1863. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



227 



Life's Answer. 



BY THE DEAN OF CATERBURT. 



I know not if the dark or bright 



Shall be my lot; 

 If that wherein my hopes delight 



Be best, or not. 



It may be mine to drag for years 



Toil's heavy chain; 

 Or day and night my meat be tears 



On bed of pain. 



Dear faces may surround my hearth 



"With smiles and glee ; 

 Or I may dwell alone, and mirth 



Be strange to be. 



My bark is wafted to the strand 



By breath Divine ; 

 And on the helm there rests a hand 



Other than mine. . 



One who has known in storms to sail, 



I have on board ; 

 Above the raving of the gale, 



I hear my Lord. 



Ho holds me when the billows smite — 



I shall not fall. 

 If sharp, 'tis short ; if long, 'tis light : 



He tempers all. 



Safe to the land, safe to the land — 



The end is this : 

 And theu with Him go hand in hand 



Far into bliss. 



'Bt 



Spring Voices. 



" Caw, caw !" says the crow, 

 " Spring has come again, I know. 

 For, as sure as I am born. 

 There's a farmer planting corn. 

 I shall breakfast there, I trow. 

 Ere his corn begins to grow." 



" Quack, quack !" says the duck, 

 " Was there ever such good lack ? 

 Spring has clear'd this pond of ice. 

 By her magic, in a trice. 

 Just as Goodman Drake and I 

 Its snrface wished to try." 



Illinois State Horticural Pair, 



TO BE HELD AT 



ROCKFORD, SEPT. 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th, 1863. 

 Send for a Premium List, to 



W. C. FLAGG, Alton. 



Culture of Hops. 



A large amount of hops are consumed in this 

 and adjoining State, mostly the produce of one or 

 two counties in New York, Otsego being the largest 

 contributor. We see no reason why this crop 

 would not pay with us. A few acres of white wil- 

 low would keep up a supply of poles for a large 

 yard. The American Larch grows rapidly in our 

 low grounds and makes a firm hop pole. The 

 plants can be had cheaply and are easily cultivated. 

 Set them four feet apart and cultivate for two or 

 three years and they will then take care of them- 

 selves. Hemlock poles are principally used in the 

 New York hop yards ; but these do not last over 

 six or seven years. Certainly the white willow 

 would do as well ; the w^ood is light to handle and 

 its rapid growth would make it cheap. Will not 

 some of our farmers make arrangements to go into 

 the business. We received some plants last spring 

 said to be of superior quality, and among them 

 also the staminate plant. In consequence of the 

 dry weather succeeding the setting out most of 

 them were lost. 



We copy the following article written by D. B. 

 Shopley of Madison county, New York, from the 

 Country G-entleman : 



The successful cultivation of the hop implies 

 watchful and incessant care during the first stages 

 of its growth. They should be planted upon a 

 warm, deep, loamy soil, on a dry bottom, which is 

 best found upon a sandy, gravelly or stony porous 

 subsoil, affording drainage from off and about the 

 roots of the plants du/uig the rainy and frozen 

 season of the year. Hops are one of the most 

 exhausting among culiivaLed plants, both in respect 

 to the organic and mineral constituents which are 

 extracted from the soil. Therefore rotation of 

 crops should not extend more than four year^ on 

 the same ground, unless the soil is supplied with 

 that which the hops most extract. In comparing 

 the table of analysis, we find that both lime and 

 potash enter largely into the growth of both the 

 plant and hop. 



The usual mode of planting is to lay out the 

 ground in rows 7 and 8 feei asunder. The best 

 and quickest way to proceed in laying out the 

 ground is to use a horse and a corn marko.-, by 

 having the pins in the marker 7 feet, the disLiuice 



required for the rows one w tv. Marking th.; 

 the other way is usually don..- i)y st.etchiug u, 

 the distance desired, at wmch timi the settii, 

 done by the guide of the rop-^ by omitting t.u 

 where the rope crosses tb^^ uiir-; made by tUt 

 marker. The setting is done t;ie first of M 

 setting the roots of the p^-ev, oas year's gi- . 

 called runners, which are ci taiiy selected 

 to get healthy roots, which t ■.; c it iuto pi-jc ._< 

 two setts of eyes tu eac i odCion — .setting 

 with a dibble in the ground, icii five sdi.£< 

 hill, setting one at each co.a r v). a squan > 



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