34: 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEK. 



Feb. 



The first shock of winter has been 

 hard on almost all kinds of stock, and 

 it will stand ns in hand, to give them 

 our best care for the remainder of the 

 winter. Do not allow yourselves to be 

 deceived by a few warm days in this 

 month, to slacken the care that is thus 

 due, but to see that all are well pro- 

 tected from the cold winds and driving 

 storms, that so often occur at this sea- 

 son of the year. The loss of hogs by the 

 cold has been very large, enough to tell 

 on the next year's supply of store hogs. 

 Those lost in the delayed trains only 

 lessens, by so much the supply of meat, 

 while those on the farnis are so much 

 from the productive stock of the coun- 

 try. 



Peach trees will soon show by the 

 dead and shrivelled condition of their 

 branches how far to cut back. The 

 pear should be cut back to within three 

 or four buds of the old wood, that is 

 leaving so much of last year's growth. 

 Keep tour knife off fkom all feuit 

 teees and sheubs while they aee 

 IN A FKOZEN STATE. On Warm days 

 when the frost is aut, you may begin to 

 prune your orchard and to cut back 

 your raspberries. The trees damaged 

 by frost can also be cut back and thin- 

 ned out. 



If the fire wood is not cut and piled 

 up, see to it at once, for next month the 

 active duties of the farm begin, in such 

 earnest that you will have little time 

 for such work. 



Have all your tools in order, so that 

 when you want them for use they will 

 be ready. If you have not all you want, 

 give your orders in season for the new 

 ones. 



Prepare to fill the blank spaces in 

 your orchards and to extend them. — 

 New trees should be planted every 



spring, in order to keep up a good suc- 

 cession of fruit. In attending to this 

 be careful not to overlook the small 

 fruits, the new grapes, such as Concord, 

 Hartford Prolific, Delaware, Diana, 

 ISTorton's Virginia, and Taylor's Bullit. 

 Spring wheat may be sown the last of 

 the month, if the weather is favorable. 

 In this case see that no water can stand 

 on the newly sown grain. ,~ ■ 



Overhaul your garden seeds, to see 

 what you want and order them in sea- 

 son. Look out for old onion seed, there 

 is plenty of it in market, don't buy an 

 ounce of this seed unless of reliable 

 parties. The new demand at three 

 and four dollars a pound is bringing 

 out the old seed, that would not at the 

 time when it was new and fresh bring 

 over fifty cents a pound at wholesale — 

 it will now go into market in some 

 shape. 



If you want trees or plants, order 

 them direct from the nurseries, and 

 have nothing to do with traveling 

 agents, either domestic or foreign. 



-*—~ 



Fencing. 



Farmers are too apt to delay putting 

 up fences until the spring w^ork is upon 

 them. In the heavy timbered portion 

 of the State a rail fence is admissible, 

 but on the prairies a post and rail, picket 

 or board fence are the only dead fences 

 that should be put up. These will stand 

 against the prairie winds. To a great 

 extent live fences will soon supply the 

 demand, but these cannot be made in a 

 month, or a year ; and in the mean time 

 dead fences must be had to secure the 

 crops. The post and board fence is 

 the most generally used, and the most 

 common way to set the posts is with the 

 use of the spade or common auger. — 

 Now in our humble opinion, a post 



