24:2 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



Aug. 



(lullar?, that will do tolerably well on all lands, 

 be will not pay two hundred dcllars for a dig- 

 ger wliicii will -work ever so well on only a 

 particular kind of land. — Field Notes. 



— AVe have not had the pleasure of seeing 

 tliis new digger, not having sufficient faith in 

 it to spend a day for the purpose, when in Chi- 

 cago some weeks since; the editor of the Prai- 

 rie Farmer was favorably impressed with its 

 value. We shall avail ourself of the next op- 

 portunity to give a thorough examination. The 

 name of Comstock — Prof. Oomstock— has had a 

 bad soual to us, but we are assured that this 

 Mr. Comstock of Wisconsin is in no way akin 

 to the ct divant Professor of terra-culture, whose 

 persistent eiforts at humbug is worthy of a bet- 

 ter cau59. Ed. 



«»> 



How Horses Should be Shod. — A recent is- 

 sue of the Amarican Stock Journal contains a 

 most valuable article on this subject. Young 

 horses, the writer says, if shod at all before four 

 or five jears old, should have their shoes taken 

 off and reset as often as once in three or four 

 week?. The hoof should be kept pared at the 

 heel so that the frog may come to the ground. 

 This keeps the frog moist and healthy, and has a 

 tendency to spread the heel and keep the foot in 

 its natural shape. The soft and healthy frog 

 acts as a cushion, and saves the foot from dam- 

 age while the animal travels upon hard roads. It 

 also keeps the foot in a healthy state, and is 

 therefore of great importance to the value of the 

 horse. If the heel is suffered to grow down, the 

 frog becomes dry and bony, and when it comes in 

 contact with a stone or other hard substance the 

 horse cripples, and subsequently becomes lame. 

 When the hoof grows down long at the heel, it 

 becomes dry and contracted, and the horse stands 

 ujoa his toes in an unnatural and straining po- 

 sition. The frog, however ragged, should not be 

 touched by the shoer's knife. To avoid raising 

 the heel so that the foot nust come to the ground 

 in an unnatural position, the shoe should be of 

 the same thickness at the toe as at the heel. 



"When the foot is_ properly pared, the shoe 

 should be made to fit it so perfectly that the out- 

 side crust of the hoof will not have to be cut 

 down to nt the shoe. The shoe should not be 

 opened at the heel wider than the hoof, as this 

 has a tendency to crowd in and contract the foot 

 at this point; but if the outside of the shoe is 

 bi'ought in even with the outside of the hoof, it 

 has the opposite effect The hoof should never 

 be rasped or filed above the clinches, nor the nat- 



ural enamel, which is given to it for some wise 

 purpose, disturbed. Fancy shoers — from all of 

 whom good Lord deliver us — are too much in the 

 practice of rasping, filing, and sand-papering the 

 hoof to make it look nice, without ever thinking 

 that they are doing it an injury that is beyond 

 their power to repair. 



For the Illinois Farmer. 



Gathering Seed Corn. 



Seed corn should be gathered in the month of 

 October. Corn, then, is in its full maturity, and 

 if farmers want to save a good amount of labor 

 and expense, that \s the time to gather their 

 seed corn. Strip from it the husks, and put it 

 away in eome dry place. Corn for planting is 

 much beter dried in the shade. I have had per- 

 sonal experience in this matter, and am satisfied 

 that teed corn, and that which is sure, can be 

 procured with but little trouble and expense. I 

 trust the farmers will look into this matter with 

 more interest in the future than they hrve done. 



N. S. K. 



— In all the north part of the State too great 

 care cannot be taken to secure good seed corn, 

 and often for the want of it, the crop is lost. In 

 the South half of the State almost any part of 

 the crop will be sure to grow, and it is custom- 

 ary to take the seed from the crib. AVe never 

 have any trouble with our seed here, when put 

 in a crib, covered from rain and snow. No farm- 

 er can afford to do without corn cribs well cov- 

 ered, these tumble down annually and cost more 

 in the course of a few years than a good respec- 

 table one that will keep the in crop good seed 

 corn condition. 



The Crop Prospect. 



Port Btrox, July 25, 1862. 



M. L. DcNLAP, Esq., i^ear Sir: The season 

 has been very discouraging for farmers. 



The wheat crop is very poor, much that is not 

 worth harvesting — in fact, will not be harvested. 

 Harvesting commenced last Monday. The grass 

 crop is magnificent, but much of it spoiled for 

 hay by heavy rains while in the swarth, and by 

 being "washed down" by the flood on low lands, 

 covered with mud, etc. Oats, corn and potatoes 

 promise well. 



FEUIT. 



Apples — about half the crop of last year. 

 Small fruits have been in their glory — strawber- 

 ries, goosebersies and currant have exceeded in 



