66 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER 



March 



Garden Seeds should be looked over, 

 and what is lacking purchased. We are no 

 longer under the necessity of purchasing old 

 seed kindly sent West by seed dealers, as 

 we have them grown on our own soil. S. 

 Wilbur, of Momence, Kankakee county can 

 supply the demand. Better get Illinois 

 grown seeds, perhaps with the exception of 

 turnip seed, as we have fancied that the 

 English grown is the best, but it may be 

 fancy after all. Should you want eastern 

 seed send at once to the large seed stores in 

 the cities, for, as a general thing, they have 

 good fresh seed, and it is seldom they send 

 old seed to their customers, as the old seeds 

 are sold to amateur seedsmen done up in new 

 papers and sent out to the country store both 

 east and west ; look out for them. Our best 

 Chicago gardeners now use home grown seed, 

 and no class of men grow better cabbage and 

 root crops than they do. For our own use, 

 what we do not grow we draw on Mr. Wil- 

 bur for the supply. 



Fencing. — March and April are the best 

 months for putting up board fences. We 

 never set fence posts with an augur or spade, 

 for the simple reasons that they are set 

 cheaper with an iron maul where the ground 

 is soft, and are much firmer; and as the 

 earth is firmly packed about them will last 

 longer. Always set the top end down, as we 

 know from frequent examinations that thus 

 set they are more durable. 



Farm Roller. — No farmer should be 

 without a good roller. The prairie soil is 

 porous and many times lumpy, and seeds not 

 well covered dry out and are lost; with the 

 use of the roller we insure a better stand of 

 all kinds of seed, while the loose surface 

 is packed on to the seeds and prevents the 

 dying out, and at the same time crushes the 

 clods. An iron section roller is better than 

 one of wood, but the wood is better than 

 none. A roller need not be large ; ours is 

 twenty-two inches in diameter and is as large 

 as needed. 



Fruits. — Because the times are hard and 

 money scarce do not forget to set out fruit 



trees. They can be had cheap at this time, 

 as the nurserymen are anxious to sell; see 

 that you get the proper varieties. The last 

 volume of the Farmer contains more valu. 

 able, practical information in regard to fruit 

 culture on the prairie than has ever before 

 been published ; it will well repay you to 

 study it more thoroughly before you make 

 up your orders for trees and plants; see, 

 also, the two last numbers in regard to the 

 doings and sayings of the State Horticultu- 

 ral Society. 



[From the Farmer's Advocate.] 



Why do We Feed Our Cattle Salt ? — A long 

 time ago, says Mr. J. S. Chandler, of Roekton, 

 Ills., I noticed an Inquiry in the Advocate in re- 

 gard to feeding our cattle salt. I do not recollect 

 the inquirer's name, but I thought at the time he 

 knew the whys and wherefores and wished to 

 fini out whether any one else knew exactly why 

 we feed salt to our cattle and use so much of it 

 ourselves. I have waited patiently for some one 

 to answer this important question, as I wished to 

 know whether it was really necessary to use salt 

 or whether it was a habit, like many other things. 

 James F. Johnson, A. M., writes thus in regard 

 to the chemical use of salt : 



"The wild buffalo frequents the salt licks of 

 North Western America; the wild anima's in the 

 Central parts of Southern Africa are a sure prey 

 to the hunter who conceals himself by the salt 

 springs and our domestic cattle run peacefully 

 to the hand that offers it a taste of this delicious 

 luxury. From time immemorial it has been, known 

 that without salt man would miserably perish ; 

 and among horrible punishments entailing cer- 

 tain death, that of feeding culprits on saltless 

 food is said to have prevailed in barbarous times. 

 Maggots and corruption are spoken of by ancient 

 writers as the distressing symtoms which paltless 

 food engender ; but no ancient or unchemical 

 modern could explain how such suffers discom- 

 fort and why it ultimately falls into disease if 

 salt is for a time withheld. Upwards cf half the 

 saline matter of our bodies — 57 per cent. — con- 

 sists of common salt ; and as this is partially dis- 

 charged every day through the skin and kidneys, 

 the necessity of continued supplies of it to the 

 healthy body becomes sufBciently obvious. The 

 hile also contains soda as a special and indispen- 

 sable consistent, and so the cartilages of thebody. 

 Stint the supply of salt, therefore, and, and nei- 

 ther will the bile be able to assist the digestion, 

 nor the cartilages to be built up again as fast as 

 they naturally waste." — Chemistry of Common 

 Life, p. 327, 328. 



Thus we see the necessity of the use of salt in 

 order to produce the comforts and enjoyments of 

 life, and prolong our existence. 



■ <•» 



A dull and plausible man, like an unrifled 

 gun, is a smooth bore. 



