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232 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



AUGUS' 



Hand corn planters do not work well; it is better 

 to bire a two-horse planter, costing $40, which can 

 be had with a team for $2 a day. 



At Mr. Dunlivp's I was pleased with Stafford's 



cultivator, costing 



It is worked with two 



horses, the driver rides, it has four shovels ; two 

 more may be attached, which can be guaged to 

 any d pth or angle, throwing the soil right or left. 



A shield of net work lets only fine dirt to the 

 plants. It will perfectly finish any row, once go- 

 ing through, corn, potatoes, beans, cotton, beets, 

 carrot?, turnips — anything — and as quickly as 20 

 men can do it with hoes. It will put in small grain. 

 I saw corn put in with it which had no other plow- 

 ing. There are otht^r cultivators which do first 

 rate work. I know of none which will do so many 

 kinds. 



A f rmer with 80 acres can hire reapers and 

 mowers, for which he wo'ild have to pay in inter- 

 est on these machines. One of each will an.^wer 

 for five farmers. Grass and frrain can he hirad cut 

 for 75c. an acre, the board of two horses and one 

 man includ d. The machine will cut from six to 

 eight acres a day. Joint owntTohip in machines 

 does not work wel. Re;ipers and mowers combin- 

 ed are not satisf tctory. 1 he mower requires a fast- 

 er motion than the reaper ; for this cause combin- 

 ed ma hines break down. Grain binders as yet 

 aie not approved. The high price of wire is one 

 prawbaek. 



ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY ACRE FARM. 



With 160 acr>:-s, four horses are ruquired. Such 

 fanners should own a reaper, a mower, a railroad 

 horse power to thresh and saw, a corn planter, a 

 sulky rake and all the implements on an 80 acre 

 farm. 



Much is said of Comstock's rotary spader. I have 

 seen it work. It makes the ground fine eight 

 inchi-s deep. Four h irses are reqnired. It catmot 

 come into general use till it is made small ciioagh 

 for two hi)r>es, or 1 11 it shall be found profitable 

 to hi-e w rk done with it. It costs $200 



Mr. Snllivaiit, the owner of 30,000 acres, plowed 

 or dug 500 acres with this machine this spring, at 

 the rat of six acres a day for e:'ch team, and at 

 thf! c st of 75 cents an acre. This farmer is pre- 

 paring to plow two rows of corn a day with eacli 

 of them. He proposes to ;^tart in the morning — 

 the men w'll feed and have their dinner at the end 

 of the fi St row ; they will tu;E out by sundown at 

 the en) of the second row. 



I t ilk d with ih^' boys riding the cultivators. 

 They to'd me they liked rows a quarter of a mile 

 long. The horses get rested if they turn round of- 

 ten. 



FORTY ACRE FARMS BEST. 



My firm impressii n is that the best farming will 

 be done in Illinois when the farms shall be reduced 

 to 40 acres each. Then let everything, garden, 

 veget tbles, corn or smali fruit, be planted in rows. 

 These on 40 acres can be a quarter of a mile long. 

 Mr. Dunlap has tomatoes, cabbages, raspberries, 

 strawberries, sweet potatoes, and the like, planted 

 in rows of this length. They are perfectly straight. 

 I never saw a more beautiful sight on any farm. 

 With the use of the roller and Stafford's cultiva- 

 tor the cost of cultivation is reduced to a low 

 point. I was before convinced that this is the 

 best way to raise garden vegetables, and had put 



it in execution, though not on so large a scale, 

 horse or so will in this way do the work of man] 

 men. 



A NEW MACHINE. 



Prof. Turner, of Jacksonville, has invented 

 machine which will break up, pulverize, sow whea 

 or other grains, and harrow by going over th( 

 ground once. The one he has was made for hii 

 own use. It is similar to Comstock's, though mor< 

 varied. It needs some improvements. The wai 

 took off his mechanics. He related to me wha 

 this machine did. A field had been in com nea 

 Jacksonville for fifty years. Finally it was rented 

 badly worked, plowed in lumps, and would pro 

 duce no more than 25 bushels of corn to the acre 

 This field was planted by his machine and the 

 suit was 120 bushels to the acre. > 



VALUE OF MANURE. 



Though the prairie soil looks wonderfully fertilt 

 it does not yield so much as one would expect.- 

 One reason is, as it has been explained to me b 

 those who ought to know, that the best element 

 fertility lies from four to six inches bolow the sui 

 face, in the shape of potash vitrified by sand, 

 as to be insoluble with water. Dunlap and otbei 

 claim that if the soil is turned up to this depth 

 the fall the air will decompose this potash, whei 

 it will be ready to be taken up by the youn 

 plants, providing it is not plowed deep in th 

 spring as to put it beyond their reach. Seven 

 farmers related to me their success in sowing sprin 

 wheat on corn ground, which is the same thioj 

 H'nce, land plowed in the fall will, by means 

 the potash afford moisture. This seems of grei 

 importance, but it would not be applicable in soi 

 which run together and harden, unless there is cl( 

 ver to keep it open to the air. 



But there is a thing of greater importance ! 

 gai ding prairie farming, and of which there can 

 no doubt. That which is called humus, which 

 similar to peat, and gives the black color, contaii 

 few elements which readily are taken up by plant 

 But when manure is applied a new compound 

 formed, and the result is a most wonderful growtl 

 I know of no soil on which manure works buc 

 marvels as on the black prairie. Here, and I mm 

 not fail to add, everywhere else, the applicatic 

 or manure is immensely profitable, for as plants l 

 an early start, they shade the giound. Dry weat 

 er does little damage. Insects cannot keep pac 

 with the growth, and the plant matures in spite < 

 bad seasons and a thousand enemies. 



I am writing what I have learned by my own e: 

 perience, and from what I have seen on the far 

 of others. I say this : I can raise, one year wit 

 another, more grain, more potatoes and more vei 

 etables of any description, on ten acres with plei 

 ty of manure, than in ordinary farming can 

 raised on fifty acres. I would add a little manui 

 in the fall, then plow deep ; in the spring I woul 

 plow shallow, and spread the rest of the manure 

 the surface with a harrow. I am not certain bt 

 one acre so prepared would be more profitab 

 than the fifty, when you take into account interea 

 cost of cultivation, teams and the wear and tear < 

 tools as well as of hopes. I am saying this to <Mi 

 courage large farms ; to encourage those of for 

 acres or less. I am charmed with less ; saying 

 to those who talk of buying farms or of comin 



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