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354 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMEK. 



KOT 



The State Horticultural show will be a 

 ^reat show of flowers before the main 

 season of fruits, and can only only show 

 the Summer fruits ;:: that connection, 

 while its Winter m vting is for Winter 

 fruits and the dis:..f:sion of their respec- 

 tive merits and e.iture. 



Corn is the high school of the art, 

 and the other is the great exhibition 

 room or the results of the other, each 

 necessary to its colaborer. There can 

 be n o antagonism in them, and each 

 should have our fostering care. 



The premium list of fruits and flow- 

 ers was not well calculated to draw out 

 a large show of either, though Jack 

 Frost settled the matter in regard to 

 the latter. We respectfully call the 

 attention of the Executive Board of the 

 State Agricultural Society to the grow- 

 ing iuportance of this department, that 

 they may provide for the more perfect 

 exhibition and security of our fruits. 

 At the late Fair light fingers filched 

 nearly all of the grape, in fact every 

 thing of the kind that came within 

 reach was taken, and out of seventy 

 pots of choice flowers that we had on 

 exhibition, more than three-fourths of 

 them mysteriously disappeared. We 

 commend the good taste of those who 

 took them, but have little respect for 

 the manner, as it smacks too much of 

 the free and easy to please us. 



December. 



We have now reached the last month 

 of the year teeming with stirring inci- 

 dent in the history of the nation, and a 

 year long to be remembered as a marked 

 one in the climatology of the North- 

 west. The year 1862 was remarkable 

 for good crops and immense growth of 

 trees, shrubs and plants. The Winter 

 of 1862 and 1863 was mild and favor 



able for the succulent growth of the 

 Summer. The Spring set in wet, not 

 allowing of corn planting until the be- 

 beginning of May, when the storms 

 cleared up, leaving a cold, clear, dry 

 atmosphere, with a sodden soil to be 

 turned into hard clods by the plow. 

 Into this soil the Spring crops were 

 planted. On the 28th of May we had 

 a kindly rain of moderate extent, yet 

 doing something towards softening the 

 clods and bringing forwarel the crops, 

 but with the exception of isolated show- 

 ers, that was the end of the Summer 

 rains. 



In July we had a light frost, doing 

 little damage aside from retarding the 

 growth of corn. On the 26th of August 

 we had a sharp frost in many places, 

 and doing serious damage to the grow- 

 ing crops in the low lands. This was 

 repeated on a larger scale on the 30th 

 of the same month, doing an immense 

 amount of damage to a wide area of 

 country, and stretching South of the 

 Ohio. Another fr(>st in the middle of 

 September finished up all green vege- 

 tation that could be reached by a heavy 

 frost that had escaped the previous 

 visitations. In this the high and the 

 low land came in for a share alike. 

 Amid the desolation of the drouth there 

 were bright spots, such as parts of 

 Adams and Green counties and in small 

 locations where some Summer shower 

 dashed down its needed favors. 



When we consider the area planted, 

 the favorable weather for the small 

 grains, the thorough cultivation of the 

 rowed crops, and the abundant supply 

 of improved farm implements, we have 

 to acknowledge in the small yield a 

 general and deep disappointment of the 

 season s hopes. In Spring wheats, oats, 

 barley and flax, we have no reason for 



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