1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEK. 



343 



separated from f.he coal. The coal shipped may 

 for all practical purposes be said to be free of 

 this unplea?ant ingredient. 



As coal must be used to a large extent for do- 

 mestic purposes, it is time that our farmers and 

 villagers become accustomed to its economical use. 

 Coal cook stoves should have their fire boxes 

 small and well lined with fiire brick. If too large, 

 they consume too much coil ; if of cast iron 

 plates, they are burned out or warped. Persons 

 like ourself, using both wood and coal, should 

 have two s'oves. 



Iq the green-house we prefer the St. John 

 coal to wood, though our flues are made for wood. 

 With this coal they do not fi',1 up with soot any 

 more than with wood, and have the same peri- 

 odical turns in burning out as if wood was used. 

 We do nut think there is any other Illinois coal 

 possessing this quality. A fire made at nine 

 o'clock in the evening in the green-house will re- 

 quire no lo( king after until late next morning, 

 wbich is not the case when wood is used. Fur 

 g.'een-houses and graperies, it will, therefore, 

 prove v.luablo, and we may well congratulate 

 our nurserjiijen and grape growers upon a cheap 

 fuel adipied to their wants. To (he farmers and 

 other residents along the line of the lUiuo's Cen- 

 tral Railroad, this coal field is of no small value. 

 A iiiijiture of coal and cobs makes the best pos 

 sible fire for ihe cook stove, th-j one can be had 

 of .^n excellent quality and cheap, while the other 

 is grown vn the farm, or found at Ihr; steam shell- 

 ers ot the village. Coal should be kept under 

 cover, as Illinois coal, in coaimou with all other 

 soft oal, will be more or less injured by ex- 

 posure to the weather. Could we always have 

 gO! d well seasoned body wood, kept dry in a 

 Wood house, we could do very well, but instead, 

 the good wii'e has to put up with green or water 

 soaked woo 1, often half rotten, and is expected to 

 get up her meals in time. 



We always feel safe with coal, for with a supply 

 of dry cobs for kindling, there is no trouble about 

 the fire, and with such a steady fiie, the bread is 

 always well baked. Our vote is for good coal for 

 the kitchen. 



J^^.-V fellow advertised in Boston that for 

 lour shillings remitted he wou'd send beauti- 

 fully engraved portrait-! of George Washington 

 and B nj. Franklin, and had the impuder ce to 

 forward to his victims a three and one cent 

 postage stamps! 



-<•»- 



— The kind of leaux that couquettes justly 

 deserve — Bi} gus ! 



G.-VTEs' Evaporator vs. Cook's — A Proposi- 

 tion. — Not having had time to put up and ope- 

 rate one of our Fire Evaporators at the State 

 Fair, in consequence of other and pressing de- 

 mands upon our time, and as the cause has been 

 attributed to a fear on our p irt to come in com- 

 petition with Cook's Evnpor&tor, we now propose 

 to place our P;itent Fire Evaporitor in comf^eti- 

 tion with Cook's at any time within thi'iy days 

 from this date, and at any jlace within one hua- 

 dred miles of ChicTgo, upon the following terms : 

 Eich competit'ir shall place one hundred dol'ars 

 in the hands of a disinterested c mmittee of five 

 person, to be appointed by the President of the 

 State Agricu'tiiral Society of Illinois, to be 

 awarded to the successful party. 



Tiie decision to be on the best quality of sirup 

 made in the shortest time ■^ith the least labor 

 and fuel. Fifteen days' notice being given of 

 the time and place of meetine. 



P. W. Gates & Co. 



Chicago, September 14, 1861. 



Had we no other evidence of the extent to 

 which the culture of the sorghum has reached 

 than the competition to supply evaporators, we 

 shouH be ct,ntent. Thus far Cook's Eviporator 

 has taken the lead, and has gained such an ex- 

 tended popularity that it is an object to gtt up 

 another that may be better in any respect. 



Messrs. Gales & Co have the sagacity to see 

 this, and hence the challenge. Should thry fail, 

 th' y can well afford it, for an evaporator that its 

 friends think approach that of X]!ook s will, of 

 course, be considered valuable, and added to this 

 an acceptance by Cook of the challenge is an 

 acknowledgment of merit. We hope the trial 

 will be made. It is possible that Gates & Co. 

 may le beaten, if so, the people should know it. 

 The facilities for skimming aro better, but not 

 having seen the fire applied to it, we carinot 

 judge of its advantages. Cook's can be moi:!ifie(i 

 so as to correspond to th^it of Gates' in the faciii- 

 ti s for skimming. Without the use of steam, 

 we think it will bo hard to beat the Cook's Evap- 

 orator. All the cast and sheet iron pans that we 

 have seen fall far short of it. The steam evape- 

 rators, when manufacturing is done on a large 

 scale, are doubtless tho best and the cheapest — 

 there is no danger in burning the sirup as in the 

 case of a wood fire, for the steam will only heat 

 to a certain degree. There is no one thing more 

 certain than this, that sorghum is to supply the 

 West with sirup, and possibly with sugar, though 

 o ■ the latter we are not very sanguine, though 

 very many persons who have given the su- ject 

 more attention than we have, think that sugar 

 making will succeed. They argue that the cane 

 has the elements of sugar in it, and that a mode 

 to induce it to crystalize will soon be discovered. 



