The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1862-01-04
= gricultural News.
From t.ie fi.ilsis Farmer for December

FROM tIE IliISis Farmer ior DecelSts.
We have beautiful samples of cottor
grown in Champaign and Christian coun
ties this season, where preparations are
making to plant several thousand acres
next season. So far as we can learn, cot
ton has not failed 20 fully mature in the
central and south part of the State at any
time since the settlement Of the country.
Corn has Yielded to the laws OF trade, and
IT'S place must be filed by Other products,
and among these we NAV count On sor-
ghum, cotton, fax, aud possibly hemp,
tobacco and castor beans. IIuit culture
still! needs our most attentive care
James Sloan, of Wiunebaeo. raised a
fraction under two acres of fax the pres
ent year, with encouraging results Ii
was sown on old land about the middle o.
May, and started nicely, but the dry sum
mer made il rather short crop, yet the
yield of seed was twelve bushels to the
acre, and about a ton OF straw. lie has
sold for 81 cents per bushel, which gives
*lu24 per acre. The cultivation and cut
ting with reaper and threshing by ms
chine is about the same as wheat.
Compare this statement of flax with
wheat this year, and the preference is
given to flax. Call the average Of whca.
fifteen bushels, which is too high. and
wheat at 10 !cents per bushel is slojU
against $t4 81 for flax
The indications are that it IS safe for
farmers to experiment, at least more
largely with fax
F;"rl the IavenrcF; (lowa) Democrat.
Corn IS 4 drug in the mafket-porIl IS
no better, and it costs as much to raise
wheat as one can get for it. 10 offset the
former we advise or farmer friends TO
plant more SparingiY of corn, and turn
Their attention more extensively 10 the
culture Of sugual ca.e. and the rnai.uiac-
ture Of lnolaSses aud syrup tLerefroTn. II
the present war lasts much longer. and
there is no prospect Of ;ts being closed
within that time, sugar will be an article
OF value As Ii IS naw, pound OF the
poorest sugar Is worth n much more than
4 bushel Of corn. and it costs more to
raise that bushcl Of csrn in actual money
than II Is worth in market If farmer :
family consumes four hundred pounds CT
suEar IN year, t takes about SIX hundred
bushels oi corn at the present rates to pay
for IL But with one-tenth part CT the
land and ore-tenth part Of the labor and
expense, lac can produce oil the sweeten-
ing he can Use in his family Tor Inc year,
and by cu!tivatinE the same extent Of
ground in sugar cane, be can raise not
os:ly enough for his oun E.rnily, but
enougn more to buy The la.snce OF his
family groceries, for sorghum syrup or
sugar ,riHseik and the day Is coming !icft
along when it iii be JUS. as much 2 staple
article st our groceries as New Orleans
sugar OF Java coffee We can but reiter-
ate the advice 10 plant more sugar cane
and !ass corn. Indeed It must be done
Froa, tie lIiao:s Flrner
4 few days since, we were on several
spring wheat farms, and found the Yield
from ten to fourteen bushels to the acre.
and in one case twenty bushels Upon
asking the reaso for this extra Weld over
his neighbors, his answer was. This IS
mCo WHEAT lie had sown :. in the mud.
as the frost was coming ont, while his
neighbour were three weeks later. waiting
for the land 10 get dry. The result IS So.
TX 10 e;gh. acres aga.ns: them. Soon
after the frost gets ont OF TIE ground, ihe
heavy spring rains set in, which DELAYS
planting and sowing In the spring OF
ls;0 these did no: occur until most o:
the sowing was done, hence tie crop His
got IN unusually carly, and 2 large one
was the consequence. If any ore VIII
take the troutle TO investigate the yicId
Of wheat among their ne;4Ato.s they will
find early fail plowing and early sow:n :
connected With the best crops.
From tIe Davenport. f'o~a) D,.-o-rA-
The day seems 10 nave been passc-.
likewise when pork raising is spec;t.@
ton. We found our best market N IL,
South that ma Get IS dead-!Or the pres
cut and is probably ;,.ueh crippled forth
future. Ne have been exchanging pork
Tor cotton. That exchange being cut oil
We must endeavCr. II = measure, 70 over
come the bad effects and We see no better
Way than TO commence paying less atten
tion to rofll and more TO wool and fax
cotton. True, the change cannot be bro
about so suddenly IS in the sorcLIrn cul
tule, but it can be done in "A few years
Farmers ms. turn their attention to rais
ing sheep. There is stern necessity Iol
it. Wool must be Produced; in farm,
houses the spinning wheel, which las G.
ate been crowded aside 10 made room foI
less worthy Instruments. must lie again
brought forward, and the rising genera
tio:.s must learn 10 cultivate an ear for lis
music. IL time we shall have our manu-
factories tor woollen goods distributed
through tie Western States but they
must, IN Il measure, be preceded bv the
spinning wheo. and the hand loom This
cannot well be neglected. She lives C;
our mothers or graudmo;heys were not
shortened or rendered less useful or Plea,
SAINT 10y the Use Of these artiules. When
one branch oi farming fails another must
lee tried. That article which drugs the
market must be curtailcd and others must
be encouraged. We may rs well begin al
once.
From the M.Gregor, Ciowa) Times.
IL looking for products which shall add
to the farmers variety, and render his oc.
cupatIon more certain Of profit, sorghum
or Chinese sugar cane is claiming good
share Of attention. The experiments al
ready made with it III this State have
proved conclusiyely that, giving the ground
such preparation as wonld yield crop oi
fifty or sixty bushels to the acre, enough
cane would be raised to make from one
hundred to two hundred gallons OF syrup,
which, at fifty cents per gallon--a low
estima:e-would give a product of fifty
to one hundred dollars The same acre
planted in corn, would be worth about
twelve dollars; or, sown 10 wheat, about
either of those crops would about equal
that of manufacturing the syrup
These facts, if correct-aEd they are
substantiated BY The written statements O:
many farmers in this State-tiispose fully
of the case, AID leave no room for doubt
that sorghum is the most profitable crop
which our farmers can put into the ground:
Considered in the gene-al light OF political
economy, also, it will save millions OF dot
lars tn this State. annually, which now so
TO the Atlantic cities for syrups and sugars,
The retention of this great sum alone, IN
our circulation. would make an abundant
of the circulating medium in localities
where its scarcity now is EMBARRASSING.
In bavaria, Clermont County, Ohio, the
bows who are too young TO go to the war
have formed company which they call
"Sawbucls Rangers, the design being to