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THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



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here, as I am convinced I could not render to my 

 neighbors better service in an agricultural point of 

 view. Your various articles on the culture of cot- 

 ton, sugar and tobacco, are of great importance 

 to farmers of this portion of the State, as there 

 doubtless will be a large breadth of ground planted 

 the coming season. The want of a machine for 

 ginning has heretofore deterred many from plant- 

 ing cotton ; but as that difficulty is now being re- 

 moved by the erection of cotton gins in various lo- 

 calities, many will now cultivate it to a consider- 

 able extenl.. 



The winter here has been remarkably mild and 

 wet, more so than any I have experienced during my 

 residence in this portion of the State, twenty odd 

 years, if my memory serves me right. Peach buds 

 have been very much swollen since the early part 

 of winter, and the last sudden change of the weath- 

 er on the night of the 5th inst., very seriously dam- 

 aged if it did not completely destroy the peach 

 crop in this vicinity. I might accept a few hardy 

 varieties of clings. Wheat has also been much 

 injured, especially Avhen not well drained ; Medi- 

 terranean has been looking well until lately, but 

 early May suffered very much in the fall from Hes- 

 sian fly, but should the weather be favorable from 

 this out, we will have an average crop. 



I have some sixty odd young morello cherry 

 trees about two inehes through at the ground : can 

 they be successfully cut off two feet from the 

 ground and grafted with the May cherry ? If so, 

 you will please inform me. 



It has been raining here for the last three or 

 four days and still raining with but little prospect 

 for a change. 



Most respectfully yours, 



A. P. Crosby. 



— We thank Mr. C. for his kind word. The 

 South part of the State is making a large number of 

 clubs of twenty, since the publishers give the extra 

 copy to the getter up of those clubs. 



It wonld be difficult to graft the cherries in 

 question, but as they are of little value in their 

 present condition would try them, by setting four 

 grafts on each stock, and these not less than five 

 inches long. The weak ones to be cut out the sec- 

 ond year, but not before. The difficulty with 

 these large stocks is the disproportion between the 

 roots and the leaves. If there is one or two branch- 

 es below the graft you wiil succeed better. In 

 grafting cherries cut the bark with a sharp knife, 

 not tear it by splitting — cut the bark first and 

 split the stock afterwards. In these large stocks 

 we do not split the wood but shield graft in the 

 bark. We hope the peach crop is not so badly 

 injured as anticipated. En. 



TOBACCO CULTURE. 



Bough Notes on the CultiTation and Manage- 

 ment of Tobacco. 



BY JAYESfAlTCII. 



To the Editor of tlie Illinois Farmer : 



A "WOBD TO FARMERS IN EGYPT. 



At the present fabulous prices obtained for two 

 leading Southern productions, viz : cotton and to- 

 bacco, it most undoubtedly will become highly re- 

 munerative to farmers in Illinois, and especially 

 in the south part of the State, to devote at least a 

 part of their farms and energies to the cultivation 

 of these two staples. 



Before the people of the cotton and tobacco 

 growing States committed suicide financially in 

 bringing on themselves the present war, the prices 

 obtained for cotton at the Southern marts, was 

 probably on an average not more than ten cents 

 per pound, and for tobacco from |3 to ST per 100 

 lbs. At these prices, Illinois farmers could not 

 compete with those of the South, but found wheat, 

 corn, beef, pork and mutton more profitable, yet 

 when our Southern friends exchange the plough 

 and hoe, for the dogs and implements of war, and 

 cotton advances from 10c to 65c. per lb., and to- 

 bacco from $5 per 100 lbs., on an average to |20 

 per 100, then it will be found that growing tobac- 

 co especially, and cotton on suitable lands will 

 pay the farmer more for his labor than corn or 

 wheat, and as labor will be scarce, we will have to 

 circumscribe our notions of large farms and adopt 

 a new motto ; a few acres in tobacco and the re- 

 mainder in grass, with corn enough for the use of 

 the farm will become the order of the day. 



HOW MUCH TO PLANT. 



Tobacco growers usually consider that with corn 

 and other necessary crops on the farm three acres 

 to the hand is as much as can be cultivated in a 

 thorough manner, and let no one undertake the 

 cultivation of tobacco, expecting to grow (on the 

 help itself system) any larger amount than can be 

 taken care of in the best manner, and at the proper 

 season, for with worm eaten, unsuckered, light, un- 

 saleable tobacco, he will be sorely disappointed in 

 the returns after being marketed. Yet with good 

 culture, unyielding vigilance in keeping down suck- 

 ers and worms, he may expect from one thousand 

 to fourteen hundred lbs. per acre ; which will sell 

 at a price varying from ten to twenty-five dollars 

 per hundred. 



PREPARING BEDS FOR SEED. 



This is a very important item, for on good plants 

 and an abundance of them, in a measure, depends 

 your success. In other words preparing the beds 

 must be like laying the foundation for a costly 



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