1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEE. 



m 



These comprise only a part of the factories in 

 twelve counties. 



This new mode of dairying is becoming very pop- 

 alar, and bids fair to supersede the home dairies 

 altogether. This will relieve the female portion of 

 the dairy farm of no small amount of hard labor, 

 and tend to a better quality of cheese. The appa- 

 ratus in these Luge factories will of course be the 

 best that can be procured, and must, of course, be 

 under the charge of competent cheese makers who 

 make it a trade, instead of those who make it inci- 

 dental to other business. Will not our western 

 dairies look a little into this matter. 



The Temperature. 



TMERMOMKTER I\ THE OPEN AIR. 



Day of Month. 



Y A. M, 



1864. January 1 



" " 2 



" 3 



■' 4 



" 5 



" 6 



7 



8 



" 9 



10 



" ll! 



" 12! 



" 13j 



" 14j 



" 151 



" 16 



17 



«' 18 



" 19 



" 20 



" 23 



*< 24 



" 25 



" 26 



" 21 



•< 28 



" 29 



» 30 



" 31 



Means 



—22 

 —14 

 10 

 6 

 —12 

 —22 



— 3 

 —19 

 —10 



9 



— 2 

 25 

 18 

 25 

 16 

 20 

 36 

 26 

 20 

 28 

 20 

 38 

 36 

 32 

 42 

 39 

 42 

 44 

 39 



2 p. M. 9 P. M. 



—18 



— 4 



IT 



12 











16 



3 



12 



20 



22 



34 



35 



62 



24 



32 



20 

 35 

 50 

 58 

 56 

 57 

 64 

 61 

 68 

 56 

 49 



—14 



— 4 

 8 

 8 



— 6 

 —14 



2 



— lO 

 8 

 8 

 16 

 22 

 32 

 26 

 18 

 36 

 24 

 26 

 25 



40 

 43 

 44 

 42 

 50 

 48 

 43 

 42 

 64 



16i 



29 



22 



Mean for the month 22J 



It is interesting to h ive a record of the degree of 

 heat and cold during the year, so as to compare 

 one season with nnothcr, or ascertain how great a 

 degree of cold will kill any given plant. But this 

 is not all, we must know the average heat of the 

 summer months, to enable us to know what plants 

 and trees can be grown in a given place ; we must 

 iSilso know the average temperature of winter, to 

 show us what plants can be wintered in any given 



exposure. We must learn further, that plants in 

 one condition will endure more cold than in anoth- 

 er. To enable us to be the judge of this, we must 

 certainly study temperatnre, and the physiology of 

 plants, or we shall often be I ft in the dark. 



This year we intend to publish monthly recorde 

 of the temperature at this point. 



A dash before the figure, or the sign minus, 

 thus, — denotes so many degrees below zero, or 

 at the point when a mixture of melting snow and 

 salt will freeze. The freezing point being thirty- 

 two degrees above this. 



The cold of the 1st of January has attracted the 

 attention of most people, and they generally ex- 

 claim that it is the coldest they have known. Let 

 us look a little into this matter. At Jonesboro it 

 was 20 ® below and in 1856, 22 ° below zero. 



At Highland, in Madison county, (lat. 38 * 40'), 

 we have the following table: 



1841— 2» 1842—3® 1843 — I® 1844-5® 

 1845 —7 1846 —1 1847 —5 1848 —5 

 1849 —3 1850 —8 1851 — 4 1852 -15 



The coldest day occurring in December on tUree 

 occasions, in January six and F.'bruary three. 



It will will be seen by our recoid for J;inuary 

 that the average of the month is 22^®. In 1854 

 the average at St. Louis for the month was 20^, or 

 three degrees lower than at this point ; in 1849, 

 40^', making a wide difference. In 1834 the mer- 

 cury went down to — 19 ® , in '45 to 23 => , in Feb- 

 ruary of '35 it was at — 25. 



We can thus easily infer that this is strictly a 

 continental climate and not eisily effected by the 

 ocean air currents. Shelter belts will enable us to 

 guard against these sudden changes to some ex- 

 tent. 



For the Illinois Farmer. 

 Muscatine, Feb 9 th, 1864. 

 M. L. Dunlap, Mg., Dear Sir : 



Yours of the 4th is duly received. I read with 

 much interest your letters in relation to the de- 

 struction of fruit buds and injury to fruit trees in 

 Southern Illinois by the extreme cold of the first 

 of January, and can well appreciate the calamity 

 to the enthusiastic fruit growers of that usually 

 mild climate, having myself so frequently lost a 

 small fortune in prospect by similar climatic draw- 

 backs. 



It is excessively aggravating to one of moderate 

 means, who may happen to be imbued with an irre- 

 sistable love of fruits and their culture, after hav- 

 ing planted and cultivated with untiring zeal and 

 solicitude his choice trees through several years to 

 their maturity, to lo.«e through the untimely oc- 

 currence of a spring frost, all hopes of a crop for 



