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1862. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



217 



A Cure fob Hiccup- — You may be the medium 

 of relief to many who suffer from hiccup if you 

 ■will state in your paper that it can be cured im- 

 mediately by the mere placing of the palm of the 

 hand of any person upon the pit of the stomach of 

 the one afflicted, and a persistent stare of the 

 eye of the sufferer into that of the one who un- 

 dertakes the cure. I do not recollect how first I 

 learned this means of cure, but for twenty years 

 I have known it to be a fact, withhout a single 

 failure. 



I will not attempt to philosophize apon it or 

 give a theory. All I know is that I have relieved 

 many, and have been cured hundreds of times as 

 stated. — Cor. St. L. Rep. 



— The above is not agricultural, but farmers 

 have hiccups as well as other people. We give 

 the recipe for what it is worth, not having tried 

 it. Our remedy is to hold the right hand ex- 

 tended above the head — a sure remedy in most 

 cases. 



Fawke's Steam Plow. — This machine which 

 has for the past three years stood as a land mark 

 on our farm, has gone to Decatur, where the en- 

 gine is to do duty in making corn shellers. Thus 

 fades the glory of the giant, that was to produce 

 wheat at ten cents the bushel, and inaugurate 

 the millennium of farm labor. The sun browned 

 brow of labor must yet wipe the sweat from its 

 wizen surface, and horny hands stand at a pre- 

 mium. 



• 4«» 



SoBGHUM has been planted to a large extent, 

 and if the yield is good the supply of syrnp will 

 be very large. It can be made profitable at thir- 

 ty cents per gallon, and even less where large 

 quantities are manufactured by steam. 



Cotton.— Not much has been planted in this 

 county owing to the scarcity of seed. Our's is 

 up about six inches and looks fine. In its growth 

 it very much resembles buckwheat. 



-^t- 



Received— The premium list of the eighth an- 

 annual fair of the Madison County Agricultural 

 Society, to be held at Edwardsville, October 7th, 

 8th, 9th and 10th, 1862. 



Buckwheat should be sown from the first to 

 the twentieth of this month. One-fourth bushel 

 of seed to the acre is sufficient. 



Stkawberey Wine. — Several parties write us 

 that they have made more or less of this wine 

 but give us no recipe. 



How TO BECOME A Wateb Wiich. — Abraham 

 Clark, of Stoney Brook, Cal., in the California 

 Farmer, tells how a man may become a water 

 witch. He says: "Speaking of making homes in 

 the hills, there are many claims vacant for want 

 of springs of water. 1 believe water can be 

 found in the hills by digging as well as in the 

 valleys, but I would look for the veins scientifi- 

 cally, that is, with a crotched peach limb, thus, 

 y\ taken in both hands, firmly, palms upward, 

 and the but-end of the crotch pointing up, then 

 walk on slowly, and if you aproach a vein the 

 but-end will begin to turn down ; pass over back 

 and forth and you will find the identical spot to 

 dig. The crotch won't work in every one's hands, 

 and some don't believe in it ; but I know it to be 

 a fact. Try where you know there is a vain, or 

 pipe of water running under ground, and if it 

 j don't work in your hands let others try it. It 

 did not use to work in my hands, but now does, 

 I tried it crossing my own underground water- 

 pipe (of wood,) and it worked like a charm. I 

 found other veins by the same process in differ- 

 ent places on my land where I little expected 

 water, which leads me to conclude that there are 

 numerous veins of water in the hills running in 

 every direction, that do not always break out in 

 springs." 



Any one ambitious of the power of detecting 

 where springs are found under-ground for the 

 purpose of digging a well, can easily try this ex- 

 periment. If the power can be obtained in the 

 manner described.it is certainly worth possessing. 



-«»- 



Teoy Geove, III., June 15. 



Ed. III. Faemee, Bear Sir: — I have justread 

 with pleasure an intelhgent communication from 

 you on the culture of corn, in the Chicago Tri- 

 bune of June 12, which corresponds more exact- 

 ly with my ideas on the same subject than any- 

 thing I have before seen or heard expressed. The 

 advantage of having the corn planted as soon as 

 the ground is plowed, (plowing should never 

 be done till the ground is sufficiently dry,) I 

 have found, by two years' experience, to be 

 quite as important as you suggest, both in regard 

 to the ground being in better condition for the 

 seed, the corn getting an earlier start, getting 

 ahead of the weeds, and having corn ready to 

 cultivate by the time we are done planting. And 

 as you invite the attention of inventors to the 

 subject, I wish to give you a brief description of 

 a corn planter used by me for the last two years. 

 It is the first corn planter, and so far as I know 

 the only one, ever made that would do its own 

 dropping and plant in check rows. 



It consists of a roller seven and a half feet 

 long and two and a half feet in diameter, set in 

 a light frame, with two seed boxes set in the 

 frame three feet in front of the roller. It is very 

 simple, the only connection between the motion 



