1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



331 



any other. Some (hink it brouaht on by a sud- 

 den chnrge in the condition — from a pocr to a 

 flpishy state, and that thus the blood vessels are 

 affected. Mr. Funk thinks poor water the C'u«e 

 in some instances; and 'he manner and condi- 

 tion in whioh the animal is fed, in others. A 

 gnod preventive is wood ashes and sulphur fed 

 with salt. He does not think there is any help 

 for the animal after it is once positively diseased. 

 The best remedy ia to give some thorough purga- 

 tive as soon as any indications of disease are dis- 

 covered. It sometimes happens that this will 

 prevent mortification, which soon takes place 

 unless sniue such measure is alopted He ad- 

 vises b'eeding cattle, ef-peci'.Hy those which have 

 been strongly fed in the spring. He bleeds all 

 of his by slitting the tail with a knie. Especially 

 if the cni of the tail is hollow this should be done 

 Somi-tiiwes he ropes the nerk and bleeds the ani- 

 mal there strongly. He thi'iks spring bleerfing 

 very useful — even necessary. He also recom- 

 mends mixing wood ashes with the salt anl feed- 

 ing it to cattle. It helps keep thembealthy, sleek 

 ELd smooth. 



BUYING B0L1S OF PEDDLERS AND AT FAIRS. 



He would not buy a bull at a fair, so many 

 that are there exhibited are fitted up to exhibit 

 and to sell. Those that can be bought are '-arely 

 worth buying. He prefers to go and see the 

 stock on the farm where it is ke;,t— to examine 

 the offspring of the animal. 



If a man purchases one of these pampered bulls 

 at fairs, he rarely gives him the care uecessary 

 to keep him in prime coniiiiion ; if he knows Aow, 

 he docs not do it ; few men know how. Or course 

 the hull runs down, the owner bpcom--s disgusted 

 and tells his neighbors fine st. ck is all a humbug. 

 If, however, he is careful to go and see the stock 

 in the pasture, where it is kept, economically, 

 without any po'ishir g process, be is belter able 

 to j'ldge of its real merits, and s less likely to 

 wisti his purchased animal in Dixie two months 

 later. Ihree-fltths of these exhibition animals 

 are spoile I. Mr. Funk does not advise a man 

 who proposes hand'ing stock, to buy full bloo i 

 fancy cattle. Would rather have or' sses of a 

 thoroiiL'h bred bull with native cows. He thinks, 

 there is more money in proportion to their cost 

 in the grades than in the pure bred Duihams. 

 He likes the Durham better than the Devon, as a 

 etandara stock. 



HORSES. 



Mr. Funk breeds few horses. He regards 

 mules a great deal more serviceable. He 

 has some Morgans, but, while they are good 

 roa>lsters, he regards them too light for farm 

 service. He "ays we want a class of horses 15 

 (o 16 hands high, well proportioned, that will 

 make good saddle horses, fair roadsters. Weiffht 

 is necessary— not too heavy, however Horses 

 that will 1,250 to 1,300 pounils are about right 

 if they are rightly put together. If -a horse 

 weighs less than 1,000 pounds, he is too light 

 for farm uses. 



HOW HE GROWS CORN. 



The ground is prepared by plowing and har- 

 rowing, and planted in check rows with Brown's 

 planter. After it is sprouted, a large two -horse 

 harrow and team is put on, and the ground thor- 

 oughly harrowed, regardless of the corn. Tlds 

 done, it is cultivated with a three-toothed cu'ii- 

 vator, goir.g twice in each row ; then ag-dn with 

 a doutde ehovel plow. Frequently, after the 

 shovel plow, a scouring plow is used, but a double 

 shovel ulow is regarded the best implement to 

 use Hfter the harrow. He prefers to harrow be- 

 fore the c^rn is up. Many in this country wait 

 until the corn appears, then knock the centre 

 tooth out (fan A harrow and drive astride the 

 rows. If the ground proves cloddy, he rolls it 

 immediately after harrowing with a heavy field 

 roller. He says rolling and harrowing pay ex- 

 cellently here, the soil being inclined to grow 

 cloddy. It must be pulverized so th^t the young 

 plants may grow without beins retar'^ed. One 

 reason wtiy Brown's corn planter is so genTally 

 ppproved in this ountry, is because it rolls the 

 eaith wbich covers the hills, and pulverizes It. 

 The roots of the young plant do not have to ramble 

 over a square rod to find food — to find something 

 beside dry clof^ls ai'd cold air. Mr. Funk rec^m- 

 riiends fall flowing, and the back furrowing the 

 ground in narrow beds. He says it will pay ; it 

 will increase the cop so as to more than pay the 

 incjnvenience which may result in the prosecu- 

 tion of the harvest. Such testimony from a large 

 farmer who doe-j his work in the cheapest wny, 

 looking to the greatest profit, ought to be receiv- 

 ed as having a good deal of weight. 



GRAIN GROWING. 



But little whe.it or oata are grown on this farm. 

 Corn is the principal crop cultivated. Mr. Funk 

 is down on wheat culture, and down on growing 

 grain of any kind to draw to market. He says a 

 man worth fiv< or six thousand dollars may soon 

 sink it in wheat growing. And he a'-serts that 

 if a mar- grows a crop of com yearly, and being 

 too poor to buy stock to feed it, sells it in the 

 shock on the ground where grown, at 15 cents 

 per bushel, he will be worth at the end of five 

 years, double the money that his neighbor will 

 who grows the same amount of corn and draws 

 it five miles and sells it at 25 cents a bushel. 

 Why ? 



Because the man who draws the corn five miles 

 loses time, labor, we^^ and tear of wa ons, gets 

 his money in driblets, and it goes in driblets; at 

 the end of five years i' is all gone. I tell you it 

 is better to sell it at five cents at home, and not 

 move it, than to move it five m.les. It costs more 

 than the extra ten cents to move it, in the end. 

 It does not pay to draw grain. True, a few years 

 ago, some men grew wheat and got $1 50 per 

 bushel for it, but bad they been compelled to 

 take 25 cents for it, they would have been better 

 off to-day They would not have spent all they 

 had in trying to grow more. The weallhi' st 

 parts of Oliio, to-day, are those parts wheie the 

 farmers co Id not market their grain, nd were 

 compelled to put it into stock. So it is in Illin- 

 ois. 



