1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



327 



two and a half inches deep, many of the roots 

 being about that depth beneath the surface. 

 After an orchard comes into bearing, high culti- 

 vation tihould cease, as it stimulates a too late 

 growth of wood, thereby endangering the 

 health and life of the trees from frost. Plow 

 only once a year, at least as early as the first 

 of June. Sow buckwheat or nothing at all as 

 suits the convenience of the cultivator. Sow no 

 ■wheat or oats, or at least sow them seldom, nor 

 manure the soil until the fruit begins to deterio- 

 ate, which will not be for a dozen years at least 

 after planting, if the soil is new. Little or no 

 pruning is required for the first twelve or fifteen 

 years. 



INSECTS. 



A war of extermination must be declared 

 against all insects that infest the fruit garden. 

 The American or tent catapillars can be destroy- 

 ed early in the spring, when they first hatch. 



Another destructive catapillar makes its ap- 

 pearance in the latter part of June, which 

 should be immediately attended to. The trees 

 should be examined twice a year, in the spring 

 and fall, near the ground, and all borers cut out, 

 Do not t ust to nostrums, but a sharp knife and 

 a good eyesight. With all our care we believe 

 that orchards will live here but a few years, and 

 must be frequently replanted to continue a sup- 

 ply of fruit. 



[We would call the attention of our readers to 

 the Unofficial Look at Mr. Coe's orchard. — Ed.] 



•••^ 



Horses for the Army. 



We have been in tbe hab:t of saying, for some 

 years, that if it could have been so ordered in 

 the creative economy of horses that the full 

 fbrce and weight of three of our ordinary farm 

 horses could have been put into two, it would 

 have been a very great thing for plow teams. 

 There is a certain proportion in the make of a 

 p ow which must be miiutaiaed in oider to the 

 greater't efficiency of that implement; and that 

 propor'ion requires a draft which our common 

 farm teams cannot carry without an extra strain 

 beyond what they can travel with, as a team 

 ought to travel, which is expected to maintain a 

 good gait, day afier day. In view of these two 

 facts, viz. : that the team is too light for the fur- 

 row, and the furrow too heavy for tt e team, we 

 have estimated the damage to our agriculture, 

 by the introduction of these little trotting horses, 

 at many hundreds of thousand dollars. These 

 pony Morgans are mighty smart for iheir inches, 

 and very good in a light carriage on a good road, 

 but a great failure in a farm team. They have 

 not tha weight to throw into the collar, and if 

 they are forced to lake a plow through a ten 

 incU furrow, they must scratch to it wiih all 

 their might, and come out with a puff and a 



spread of nostril, that is painful for any humane 

 driver to see. 



I is not the Morgvns alone, but the country is 

 full of little spindling sorrel ard other faded out 

 things, which are fit neither for the road -r the 

 field. During tho earlier enlistmen's for the pre- 

 sent war, no call was made for cavalry, and but 

 little for light artillery, so that the only horses 

 purchased for the army wer» for wagon trans- 

 portation. We took notice that this stcick was 

 bad enough, and tuought it a good way lo get it 

 used up so the country would be rid of such stuff. 



I?ut next came the call for cavalry and more 

 light artillery, and we were a-^haraed of the State 

 that could turn out only such stock, and of ihe 

 government that bad the cheek to send live white 

 men into the fie'd astride of such things, and 

 pretend to call it cavalry. Doubtless the great 

 prime fault was in this, that government set a 

 maximum price upon the horses, to be purchased 

 which could command only this ill-bred stuff, 

 and then let the contracts in such away that the 

 sub-contractor received his commission in an in~ 

 verse ratio to the value of the animal, go that 

 mean horses paid the highest premium to the 

 purchaser. Again, instead of employing a vete- 

 rinarian to inspect the purchases, they were 

 passed upon by conceited if not interested pre- 

 tenders, and sent forward to be knocked up in 

 wind and limb, and in a month's time worth 

 what tbeir hide and shoes would sell for. 



BurdsaU's cavalry, numbering fifty or sixty 

 men, made up in Butler and Hamilton — the men 

 furnishing their own horses — were about half of 

 them fairly mounted ; a company from Brown 

 county we noticed in about the same condition, 

 while others not a few, we have seen, where the 

 horses would not have more force than a drove 

 of mules, and were no more fit for a shock of 

 arms than a squadron of ram cats. Even Bar- 

 nett's famous battery of light artillery from 

 Cleveland, which should have had a thundering 

 troop of horse, was draggef* by thin, ewe-neckcd 

 nags, which were knocked hither and yon, when- 

 ever the gun carriages crossed a gully or struck 

 a mole hill. 



With all the impovements upon our horse strck, 

 for the last ten years, the mass of horses are fit 

 neither for the farm or the field; and the sooner 

 we begin to lay on weight upon a good built, the 

 better will it tell upon farm crops, and if need 

 be, upon the efiSciency of our mounted men in 

 the field. — Fteld Notes. 



We are in about the same fix with our teams 

 on the prairies. We have too many small horses 

 by far. Since the advent of railroads, we need 

 less light roadsters and more heavy team Lorses. 

 It is high time that we begin the charge. The 

 army will take up nearly all of our best team 

 horses for cavalry and artillery service, and we 

 shall have to do our farm work with riff-raff and 

 brood marcs that are left. The trotting ring at 

 State and county fairs have done much to bring 

 on this state of affairs, and we hope to see a 

 change by the trial of strength in hauling heavy 

 loads. Ed. 



