1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



Si 



Corn Planter and Roller. 



40,822.— Corn Planter. —Wm. Craig, Urbana,Ill. 



I claim first the roller C, constructed of sections 

 a' a' a' a* which are provided with flanges, b*, as 

 shown for the purpose specified. 



Second, The button L, attached to the back 

 part of the firaught pole B, and arranged as shown 

 for the purpose of keeping the front part of the 

 frame A elevated and the shares F above the sur- 

 face of the eaith when required. 



Third, Arranging or placing the driver's seat M 

 on supports, N, the upper parts of which are horri- 

 zontal and are fitted in slots made longitudinally 

 in the ends of the seat, M, to admit of the adjust- 

 ment of the latter as set forth. 



This invention relates to a new and improved 

 aeed-planting device by which seed may be planted 

 either in drills or hills and in check rows, and the 

 aeed-distrihuting device operated either automical- 

 ly or by hand, anJ the seed also properly covered 

 and the e^irth rolled so that the latter will be firm- 

 ly compacted over the seeds and the clods of earth 

 crushed or pulverized, the device also, by a simple 

 manipulation being capabi; of having its furrow 

 shares raised out of and free from the earth, as is 

 necessary in turning at the ends of rows, transport- 

 ing the device from place to place and in rolling 

 land. — Scientifia American, 



The above described machine, or a similar con- 

 trivance, must be had for the large corn planters, 

 and it will stand the makers of corn planters in 

 hand to look after it. We not only predict but 

 know that a planter attached to an iron roller, 

 whereby the corn field can be planted and rolled 

 at the same operation, will at once revolutionize 

 the present system of marking off, planting and 

 iiarrowing. Three years of success with planting 

 in drills and rolling, have brought these facts so 

 Htrongly before us that we know that it must and 

 will soon be adopted. Who will put the machine 

 into the field and make himself famous therebv ? — 

 Eo. 



Coal Ashes and Cherry Trees. — An Indiana 

 correspondent of the Dollar Newspaper says : " I 

 recollect well, when a boy, of carrying the coal 

 ashes from the grate, and piling them round a lit- 

 tle cherry tree, which was known by all the family 

 as the 'little orphan,' on account of its sprouting 

 from the roots of an old tree which died, and the 

 peculiar hard time it had in reaching the stature of 

 even a bush. The summer after the coal ashes 

 were deposited around its base, it put forth vigo- 

 rously, and in three years was quite a thrifty tree, 

 heavily laden with luscious fruit. My father seeing 

 the good result of the ashes, a wagon load was 

 thrown around the base of each tree on the farm, 

 and the effect was astonishing. Old trees that were 

 fist decaying were resuscitated, and sent forth new 

 branches, and bore fruit abundantly." 



A friend sends us the above. We suppose that 



the same quantity of sand or gravel would have 



been equally valuable. We see it stated that the 



lack or dust from coal is an excellent manure for 



plants, which is doubtless true, as it will not •nly 

 supply carbon, but absorbs heat and ammonia both 

 of which are valuable to plants. — Ed. 



-•>- 



The Weather. — On Monday last, and for a few 

 days previous, the weather had been very like early 

 spring, and so moderate that skating parks were 

 deserted, and for a few hours overcoats laid aside. 

 About three o'clock Monday afternoon a cold, bleak 

 wind sprung up from the northwest, and the tem- 

 perature rapidly descended the scale, so that dur- 

 ing the night the mercurj* indicated 12 degrees be- 

 low zero ; nor has it since then at any one time, 

 we believe, been more than 20 degrees above zero. 

 On Tuesday night it was down to 11 below, and oa 

 Wednesday night to 8 below. 



The Skating Parks have advertised carnirale, 

 and the street cars have been well patronized bj 

 men and maidens with their skating aceoutrcments; 

 steamboatmen and sailors, who had hoped for an 

 early opening of navigation, as they saw the rlTCr 

 almost free Irom ice, now find it firmly closed over 

 again ; dealers in fuel take fresh courage, and the 

 price of fuel as usual goes up as the mercury goes 

 down ; the poor are more earnest and persistent in 

 their appeals for food and fuel, and all complain of 

 the unexpected " cold snap." However, during 

 yesterday the weather moderated considerable, and 

 last evening the thermometer ranged 5 deg. abore 

 zero, and still later had an upward tendency. The 

 weather-wise predict a "January thaw." So mote 

 it be ! — Chi. 2Yibune 18<A. 



The weather at this point was also cold and the 

 change sudden. At 9 o clock p. m. on Monday it 

 was 30 deg. above, and at Y a. m. Tuesday, 4 deg_ 

 below ; the next morning at 20 deg. below. The 

 change on Monday night was therefore 84 deg. ia 

 ten hours. Not anticipating such a change of 

 base our greenhouse suffered rather severely, on 

 the east side exposed to the wind. We also fear 

 that it may have a bad effect on many trees and 



plants exposed to the sharp winds. 



II 



Sorgo Sugar. — The Washivgton Repttitican sayg : 

 " An experiment was made in the Department of 

 Agriculture a day or two since, before a large num- 

 ber of persons, clearly demonstrating the practica- 

 bility of every man in the North making his own 

 sugar. A gentleman from Nebraska, Mr. J. F. 

 Riggs, who is about taking out a patent for hi« 

 process, was the operator. From sorgo sirup sent 

 to the Department for exhibition, in the course of 

 a few moments, he produced a clean and pure 8«- 

 gar equal in all respects to the best coffee sug^, 

 the residue of the sirup proving to be an excellent- 

 ly flavored article, strongly resembling amber or 

 golden sirup of the shops, and entirely free from 

 sorgo taste,"— JV: Y. Trib. 



We have seen the above going the rounds of the 

 papers, and nail it as erroneous. No sugar has 

 been made in the mode described, but from what 

 is called mtuh, that is granulated sirup, which was 

 pressed several times in a coarse cloth, after stir- 

 ring some chemical in the mush. The residae of 

 the golden sirup is strongly made up of bosh. — E». 



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