182 



THE ILLmOIS FAKMEK. 



June 



EAILHACHE & BAKER 



PUBLISHERS. 



M. L. DUNLAP, Kditor. 



SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, JUNE, 1863. 



June, gorgeous with flowers, green fields and 

 full robed forests, is a month of natures rejoicing. 

 The skies are soft, the winds zephyr like and na- 

 ture appears to be hushed in repose. No longej. 

 the chill winds of spring drive us indoors — no 

 fires are needed in the dewy morn, the sun pours its 

 first floods of light over the dew glittering fields, 

 whose green vegetation is making rapid growth. 

 The bob-o-link is singing in the meadow, and from 

 the throats of thousands of birds come pleasant 

 music. Could we spare June from the calendar? By 

 no means. For the roses are then brightest, the 

 skies are mora bland, the fields have the deepes- 

 green, the wind is hushed, unless chased into mad- 

 ness by some tornado, and all nature is robed in 

 smiles — we cannot spare June. 



A Day in the Country — Devon Stcck — Leices- 

 ter Sheep — A Large Farm. — Receiving a call 

 from the Western editor of the Rural New Yorker, 

 we concluded to show him some things that were 

 in progress in this county of Champaign. A drive 

 of fourteen miles brought us to the west side of 

 Linn Grove to the farm of William H. Lock, when 

 we found the owner at home busy with his spring 

 work. May 28th. The home farm contains six hun- 

 dred and forty acres, all of which is enclosed with 

 a good board fence. Bordering on this is over 

 seven hundred acres on which hie devons are being 

 herded. This he intends to set to blue grass and 

 fence it in for a pasture. 



Mr. Lock is from London county, Canada West, 

 where he has long been known as an importer and 

 breeder of pure Devon itock and Leicester sheep. 

 He has about a hundred head of devons and some 

 seventy of sheep. The remainder of his stock is 

 of our native and croises of Durham . 



His bull, Moses, weighs some 2,000 pounds, after 

 wintering in the open air without more care than 

 our most slovenly farmers give to their stock. 



This is by far the best herd of devons that we 

 have seen. 



Some of our readers may recollect that at the 

 State Fair held near Chicago, in the autumn of 

 1861, Mr. Lock had a part of this same stock on 

 exhibition, but on account of not having been en- 

 tered ia the Herd Book were excluded from compe- 

 tition. 



The whole herd are in most excellent condition, 

 though having been wintered in the corn field and 

 fully exposed to the sharp prairie winds. Mr. L. 

 prides himself on the idea that his stock is so 

 hardy that sheds and stables are useless for them 

 here, but one or two severe winters will take this 

 conceit out of him. No animal should be allowed 

 to run in the corn field other than on pleaiant 

 days, and in .=ievere weather should be well shelt- 

 ered. He will find that the prairie winds contain 

 no fattening property, and though his stock may 

 be and doubtless is more hardy thon the crosses of 

 the Durham, yet they cannot stand the exposure 

 with impunity. 



We saw several yoke of his devon oxen break- 

 ing prairie, but could not discover that they stood 

 the heat any better than the native and probably 

 not so well. The truth is, oxen are becoming less 

 and less used with us, and we doubt if it is any 

 object to paj much attention to this point in stock 

 raising. For early beef this breek of stock should 

 attracts more attention, and of its value to cross 

 with our native stock there can be no doubt. 

 Most of our stock growers prefer the durham, but 

 our friend Lock is positive that ne will take this 

 fancy out of them. 



We have not the time nor space in this article 

 to discuss the merits of the two breeds, but take 

 occasion to call the attention of stock growers to 

 this magnificent herd of Devon. 



They can be foud some two miles south of Philo 

 on the Great Western R. R., or eight miles east of 

 Tolona. 



LEICESTER BHEEP. 



Mr. Lock has a flock of some seventy head of 

 these sheep, among them several imported from 

 England. It appears to us that this breed is well 

 adapted to this country, where we have plenty of 

 feed and where mutton commands a good price. 

 For the small farmer who would wish to keep from 

 twenty to fifty sheep for both mutton and wool, 

 this class of sheep are the most desirable. We 

 use too small an amount of mutton and too much 

 pork. With a small flock of mutton sheep, we 

 oould have a good supply of cheap and valaable 

 meat. The demand for long wool will doubtless 

 a change in this respect, when the South Down 

 and Leistershire will become more popular. 



In this part of the county is yet large tracts of 

 prairie unfenced, mostly owned by the Illinois Cen- 

 tral Railroad Company. The land is rolling, well 

 watered and of great value for farming purposes. 

 The want of timber has been the drawback to set- 



lement, but the cheap coal which every farmer 

 can haul from the miaes with his own team will 

 goon remove this objection, when this part of the 

 couatry will be among the most valuable. 



n.^ iY-iAj^j 



