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236 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEK. 



August 



land owners take a hint ? A hundred acres of Su- 

 gar Mnple planted here ten years ago, would have 

 been worth a princely fortune now. — Col. Fartner. 

 The man who would plant the Butternut for su- 

 gar will wait until he can cut the tree into boards, 

 sell them to the cabinet maker, and exchange the 

 solid cash for sugar— that is all the time necessary 

 to get sugar from the butternut, and the simple 

 modus operandi. We have for a long lime been 

 aware that the Farmers' Club of New York has 

 been a great institution, but had supposed that 

 they ran more to vegetables and the small fruits 

 and must acknowledge our grati6cation in their so. 

 lution of the sugar question on such a simple basis. 

 The Butternut is alike valuable for sugar making 

 and as a stock for the peach. Could we not make 

 the Lawton blackberry hardy by grafting it on the 



Buckthorn ? Will not the Club enlighten us. — Ed. 

 »%, . 



Sending Seeds and Plants by Mail. 



The last act of Congress in authorizing the send- 

 ing of seeds, plants and cuttings by mail at a low 

 rate of postage, is one of no small impoftauce to 

 the greai. mass of the people, extended as ihey are 

 over so wide a district of country. It is often dif- 

 ficult in many parts of the country to procure 



J) fresh garden seeds, cuttings of rare trees, and new 

 and valuable plants, and to order them by express, 

 ^ven on express routes, the charges in many in- 

 stances will exceed to several times the value of 

 the things ordered. But the late act of Congress 

 authorizes the sending of seeds, cuttings, &c., at 

 so low a rate of postage as to bring them within 

 the r'>ach of all. The law specifies "seecfe, bvlbs, 

 roots and scio7is" which may be sent in packages 

 not exceeding /owr pounds in weight, the specified 

 limits of the law, at a rate of postage of two cents 

 for every /owr ounces, or the same for any addition- 

 al fraction of four ounces, prepaid by stamps. — 

 Formerly these things were subject to letter post- 

 age, and were generally put up in oiled silk, which 

 is quite expensive, but since the reduction of post- 

 age this mode of carriage has been extensively 



"■ adopted so that paper has been prepared to render 

 it impervious to water and air, and is now sold at 

 comparatively low prices. This paper is prepared 

 by giving it a coat of boiled linseed oil, with a 

 small quantity of dissolved India rubber added. — 

 Those who wish to prepare paper for their own use 

 can make an article equally good by giving it a 

 coat of linseed oil, and when dry or nearly so, give 

 it a coat of shellac dissolved in alcohol, reduced 

 to the consistence of common varnish. Fine man- 

 ilia paper should be used. To insure the safe trans- 

 portation of plants in the mail, the roots should 

 be protected with a covering of half an inch or an 

 inch in thickness of swamp moss, or that gathered 

 from the logs or rocks found in deeply shaded 

 woeds, and on the north sides of steep hills. The 

 moss should be made moderately damp, and spread 

 out upon the paper of suitable size, and with a 

 small portion of the moss mixed among the roots. 

 The whole is then rolled up snugly and tied, and 

 then again covered with a wrapper of common 

 post oflSce paper, to receive the directions and 

 marked "Seeds, " or "Plants," as the case may be. 

 — Iowa Homestead, 



Why not take an Agricultural Paper ? 



Is not the subject one of suflicient importance 

 to interest you ? Is not the practical experience 

 of other farmers of value ? Have you attained 

 that degree of perfection in farming that you can- 

 not farther improve by your own or the experience 

 of others. 



You answer these questions, except the last in 

 Ihe aflSrmative ; but you say, "I have not time ; if 

 I get time to read the current news of the day, I 

 think I do well." 



But is not agriculture of sufficient importance 

 compared with politics and passing events, so as 

 to give it at least one thirtieth of your reading 

 time ? When my boy comes from the postoffiee 

 with the newspapers and the VdlUy Farmer, I sit 

 down and read the last named periodical first, and 

 for the following reasons : 



1. Etiquette requires it. If you have two or 

 more visitors, one only able to call once a month 

 and the balance calling once a week ; the former 

 able to give you practical advice in your business, 

 whereas the others only able to amuse and instruct 

 — if these Mr. Weeklies are men of sense, they 

 will excuse you for taking a preference to the con- 

 versation of Mr. Monthly, they knowing that when 

 he is absent you give them your undivided atten- 

 tion. 



2. Interest requires it, because you may get a 

 practical idea, that you can in your business im- 

 prove by even the next day ; whereas if a train of 

 cars has run off the track, a steamboat or building 

 destroyed by fire, through the carelessness of oth- 

 ers, you could not help it. It may to certain par- 

 ties be a severe calamity, but the knowledge of it 

 to others is only valuable as one of those lessons 

 of experience by which we my profit. 



3. Labor is saved by it. A thrifty farmer has 

 labor daily of a twofold character to peiform: — 

 mental — to plan ; physical — to accomplish ; his 

 success depends as much on the former as the lat- 

 ter. In a practical, agricultural journal, ideas can 

 be gleaned to save much of the former, and occa- 

 sionally much of the latter. 



Lastly. Success requires it. The great secret 

 of success, coupled with energy, is: 1. Understand 

 your business : and 2. Mind your business.— Cor. 

 VaRey Farmer. 



Convention of Plow Manufacturers. — Pursuant 

 to adjournment, the Plow manufacturers of the 

 Northwest assembled at the Tremont House in this 

 city yesterday afternoon, for the purpose of organ- 

 zing a Plow Makers' Societv. 



The following firms were represented in person : 

 John Dement, Dixon, 111 ; Wm. Tobf y &jCo., Peo- 

 ria, 111. ; Deere & Co., Moline, 111., IngersoU & 

 Goodrich, Morris, 111., T. D. Brewst-r, Ptru, HI.; 

 Winchester & DeWolf, Whitewater, Wis.; W. B. 

 Young & Co, Chicago, 111.. Furst & Bradley, Chi- 

 cago, 111.; Buford, Tate & Co., Rock Island, 111.; 

 Andrus & Cummins, Grand de Tour, 111.; T. & H. 

 Smith & Co.; Pekin, 111.; Parliu & Or-sendorf, Can- 

 ton, HI.; Battel! & Boyd, Quincy, HI., W. T. & E. 



