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1863. 



THE ILLmOIS FAKMER. 



169 



referred to the treatment of chewing tobacco ; the 

 superior qualities being used for this purpos*. The 

 terms "honey-dew," "sweet leaf," &c., applied to 

 different lots •{ tobacco, are of the "bunkum" order. 

 The best qualities of tobacco are said to be culti- 

 vated on new soil, on the southern sides of gently 

 sloping hills. — Scientific American. 



Department of Agriculture, ) 

 Washington, May 13, 1863.) 



M. L. Dunlap, Editor UUnois Farmer : 



Enclosed I send you my first mothly circular for 

 oftaining information of the condition and appear- 

 ance of various crops throughout the country. 



I shall be glad to receive from you any sugges- 

 tions for its improvement. 



You will confer a favor on the Department and 

 the farmers of the country for whose benefit it was 

 created, by calling attention particularly to these 

 points : 



That the plan of reporting the average of land 

 sown or planted and the appearance of the crops, 

 by figures, is the most simple, and likely to be cor- 

 rect ; 10 representing an average of amount, and 

 also an average fair appearance of the crops, while 

 it will be quite easy by figures above and below 10 

 to represent how much above and below an average 

 they range. 



Also, that this circular will be followed by others 

 monthly, till the crops are all in — each one being 

 altered to suit the month for which it is issued. 



For instance, next month will include grass, flax, 

 and wool-clip. After that inquiries will be made 

 as to amounts harvested. 



Although this may be imperfect, yet it is the 

 first step toward collecting the Agricultural Sta- 

 tistics of this country, and I hope the results may 

 be such as to attract the attention of members of 

 Congress and cause them to take some decided ac- 

 tion for perfecting the system. 



Very truly and respectfully. 



Your obedient servant, 



ISAAC NEWTON, 

 Commissioner. 



It would be very easy for the Boards of Super- 

 visors of the several counties to make up these re- 

 ports. Each supervisor could make monthly re- 

 ports to the county clerk, who could compile them 

 and thus get at a very near result. For an indi- 

 vidual to do so, it would require much of hi*s time, 

 and then the amount would be the result of con- 

 siderable guessing. 



We publish the entire letter to show what the 

 new Department is doing or proposes to do. 



There has been no small amount of opposition 

 to Commissioner Newton ; how much of it is out- 

 side «f those who either want his place or a place 

 under him, we have no means of knowing ; but 

 thus far we have seen nothing to find fault with. 

 We are aware that he has been hemmed in for the 

 want of funds and that cordial support that should 

 have been extended to this importont department, 

 but we hope to see both of these causes removed. I 



We believed that tke office was due our own State, 

 where the plan originated, and which has the men 

 to fill it, but President Lincoln thought otherwise 

 and we submit, and shall give the new institution 

 our cordial support, and assist to correct its faults 

 should any appear. 



It is charged that the seeds sent out are those in 

 common use, especially among the vegetable. To 

 some extent this is true, as the stock on hand at 

 the patent office had to be disposed of Even sup- 

 pose this to be true, it puts in the hands of many 

 persons improved varieties of seeds that would not 

 be so rapidly sent out from seed stores ; and with 

 the present arrangement these cannot than other- 

 wise be of value. We have a large assortment 

 now on trial, many of them said to be new and im- 

 proved varieties. In this way pure vegetable seeds 

 of old sorts might be advantageously sent out. 



In the item of cotton seed, of which fifteen hun 

 dred bushels have been sent west from this office, 

 no one will pretend to say that it is new or that 

 private enterprise could not have furnished double 

 that amount, but we happen to know that the seed 

 was needed and that private enterprise had forgot- 

 ten to attend to it, and that the supply has been 

 timely and valuable. We trust that the Depart- 

 ment will look after new things, but that it will 

 not fail to press the attention of the planting pub- 

 lic with some of the more old and valuable ones, 

 that have not, as yet, feund their way to all our 

 f»rms. Humbugs spread over the land like wild 

 fire, while the imtroduction of valuable tools and 

 plants is the work of time. We intend to devote 

 some space to this subject, and show what has been 

 done and what remains to do. The efforts that 

 have failed and the good that has been won. We 

 are for building up, and have no time to pull down, 

 unless it is something that bars the way to pro- 

 gress, when we intend to be among the first to 

 mount the barricades. 



Coal Oil for Fruit Trees. 



A gentleman formerly connected with csal oil 

 business in this city, tells us that several years 

 ago, in taking a lot of sample bottles of oil on a 

 journey for exhibition, accidently had a bottle 

 broken, saturating the sawdust in which the bot- 

 tles were packed. When he arrived at his stop- 

 ping place, he put the sawdust at the foot of a 

 plum tree, it being about the time of the blossom- 

 ing of the plum trees. The result was watched 

 and it turned out that the curculio which ravaged 

 the other plum trees in the orchard, gave this one 

 a wide berth, and the plums were saved to ripen. 



This circumstance led to further experiments 

 with like favorable results. The sawdust thus sat- 

 urated — which can be with the cheapest kind of 

 coal oil — retains the odor for a long time, which 

 is offensive to the fastidious tastes of the little 

 Turk. The boarer also will not put his gimlet in- 

 to the trunk of a tree which is encircled with this 

 stuff. — Ohio Farmer - 



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