-E ■■■ ] 



168 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



June 



very hansomely located on either side of Grafton 

 road; and this provided with comfortable and 

 appropriate buildings. Of fruit be has 11,00 apple 

 trees ; about 2,000 peach and 100 pear, with some 

 grapes; and be;ween two and three acres of straw- 

 berries.. Last year he sold from about quarter of 

 an acre, $200 worth of Wilson's Albany. Use no 

 manure for them unless it be ashes, and plant gen- 

 erally in the fresh sod. He does not worm his 

 peach trees, but finds that a concavity about the 

 trunk — which will be filled up by the summer 

 showers — will keep out the berer. 



Mr. Brow has still on hand 4,000 pounds of 

 tobacco — the product of 1663 — and the present 

 year is starting the tomatoes in great quantity ; and 

 is reckoned one of the most successful growers of 

 vegetables in the region. 



Our readers who ape interested in fruit culture, 

 will always find something of practical utility in 

 the report of the above society. 



These fruit growers are none of the silk glove 

 kind but pra«tical men who follow this calling as 

 a regular business and of course the dollars are 



not lost sight of. The immense amount of the small 

 fruits, as well as large, that go out from the or- 

 chards and gardens about Alton furnish proof of 

 their success. 



From such men we can well afford to take les- 

 sons. 



The article on Birds alluded to is too long for 

 our space or we should give it an insertion. — En. 



How c^n Farming be made more Attract- 

 ive ? 



The following are some of the scraps and shreds, 

 drawn at various times from the discussions of the 

 "Wapping (Mass.) Farmers' Club : 



1. By less hard work. Farmers often undertake 

 more than they can do well, and consequently 

 work too early and too late. 



2. By more system. The farmers should have a 

 time to begin and stop labor. They should put 

 more mind and machinery into their w^ork. They 

 should theorize as well as practice, and let both go 

 together. Farming is healthy, moral and respecta- 

 ble ; in the long run it may be made profitable. — 

 The farmers should keep good stock and out of 

 debt. The farm is the best place to begin and end 

 life, and hence so many in the cities and profes- 

 ^ional life covet a rural home. 



p. By taking care of health. Farmers have a 

 healthy variety of exercise, but too often neglect 

 cleanliness, omit bathing eat irregularly and hur- 

 riedly, sleep in ill ventilated apartments, and ex- 

 pose themselves to cold. Nine-tenths of the hu- 

 man diseases arise from colda or intemperance. — 

 Frequent bathing is profitable, so is fresh air, de- 

 liberation at the dinner table and rest after a meal. 



4. By adorning the home. Nothing is lost by a 

 pleasant home. Books, papers, pictures, music 



and reading should all be brought to bear upon the 

 indoor family entertainment ; and neatness, order, 

 comfort, shrubbery, flowers and fruit should har- 

 monize all without. Home should be a sanctuary 

 so happy and holy that children ■will love it, wo- 

 men deliglit in it, manhood crave it and old age 

 enjoy it. There woulu be less desertions of old 

 homesteads if pains were taken to make them 

 agreeable. Ease, order, health and beauty are 

 compatible with farm life and were ordained to go 

 with it. 



■<•»- 



Improvements in Flour Grinding. 



One of the great obstacles in the way of grind- 

 ing flour rapidly in an ordinary mill, arises from 

 the liability to heat. An English inventor, Mr. 

 Bovill, some time ago contrived an air blast which 

 overcame this dilficulty, by keeping a cool current 

 in constant circulation upon and beween the mill- 

 stones ; and in a late lawsuit against the proprie- 

 tors of one of the largest steam mills in London 

 or, indeed in the world, for infringement of his pat' 

 ent, some facts came out as to the value of the in-" 

 vention that are worthy of note. It was shown in 

 evidence, for example, that in grinding flour, the 

 saving of time was 70 per cent., of coal 51 per 

 cent., !ind an increase of flour of 2} per cent ; the 

 profit on manufacture was £8 17s. 3d., on produce 

 £2 0s.2d., on 400 bushels of wheat. In 1851 an 

 experiment was made at the government Victual- 

 ing Yard, Deptford, on 67,200 bushels of wheat, 

 which were ground into biscuit meal. On this 

 amount, the s"ving in manufacture would have 

 been £975 93 , and an increase in the value of pro. 

 duce to the amount of £106 los. This saving ari- 

 ses from the following reai'ons : 1st, speed in grind- 

 ing, by which di-ubio and treble the quantity of 

 wheat may be passed through the stones without 

 danger of heating or "dougliing them up" as it is 

 termed; 2d, an increased quantity and improved 

 quality of meal ; 3d, immediate facility for dressing 

 the meal without the necessity of being kept a 

 length of time to cool and recover from the fer- 

 mentation occasioned by its heating ; 4th, the pre- 

 servation of the mill.-'tone.-^, which will grind four 

 times the quantity of wheat before it will be neces- 

 sary to dress them, because being kept constantly 

 cool, they never get clogged by particles of flour 

 in a damp state, and thus are always clear, and 

 have a sharp edge ; 5th, freedom from dust, which 

 constantly flies about the mill on the old system, 

 this being by Mr. Bovill's blast and exhaust drawn 

 fiom the stones and conveyed to the appropriate 

 chamber, where it becomes available, instead of 

 being lost or mixed with the sweepings.. For the 

 rigiit of using this invention, the English govern- 

 ment have paid Mr. Bovill 1^ cents a bushel on the 

 wheat ground in all her Majesty's dock yards, un- 

 til lately when the rate was reduced to one cent 

 per bushel in consideration of a very large increase 

 in the amount ground. 



^^We suppose we may notice among agricul- 

 tural items more properly than any where else the 

 marriage of Mr. James Hogg and Miss Ella 

 Beane, in Rushville, recently. Pork and beans, 

 says the Vevay Reveille, is a natural union, but it 

 thinks the allowance of a single bean to a hog a 

 small one. 



