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1863. 



THE ILLmOIS FARMEK. 



141 



Large Land Sales. 



The Illinois Central Company has sold over six- 

 ty thousand acres of land during the last four 

 months to upwards of one thousand purchasers, 

 for $6'7'ir, '715.32. The cash payments in the same 

 period have been $360,120,50. The immigration 

 to this State this season is larger than any year 

 since 1855. The Company will not sell large 

 tracts of land on long credit for anything above 160 

 acres. The buyer must make a respetable cash 

 payment. It sells forty and eighty acre tracts on 

 seven years credit. We think forty acres of Illi- 

 nois prairie, which cannot be surpassed by any 

 prairie land, as likely to give a comfortable living 

 and home as 'a half section out on the frontier, 

 and the poorest settler ought to make $500 to pay 

 for it in seven years time. — Ohicago Tribune. 



— The land Department of the Illinois Central 

 Railroad is now manaegd with the most consum- 

 mate ability, and is in the hands of practical men, 

 who not only look to the present but the prospec- 

 tive value of their operations. "We have always 

 been opposed to the selling of large tracts of these 

 lands to speculators, which was inaugurated at an 

 early day in this department, thus raising the price 

 without benefitting the company. When lands 

 are sold at a price beyond their value, it tends to 

 the ruin of the buyer and lessens his ability to 

 patronize the road. The true policy and the one 

 now being pursued is to sell to each man what he 

 can pay for and manage. The purchaser is not 

 loaded down with debt, and he has the ability to 

 improve and thus to give business to the road, as 

 well as to pay for the land. 



It has always been the policy of the company to 

 build up the farmer and give him every facility in 

 their power. The reduction of freights, the extra 

 price for his products, the division of contracts 

 and extension of time are all proofs of the care 

 of the interest of the purchaser. En. 



-»••- 



Caty-did. 



Effingham, III., March 10, 1863. 

 To the Editor of tTie Illinois Farmer : 



Deak Sib : We up here in enlightened Egypt 

 have a way of getting some three months in ad- 

 vance when frost will really come, but as you Yan- 

 kees don't believe in signs, I suppose you will not 

 heed it, but it is valuable to the cane grower if he 

 ■will attend to it notwithstanding prejudice. When 

 I came to this country in 1857, in July, I heard a 

 strange voice at night. I inquired who the stran- 

 ger was and what was wanted, and received in an- 

 swer that it was Mrs. Caty-did, and that she had 

 come to tell us that Mr. Jack Frost was only six 



weeks behind her. I took down my Thermometer 

 register, where I register all great events as they 

 pass, and registered Mrs. Caty-did's first appear- 

 ance, which I have continued to do ever since, and 

 will now give you the dates for the different years, 

 together with the first frosts for the same years. 

 The date for frost is, for the first time, the mercury 

 fell to 32 degrees in eaeh year, as we sometimes 

 have white frosts at 45 degrees but it does no dam 

 age to vegetables until it falls to .S2. 



FIRST CATY-DID. FIRST FROST. 



1857— July 1*7. October 1 7th. 



1858— July 9. October 9th. 



1859— July 20. October 19th. 



I860— July 8. October 12th. 



1861— July 24. October 24th. ' #,. 



1862— July 27. October 20th. 



This I have just copied from my register which 

 is as correct as my account book, and will show 

 that Mrs. Caty-did's annual visits may be turned to 

 good account if attended to. 



Geo. R. Huffmak. 



— ^This is decidedly a new way of foretelling 

 frosts, though not Yankee bom. We have no 

 great faith in signs, at the same time these things 

 do not pass unheeded, and we give the remarks of 

 Mr. H. for what they are worth. Ed. 

 «•> 



To Destroy Mice in Green Houses. 



A subscriber of the Farmer, who is the proprie- 

 tor of an extensive nursery, has practiced the fol- 

 lowing method of successfully ridding his premises 

 of these trsublesome little "varmints." He takes 

 a few pumpkin or squash seeds, cuts them half 

 way open, and with the point of a pen knife drops 

 a little arsenic into each seed, place them around 

 on the shelves where it is dry. After this is prac- 

 ticed a few times, your house will be entirely free 

 from mice. This is much better than to have cats 

 about, as they often do more injury than the mice. 



Glue for Beady Use. 



To any quantity of glue use common whiskey 

 instead of water. Put both together in a bottle, 

 cork it tight, and set it away for three or four days, 

 when it will be fit for use without the application 

 of heat. Glue thus prepared will keep for years, 

 and is at all times fit for use, except in very cold 

 weather, when it should be set in warm water be- 

 fore using. To obviate the difficulty of the stop- 

 per getting tight by the glue drying in the mouth 

 of the vessel, use a tin vessel with the cover fitting 



tight on the out side to prevent the escape of the 

 spirit by evaporation. A strong solution of isin- 

 glass made in the same manner is an excellent ce- 

 ment for leather.— jSSb. 



