368 
LETTER FROM AN OLD FRIEND IN ILLINOIS. 
LETTER FROM AN OLD FRIEND IN ILLINOIS. 
Much as I have always found in the Agricul¬ 
turist interesting and useful, and for which I 
would not be without for ten times the cost, I 
seldom find articles from the state of my adop¬ 
tion, or those particularly applicable to Illinois 
farming. But that is provided for by “ our 
paper,” the Prairie Farmer, while yours is of 
more general application to the whole country 
—to the American agriculturist, from Maine 
to Oregon, from Canada to Florida. I therefore 
wish our farmers would write more. [So do 
we. It has ever been our aim to make ours a 
national paper, and we have been to great ex¬ 
pense to collect information from all parts, to 
give it a character of interest and usefulness to 
all of our readers.— Eds.] 
We need here an infusion of that light of im¬ 
provement, which often shines effectually in 
the east, before it begins to dawn here. The 
reason is obvious to all who know anything of 
the history of Illinois. The southern and cen¬ 
tral portions of the state are settled by that 
class of persons known in the slave states, as 
“ poor white folks,” who never having enjoyed 
the advantages of education and refinements of 
civilisation, are content to continue in the same 
unimproved condition of their fathers, satis¬ 
fied with a supply of “ corn bread and common 
doings,” for every day, and more than satisfied 
with “ wheat bread and chicken fixings,” for ex¬ 
traordinary occasions. With the unreading 
adults of this class, what can be expected in the 
way of scientific improvement of agriculture, 
horticulture, floriculture, or stock raising ? They 
know but one way, and have not the ability to 
learn any other; but you will say the northern 
portion of the state is settled with a Puritan 
stock, off-shoots of New England and other 
northern states, where they early learned the 
paths of pleasantness and peace that lead to 
the old school house and village church. True, 
they have spread over the rich prairies around 
every grove, and locust-like, they swarm around 
every village site, where, but a few years ago, 
none but the red man, the hunter, or the soldier, 
had ever trod. In all this region, not a dozen 
adults can be found, who can call this their 
own, their “ native land.” Yet, amidst the toil 
and care of creating new houses, wresting the 
land from its savage wildness, and turning it 
into broad fields of golden grain and ripening 
corn, and building cities, towns, and villages, 
fine farm houses, barns, mills, and manufacto¬ 
ries, the people find time to read, and if the 
American Agriculturist were better known, it 
would be more read; for every number is full 
of valuable information, for all classes, and may 
be read with profit by Illinois farmers, and 
farmers’ wives, sons, and daughters. 
Inclosed, you have my subscription for next 
year, and my sincere wish, is, that you may 
have many more from this garden spot of the 
west. J. D. S * * * * 
McHenry Co., Ill, Oct., 1850. 
We cannot resist the temptation to publish 
the above letter, though not intended for that 
purpose. The writer knows the expensive 
efforts we have made to make this paper one of 
the most interesting and reliable ones of the 
kind ever published in the county. Others, 
like our friend above, often tell us it is not“par- 
ticularly applicable ” to this or that particular 
section. We are glad to hear it, because we do 
not intend it shall be. If we were now about 
to adopt a name, or change the present one, we 
would call it the National Farmer, because it 
is a paper for the nation, not a section. We 
desire to receive communications and informa¬ 
tion from every section, and if our friends in 
Illinois will favor us, we shall be obliged to 
them; and certainly we have no objection to 
have them send us a few more subscribers 
for the next volume. 
HAND COTTON GIN. 
These are usually made of about eighteen saws, 
and worked entirely by hand. They gin equally 
as well as the larger or horse-power gins, but, 
of course, work much slower. 
Hand Cotton Gin.—Fig. 88. 
THE CULTIVATOR—SUBSOIL PLOWING. 
In my former articles on improved farming 
implements, I noticed the plow, harrow, and 
horserake. I now shall offer a few remarks on 
the cultivator, the subsoil plow, and their uses. 
The cultivator is an implement, which, within 
the last few years, has come into general 
use among those farmers who go in for im¬ 
provement. It is used in the cultivation of 
corn, potatoes, and other crops planted in rows, 
or drills, and needs no particular description. 
The teeth are usually from five to seven in 
number, and are made in such form as to cut 
and stir the ground even and alike. The frame 
is sometimes made to expand and contract to 
suit the width of the rows. 
The subsoil plow is of recent invention, and 
its particular use is yet but little understood by 
the great mass of farmers. It is simply a plow 
without a moldboard, upright in form, with a 
narrow point for a share, and a sole to run upon. 
Its use is to follow directly behind the sward 
plow, in the same furrow, going down to a depth of 
