iV?IP'W»5.-pn'^ft 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



Aug. 



To raise corn to the best advantage the great- 

 est ease, and in the shortest time, I would in the 

 fall take one of Leepers & Kidders' rolling cut- 

 ters, go over my stubble ground, roll down and 

 cut the weeds and stubble about six inches in 

 length, plow them under about ten inches deep. 

 In the spring, before planting, go over the ground 

 with Lceper & Kidders' old ground plow or some 

 other good old ground plow, (can go over about 

 eight acres a day,) and with this stir the ground, 

 then take your marker, lay out one way, then 

 plant with Brown's, or some other good planter, 

 then roll to crush the clods, unless ii is very wet; 

 in that case substitute the harrow, then Leeper 

 & Bidder's gang plow or cultivator, and use the 

 small phovels next the corn, for the first plowing, 

 as above stated, then my word for it, you are 

 making corn rapidly as never done before. 



I do not agree with your correspondent exact- 

 ly with regard to drilling corn ; I think you will 

 never be able to get the farmer into thai. The 

 only advantage I can see in in it is to accommo- 

 date gang plows to straight rows of corn. As 

 ■was stated, all those cultivators at the Fair last 

 fall were only designed to plow drilled corn ; or, 

 in other words, corn in straight rows. That is a 

 mistake, Leeper & Kidder's plow was there on 

 exhibition, but was not tested for want of time, 

 and because it was not entered on the right list 

 to go into the plowing match ; that plow has an 

 ingenious arrangement for dodging all the crook- 

 ed corn with perfect care, (which is done by the 

 feet while you have your hands to manage the 

 team,) which may chance to stand any place 

 within fifteen inches of the direct line of the row. 

 So far as I know it is the only plow with an ar- 

 rangement that is practical for dodging crooked 

 corn in the row. 



In Leeper & Kidder's shop, in San Jose, Mason 

 county, Ills., may be seen a rolling cutter now in 

 course of construction for chopping up every™ 

 thing that is on the ground in the way of the 

 plow, when completed must be a valuable piece 

 of machinery for the farmer. 



As a practical farmer I would say to inventors, 

 study simplicity and durability and avoid com- 

 plication. I do think the idea not a good one to 

 try to get up a machine to plow your ground, roll 

 your land, plant your corn and drill your wheat, 

 all with the same machine. 



Respectfully yours. 



Citizen. 



— The communication of "Citizen" came 

 without the name of the writer, but from its 

 practical turn we step aside from our rule in such 



cases and insert it. We shall hope to hear from 

 him again, and that he will give us his real name, 

 not that we want it to append to his couimunica- 

 tion, but we like to know our correspondents. 



He is in error in regard to arrangements oa 

 other two horse cultivators than the Messrs. 

 Leeper & Kidder's, to follow crooked rows. Tur 

 ner's and others have equally as good, but we 

 look upon them as of little value. Harmers can, 

 and should plant the rows straight, when all that 

 is required is good driving, thereby saving a 

 needless expense and extra weight of machinery., 

 There can be no question as to the advantage of 

 drilling over hill planting, as will be seen by the 

 July number. Deep plowing is almost a new 

 feature in Egyptian farming, and we hope that 

 others will follow the plan of our correspondent. 



We prefer to plow under the standing stalks by 

 the use of our weed hook to cutting them in pins. 

 The implement for that purpose is expensive in 

 itself and expens've in its o^ieration. To use it 

 the surface must be firm and the stalks dry. We 

 have no expectation of its coming into general 

 use. Ed. 



«•> 



[For the Illinois Farmer.] 



Hedging. 



Ed. Fabmer : Harvest is now over, and the 

 farming community throughout this section can 

 once more rejoice at having secured a medium 

 good yield of wheat. In St. Cla-r county the 

 crop was exceedingly fine, the stalks be'ng of a 

 goodhicht; the heads were filled with plump 

 and fair grain. During harvest I passed through 

 different portions of Washington and Jefferson 

 counties, and saw a great deal of fine wheat. In 

 different portions of the latter coun'y the crop 

 has been materially injured by the chinch bug 

 and other pestiferous insects, but we have rea- 

 sons to believe that their depredations have been 

 confined within narrow limits. Central and 

 Southern Illinois are undoubtedly well adapted 

 to the raising of wheat as well as many other 

 articles of consumption. In some localities 

 broad and expansive prairies spread out as far 

 as the eye can reach, while in others we can be- 

 hold large forests of fine timber in sufficient 

 quantities for all ordinary occupations, and the 

 soil, which is inferior to none, covered with beau- 

 tiful and luxuriant herbage. Apple, peaches 

 and pears flourish, and with little attention will 

 produce abundantly, while many other articles 

 of domestic consumption are produced equally 

 well. We are satisfied that our farmers cultivate 



