The Illinois Faemer. 



VOL. VII. 



SPRINGFIELD, APKIL 1862. 



NO. 4. 



April. 



" 'Tis a month before the month of May, 

 And the spring comes slowly up this way." 



Coleridge. 



At this writing, March 7th, spring is in 

 the offing. Yesterday when we left our 

 home in Champaign county, two hundred 

 and thirty miles by rail north of Cairo, the 

 whole land lay locked in frost, with here and 

 there a thin patch of snow that the sun had 

 left to show that the winter king yet held 

 undisputed sway. For several seasons we 

 have had our spring wheat sown before this 

 date, but we prefer to see winter keep a 

 steady hold, until spring, by actual force, 

 compels the yielding up to his warm breath. 

 By reference to an article in another column, 

 it will be seen that spring is making up his 

 wardrobe in the south part of the State. — 

 The vernal flora that has bloomed for ages 

 amid the solitudes of the " grand chain," 

 will soon greet the eye and please the taste. 



Here Pomona sits enthroned as queen of 

 these rugged hills, where the sun kisses the 

 peach and paints it with his ardent glow. 

 Another week we may be in the sunny south, 

 surrounded with all the pomp and circum- 

 stance of war, armed with our pen we may 

 hold captive many an incident, and note not 

 only the going forth of the army, but the 

 hardy toilers to the field. We shall meet 

 the spring in his going north, driving rugged 

 winter back to his icy fastness beyond "Su- 

 perior." His vanguard is here where Cairo 

 holds the key to commerce and the dogs of 

 war; huge columbiads scowl darkly over the 

 rapid flow of the father of waters. 



Before this reaches our readers the plow 

 and harrow will be afield, the spring wheat 



will have been committed to the earth, and 

 the farmer will be busy in making ready for 

 the hoed crops, com, potatoes, sorghum and 

 cotton. In the South half of the State cot- 

 ton and sorghum are the new hobbies that 

 the farmers are disposed to ride. "While in 

 the centre, the great corn zone will allow 

 thousands ot acres to lie idle for wantof cul- 

 ture. Thousands of the farm horses are in 

 the army, thousands of owners of farms are 

 there also, thousands of farm laborers and 

 thousands of the sons of farmers are there 

 too ; it cannot, therefore, be otherwise than 

 that thousands of acres in that part of the 

 State will not feel the plow when spring 

 gladdens the land. Farther to the north the 

 population is more dense, farming will hold 

 its wonted way and the usual crops be 

 grown. It is there the village manufactur- 

 ing population has been more largely drawn 

 upon for the war. The spring is slowly on 

 its way ; at C?iro the mud is giving way to 

 solid streets; at the ''grand chain" the 

 buds on the south sides of the hills are feel- 

 ing the first breath of spring ; at Centralia 

 the birds of passage are bidding the farmer 

 to rejoin the farm and hold himself in readi- 

 ness, while at Champaign the whole land 

 lies locked in frost, though not so deep that 

 a few warm' days will not make the roads im- 

 passable and soften up the soil ready for the 

 driving of fence posts. But though spring 

 is coming slowly this way, it will wait for 

 April to pass over our line on its way to 

 wake up our neighbors of the 'Lake region- 



-—- 



— Virtue without talent is a coat of mail with- 

 out a sword ; it may defend the wearer, but will 

 not enable him to j rotect his friend. 



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