The Illinois Farmee. 



YOL. VII. 



SPRINGFIELD, OCT., 1862. 



NO. 13. 



October. 



Another month has been added to tne list 

 and brought the days of the autumn frosts. 

 All is now activity on the farm; the corn, 

 the potatoes, the winter apples, the fall plow- 

 ing, and the minor details of the farm must 

 be attended to, so as to be ready for winter. 

 ■.. In our wide range of latitude, these things 

 ' have a varied impojjtubpe. At the north, it 

 is absolutely ne$i;^^yithat the corn should 

 be housed ■Itefokjei 'December, while in the 

 central^'^^|(ji(i/pf it^^e'iiSia^ .it is seldom that 

 husldifg,ee:t^''jOSaiaj;Mefices before that time, 

 atid'iS'Ca^ti&ie^ wipoughout the winter. To 

 some esf tJ5iit|j rthis ' feature in com culture, 

 gives to'th$'t'^a»fc of the State the promi- 

 nance to that crop, which is, and will con- 

 tinue to be the great staple. Potatoes should 

 be harvested when the ground is dry, and 

 soon after they be.come ripe, which is gen- 

 erally long before frost, and those now out 

 s]bould be attended to at once. Potatoes 

 should be put in close bins in the cellar, or 

 left in the field and covered with earth, not 

 deep at first, but add a covering of straw, 

 stalks, or litter from the stable to keep out 

 the- frost so soon as winter sets in. It has 

 been supposed that potatoes left in the hills 

 where they are grown, and protected from the 

 winter frost j that when planted, would be 

 free from the rot ; and thousands of dollars 

 • 'i§ive been paid for the right to use the pro- 

 cSss, or rather the secret, which was sold 

 farmers at five dollars each, and called the 

 Michigan Remedy. Whatever attaches to 

 this remedy, is the exclusion of the tubur 

 from the air. Now this is done as perfectly 



as in the hill, with the exception of the few 

 hours at the time of digging. Every farm- 

 er's wife knows, that in the spring, potatoes 

 are better that have been kept in pits out 

 of doors, than those in the cellar, owing — 

 doubtles — ^to the exposure to the air. Deal- 

 ers know that potatoes kept in barrels, are 

 more fresh and saleable than those kept in 

 a room exposed to a free current of air. 

 These hints are worth remembering if you 

 wish for good potatoes next spring. 



That thousands of dollars have been lost 

 in exposing cribs of corn to the rain and 

 sun without covering, the past summer is 

 now apparent. Just look at the market pri- 

 ces for corn, and you find it read : Yellow, 

 thirty-seven cents; mixed, thirty-three cents; 

 rejected, twenty -six conts; condemed, at 

 such prices as can be obtained. Xow the 

 rejected and condemed, is the corn damaged 

 in the large cribs, and entails a loss in price 

 at the least, for mixed, of eight cents; of 

 yellow — of eleven, and often fifteen cents, 

 but the average at ten cents on the price, is 

 certainly sufficient to urge the necessity of 

 good cribs. But the loss does not stop here, 

 for we have two other items to be added. 

 One is the loss of more or less of the corn 

 that is absolutely rotten, and must be thrown 

 out at once, and the loss of weight on the 

 remainder, we foot up : first, the rotten corn 

 thrown out at the time of shelling ; loss of 

 weight from the effects of the weather, and 

 loss of price. These items added, make too 

 important a catalogue of ills to be passed 

 over in silence. We wish that a law could 

 be passed prbhibiting any farmer from put- 

 ting up corn in rail pens with or without 



