22 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEE. 



Jan. 



An Editor Taking Lessons. 



It is our aim to devote the mid-summer season 

 of every alternate year, to a tour of observation 

 through the western or mid-western division of the 

 great Agriculturist Parish which extends from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific. This year we went on our 

 fifth western tri-p, out through New Jersey, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Central Ohio, and Indiana, into Illinois -nd 

 Iowa, and returned through Michigan, Northern 

 Ohio, and New York, making occasional 8tops,going 

 and returning. (In thesr; trips we gener^illy ride 

 only in the day time, and wsutiUy arrange to secure 

 a position in the center of the baggage cars oi tlie 

 railway trains, because the wide doors give an un- 

 obstructed view of the country "n cither side, and 

 we there have the company of local employees of 

 the roads, who are able to point out objects of in- 

 terest, and to give much general information. In 

 this way we see much of the face- of the country, 

 the style of culture, the condition of the ornps, etc. 

 Indeed, were we not to stop at all, hut travel thus 

 for 3000 to 5000 miles, we should consider the time 

 well spent). — Our main object, this year, was to 

 atudj' prairie farming, especially in Illinois and 

 Iowa, which are par excellence the prairie States. 

 We stopped at some twenty to twentj-five locali- 

 ties, and from observation, and conversation with 

 practical men, gathered a large amount of informa- 

 tion. It would be impossible to give a minute jour- 

 nal of what we saw, heard, and learned — as some 

 may expect — a large volume would be needed, 

 sundry items will appear in this and other numbers, 

 and we hope our western readers will find us still 

 better prepared to supply a journal specially adapt- 

 ed *o their wants, so far as there is any specific dif- 

 feri;nee in the modes of cultivation East and West. 

 — AmericaiL Agriculturist. 



The above is rather a new mode of studying the 

 agriculture of a country and may be considered as 

 the study of prairie farming made easy. We have 

 traveled several thousand miles in the panic posi- 

 tion and gazed with admiration of the country as 

 ire rapidly whirled throiigh it, and in addition have 

 rode a thousand or two miles on the engine, looking 

 at thecouutry from the tops of the tender and hold- 

 ing converse with the stoker between the repeated 

 feedings of the rapacious monster, whose maw was 

 a young .^tna, all the time wondering if the engi- 

 neer did not know more of the lay of the land than 

 any of them, and if he would only open his mouth 

 he might say a great deal but no, nothing could 

 be got out of him, though by his continual looking 

 at the country there could be no doubt that he 

 was in a deep study and revolving in his mind, 

 how he would stir up the soil if he could once get 

 off the rails. Hereafter we shall the more highly 

 prize the American Agriculturist, published by 

 Orange Judd, No. 41, Park Row, N. York, at one 

 dollar a year. For have we not taken lewons in 



prairie farming with the same teachers, gaz >d over 

 the same corn-fields, and drmk in the same inspi- 

 ration from the soft zephvrs that flow in through 

 the baggage c^r. How much practical agric d ural 

 knowledge we have thus unconciously taken in, we 

 leave to our readers to be the judges. We did not 

 know before what blessings came to us thus all un- 

 asked, and during all of those rides after knowh'dge 

 were just green enough to suppose it necessary to 

 stop at the station and visit the farmers to learn 

 how crops were made or lost, we now see how much 

 time has been thus thrown away. Next year we 

 think some of writing a book on the agriculture of 

 N. York, and if the N. York Central will give us a 

 pass and the middle of the baggage car we shall be 

 able to do the subject full justice. Friend Judd> 

 when you make your next binneial visit to the par" 

 ish do try the tender, you will drive a subsoil deep 

 into prairie farming. Ed. 



From the Rural New Yorker. 

 Sheep and Cows. 



Fiend Moohe — Seeing a communication in your 

 paper of April 4ih, in regard to the respective 

 profit of sheep and cows, in which our friend, T. 

 C. P. makes the profit of cows double that of. 

 sheep — and in this week's number another from D. 

 F. B., in which the respective profits are nearly 

 equal — now, as I have had some experience in 

 these matters, I beg leave to say a few words on 

 the subject. 



In the first place I think our friends have made 

 their es-tiniates on sheep too low; not on the profit 

 of a sheep, but on the number that can be kept on 

 the feed required to keep a cow. I shall assume 

 that one cow is equal to ten sheep in capital 

 invested, (in common times, I mean,) and expense 

 of keeping ; and, as my friend says, " now for the 

 figures." Allowing five pounds of wool per head, 

 and 40 cents per pound, (which is about the aver- 

 age price, and one lamb for two sheep, that are 

 worth $1 50 per head, we have the product of 10 

 sheep 5 lambs, $21 60. We will take his figures 

 on the cow, for by my own experience I find them 

 nearly correct — 550 gallons of milk. Allowing 3 

 gallons to make a pound of butter, we have 183 

 pounds, which, at 12J cents per pound, (which is 

 &< much as we can make it average in Ohio,) we 

 have $22 90; deduct $5 for trouble, and we have 

 $17 00. Difference in favor of sheep, $9 60. If 

 made into cheese one gallon of milk will make a 

 pound of curd ; 3 pounds of curd will make 2 

 p<mnds of curd cheese — which gives us 866 pounds 

 at 8 cents per pound, amouting to f 27 28. Deduct 

 $5 for trouble and we have $22 28 profit. Dififer- 

 ence in favor of sheep, $5 22 ; and then, too, the 

 difference between the cheese and butter, and the 

 wool market. The latter is always a cash article, 

 and but little trouble to get to market, while the 

 former obliges a man to always be a peddling; and 

 beside the dealing with irresponsible men there ii 

 a vexation of spirit about it I never could endure. 

 Perhaps some of our friends who have the advan- 

 tage of a good market for milk, at a good price, 



