^^ 



1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



237 



A. Rogers, Quincy, 111.; J. H. Wood & Co., War- 

 saw, 111.; Pratt Moorbery, Morton, III; Joseph 

 Maithoper, Ottawa, 111., Elliss & Dangerfield, Jack- 

 sonville, 111.; and Barber & Hawley, Decatur, 111. 



John Dement was called to the chair, and L. 6. 

 Pratt chosen Secretary. 



The constitution reported by the committee ap- 

 pointed at the last meeting, was accepted, and per- 

 manent officers elected, as follows : 



President — John Dement. 



Secretary — Charles H. Deere. 



Treasurer — David Bradley. 



T. D. Brewster, T. Cumniins, and D. E. Buford 

 were appointed a committee of arbitration. 



The following were adopted : 



Resolved, That the prices of all steel plows, ex- 

 cepting cultivators, be advanced not less than 25 

 percent, over the present printed- price list, as 

 near as may be, avoiding fractions. 



Resolved, That the discount to the trade shall be 

 from 20 to 25 per cent, from list price. 



Resolved, That the price of wheat cultivators be 

 advanced ten dollars from the present list prices. 



Resolved, That the discount on wheat cultivators 

 shall not exceed 25 per cent. 



The proceedings of the convention were marked 

 by the utmost unanimity, and very little discust^ion 

 was needed in arriving at the conclusion announc- 

 ed above. After the transaction of some other 

 i«iner business the meeting adjourned. 



The above will not be pleasant news to our far- 

 mers in want of new plows. Old plows will be 

 brought out and tried again ; new shares and han. 

 dies will be sought for, and the lame and halt 

 among plows made to come forth to resume duty- 

 We have a small museum of old plows, but they 

 won't come at our bidding. The new cast caststeel 

 of Deer is in the way and the boys say nothing else 

 will make a good furrow, run easy for the team 

 and scour under all conditions. It is evident tha^ 

 we shall lose largely by thus prematurely getting 

 the cast cast-steel on the old plows. Well, we 

 it;ope to survive the loss. — Ed. 



Fruit Stealing. — A farmer and fruit raiser in 

 Western New York, gives his experience in fruit 

 raising as follows : — I have four thousand peach 

 trees in bearing condition, besides apples, pears 

 and other frait — all of which are exposed to being 

 stolen, but my firmness in carrying out my designs 

 has been/a preventive against having my fruit sto- 

 len or di^sturbed by any such persons as have a dis- 

 positioij to take that which is not their own. At 

 the riDi^ning of my first crop of fruit, being some- 

 what innoyed, I determined to plant a complete 

 osag^ orange fence around my fruit grounds as a 

 prote-ction as well as a fence ; but I am now happy 

 to pjjy^ that an occasional walk around the premi- 

 ss, at different hours of the night, using without 

 ''Cfljitation good firearms, is a safer preventive 

 ■g^nst thieves. 



, ^his is a pretty peremptory mode of scattering 

 Wit thieves ; but unfortunately sometimes nothing 

 ^^a will prove eflfective. In this and the near coun- 

 «3, we have a law for the protection of our prem- 

 f^a— our orchards, gardens, yards and crops; and 



the punishment of a detected fruit stealer or garden 

 trespasser may be the common jail. One or two 

 examples in a neighborhood would thoroughly 

 protect it against these reckless marauders, and 

 we trust that in every instance where the thieves 

 are discovered or can be ferreted out, the law will 

 be rigorously put in force. — Oermantown Tel. 



We have a pretty effectual law in this State 

 against fruit stealing, but thus far have not heard 

 of its having been put in practice further than to 

 hold it up to the petty vagabonds. Yet this, of it. 

 self, has been of great value in numerous instan- 

 ces. We shall have no hesitation in using it when 

 occasion requires. Osage hedges are only a fan- 

 cied security, not half as valuable as that of the 

 Dutchman's above described. — Ed. 



Grapb Culture. — Mr. Knox thinks grape cul- 

 ture has been injured by its friends, who advise 

 great expense in preparing the ground ; some ad- 

 vise to stir the soil three and others four feet deep. 

 This is a usulesa expense, and positively injurious 

 to the vine. Fifteen to twenty inches is as deep 

 as the soil need be stirred. If worked much deep- 

 er, and manured heavily, the vines grow too ram- 

 pant. Bejiinuing with the newly planted vine, he- 

 cuts back to two or three eyes. The second year he 

 cuts out all but one cane, and the next fall cuts 

 that back to three eyes. These produce three 

 stroiig fruiting canes for the third year, two of 

 which are bent, to form the arms, and the middle 

 one trained upright. The trellis is not erected un 

 til the third year. The vines will each mature ten 

 pounds of grapes the third season, and throw up 

 canes for future fruiting. The process then con- 

 SlRts in cutting out each alternate upright shoot 

 every year, which leaves four bearing and four 

 glowing canes to each vine — the vines bting six 

 feet apart, and the upright about nine inches dis- 

 tant and eight feet long. During the summer the 

 new growth of the spurs is pinched in, retaining 

 as many leaves beyond (he last cluster as there are 

 clusters on the spurj Arms, he thinks, do not 

 afford sufficient room for cur rampant growers. 

 That if left to themselves, would cover a tree 100 

 feet in hight. Prunes in November. — Ama'ican 

 Agriculturist. 



Fairbanks' Scales. — About thirty-five years ago, 

 the Messrs. Fairbanks invented and began making 

 platform Scales, which effected a complete change 

 in the manner of doing such business as requires 

 weighing, and without which it would be impossi- 

 ble to do the present amount of business in the 

 country. Since then they have given their con- 

 stant personal attention to the business, making 

 all such improvements and adding such modifica- 

 tions as their experience has shown to be desirable. 

 During this time many other kinds of scales have 

 been invented, and more or less tried by the pub- 

 lic, and mainly thrown aside, while the business of 

 the Messrs. Fairbanks has steadily increased from 

 year to year, their scales now standing higher in 

 public estimation, and their sales being very much 

 larger than ever before. This shows very stnmgly 

 the excellence and durability of Fairbanks' Scales. 



