1863. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



particular complaint, but the great 

 falling off of the two leading staples, 

 corn and hay, show their importance to 

 the Prairie State. These two crops are 

 the great centers, around which the 

 minor products of the farm form only 

 the setting of the coronal. 



If August and September astonished 

 the farmer with frost, October has 

 crowned his wonder with snow. On 

 the 22d a snow storm came up from 

 the Southwest, being at St. Louis in 

 the morning, reaching this place in the 

 p. M., and Chicago during the night, 

 with six inches of snow at St. Louis 

 four here and two at Chicago. "We 

 were at the time at the old homestead 

 at Lydon, sixteen miles west of Chica- 

 go. But not satisfied with this efibrt 

 for October, it must be closed out under 

 the regal garb of Winter, and to this 

 end the snow commenced falling at 10 

 A. M., on the 30th, after a rainy nighty 

 and continued throughout he day and 

 part of the night, melting rapidly, yet 

 this morning, the 22d November, it lay 

 four inches deep, with the windows 

 sheeted within. The sun is out clear, 

 with nearly all the surrounding of mid 

 Winter. We have had as much snow 

 as sometimes falls at this point during 

 the whole Winter, and we lac^ only 

 the frozen ground to finish up the full 

 picture of Winter. 



With all the draw backs we have to 

 record, some favorable mentions, and 

 among them are the abundant fruit crop 

 in the north half of the State. North- 

 ern Illinois has never had such a crop 

 of fruit as the past season, and that too 

 after a similar season to that of 1834, 

 which was followed in 1855 with the 

 most widespread destruction of trees 

 ever known in the history of the West. 

 The growth and appearance of the 



trees last Autumn was so similar tM 

 that of 1854: that we entered the Win-^ 

 ter with fear and trembling. Apple%^ 

 pears and peaches were loaded, whil^- 

 the small fruits gave a full return. On^ 

 the other hand the South part of the 

 State suffered with a cold time in No- 

 vember and again in March, resulting 

 in a bad failure of the peach crop and 

 with light returns of other fruits. 



The drouth and frost combined ruined 

 the Sorghum and the hundreds of 

 thousands of barrels of sirup that would \ 

 have been made, are reduced to a few 

 thousand. Cotton and tobacco have 

 also come in for a share of ill luck also. 

 During December it is our intention to 

 visit the South part of the State to learn 

 more in regard to these new staples. 



Two Horse Cultivators. 



The introduction of two horse cul- 

 tivators to all rowed crops/ has result- 

 ed in an unusual yield of produce, with 

 a lessening of the labor of over half 

 the usual amount. They are al- 

 ready making a revolution in field la- 

 bor that is largely felt in the less num- 

 ber of hands required to the number 

 of teams. 



The cost of the corn and potato crops 

 have been reduced nearly one half, and 

 when they will be applied to the cul- 

 ture of cotton by an intelligent class 

 of laborers, they will not only increase 

 the yield but reduce the cost of culture 

 to a mere nominal sum, as compared 

 to the old mode, and but for the pick- 

 ing would soon reduce its cost to a few 

 cents a pound. With two or three 

 years of peace, cotton will be down to 

 the old price, before the rebellion dis- 

 turbed the equilibrium of labor. 



We propose to show in what respect 



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