The Illinois Farmer. 



VOL. VII. 



SPRINGFIELD, SEPT., 1862. 



NO. 12. 



September. 



To us, September is an interesting montt, 

 lor it marks for us a notch in the check roll 

 of time, an ingathering of the years that 

 belong to us especially, and which all end in 

 this month. To the fruit grower, September 

 is the cornucopia of the months; to the 

 farmer, it is rich in the products of the 

 field, and the time that he rests him from 

 the long harvest days, attends the county 

 fair and makes ready to gather in the pro- 

 ducts that the milder sun is ripening for his 

 use. He now realises the promise of Spring 

 and reaps the guarantees of Summer. 



The active summer has not as yet fully 

 passed away, only so far as cultivating the 

 soil fs concerned. Everything is yet mak- 

 ing a vigorous growth, and the farmer, for 

 the first time since the opening of Spring, 

 is comparatively at leisure. Let him enjoy 

 it while he may, for so soon as the frosts of 

 October reaches his fields, he must be busy. 

 Work:, though not so driving, is not all sus- 

 pended, and in September he will find much 

 to do. 



The cellar must be made ready for the 

 vegetables, the cribs for the corn, and the 

 barn, stables and sheds put in order. Fruit 

 will, to some extent, need be looked after, 

 and the winter wheat sown, All of these 

 must have the proper attention, and yet the 

 labor is comp^atively light, the days are 

 mild and the nights cool and invigorating. 

 On many accounts it is one of the most de- 

 lightful months of the year, and we congrat- 

 late those who, like ourself, took their first 

 look out into the world from amid its genial 

 influences. • ■ 



Planting and Cultivating Corn. 



Mr. N. S. Ketchum, of Cordovia, 111., 

 sent us . a description of his machine for 

 planting and cultivating corn. "We see no 

 reason wny such a machine syill not do good 

 work, and lessen the cost of both planting 

 and cultivating. It is now conceded that 

 corn planting and its culture must be done 

 with the aid of two horses, and it therefore 

 becomes a question as to what kind of a 

 machine will best do the work. Parties 

 wishing further particulars can address Mr. 

 K. as above. 



A Visit to Dr. Pennington, 



Dr. Pennington, as all ought to know, is 

 a large farmer north of Sterling, in White- 

 side county. His farm commences near the 

 village, but you travel along a pleasant 

 road, flanked by large fields of grain, some 

 four miles, before you reach the family man- 

 sion, which is just north of the Elkhorn, a 

 rapid stream that gives his farm a most ex- 

 cellent drainage, and whose banks supply an 

 abundance of timber. 



When we arrived, the shades of evening 

 were just shutting in the view of the out- 

 laying groves, the rolling prairie to the 

 west, and the timber belts of the Rock and 

 Elkhorn rivers. But with the early morn, 

 cased in a pair of the Doctor's India rubber 

 boots, we sallied forth with him, wading 

 through the dewy grass and the blooming 

 buckwheat, that spreads its mantle of white 

 throughout nearly a hundred acres of orch- 

 arding, now loaded with its growing fruit. 

 The hum of bees and the chattering of 

 birds was the music of the morning as we 



