226 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMEK 



Atjg. 



And now, out on the prairie, full 

 four miles from timber, we must close 

 the season of small fruits — ^not so fast, 

 gentle reader ; you have forgotten that 

 ripe currants and ripe goosebemes can 

 be had, and what is better yet, black- 

 berries are loaded down with thin red 

 and sable fruit. But to make sure that 

 the line of succession may not be brok- 

 en, the express man hands over a large 

 basket of rich blackberries, fresh from 

 the fields of Egypt — large, rich, and 

 black as Ethiop. We have friends in 

 Egypt ; the editor is not forgotten — 

 the remembrance is from Mrs. Lieut. 

 J. M. Hunter, of Ashley, and the ber- 

 ries are from the borders of the groves 

 along which are planted large fields of 

 tobacco, of cotton and of corn. "We 

 trust our better half will not be jeal- 

 ous, ns this is not the first favor from 

 the haaads of our lady friends away 

 away down in Egypt. To one of them 

 was due the first strawberries, and we 

 are quite .-sure that one of them will 

 send us the lirst basket of ripe peaches. 

 And now, this 18th of July, the same 

 measure is heaped with great glistening 

 Tblackberries, and the pantry well stock- 

 .■^d with pies of the same for the Sunday 

 ^meal. Are they Lawton's ? No, but 

 from plants marked in the fruit season 

 when loaded with great rich berries, 

 and the plants shipped to us from South 

 Pass, far down among the fruit hills in 

 Egypt. 



We shall have several bushels of the 

 Lawton, and at the dose of the busy 

 season sliall have more to say of their 

 relative merits. 'Who will dare to say 

 that the small fruits are not the great 

 fruits after all. The time is not distant 

 when they will occupy an in important 

 place in every garden. 



We have sold enough of our surplus 



of sm"ll fruits to pay the full cost of 

 the plantation and the picking for this 

 season, and have had our supply gratis, 

 which for a family of fourteen persons, 

 with a shaip sprinkling of visitors, is 

 no small amount. What is the use of 

 staying on a farm when we can live on 

 it just as well ? 



The ears of the early sweet corn is 

 fast forming, and yesterday, the 17th, 

 we picked the first ripe tomatoes. Cab- 

 bage, cauliflowers and other vegetables 

 have been abundant for weeks. 



The melons and squashes are doing 

 well — thanks to Hovey's seed store for 

 a barrel of plaster with which to drive 

 off the striped bug ; two or three dashes 

 of it when the dew was on, compelled 

 them to leave, and we further suspect 

 that it has been otherwise beneficial to 

 the plants, through all this dry weath- 

 er. Hovey's draft for a lot of melons 

 will be duly honored. 



The crops, on the whole, this season, 

 will be lighter than usual. The soak- 

 ing rains of winter and early spring, 

 inducing a cloddy condition of the soil, 

 the drought of summer, have all con- 

 spired to this end. But farmers buoy- 

 ant with hope, high prices, an unusual 

 small show of weeds, and the brighter 

 look of the war, all of which have their 

 value and inspire confidence. 



The paying of debts, reduction of 

 interest, and the study of economy in 

 labor and expense, have done much to 

 place the cultivators of the soil on a 

 sure foundation. The desire to own all 

 the land that adjoins him, has lost some 

 of its attractions since the introduction 

 of new taxes, and the same reason will 

 induce the selling of lands held on spec- 

 ulation at more reasonable figures. 



" Never trust thine enemy." 



- ^Mf.'JlMr^.fr.' ■■■■.■ .•;.v--.ift^. 



