^TS^'Tf'??^''«i^'?5?ra*!i^W'P^5«»^5«!?P|3PP!^^ 



1863. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



3^ 



Kendall introduced the seed of the Tree Cotton 

 and made an effort for its sale, but he very foolishly 

 attempted its culture himself, to demonstrate that 

 it could be grown as far North as Baltimore, but 

 the first cold night laid out his plants and the 

 humbug collapsed, but these later geniuses, profit- 

 ing by his failure boldly asserted that it was proof 

 against the frost of our winters, that they had seen 

 it grow high up on the Andees, clothed with flocu- 

 lent fiber and its green leaves glistening out from 

 the winter's snow, with the thermometer below 

 zero. Of course it must be hardy somewhere, but 

 not on the prairies of Illinois. Who will give us 

 the next agricultural humbug ? 



The Cold Summer of 1816. 



The summer of 1816 is frequently referred to as 

 the coldest ever known throughout America and 

 Europe. The subjoined facts will revive the recol- 

 lection of those who remember the year without a 

 summer, also to furnish correct information for 

 such as feel any interest in matters of the sort. 

 The following facts are extracted in part, from 

 " Pierce on the Weather." 



January was mild, so much so that fires were 

 almost needless in sitting rooms. December, the 

 month immediately preceding this, was very cold. 



February was not very cold, with the exception 

 of a few days, it was mild like its predecessor. 



March was cold and boisterous, the first half of 

 it, the remainder was milder. A great freshet on 

 the Ohio and Kentucky rivers, causing great 

 destruction of property. 



April began warm, and grew colder as the month 

 advanced, and ended with snow and ice, with a 

 temperature more like Winter than Spring. An 

 inundation on the Mississippi, laying the suburbs 

 of New Orleans under water, rendering the roads 

 passable only by boats. 



May was more remarkable for frowns than smiles. 

 Buds and fruits were frozen, ice formed half an 

 inch in thickness, corn was killed, and the fields 

 again and again replanted until deemed too late. 



June was the coldest ever known in this latitude. 

 Frost and ice and snow were common. Almost 

 every green herb killed, fruit nearly all destroyed. 

 Snow fell to the depth of ten inches in Vermont, 

 several inches in Maine, and it fell to the depth of 

 three inches in the interior of New York ; it also 

 fell in Massachusetts. 



July was accompanied by frost and ice. On the 

 morning after the Fourth, ice formed of the thick- 

 ness" of window glass throughout New England. 

 New York, and in some parts of Pennsylvania, In- 

 dian corn all killed, some favorably situated fields 

 escaped. This was true of some of the hill farms 

 of Massachusetts. 



August was more cheerless, if possible, than the 

 Summer months already passed. Indian corn was 

 so frozen that the greater part of it was'cut down 

 and used for fodder. Almost every green herb was 

 destroyed both in this country and in Europe. 

 Papers received from England, stated — " It will be 

 remembered by the present generation, that the 



year 1816 was a year in which there was no Sum- 

 mer." Very little corn in New England and Mid- 

 dle States ripened. Farmers supplied themselves 

 from the corn produced in 1815 for seed in the 

 Spring of 1817. It sold from four to five dollars 

 per bushel. 



September furnished about two weeks of the 

 mildest weather of the season. Soon after the 

 middle it became very cold and frosty, ice forming 

 a quarter of an inch in thickness. 



October produced more than its usual share of 

 cold weather ; frost and ice very common. 



November was cold and blustering. Snow fell 

 so as to make sleighing. 



December was mild and comfortable. 



Such is a brief summary of the "Gold Summer : 

 of 1816," as it was called, in order to distinguish 

 it from the cold seasons. The Winter was mild, . 

 frost and ice were common in every month in the 

 year. Very little vegetation matured in the East- 

 ern and Middle States. The Sun's rays ^seemed 

 destitute of heat throughout the Summer; all 

 nature was clad in a sable hue, and men exhibited 

 no little anxiety concerning the future of their life. 

 Portland Price Currant. 



From the Christian Advocate. 



"Stick to the Farm." 



Dr. Eddy. — In the "Advocate" of the 23d of 

 September, I find an article headed " Stick to the 

 Farm." After reading the piece over, I came to ■ 

 the conclusion, that a little advice in a little differ- 

 ent direction would tend to make more farmer's 

 bovs " stick to the farm " than a whole volume of 

 exhorations written on the above mentioned sub- 

 ject. 



To begin, let us ask some of them why they do ' j 

 not like to stay on the farm ? You will find the .^ 

 usual reply to be, that they do not like farming ; ■' 

 that it is no place for enjoyment, and that they are 

 deprived of a great many priviledges that boys who 

 are not farmers, enjoy. And why this dislike to 

 an employment so lucrative, healthful, and one a 

 that should, if it does not, yield employment and 

 happiness. I will just say, that many farmers are 

 so close, and their work is always so hurrying, that 

 they never allow their boys any means or time for 

 recreation, except it be Sundays, and sometimes ^ 

 they do not get that. Mow when these boys be- 

 come of age, they not unfrequently commence life 

 with no competency whatever. Brought up to 

 labor early and late, from one end of the year to 

 another, is it any wonder if they should look upon 

 farming as a life of unceasing toil and drudgery ? 

 I do not wonder at their deciding to leave the 

 farm, and seeking to find in other places what they 

 have not found upon the farm, i. e., a life of enjoy- 

 ment and comfort. 



Farmers, do you wish your boys to " stick to 

 the farm ?" then you must teach them that enjoy- 

 ment is to be found upon the farm, and to do this 

 you must get them interested in the work, give 

 them time and opportunity for wholesome recrea- 

 tion ; and above all, give them a start in what is 

 called this world's goods ! — a small garden spot, a 

 corner in the corn-field, or an interest in the stock, 

 such as a pig, calf, or colt, or something of^the 

 kind, which they can call their own. These may 



ii( s iil MA* . W tfte^.. 



