76 



TITE ILLmOIS FAEMEE. 



March 



Under the present demand it would not be safe 

 to largely increase the culture of this plant. 

 Had it not been for the discovery of the oil wells 

 a different result might havfe been reached. 



THE CRCP IS 7MNGER0US TO STOCK. 



The castor beans are sure death to stock when 

 eaten by them, and to guard against damage in 

 this respect, the Legislature passed an act, ap- 

 proved January IG, 1836, as follows, and which 

 still remains in lorce : 



"Sec. 1. That no person or persons shall here- 

 after be permitted to plant and cultivate castor 

 beans, without securing the same with a good and 

 sufficient fence, or fences, as is generally put up, 

 and used for the protection of grain crops in the 

 neighborhood. 



"Sec 2. That all persons violating this act 

 shall be fined in the sum of twenty-five dollars, 

 to be sued for, and recovered, by any person be- 

 fore a Jnr.iice of the P< ace within the proper 

 county in an action of debt, the one-half whereof 

 shall go to the per.«on so suii'g, the other half 

 into the treasury of the county where such pen- 

 alty is recovered ; nothing herein contained shall 

 in anywise prejudice tlte owner or owners of ani- 

 mals which may be injured by the negligence of 

 any of the persons aforej^aid from recovering ad 

 equate damages for such injury." 



In several respects the above law is peculiflr, 

 especially in regard to the kind of fence, but its 

 animus is appar. nt to show that the castor bean 

 is a dangerous crop, and must be subject to more 

 strict public rtgu'ations than other crops. The 

 provisions for division fences in this case is ig- 

 nored, and the planter of castnr beans must fence 

 around the entire field. From what we can 

 learn, not over filty thousand bushels of castor 

 beans have been grown in this State in any one 

 year, and that about 1840 the quantity was greater 

 than at any time since. Should there be a de- 

 mand for the artii'le, our farmers could soon send 

 millions of bushels to market, but this under the 

 existing state of the oil wells does not look very 

 promising. Rural. 



— From October 1st, 1861, to February 

 7th, 1862, there were imported into New York, 

 from various British ports, chiefly Liverpool, 

 seven miliicn five hundred smd forty eight 

 thousand five hundred and twenty seven pounds 

 of cotton, valued in the invoices at one million 

 five hundred and fifty thousand one hundred and 

 ninety-two dollars. This is at the average rates 

 of about twenty and a half cents a pound. 



-—*- 



—What's a foUar-bone, Jim ?" "Well," said 

 Jim, thoughtVilly, "I don't know, unless those 

 stiff dickies nas got bones in 'em; I guess dat's 

 it." 



Corn Culture— Drills vs. Hills. 



The most common practice with the large corn- 

 planters, is to lay off the hills, three feet nine 

 inches each way, and to plant about four grains 

 of corn at the intersection of these rows. To do 

 this the whole field must first be plowed, harrow - 

 e and laid off before the planting can be done. 

 We will suppose that a small farmer, with one 

 team puts in forty acres of corn, the plowing will 

 occupy at least twenty days, the harrowing four, 

 laying off two more, making, includi-g Sundays, 

 over a month from the turning of the fir:t fur- 

 row to the planting, and the planting will occupy 

 about three days more. Of course the whole 

 piece will be up and ready for working at the 

 same time, while that first plowed will have a good 

 start of weeds long before the corn is up, which 

 will add much to the labor of cultivating. In 

 some cases the field is divided aid one-half plow- 

 ed and planted before the remaitder is entered 

 upon. In this case, a part of the crop will be 

 ready so soon as the last planting is through with, 

 but in the case where it is all planted at one time 

 the farmer will have to wait some days for the 

 corn to be ready for working, which will give the 

 weeds on that first plowed a fine start. In this 

 way the planting is late, often too late to make a 

 first rate crop. On the other hand it is charged 

 that in drilling the rows but one way it is more 

 difficult to work the crop and keep it clean of 

 weeds. This would be true if the land was left 

 for the weeds to get a good start, but if attended 

 to in time is not the case. 



DRILLING. 



We will suppose that we commence plowing for 

 crirn the middle of April and continue to plow to 

 the 25th, some fifteen acres would be ready, if 

 the weather should prove favor^tble, one day 

 would suffice to harrow it, and as it would need 

 no laying off, one day's work is gained. The 

 rows can be drilled in hills or along the row to 

 suit the taste of the farmer, or according as the 

 machine is adapted to either. Up to this point 

 one day's work of a man and team is saved in 

 the laying off, and one day of a man to work the 

 machine to check-row the hills. This we can 

 count worth at least three dollars, or a saving of 

 nine dollars on forty-five acres, the usual amount 

 for one hand. As this date is the earliest time 

 that it will venture to plant, we may expect that 

 it will be full large to work, by the close of plant- 

 ing. The remainder of the planting can be done 

 at intervals of two or three days. In this way 

 the seed is all planted in fresh plowed ground, 



