18^2. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



149 



f lieCiiltivationof Chinese Sugar Cane. 



TEANSPLA^NTINQ. ' 



R. Tattle, of Mishowaka, Ind., writes us tliat 

 his expfirience in cultivating sorghum is that the 

 crop will be forwarded in the spring at least two 

 weeks by transplanting. He recommends soak- 

 ing the seed in warm water until it begins to 

 gprout, then prepare a small plat of warm ground, 

 and sow the seed broadcast or in drills, one inch 

 deep. If it be likely to freeze cover it with 

 straw When up to two or three inches, then 

 transplant it in your well prepared ground, about 

 the same manner as you do cabbage plants. Set 

 about five plants in a hill. By transplanting the 

 oane gets a decided start of the weeds, which is 

 a great advantage; it will ripen two or three 

 weeks sooner. The labor of transplanting is 

 very small compared with the benefits. 



•WILD CHINKSK OANE HYBRIDIZE WITH INDIAN CORN? 



Upon this subject, Lyman Meacham, Esq., of 

 Lemont, writes us as follows : 



" I see in yuur report of what was said and 

 done at the General Sorghum Convention recently 

 held at Adrian, Mich., that a number of the 

 speakers express the opinion that sorghum will 

 mix with maize (our common Indian corn) to the 

 detriment of the former. This may be so One 

 well established fact is worth more than any 

 quantity of theory. But I am of the opinion 

 that to produce the hybridiziag or mixing of dif- 

 ferent varieties of plants, the varieties subject to 

 ohaikge must not only be cultivated in the same 

 vicinity, but they must also be in blossom at the 

 same time, so that the pollen — the fecundating 

 dust — produced by one of the varieties may be 

 conveyed to the female organ of the other va- 

 riety while that organ is in the condition to 

 receive and appropriate it, otherwise no inju- 

 rious effect will be produced by the near prox- 

 imity of the different varieties of plants. Is this 

 not so ? 



I have cultivated sugar cane almost from its 

 introduction into the State, and have noticed its 

 progress towards maturity. Compared with that 

 of corn, and according to my observation, the 

 corn crop is not in tassel and in blossom, and is 

 entirely past the season for throwing off its pol- 

 len lonz before the sorghum begins to show its 

 seed heads. This being the fact, how can the 

 two dybridize ? Who ever heard of maze and 

 broom corn mirging to the detriment Of either? 

 Nature's laws are seldom violated. ' ■• 



If it be true that sorghum and maze will mix, 

 the fact cannot be too soon known, and guarded 

 against, for the fact is notorious that in this corn 

 producing region, sorghum and com frequently 

 grow side by sid«, and in most cases they are 

 grown in the immediate vicinity of each other. 

 If the opinions alluded to are correct, a differ- 

 ent course must be pursued by the growers of 

 sugar cane seed, or we shall soon have ^one 

 worth planting. — Chicago Tribune. ' '-■ V-' ■ 



im 



* — The proper arms for rebel privateersmen — 

 yard-arms. '■;,.'. ;»; -"■ 



A Word about Colts— Early Training. 



An impression, and I think an erroneous one, 

 prevails with many that colts are injured by 

 early training. That some colts are injured, and 

 their constitutions broken by cruel and rough 

 treatment, before they have acquired toeir 

 strength, cannot be doubted ; but careful, judic- 

 ious training, is as important with colts, as with 

 steers, or with children even. In fact, I believe 

 it true of all young ani nals intended for domestic 

 use, as of a child. " Train them in the way 

 they should go, alnd when they are old they will 

 not depart from it." 



I have two colts, one eight months old, and the 

 other one year and eight months They are 

 both accustomed to the harness. The oldest I 

 have frequently used in the sleigh On one oc- 

 casion this winter, when the sleighing was good, 

 it has taken me, together with my little son, to 

 Portsmouth and back, a distance of nine miles 

 each way, with no inconvenience or injury what> 

 ever. Some persons who knew the age of the 

 colt, and tb« distance it travelled, remarked to 

 me, "You will kill that colt." 



This remark induced me to write this short 

 article. Without knowing the circumstances, the 

 reader, perhaps, would form a similar judgment 

 — ^but the colt is large of its size, in good condi« 

 tion as to flesh,, and high spirited ; ami, I re- 

 quired it to walk at least two-thirds the distance 

 each way. It is well fed in the city, taken 

 through the sireets where it could hear various 

 sounds, and witness all sorts of objects — still it 

 was not suffered to tire or scarcely to sweat at 

 all, and to every appearance was as lively and 

 bright when I reached home, as when I started. 

 To have forced it beyond its strength that dis- 

 tance or half that distance, would have been in^ 

 jurious — but careful training is always beneficial 

 and we rarely begin too young with anything. 



Lambert Maynard, Esq., of Bradford, Mass., 

 the owner of one of the finest stallions in New 

 England, (Trotting Childers,) who has had much 

 experience in raising and training colts, and who 

 has sold some fine colts of his own raising, at a 

 high figure, informs me that his colts are all 

 broken to the harness before they are a year old, 

 or as he more properly calls it, educated. He 

 rarely, if ever, uses a whip. As to its injuring 

 them, to use them so young, he remarked, that 

 he never exercised them so hard as they exercise 

 themselve" when alone. 



So much for early training — and now one word 

 about feeding and exercise. Colts should ne^er 

 be forced with provender, nor stunted for want of 

 nourishing food. My method is to give them as 

 much good, sweet clover hay as they wll eat 

 clean, with a few Utile potatoes ; and with this 

 feed I get as much g^^th in the winter, as with 

 a good pasture, I ge(*^n the summer. On pleas- 

 ant days, when there is no ice to injure tbem, 

 they should always have their liberty, to exercise 

 out of doors. It is cruel to confine a high- 

 spirited c^lt constantly by his halter, as to con- 

 fine a high-spirited, ambitious child, to the house. 



Farmers, raise good colts, from the best of 

 stock; keep them constantly growing, without 

 pampering ; give them judicious training when 



