1861. 



THE ILLmOIS FAHMER. 



249 



The Illinois Farmer. 



BAILHACHE & BAKEK PTJBLISHEES. 



31. L. DUNLAP EDITOR. 



SPRINGFIELD, AUGUST 1861. 



Editor's Table. 



I have no time to read, is the oft repeated an- 

 swer of the farmer, when a^ked to subscribe for 

 an agricultural paper. Tbt- business man who 

 would make such an answer would be at once set 

 down as a dolt, and W'- can see no reason why 

 the same application would not be true of the 

 farmer. In this world of progress he who does 

 not keep posted falls in the r^ar and is soon out 

 of sight. There is as much need of intelligence 

 among farmers as among any other class, yet in 

 the world's history we find ignorance clustering 

 thickest around the rural districts ; this should 

 not be so, for where we find robutt health we 

 should find cultivated intelligence. The morals 

 of the people in the country is generally much 

 better than in the town», and with abundance of 

 time for reading they should enjoy n.ore of it, 

 not only agricultural reading, but on all useful 

 subjects. We never knew an mdustrious family 

 of farmer boys but that loved to read ; but 

 we have known the fathers of such boys neglect 

 to provide suitable reading, •jnd when too late 

 awoke to the fact that their sons had imbibed er- 

 roneous not' ons of prop iety. We have one in 

 our mind's eye, a devoted Christian and strict in 

 all that pertains to the out- ard forms of relig- 

 ion, but who takes especial delight in making 

 sharp horse trades, yet is oblivious to the use of 

 newspapers except his d ncminational one. The 

 result is tobacco chewing, swearing, rowdy boys 

 — ^they have been to school, but lack parental 

 training and the ir-fluenr</ of good books, and the 

 news of the day ; beyoiu'. t^ut routine of their own 

 farm they know nothing ."ind oare 1«S8. Who 



would wish to give their daughters for the wives 

 of such men — men who would, wi h proper train- 

 ing, have made good members cf society. Burns 

 was not far from right when he s- id : ti; 



" The rigid righteoup is a fool — ■.: 

 The rigid wise anither " 



Fathers and mothers should look well to ths 

 amusements of their children. 



Natural Histoky Society — This has becom-' 

 a live permanent institution, and its departmen 

 in the next State Fair will be ne of the mo.'-; 

 prominent and interesting. It is under tl: i 

 charge of R. H. Holder, one of the Vice Presiden' 

 of the State Society. Mr. H. is ooe of the mo! 

 enthusiastic ornithologists in the Northwest, an- 

 his collection of birds nuw ia the museum of tb 

 society at Bloomington, is worth a thousau' 

 miles of travel to see, C. ?-. V.'altu:, in the de 

 partment of Geology and Mineralogy, hy his UL 

 tiring industry has amassed an immense collec- 

 tion in his departments. Mr. W. is building u 

 a world-wide fame for the natural resources o^ 

 the Prairie State. We shall see in this depart 

 ment a rare collection of Botanicil specimen 

 from the prairie, the wo^dand, and the hills o' 

 Egypt, collections of the native wiods that fort 

 our groves like outlayicjr '•^Inj-'^s 'n 'he great se 

 of prairie verdure, and specimens if the mass} 

 belts of primeval forests thnt fringe our stream 

 and specimens of the giant den zeu of the rivei 

 bottoms where meet and mingle 'he Ohio and tha 

 Mississippi ; shells from the streaais of to-day, 

 and shells from the Silurian seas of the long ago. 

 Plants of to-day and plane from the runs that 

 grew long before our planet got askew of the 

 Ecliptic. Insects caugb* ai.l pin!ied to paste- 

 board by our friend Walsh, and iuseots that form 

 the solid limestone used by our builders. Mam- 

 malogy of our age stuffed with cotton and mammal- 

 ogy from away back in the > usty past turned to 

 stone. Farmers, farmci'.'i .r;-'::. --^-is and daugh- 

 ters, would you look into the past — would you 

 see the wide fiell of natural products of our no- 

 ble State, do not fa'l to attend ♦he next State 

 Fair. 



"«•.- 



Tkanbmutation. — Some time in June last we 

 called on an old friend 1.1 Fsi I J c^uiity. He had 

 a fine residence just comple'ed, hut alack a day! 

 the army worm haH '•^vaged hi" ga>den and 

 nearly destroyed it ; v,i^ ^c^b-x-r. rbongh eaten 

 down, had again sprou^-.a, ^u': ;..-ttad of head- 

 ing out as well behaved c"s.bbgg2 5i.)d ought to do» 



