SJ^- 



-—-T-'-pSTeS 



1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



309 



Fruits. — Pears are scarce this season. The 

 Louise Bonne de Jersey and a few other varie- 

 ties are giving a good crop. The Doyenne d'Ete 

 is just over, and the Bloodgood and Beurre Gif- 

 fard are ripening. Several early varie.ties of 

 apples are in season or just over, and none are 

 equal in beauty and productiveness to the Red 

 Astrachan. It is a little too acid for some tastes, 

 but is a most excellent apple, always fair, beau- 

 tiful and abundant. Of plums we have about 

 none, and this is the first season in ten years that 

 we could K.ake this statement truthfully. The 

 peach trees are slowly recovering from the effects 

 of the unfavorable winterand spring. The leaves 

 became curled in May and dropped off, and it 

 was not until late in July that any considerable 

 growth was made on young and vigorous trees, 

 while old trers will not recover. Now a tolera- 

 ble growth is being made, but we doubt whether 

 it will be in suitable condition to endure another 

 hard winter. If, therefore, the next winter 

 should be severe, we may anticipate the entire 

 destruction of many of the trees that have al- 

 ready suffered so severely. The apple crop 

 will be light, and the early varieties are much in- 

 jured by the curculio. The dwarf trees are 

 bearing well, and there are few more beautiful 

 objects in the garden than these miniature apple 

 trees oovere I with fruit. 



The small fruits, with the exception of cur- 

 rants, have borne well, and the New Rochelle 

 blackberry we never saw finer. In many places, 

 however, we see evidence of neglect. We make 

 a hobby of a particular fruit for a few years, 

 treat it well, get fine crops, and speak its praise. 

 In a few years we begin to neglect it for some 

 new hobby. This is the way we have treated 

 strawberries. About the time Hovey's Seedling 

 was first disseminated, all the amateur garden- 

 ers in this section engaged in strawberry culture, 

 and specimens were grown and eshibited here 

 that would not disgrace a London exhibition. 

 Burr's New Pine followed, and magnificent dishes 

 of this delicious strawberry were shown by the 

 Bide of Hovey. Now, we think not half a dozen 

 quarts of either are grown in the county, and 

 very few beds are to be found even in tolerable 

 condition. Such a course as this tends very much 

 to retard the progress of fruit culture,— iJwraZ 

 Neiv Yorker, Aug. 24. 



The Louise Bonne de Jersey is one of the pears 

 that appears to do well every where, alwayshardy 

 and an abundant bearer. We suspect our West- 

 ern New York friends are beginning to feel the 

 effects of too large clearings, and will soon begin 

 to talk of timber belts to protect their orchards. 

 The paragraph above in regard to small fruits 

 should be committed to memory by a large class 

 of our people. Ed. 



8^" Adam Bird, of Co. T, 16th Illinois regi- 

 ment, who was in command of a scouting party, 

 was killed Tuesday, near Agency Ford, about 

 eight miles from St. Joseph. 



Healthful Effects of the Tomato. 



Tomato is one of the most healthful, as well as 

 the most universally liked, of all vegetables — its 

 healthful qualities do not d"pend upon the mode 

 of preparation for the table ; it may be eaten 

 thrice a day, cold or hot, cooked or raw, alone or 

 with salt or pepper, or vinegar, together, to a like 

 advantage, and to the utmost that can be taken 

 with an appetite. Its healthful quality arises 

 from its slight acidity, in this making it as valu- 

 able, perhaps, as berries, cherries, currants, and 

 similar article". It is also highly nutritious, but 

 its chief virtue consists in its tendency to keep 

 the bowls free, owing to the seed whi ;h it con- 

 tains, they acting as mechanical irritants to the 

 inner coating of the bowels, causing them to 

 throw out a larger amount of fluid matter than 

 would otherwise have been done, to (he effect of 

 keeping the mucuous surface lubricated, and se- 

 curing a greater solubility of the intestinal con- 

 tents, precisely on the principle that figs and 

 white mustard seeds are so frequently efficient in 

 removing constipation in certain forms of disease. 

 The tomato season ends with the frost. If the 

 vines are pulled up before the frost comes and 

 hang up in a wtU ventilated cellar, with the to- 

 matoes hanging to them, the " love apple" will 

 continue ripening until Christmas. The cellar 

 should not be too dry nor too warm. The knowl- 

 ed.'C of this may be improved to great practical 

 advantage for the benefit of many who are in- 

 valids, and who are. fond of the tomato. 



-•••- 



Work Bulls. 



All bulls might be made to do work enc'gh to 

 pay the expense of keeping them, and they would 

 in every respect be the better for it. If they have 

 any difcposition to be turbulent, nothing will more 

 effectually "take the conceit" out of them, and 

 render them safe and manageable, than constant 

 labor. Mr. E. R. Andrews of West Roxbury, 

 owns the imported Ayrshire bull Albert, and for 

 some time past has worked him almost daily. A 

 yoke was made for him, and by means of a sad- 

 dle and breeching, he is harnessed in the thills of 

 a wagon or cart, and hauls any load of suitable 

 weight for a horse. Indeed the men who have 

 him ia chargo, state that he can pull more than 

 any horse on the farm. They take him to the 

 field, and carry from thence to the barn, a ton or 

 mor,e of grain or hay at once. He is very tract- 

 able and easily managed, but is quick in his ac- 

 tion, generally wa'king faster than a horse com- 

 monly does. He has been used considerably in 

 hauling manure out of the barn-cellar, and there 

 being considerable of a rise in the ground, he has 

 been shod to assist him in getting a footho d, and 

 to keep him from getting foot sore. We were 

 assured that he often takes a heavier load up this 

 rise than two stout horses could. He is said to 

 oe "baudy" anywhere. A man saddles him as 

 he would a horse ; gets on his back, and by lines 

 attached to the ring in his nose, guides him, and 

 " takes the road" at a smart pace. In fact he is 

 made "generally useful" about the premises. — 

 Boston Cultivator, 



