'^■/^ 



The Illinois 



». 



VOL. VIII. 



SPRINGFIELD, ILL., SEPT., 1863. 



NO. 9. 



DEVOTED TO THE 



FARM, THE OECHAED AID THE QKKDm, 



.^ PUBLISHED BY 



BAILHACHE & BAKER, 



SPRINGFIELD, ----- ILLINOIS. 



]VI. IL.. JDTJN1L.AJP, Eiiitor. 



All business letters should be addressed to the 

 publishers. 



^^*-ExcHANGES and all matters pertaining to the 

 editorial department, must be directed to Illinois 

 Farmer, Champaign, 111., as the editor resides at 

 that point, and is seldom at the oflSce of publication, 

 from -which he is distant over eighty mUes. 



*** For terms see prospectus and special notices in 

 advertising department. ■ 



September. 



This is the month of Fairs, the month 

 01 fruits, and the month of comparative 

 leisure for the farmer. The weather is 

 generally mild, that is, more soft and 

 genial, "the dreamy days" of the poet, 

 so acceptable after the heated harvest 

 when all was hurry and arduous toil. 

 Yet there is much to do, not that hard- 

 handed toil of the summer, but many 

 light and pleasant tasks. The grain- 

 grower is busy with his seeding of win- 

 ter wheat and the marketing of the sea- 

 son's crop. The stock-grower is com- 

 paratively idle, looking over his herd 

 and separating those that go to the 

 butcher from those that are to be stall 

 fed, or wintered over. The gardener ig 



clearing up his grounds, taking care of 

 melons, beans, etc. The orchardist is 

 looking after the cooper, that his stock 

 of barrels may not come short when 

 wanted. Many of his fruits are ready 

 for market and the crop of windfalls 

 needs a daily looking after. "What 

 with the windfalls that go to the cider 

 press, the ripening fruit ready for the 

 market, he has little time for play, 

 though his labor is not severe, and still 

 further lightened by the beauties of the 

 bending orchard, glowing with its rich 

 load of luscious fruits. i. i;-^.:v.'&'V" 



"When the farmer combines £(5.»G|t, 

 the above departments, which is de- 

 nominated mixed husbandry, much of 

 his time will of course be prfetty well 

 occupied in looking after the various 

 interests, and in giving directions to 

 others as to how and where the work 

 is to be done. > 



September is the dividing time be- 

 tween the cereals, or summer harvest 

 and the vegetables, or autumn harvest. 

 In the north part of the State, the ear- 

 ly frost begins to encroach on the do- 

 main of summer towards the last of this 

 month, while in the central portion it 

 is reserved to a later date, generally to 

 the tenth of October. 



The season has been a most singular 

 one, and the crops have of course been 

 varied. In places failures of one crop 

 has occurred, and in others of abund- 

 ance, so that on the whole, the averag# 



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