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THE ILLINOIS FAKMEK. 



Nov. 



Handling Steers for Oxen. 



Several years ago, says the Field Notes, while 

 visiting in Medina county, we were treated 

 to a sight of ox-breaking which it is pleasant to 

 remember. A gentleman in L-tchfield had four 

 Devon steers in training; with a long whip stock 

 and short lash, he paraded withjut yokes, by 

 ones, by twos, by fours, changing front and any 

 way he chose, and all without noise or confusion, 

 but by simple kindness and perseverence. We 

 notice an item in this lice from the Tribune re- 

 port of the New York State Fair this year, which, 

 with the general subject, we commend to all the 

 boys and men who have cattle breaking to do* 



I have seen one thing to-day which I wish 

 every farmer, and every man who ever drives 

 oxen, or handles cattle in any way, could see as 

 I have seen. It would teach him the great bene- 

 fits of the law of kindness. Here is a boy per- 

 haps ten years old, training and handling six 

 steers, not yet two years old, with all the ease 

 that an experienced ox-driver handles a single 

 pair while in the yoke ; and he has no yoke, no 

 rope, nor does he speak a word above a loud 

 whisper, and only occasionally strikes a blow 

 that would raise a blister upon the skin of a child. 

 All his actions are based upon the laws of kind- 

 nes-!, with a firm determiuation that all hii or- 

 ders must be obeyed. 



For an hour that I stood watching, there was 

 another pair of older steers standing just outside 

 of the circle of his operations, patiently waiting 

 their turn, until some one asked: 



•' Can you handle eight as well as six ?" 



"I could," he modestly replied, "if my whip 

 was a little longer. I can't reach the outside 

 one when in line with this short whip, but I will 

 try." 



And so he did ; and notwithstanding his short 

 whip, all were managed with the utmost ease, 

 and all who saw a lesson taught which none 

 seemed tired of learning. I hope they will profit 

 by it. Will those wao read also profit so far as 

 to pursue the same course in training all domes- 

 tic aninials. Teach your boys, too, to yoke up 

 the young steers, to use them kindly, with pa- 

 tient p rseverence, to make them as bidable as 

 this boy has these now on exhibition, and then 

 they will make good and valuable oxen. 



— When a boy, we broke severol yoke of steers, 



and ilways found that gentleness was by far the 



most certain way of making them handy. This 



loud bawling at, and continual whipping and 



mauling of steers isnotonlybad in itseffectsonthe 



damb brute, but tends to brutalize the driver. 



We never keep such a man in our employ. 



Ed. 

 «•■ 



— Miss Dubois says thi' first time a young 

 in' n squeezed her hand, ^he f<'lt as if she was 

 in land that rainbows come from. 



Lambert Wheat in Highland county, 

 Ohio. 



The increased ravages of the weevil among the 

 wheatfields of our county for some years past, 

 has led a number of our farmers to try the ex- 

 periment of procuring seed wheat fr-^m other 

 sections of the country, in the hope of obtaining 

 some new variety which would be exempt from 

 the attacks of that destructive insect. Among 

 those who have experimented in this way, the 

 most successful we have heard of is Mr. Jas. H, 

 Anderson. Mr. Anderson last week informed 

 us that he had raised about seventy acres of a 

 new variety of smooth wheat, called the " Lam- 

 bert," or " " weevil-proof," the seed of which he 

 obtained year before last, from Muskingum 

 county. He raised eight acres of this wheat Inst 

 year, which yielded well, and was entirely unaf- 

 fected by the weevil, while his comnj'on wheat, 

 sown on the same soil, and under precisely simi- 

 lar circumstances, was badly injured. He re- 

 served sufficient of his crop to sow seventy acres 

 for this season, and sold the rest to his neigbors 

 for seed. These seventy acres will yield him 

 about fourteen hundred bushels, over one thou- 

 sand of which he has already sold at f 1 50 per 

 bushel, making a pretty handsome opei ation for 

 times like thoso. The grain is large and plump, 

 and Mr. A. assures us that there was not a head 

 of it injured in the least by the weevil, although 

 it is estimated that nearly one half the entire 

 wheat crop of our country this year has been de- 

 stroyed by this cause ; all who have sown this 

 kind of wheat have in every instance, as far as 

 he has heard, met with tho same success. 



Mr. Anderson informs us that there is a re- 

 markable peculiarity about the chaff, (or husk 

 covering ttie grain) in this variety of wheat. It 

 is much stiflFer and harder than that of the ordi- 

 nary wheat, and what is most remarkable, never 

 opens so as to expose the grain inside. The 

 grain is thus entirely protected from the attacks 

 of the weevil, which is unable to penetrate the 

 husk. The grain is of considerably lighter color 

 than the Mediterraneat wheat, but not as fair as 

 the common white variety. — Hillsboro' News. 



New Elevator. — We are glad to learn that 

 one of our most enterprising Warehouse firms 

 is about commencing a new Flevatur on the 

 North Branch, to be used mainl\ , we believe, 

 for receiving grain which comes in over the 

 Chicago and North-western Railroad. It will 

 be of the largest size, and built in the most 

 substantial manner, and will be completed at 

 an early day. It will be furnished with ten of 

 Fairbank's five hundred bushel Hopper Scales, 

 each of wh ch, so perfect will be the machinery, 

 can be loaded to its full capacity and the load 

 discharged in a few minutes. This shows the 

 immense amount of grain which can te handled 

 in this Elevator, and is a sufficient guaranty lo 

 farmers as well as shippers, that correct 

 weights will be given. — Chicago Tribune. 



