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'7/iiTOj*"; STSv^sftTT^Tjwffvp-^??-^--! 



1863. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMEB. 



143 



the crop to succeed we require timely showers, 

 such as are usual during this season. Patches two 

 years old which have been neglected seem about 

 run out ; those which were well cultivated seem as 

 though they would pay best. Much difficulty ex- 

 isted last year in making the plants grow. This 

 was pretty generally the case all through the 

 West. 



Our peach crop has been much injured. On low 

 lands the buds are all killed. I hear that the seed- 

 ling varieties are most hardy, but presume this re- 

 mark applies only to old and partly dried up trees. 

 A budded peach tree is much more hardy when ten 

 than when five years old, that is, suppesing the 

 cultivation the same in one case as in tke other. 

 '^ The farmers labor under some slight embarrass- 

 ment just now, as several have been invited to go 

 south. They would decline if they decently could, 

 but for some reason they accept. Several gentle- 

 men from Jonesboro will go along with them. 

 Whether they are going down there to raise a 

 crop I cannot say, but I hope they will enjoy them- 

 selves. 



Sometimes things very remote, are nevertheless 

 closely connected ; and I remark that the visit of 

 these gentlemen to the South will probably result 

 in a more vigerous growth of our fruit trees. You 

 are probably aware that our orchards have been 

 troubled during the past winter with a very veno- 

 mous worm, which in most cases has killed the 

 trees. Our only remedy has been a compound of 

 charcoal, nitre and sulphur, to which was added a 

 round substance of any hard metal, but there was 

 such a magic in the receipt that it was only effec- 

 tive when applied at a certain time, difficult to de- 

 termine. 



There is an additional magic about the matter, 

 which is that when these gentlemen go south this 

 venomous worm probably will go with them. 



We call this a pretty fair horticultural prospect. 



N. C. M. 



— Even in pomonal Egypt there appears draw- 

 backs to fruit culture. If eternal vigilance is the 

 price of liberty, unceasing care and skill is neces- 

 sary even there. Years ago we predicted to our 

 friends thereaway that when there budded peach 

 trees obtained maturity they would prove a match 

 in hardiness to the seedlings. This is now being 

 verified. 



Clover will grow in Egypt after all, especially in 

 the timber regions, and we will not dispair of i* 

 on the prairie near Centralia and Du Quoin. 



There is no doubt that the poor white trash be- 

 ing sent south from near Anna will be a blessing 

 to the fruit growing community — fruit stealers and 

 malicious mischief makers in times of peace, and 



traitors to their country in times of war. School 

 houses are now springing up in that hitherto be- 

 nighted part of the State, and with a good rid- 

 dance of the most malicious of these ungenial 

 spirits we shall soon see Egypt rise in the scale of 

 moral progress. . r-^ 



" Where all save the spirit of man is divine." 



—Ed. 



-<•»- 



"Oriental Sugar Root.'* 



We have received from a Post Master in Mich- 

 igan a circular " Highly Important to the Farmers 

 and Gardeners," — so called — and calling their at- 

 tention " to the nejr vegetable called the Oriental 

 Sugar Root, about which there has been so much 

 excitement in Europe for some months past. " 



The history of this Oriental Sugar Root, as set 

 forth in this circular, is interesting, and we copy 

 it: -;■ .,:/: 



"This root was first discovered to Europeans by 

 C. Bruce Campbell, Esq., of Edinburgh, Scotlrind, v 

 while traveling in Central Asia in 1856. The Ori- 

 entals used it for food as commonly as we do the - 

 Irish potatoe, and Mr. Campbell found it so agree- 

 able to his taste and health that he was induced 

 to inquire into its nature and properties, which led ■ 

 to the most satisfactory results. He foumd it not 

 only an excellent article for both man and beast, 

 but to contain saccharine matter of very superior 

 quality which was manufactured into sugar and 

 universally used by the inhabitants. In a climate 

 as cold as Scotland, with the miserable cultivatioa 

 of the Asiatics, an English acre produced an average ^ 

 yield of about 1,400 avgas, or 800 bushels. These ^ 

 facts induced him, on his return to Scotland, to 

 take with iim a quantity of seed to experiment . 

 upon. He sowed and cultivated the same as with 

 carrots, and met with the best of success; produc- 

 ing over 1,000 bushels to the acre. With an ordi- 

 nary cider mill and a hand press, he made a superi- 

 or quality of white sugir, at the rate of twenty 

 pounds to the bushel, by simply boiling and clean- 

 sing as the American Farmers do the sap of the su- 

 gar maple. Last year Mr. C. planted 40 acres, 

 yielding over 35,000 bushels, from which he man- 

 ufacturod 300,000 pounds of white sugar and fatted 

 500 beeves, making a net profit of £3,000 ($15,- 

 000.) Mr. C. has introduced the Sugar Root until 

 it is quite generally grown in many portions of 

 Europe ; and in some districts of France it has en- 

 tirely superceded the beet for sugar making pur- 

 poses," &c., &c. 



It is proper for us to say something about this 

 wonderful root ; and we want to say, 



1. No man, with common sense, it seems to us, ' ■ 

 could read the above without being convinced at 

 once that the party who publishes this circular, 

 with view to get orders for seed, is attempting a 

 swindle. The marvelous qualities of this root are 

 told with far too few qualifications to insure it . 

 against the incredulity of thinking men. But un- ' ' ; 

 t ortunately fer themselves there is too large a class 



