196 



TliE ILLINOIS FAEMEK 



July 



six tines being placed further apart. — 

 Tliis machine was also drawn by three 

 yoke of oxen. The horse machine had 

 trucks in front and weigh about nine 

 hundred pounds each, trucks included, 

 while the ox spader without trucks 

 M-eighs about six hundred pounds. — 

 With these latter the work is not as 

 well done, from the fact that the speed 

 of the oxen is not as regular as that of 

 horses. The wide machine, which 

 spades five acres a day, does not appear 

 to require more power to draw it than 

 the other, both having the same num- 

 ber of tines to the fork probably ac- 

 count for the apparent discrepancy. A 

 trial is to be made with the horge ma- 

 chine to see if the effect is the same ; if 

 80 another acre a day will be added to 

 its capacity. The last mentioned spader 

 has worked six days and spaded thirty 

 acres. For twelve days the two ox 

 spaders were put in a gang drawn by 

 the six yoke of oxen driven by one man 

 and average eight acres a day, but they 

 arc found to do better singly, and it is 

 nut probable unless very short handed 

 that they will be worked together again. 

 The aggregate amount of spading done 

 up to June 1st, inclusive, was five 

 hundred and two acres, at an average 

 cost of seventy-five cents an acre, mak- 

 ing a saving of seventy-five dollars on 

 each hundred acres, over the use of the 

 ])iOw, This must be looked npon as a 

 vast stride in the field of progress, and 

 will at no distant day have the eftect to 

 cheapen the great farm staples, for it is 

 not so much in the saving of labor as 

 in I he increased crop that will be pro- 

 duced by the superior work accom- 

 plished. 



By the use of the spader the soil is loos- 

 nccd up to the depth of eight inches, 

 without throwing to the bottom the free 



potash that has become disintigrated 

 by long exposure to the atmosphere ; 

 and which, upon being buried again to 

 that depth, would become fixed and no 

 longer available to the young plants, 

 which nmst await the slow process of 

 areation to prepare a new supply. 



"We shall devote another chapter to 

 the subject of areation. 



My Brother. 



My brother's bands are large and brown, 



His cheek has caught the hue, 

 And yet there beats within his breast, 



As tender heart and true, 

 Fair lady with tlie lily hand, 



As that possessed by you. 



My brother is a faimcr boy. 



And bears no titled name, 

 Save such as Nature's noblemen, 



O'er all the world may claim. 

 More precious far than gold and gems. 



And better far than fame. 



That life has other noble tasks, 



I willingly allow ; 

 But I I'refer nny brother's choice. 



Whose brown hands hold the plow. 

 Who earns his portion by the sweat 



Upon his noble brow. 



I think a brother's love is strong — 



A sister's is. I know, 

 These ties which eaily life impose. 



While years so swiftly go, 

 Will bind like triple chains the heart, 



And must eternal grow. 



COUNTRT QlRI,. 



The White Willow Controversy. 



We have received the following copy of a letter 

 of 0. B. Galusha to F. K. Phoenix in regard to the 

 statement of the Rural New Yorker, as copied into 

 the Farmer last month. We have no doubt that 

 this misunderstanding will all be cleared up, for 

 misunderstanding it must be. That large amounts 

 of swamp willow have been sold, there appears to 

 be little doubt, but that regular nurserymen should 

 send men into the swamps to cut it, is beyond our 

 belief. That they may have been imposed upon to 

 some extent, is more probable. We have no anxi- 

 ety in regard to the position that the white willow- 

 will yet hold in the fence row. Our farmers will 

 soon learn to use strong cuttings, and will make 



