isr>i. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEK. 



341 



The Illinois Farmer. 



EAILEACHE & BAKEE PTJBLISEEES. 



M. L. DL'XLAP, EDITOR. 



SPRINGFIELD, KOVEMCER, 1861. 



Editor's Table/ 



Bko'iTN Octobkr, with its wealth of food, 

 its dreairy daj's and melio"w sun, is agnia at 

 band, and the f:;rraers are busy wi'!! the last 

 garnei'inp; of tlie year. At this writing, 

 (lOrh), the frost has not browned the forest 

 stalks nf tlie leaf^' garniture of the forest, but 

 tlie ripening breath of autr.mn is busy, and the 

 giant oaks, the maples, and other trees have pro- 

 no;moc-d the seosi n of gro'wth at a close, and 

 their loaves are being painted with the rainbow 

 hues, in which the forest loves to be arrayed be- 

 fore the frost king strips it of its leafy treasure. 

 It was for autumn that the winter's frost crumb- 

 led down the glebe to make the so'I friable; it 

 Wa3 for autumn that the April showers swelled 

 the germ and roused into life the dormant ener- 

 gies of the vegetable kingdom ; it was for au- 

 tumn that the genial days of spring brought out 

 the flowers, that the sun might paint them in 

 beauty before the fruit gern. should appear to 

 gladden the brow of labor ; it was for autum that 

 Pomona rounded the orb-like apple, and kissed 

 the cheek of the peach, with the glow of health 

 and beauty ; it was for the autumn flails that 

 Ceres harvested the golden grain under the fierce 

 heat of the August sun, and now, autumn, rich 

 with the Xjfferit'gs of spring and summer, will 

 soon pass her gifts over to the keeping of winter. 



An Agr:cultukal College. — x\n indefinite 

 amount of twaddle has been printid ard talked 

 over in regird to the Agricultural Co'leges — thry 

 have, like ten pins, b en set up and a« often 

 knoc ed down, until the great mass of farmers 

 have come to look upon the scheme as impracti- 

 cable, and to-day we do not know of an institu- 

 tion of ill- kind- that is in good runnirg order. 

 The most of these institutions have bten gotten 

 up hy visonary schemers, most of them Avith phi- 

 lanthropie views, but ap( n a wrong basis, llic 

 idea of stnding farmers' sous from home to labor 

 on some fancy fa' m to learn the science of farm- 

 ing is all nonsense, broad cloth and kid gloves 

 are so intimately connectei with the idea of 

 education, that it will cot take kind'y to iinsey 

 and denims, while stogas and over coats are vo- 

 ted at a discount, and labor a drudge. 



Vrc can attend agricultural lectuies, study into 

 the arena of nature, look at the various opera- 

 tions cf farming, gardening and fruit growing, 

 but do not ask us to lay aside our Sunday suit 

 ai.d dive into matters of fact, turning over of 

 compost he^ps, digging drains, pitching h'^y or 

 sowicg wheat, these we may do at home ur have 

 them done. All we want, is to know if the 

 teachers of these institutions can show us a bet- 

 ter mode in which to do those things than our 

 fathers have taught us. The truth is, we do noi 

 attend theso schools to go tlirough a .seven vcirs 

 apprcntice;hip of farming, but to polish up nnd 

 perfect ourselves in special departments. 



The man who teaches surveying docs not take 

 his scliolars into the field, nor does the student 

 of book-keeping haucle the dollars and cents re- 

 ported in his lessons, cf what use, then, is it to 

 the student to mix the comrost himself? ki him 

 be shown how it is done, and the reason, for it, 

 and so through all the manipulations and progress 

 of the art. If there are students that v.'i^h to 

 work to a'J them in paying a part or all of the'r 

 expenses, give all such an opportunity cf dtiiug 

 so, at the same price that is paid for the saree 

 amount of labor to ot'ner assistants, but when 

 you compel st'idehts to do the -sjork the charm is 

 lost, and the school ^^^'iU dwindle down to a cor- 

 poral's guard, not that they nave a tlislike !c la 

 bor, but that they attend sehool to see and hear, 

 and on their retr rn home> to aip^ply in practical 

 lessons those thf ;y have Iteen. taiught. 



We have lonf ; since seen <ihe necessity of au 

 agricultural df ;partment to some of our colleges, 

 in which the oretital and practical sgricslture 

 can be tiugb t upon the same fo'jting v;ith other 

 studies. T' j do this^ a farm, an orchard, and a 



