1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMEK. 



80 



sionally promising a large crop. We prefer the 

 small sort, and take great pains to keep them pure 

 and unmixed with any other. 



<a» 



Dbied Apples. — Wm. H. Eogers of Williamson, 

 Wayne County, N. Y., made 7,000 pounds of dried 

 apples out of the crop of 1863, which he sold at 

 10 cents per pound, making more money for that 

 one article than is realized by many farmers for 

 all their salable products. — JV. Y. Tr'ib. 



Jf^~ Persons wishing to economize in clothing 

 their children, will do well to try metal-tipped 

 shoes. Children invariably wear out their shoes 

 at the toe first Metal tips never wear out at the 

 toe, and a pair of tipped shoes at an additional cost 

 of a few cents, will more than outwear three pairs 

 of the same quality without them. 



For the Illinois Farmer. 

 Forcing Principally by Sunlieat. 



In conversation with a gentleman from the East 

 on the subject of protecting trees, he remarked 

 that his father, a ci izen of Worcester, Mass., had 

 repeatedly ripened peaches in winter ; cost him 

 ten dollars apiece ; beautiful fine specimens to look 

 at, but in quality not as good as an apple — ten 

 thousand dollars for a green-house was an item. 

 His father had concluded he could not grow 

 peaches. 



To produce choice fruits with certainty and 

 cheaply, has always been regarded an object wor- 

 thy of the best minds in horticulture, and engaged 

 the highest genius and skill of practical gardeners. 



Geologists inform us that the earth is a molten 

 mass of matter, pervaded by the most intense heat, 

 except near its surfiice, which has, in time, become 

 a hardened crust by the natural process of cooling. 

 The rate of increase of temperature descending 

 from the surface, indicates that its solidity extends 

 only a distance of a few miles interior, and that the 

 constant radiation of heat from the earth is mainly 

 supplied from its internal fires. 



When our north pole, in friendly attitude, in- 

 clines in summer to receive the sun's rays, they 

 operate in conjunction with this original and never 

 failing source of bottom-heat, and so increase the 

 temperature of the earth's surface, and its super- 

 incumbent atmosphere, that the whole vegetable 

 world is forced into vital action, again to rest when 

 it presents the " cold shoulder," and blows its icy 

 breath over our cherished gardens and fields until 

 we measure frost in the soil of formidable thick- 

 ness. But the Ice-King has his limits, and below 

 the frogt it is warm, then warmer, as we descend. 



Advantage has been sought to be obtained in 

 forcing, by sinking pits below ground, and by plac- 

 ias lean-to houses against bank walls, not so much 

 to avail of subterranean heat, as to exclude frost ; 

 and the question arises, whether this subterranean 

 heat may not be appropriated to positive resultsi 

 and economically applied to the purposes of winter 

 forcing of fruits and vegetables. 



The following illustrations are designed to show 

 the application of substantial and efficient shutters 

 to forcing-pit;?, or other glazed structures : 



O 





The house may be supposed to be fourteen feet 

 wide, eight high, with rafters eight feet long. The 

 shutters eight feet high and eight or ten inches 

 thick, should enclose, in their construction, a per- 

 fectly shut air-chamber, and close tightly over the 

 glazed structure, as shown in the first cut. 



The house should extend east and west, and the 

 north shutter, when opened to a perpendicular 

 position, is fastened to substantial posts, and thus 

 forms a back-wall eleven feet high, the rocker-rails 

 being one foot from the ground, which should be 

 mulched with a suitable covering one or two feet 

 thick. The south shutter is, when open, also at- 

 tached to posts, and turned over sufficiently to ad- 

 mit the full action of the sun's rays upon the house, 

 as represented in the second cut. The base of the 

 shutters, below the center of the circle is weighted 

 with sand or other suitable material, until they are 

 balanced on the centers, when they may be opened 

 or closed with the greatest ease and facility. The 

 ends of the house are olosed with similar shutters. 



.MltafctfO..-!-;.... 



