THE ILLmOIS FAKMEK. 



Jan. 



The Illinois Farmer. 



BAILHACHE & BAKEE PUBLISHERS. 



M. I. DIJNLAP, EDITOR. 



SPRINGFIELD, JANUARY, 1862. 



Editor's Table. 



South, that aside from the loss in the army of 

 many of our most valuable citizens, this State 

 would come out richer in the end, and thus far 

 we have no reason to change our views. A 

 species of favoriteism has given favored States 

 the heavy contracts, but we do not dispair, our 

 time must come, and the manufacturers of wag- 

 ons, and other needs of an army ,will be called 

 upon to assist. A few days since, we saw at 

 Quincy thirty cauf-on of the Woodworth patent 

 nearly ready for the field. 



We need, therefore, have no misgivings to the 

 future of our State, its course is upward and on- 

 ward. Situated in the great valley of the West, 

 with natural resources unequalled, she must take 

 a high position in the future of the American 

 Union. 



We commence the year 1862 with renewed 

 hopes in our country and the cause of agricultural 

 progress. The war has made less inroads into 

 progressive farming than yre had reason to fear, 

 certainly it has not been more serious than a 

 heated presidential canvass, and we doubt if it 

 will be attended with as serious results. The 

 immense preparations for war has not, as yet, 

 made any apparent draft on the resources of the 

 country in diminishing its agricultural staples, 

 (secessia excepted), and we doubt if will in anyway 

 cripple us the coming season ; it is true a large 

 number of agri3ultural laborers are drawn off to 

 the war, but a part of this force will be made 

 up by the use of machinery and improved modes 

 of culture. Our State will suffer least of all for 

 the want of laborers from the fact that thousands 

 who have been driven from Missouri and other 

 border States, will, to a large extent, fill up the 

 void, and with the liberal policy now pursued by 

 the Illinois Central Railroad Land Department 

 in the purchase of grain in payment af lands 

 sold and selling, that we may reasonably expect 

 that many"of these fugitives will locate in our State, 

 and thousands from the States south of us will 

 also be tempted hither. Nearly a year ago we 

 predicted that in the event of the war with the 



" Theee is Corn in Egypt." — The la lies of 

 Maroa, Southern Illinois, who are organized as 

 a soldiers' aid society, themselves gathered a load 

 of corn, last week, given them by the farmers, 

 drove it to town, and sold it at auction (a young 

 lady being the auctioneer), at four cents above 

 the market price ; the money to go for supplies 

 for sick and wounded soldiers, There's the true 

 grit for you. 



— The above we find going the rounds of the 

 press without credit. It is all well enough ex- 

 cept the heading and the second line, and we are 

 sorry to f=poil the poetry of the thing, but our 

 regard for geography impels us to say that Maroa 

 is not in Eo-iPT or Southern Illinois by a jug 

 full, but in Central Illinois, the great corn 

 zone of the State, and of the West. Egypt is 

 no great shakes for corn, and this year the crop 

 is nearly ruined from drouth. Egypt is rich in 

 agricultural resources, but in corn the palm must 

 be conceded to the Central. Editors who have 

 unwittingly defamed the centre, will please make 

 the amende, or they may find a shower of yel- 

 low dent come flying about their unlucky heads. 

 _ ft 



A Fating Cat.— A farmer, in Bureau county, 

 writes us that he has a cat 'from which he derives 

 a great share of his living. The cat goes out 

 nightly, catches a rabit, eats its head off, and the 

 family eats the rest during the day.— Farmer's 

 Advocate. 



Yfe have heard of a man who was too lazy to 



breathe, and had to keep a cat under each arm to 

 assist him in this necessary operation. Could 

 he have obtained the above cat to provide his 

 fodder, he would have been perfectly happy. 



We would advise the farmers to prevent the 

 killing of this race of cats, as they certainly 

 will be in demand. 



