1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



171 



iated by adopting; what ■sre consider a briefer 

 orthography simply because they had indicated 

 the same in advance. But it was not solely a ser- 

 vility to authority which caused us to make the 

 change, it was mainly to save the time and labor 

 of writing the letter h unnecessarily, perhaps a 

 thousand times in a year, a purely monetary con- 

 sideration, amounting as near as we can estimate, 

 to about fifty cents, and as nobody is the poorer 

 for the change, and as the word looks and sounds 

 just as well and means the same thing and contend 

 that we have a right to save the foresaid fifty cents. 

 If oiher people are so self-sacrificing as to write 

 unnecessiiry h's for nothing, they are at liberty to 

 do so. — Sorgo Journal. 



-••» 



Mutton and Wool Growing. 



The consumption of mutton in North America 

 has rapidly increased. The supply now as rarely 

 exceeds the demand as with any other meat, and 

 the best qualities outsell beef in the principal mar- 

 kets. No country is better adapted by natural, 

 and on the whole by artificial condition to the pro- 

 duction of wool, than the United States. Austral- 

 ia and South America contain the only very ex- 

 tensive regions of the earth now capable of com- 

 peting with equal arenas of North America in the 

 production of this great staple. The price of land 

 in Australia is much higher thau in the United 

 States ; its distance from the wool market of Eu- 

 rope equals nearly half the circumference of the 

 globe ; j-et its exports of wool rose, between 1810 

 and 1862, from 15Y lbs. to 68,000,000 lbs. South 

 America is also becoming an extensive producer 

 of this staple ; there were imported into Great 

 Britain alone, in 1861, 6.000,000 lbs. Yet South 

 America has no natural condition of superiority 

 over Nr^rth America for sheep farmino;, while there 

 are political and moral ones which undeniably are 

 hostile to the security and permanence of so ex 

 posed a branch of industry. Apart from the ques- 

 tion of the cheap production of wool, the experi- 

 ence of the most advduced agricultural nations, 

 like England, Germany and France, goes to show 

 that sheep are a necessity of a good general system 

 of husbandry, on even the highest-priced lands and 

 amidst the densest population. They afford as 

 much food to man, in proportion to their own con- 

 sumption, as any other domestic animals. They 

 are believed to return more fertilizing matter to 

 the soil. In addition, they alone furnish w»ol. — 

 England is estimated to hare 500 sheep to one 

 square mile, while the United States proper (ex- 

 clusive of territories,) has only 48. — Mark Lane 

 Express. 



From the Country Gentleman and Cultivator. 



American Raisins. 



We are making our own molasses quite satisfac- 

 torily. We are beginning to make our own sugar, 

 ■wine, &c., which we have heretofore imported, and 

 what shall hinder us from making our own raisins? 

 and yet I am not aware that this is done to any ex- 

 tent. I see in a report of Col. Harasthzy before 

 the American Institute Farmers' Club, that he says 

 they have a grape from which they have made in 

 California, raisins equal to the best imported, but 

 lie does not say what that grape is. Grape-grow- 



ing and wine-making are largely on the increase in 

 America, to the great satisfaction of many, and to 

 the equally great dissatisfaction of many others, 

 who fear a great increase of drunkenness in a land 

 almost deluged already with intoxicating liquors. - 

 There is no manner of doubt but grape-gmwing v^^: 

 will become one of our most important industritj > 

 pursuits, and if so why should we pay 30 to 50 cts. 

 for imported raisins ? Why shall not those who 

 wish to cultivate the grape for use while /resA, and 

 who do not wish to make wine, use their surplus 

 grapes for raisins, and thus have the fruit in some 

 shape the whole year ? Where is the person who 

 does not like raisins, and where is the cook who - 

 could not use many more than she now gets to use? 

 Of course no such grapes as the Isabella and Ca- . 

 tawba could be made to serve this purpose, but if 

 we can raise coarse, tough, semi-sour grapes suc- 

 cessfully, why cannot we raise sweet ones ? 



We predict a great improvement in the variety 

 of grapes for American cultivation, and that very 

 few now cultivated will be regarded of much ac- 

 count 50 years hence. 



We cannot but believe that grape-growing for 

 the purpose of raisins may become a good branch 

 of industry so soon as we have the right grape, es- 

 pecially adapted to the American climate. 



Who will tell us anythijg of drying raisins, and 

 if there is a grape, which is hardy in America, 

 which is reasonably suited to raisins ? We feel not 

 only pcne?*a% interested in this matter, but joerso»i- 

 ally, on account of our conviction that Kansas is to 

 become a great grape-growing country. 



W. Beckwith. 



Olatha, Kansas, Apr. Y, 1864. 



[From the Counti'y Gentleman and Cultivator.] 

 Liquid Glue. 



Perhaps there has enough already appeared in 

 the Co. Gent, on the " Glue " question. I would, 

 however, like to set myself right with your corres- 

 pondent, S. E. Todd. On perusing what he wrote 

 of dissolving glue in alcohol (see Annual Register, 

 page 121, for this year,) I did not think he knew 

 what he " was writing about," but, as my own 

 attempt at the same thing had proved an entire 

 failure, I only supposed he bad fallen into an error. 

 There is no question but what the quality of both 

 glue and alcohol varies. I obtained mine at the 

 hands of a respectable druggist, but was assured at 

 the same time that glue was not soluble in alcohol, 

 and perhaps nine out of ten of the same class (if 

 the question was put to them) would make a sim- 

 ilar reply. From what S. E. Todd says, I conclude 

 that good glue will desolve in good alcohol under 

 favorable circumstances, but that, as there is so 

 little of the latter in the market that posses the 

 requisite strength, it would be safer to recommend 

 some other solvent for general use. Joiners cabinet- 

 makers, &c., use, I think, only water, and have oc- 

 casion for it frequently ; others, again, require it oc- 

 casionally, and for such as these, good cider vinegar 

 answers very well, as far as my experience goes, and 

 dissolves it readily, and if kept in a warm place, it 

 will be always ready for use. "Muriatic acid " may, 

 perhaps, be better, but it is not always at hand. 

 Another correspondent, T. P., page 111, Co. Gent., 

 gives a recipe, in which nitric acid is added to glue 

 already dissolved in warm water— this, he says, can 

 be used cold, and enumerates its good qualities. 



