278 



THE ILLmOIS -FAKMER. 



Sept. 



Er.gland have every reason to be glad in the boun- 

 tiful realization of the present, and hopeful in the 

 cheering prospects of the future harvest. — Mass. 

 Flownian, Aug. 1. 



BAILHACHE & BAKER • - - FUBLISHEBS. 

 M. L. DUN LAP, Editor. 



SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, AUGUST, 1863. 



The harvest of the cerals is now over, and the 

 threshing machine is busy everywhere ; go where 

 you will in the country, its music is ever present. 

 In the extrememe north part of the State the yield 

 of spring wheat has been good, while further South 

 it ha^ suffered from bug and rust, both the result 

 of late sowing. Some people persist in waiting to 

 have the ground settle before sowing and are then 

 often delayed by heavy sring rains. Spring wheat 

 must be sovyn as the frost is leaving the ground. Bar- 

 ney and winter wheat arc both very fair on the 

 whole. These crops are both becoming more pop- 

 ular and now many farmers have thin, small fields, 

 of winter wheat and barley. 



Last spring flax was the exciting topic, and was 

 extensively sown, and has resulted in a very good 

 crop. The great difficulty met has been its dispo- 

 sition to grow stocky and branch out, giving a 

 coarse, short staple. This has come of thin sow 

 ing year after year of seed — a few years of thick 

 seeding will correct this. We have never been 

 able to see the value of thin seeding, even when 

 grown for seed, except in the saving of 8ee>' at the 

 time of sowing, and have generally sown one to 

 one and a half bushels to the acre. Flax needs 

 rich land and must have it. 



The cnlture of flax, of winter wheat, of barley, 

 of oats and corn, is fast changing the system of 

 culture in many parts of the State, and bringing 

 us to that s\ stem of mixed husbandry which we 

 shall find more profitable than to grow one staple 

 exclusively. 



The weather with us has been dry. The last 

 heavy rain occurred on May 28th. We had a mod- 

 erate shower June 28th, a month later, and three 

 or four slight showers since, wetting the soil about 

 half an inch, but apparently doing little good. 

 The corn crop is now seriously damaged beyond 

 hope — nothing can make it more than half a crop, 

 and a contiuuation of the drouth will make it much 

 less. We see no signs of rain, and at this date — 

 August 18 — things look decidedly gloomy for gar- 

 den truck, corn, and potatoes. Fruit will be small 



and the apples are falling badly, especially where 

 the trees are in grass. The land was in bad con- 

 dition for a dry time, being like a mortar bed from 

 the heavy winter and spring rains, and has leaked 

 badly. Individually, we have less to complain of 

 than our neighbors ; the light showers have been 

 more generous with us, doubtless, on account of 

 grove like attractions, as our ten acres of timber 

 belts and near a hundred acres of nursery and or- 

 chard standing, as it daes, on the open prairie, 

 four or five miles from other timber, has its influ- 

 ence on the rain clouds, and the result is the giving 

 down of a more profuse shower. Yet, with this, 

 we are suffering severely, while some of our neigh- 

 bors who have not had the dust laid on their farms 

 since June 28th, are nearly parched up. The gen- 

 eral planting of trees which is now pretty well un- 

 der way will do much to ward off the long sum- 

 mer drouths. 



Stock of all kinds are suffering for the want of 

 water, and many of ours stock growers are ship- 

 ping to reduce their herds for these reasons. But- 

 ter and cheese will of course run short, and al- 

 ready we see symptoms of an advance in the 

 price. 



Now is a good time to dig wells and put in cis- 

 terns. How farmers' wives manage to do without 

 cisterns, year after year, is a matter of surprise. 

 We sometimes think that a farmer's wife who will 

 put up without a good cistern, is too tame alto- 

 gether — too much of nobody to make a good house- 

 keeper, and are very apt to think there is some- 

 thing wrong about the house when this invaluable 

 institution is wasting. There are certain things 

 needed about the house as absolutely as about the 

 stable. This dry weather should stir up every 

 cisternless housekeeper to the fact that just now 

 is her time to have a good cistern put in, the cost 

 is but a few dollars — fifteen hundred brick, a bar- 

 rel of water, lime, and two or three days of a Ma- 

 son and the farmer's help, and the thing is done. 



Have nothing to do with these traveling cistern 

 builders who put them in for so much a barrel, for 

 they will fail you when needed. Make a good one 

 while you are about it, have the walls of brick or 

 stone, and do not for a moment listen to a plaster- 

 ing on the bare clay or earth wall. 



You should now look through the potatoe field 

 and run a large single shovel plow between th« 

 rows ; this will not disturb the hills, but will clean 

 out the weeds — those left in the hills should be 

 pulled up and thtown i«to this furrow, and at dig- 

 ging time you will have some pleasure and a deal 

 of profit in getting in a crop. Digging potatoes 

 out from a crop of high weeds is a very sinful work, 

 which we have never done but once and never in- 



•.y*. Lr*JlM^y 



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