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THE ILimOIS FARMER 



209 



garden, the ground being a little damp from the 

 effect of a thunder shower early in the morning. 

 The management of the farm devolved on the 

 niggers, oi which she had about a dozen of all 

 ages and sexes. The corn was about two feet 

 high, is planted in rows about four feet wide and 

 in hills three feet apart, these are thinned to one 

 stalk in the hill. This is the customary way of 

 planting in this part of the country. A good 

 crop is four barrels of five bushels of each shelled 

 corn, making one and a half bushels of ears for 

 one bushel of shelled corn. The crop in ques- 

 tion will not turn over ten bushels per acre if the 

 weather should prove favorable hereafter. The 

 hogs run in the woods and will be nearly fattened 

 on mast. A specimen of this style of bacon was 

 boiled for dinner, and judging from its oily na- 

 ture would only require a wick to make a good 

 candle ; of course this food is redolent of scurvy 

 and continued fevers. The corn bread is simply 

 meal mixed with water and baked. A loaf of 

 this would make a very solid shot to send at an 

 enemy, but with this oily bacon not desirable to 

 place before a friend for dinner. Yet these two 

 articles form the staple food of the wealthy 

 planters ! the poor whites and contented niggers. 

 The orchards are small, generally less than fifty 

 trees, for the use of the family and its happy 

 dependents. The horse apple and willow twig 

 are the chief varieties. The apple trees, even 

 on these elevated hills, are short lived, seldom 

 surviving beyond twenty years. The tree be- 

 comes scrubby at an early stage, generally with 

 the exception of the varieties named, which are 

 now bending beneath their loads of fruit. Peach- 

 es are abundant, but of course all seedlings. 



A TEQETABLE AND TLOWEE GAKDEN. 



Our widow lady being among the first families 

 in point of wealth and standing, it would be ex 

 pected that she should put on soma style, conse- 

 quently she must decorate her grounds and put 

 the family mansion in order, more especially as 

 she had two interesting daughters on whose edu- 

 cation she had expended no small sum. The 

 family mansion is made of hewn logs, divided 

 ■with the usual twelve feet porch, and containing 

 one room in each wing. The negro quarters are 

 institutions of unhewn logs, chincked and plast- 

 ered with mud, they are located in the back yard 

 'within a convenient distance of the house. Thtt 

 yard in front of the house is enclosed with a 

 close picket fence ; it contains jack oaks, a mim- 

 osa twelve feet high, now in full bloom, and 

 "with its spreading head and acaoia-like leaves 



and covering of delicate flowers, is an object of 

 no small interest. To the right of it is a double 

 Althea in full bloom, and some ten feet high. 

 A few stunted arborvitas and red cedars compose 

 the ornaments of the front yard. The garden is 

 the right to the house, and contains nearly half 

 an acre, in which roses, cucumbers, dahlias, cab- 

 bages, chrysanthemums, beets, verbenas, pota- 

 toes, tiger lillies, onions, pomegranites, tomatoes, 

 flowering almonds, squashes, coxcomb, aspara- 

 gus, caetas, beans, balsams, strawberries, pinks, 

 corn, Jerusalem cherries, iris, lettuce, snowballs, 

 Persian lillacs, etc., are mingled in promiscuous 

 confusion. The center is graced with an arbor, 

 covered with a magnificent yellow flowering hon- 

 eysuckle, and near by a fine specimen of magno- 

 lia four feet high. This is what might, with pro- 

 priety, be called mixing the beautiful with the 

 useful. The negroes have things pretty much 

 thpir own way, and not being particularly inter- 

 ested in the sum total of the profits, things have 

 become somewh&t neglected. 



The next day a further stroll brought as to 

 dine with a half Union man. This was one of 

 the small farmers, superintending and laboring 

 with his own negroes; one, a grown man of all 

 work, and a boy a dozen years old. He was 63 

 years of age ; had several children, all of whom 

 were married, and settled down on farms, but 

 none of them are in the rebel service. He has 

 five bales of five hundred pounds each stowed 

 away out of sight of the cotton burners, and bo 

 soon as he can get it ginned will send it to mar- 

 ket. He has about one acre against bis usual 

 field of twelve acres. 



HOW HE CULTIVATES COTTON. 



The ground is plowed early in April four to fire 



inches deep ; it is then thrown into ridges. With 



the rude plows in use the ridges are but slight, 



two furrows thrown together with a plow eight 



to ten inches wide. On top of this ridge a small 



opening is made with a wooden implement in 



which to deposit the seed. This is to protect the 



seed from the heavy rains. The clayey nature 



of the soil is such that at best it is full of small 



lumps — the use of a cast iron or even a wooden 



roller would correct all this and permit of fiat 



culture ; save the expense of scraping and vastly 



reduces the cost of culture if not increase the 



crop. But in the culture of cotton in this neigh. 



I borhood, brains and proper iu.plements are not 



I much m vogue. These ridges are four feet apart 



; and from two to four bushels of seed is sown to 



I the acre, a quantitj altogether unnecessary. Af- 



