1862. 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMER. 



365 



Draining Lengthens the Season. — This fact 

 is of such importance that we copy every illus- 

 tration meeting our notice. Land that can be 

 TTorked early in the spring, and put in good or- 

 der for crops, even in unfavorable seasons, is 

 much more valuable than that subject to drown- 

 ing out with every fall of rain. The editor of 

 the New England Farmer notices an experiment 

 in draining, made by himself, at some length, 

 from which we extract the following : 



" A part of the autumn work on our farm has 

 been that of finishing the drainage of a piece of 

 land commenced in 1857. The locality is a nar- 

 row valley, surrounded on three sides by higher 

 land, and only the south-east side was then 

 opened. The upland on the edge of the valley 

 was plowed the preceding spring, but so wet was 

 it, that the work could not be done until the 27th 

 of May, and even then with difficulty, so thor- 

 oughly soken was the soil. On the following 

 spring, and so on ever since this land has been 

 worked with comfort, and some portions of it 

 even made into garden-beds any time after the 

 ilOth of April ! At the time of draining, the 

 meadow was dotted with hossock grass, rushes, 

 and skunk cabbage, which all disappeared in the 

 course of two years, without the aid of plowing, 

 re-seeding or heavy manuring ; nothing being 

 applied but a very light dressing of composted 

 manure. It will be seen, then, that the season 

 for farm operations on this piece of land has been 

 lengthened in the spring about five weeks ! be- 

 yond what it was before drainage hati taken 

 place. The period of growth and ripening has 

 also been considerably extended. These results, 

 however, would scarcely justify the belief that 

 this land is capable of producing crops such as 

 are matured in a climate several degrees farther 

 south. Far from it. But it will produce and 

 mature the most abundant crops that it would 

 have utterally failed to bring before, and bring 

 them at about one-hslf the cost of labor that is 

 required on wet and heavy land!" 



Cut off the Back Legs of Tour Chaiks. — I 

 will tell you a secret worth knowing. A thous- 

 and things, not worth half as much, have been 

 patented and elevated into a business. It is 

 this : If you cut off the back legs of your chairs 

 so that the back part of the seat will be two in- 

 ches lower than the front part, it will greatly re- 

 lieve the fatigue of sitting, and keep your spine 

 in much better shape. The principal fatigue in 

 sitting, comes from your sliding forward, and 

 thus straining the ligaments and muscles in the 

 small of the back. The expedient I have advised 

 will obviate this tendency, and, as I have sug- 

 gested, add greatly to the comfort and healthful- 

 ness of the sitting posture, The front edge of a 

 chair should not be more than fifteen inehes high 

 for the average man, nor more than fourteen for 

 the average woman. The average chair is now 

 seventeen inches high ; for all, which no amount 

 of slanting in the seat can make comfortable. — 

 Lewis' Gymnasium. 



Butternut Stock for Peaches. — The Prairie 

 Farmer states that " an extensive peach grower 

 of St. Joseph, Michigan, lately informed us that 

 he was intending to try butternut stock for pea- 

 ches quite extensively next year. He is confi- 

 dent of success, claiming that the borer, which 

 is now causing much trouble in that section, will 

 not harm them. We have known of experiments 

 of this kind but have no report of the success 

 after bearing commenced. What have our wes- 

 tern tree planters to say of the promise of this 

 stock ?" 



There can be no doubt of the value of the but- 

 ternut for stock, especially a stock of boards. — 

 Illinois Farmer, Sept. 



Well friend " Rural," a stock of knowledge 

 and assurance is a good thing, as well as a stock 

 of butternut boards, and if you are not already 

 overstocked with the former, perhaps the foUow- 

 experience of Dr. Hahn, now one of the most 

 prominent physicians of this city, may be of value 

 to you. In the year 1840, this gentleman, then 

 residing in Waterloo, New York, budded peaches 

 upon butternut stock. This was done in the 

 month of July. They lived and grew well, and 

 in due time commenced bearing, and have con- 

 tinued to give peaches nearly every year till 

 now. The borer has not troubled them, and it 

 will be noticed that the life of the peach tree, 

 there usually from five to seven years, has been 

 prolonged to more than twenty years. His 

 method is to go into the grove in July, select 

 young trees the size of one's finger and bud 

 them, letting them remain there till the fall of 

 the following year, when they may be transplan- 

 ted in the desired location. If the stocks are 

 grown from the nuts in the nursery, bud and let 

 remain in nursery rows the same. The only ob- 

 jection he has found to them is the great 

 height they attain, rendering the gathering of 

 the fruit more inconvenient. — Prairie Farmer. 



— We should like to see Dr. Hahn demonstrate 

 the above in Chicago, and shall then give in our 

 faith to the fact. Butternut and black walnut 

 have been repeatedly tried as a stock for pea- 

 ches, and the above is the first intimation of 

 success that we have seen. It is possible that it 

 may be done, but our faith in its practicability 

 is very slight, indeed. 



If the Dr. has done it at Waterloo, we see no 

 reason why he might not succeed in Chicago, ba- 

 ting the risk of winter-killing the buds. Some 

 of the Chicago gardeners must have the stocks 



for the trial. — Ed. 



<» 



Catawba Brandy, — Dr. Ilsley, of the Evening 

 Courier, in speaking of the effects of this article, 

 says : " It is a curious physiological fact, well 

 known to the residents of the west, but of which 

 the general reader may be ignorant, that the 

 habitual drinking of catawba brandy has an in- 

 variably tendency to induce insanity or idiotcy." 



We should like to know what other kind of 

 brandy the 'habitual use" of which will not 

 produce similar if not worse results ? 



