, 1864-01-08
= THE FARM AND GARDEN. .
Fnrm Labor and Its Equlvnlent-TFae
Crops OF t888-Care OF the Corn Crop
Fall uP1oTrIng-Kll5ne Of the Penc1h
Esuds-Uead Stalks md Frozen Cel-
lars
Correspondence Chicago Tribune.1
fuk~uATax III Ian "a,

Correspondence Chicago Tribune.1
CuA4PA1os, ILL.,, Jan. 4. 1874.
The holidays are now over, r,.and VIC again
settle down to the staid realities Of farm life.
The Government Assessor will soon be
looking into the profit side Of the ledger, for
tho purpose Of making up onrincomes. Have
your books posted, pay what you owe, renew
your subscription to the TRIBUNE, your
county paper, and at least one agricultural
journal, keep good fires, and be happy. 3:
: The eeason, or rather the year 1868 has been
most singular one for the farmer Commeuc-
ing with large stock Of ten cent corn, and
closing with q light supply at ninety cents, q
difference Of nine hundred per cent. It is
not probable that such extremes will occur
again in the history Of the present genera
tion
During the year large per centagc Of the
labor has been drawn away from the farms to.
assist In the war, not only as soldiers, but In
the corelatiye departments Of thearmy- These
drafts have been seriously felt, but less 80
than If the country had produced the usual
crops md no new improvements had been
made in farm machinery. This latter can be
.reckoncd as respectable per cent, of the Ia
bor abstracted. The boy on his sulky two
horse cnlhvator has dono more and better
work than two men with their old double-
ehovcl plows, and three. to, tour times
that with the single shovel or one
horse plow. The girl driving the sulky. rake
ready for the pitcher. Two horses and the boy
have done tho cutting Of the grass, and in
many cascsi have built the 1oads and tended
the bay fork, and with the mid Of one horse,
put 1t far up in the hay-mow, or on top Of
the stuck, thus ssFing the labor Of strong
arms under the old mode. The millions Of
bushels Of corn that have been sent to mar
kct, hare been shellcd In machines with self
regulating feeders aud bagging apparatus
TINT have SAVED largely In human muscles.
The thresbing machine has been armed with
u strz,w carsiet that has done the stacking,
while the new screens cleaned the grain
ready Tor market.
Thus have tho farmers Of the Northwest
kept on in the even tenor OF their why's, and
had the season been usual one for crops,
would have made larger aggregate of farm
products than ever before. The spring was
favorable, on the whole, for the putting In OF
the spring crops, and al1 those which 1natured
early, such as spring wheat, flax, oats aud
barley, hare made good returns; while sor-
ghum, corn, bnckWheat, potatoes md late
Vegetables have suffered seriously.
The autumn has been favorable for the
gathering Of the light crop, for plowing and
the setting of orchards. IN the north part Of
the center md south little of It las been
done. With the exception Of onr own work
in that line, we do not know ofan acre that has
been turned over. Now that the TRIBUNE
has u large circulation In these parts of the
State, NC have some hope Of a1ousing the
farmers to the great value Of full-plowing
their lnnd.
Great complaints are made, an through tho
basin of Egypt, that the spring ruins prevent
getting The crop In In season. The land can
not be plowed, consequently the crop cannot
be put IN until nfter the rain ceases, when,
too often, the summer drouth comes in to
cut short the hopes Of the farmer. Now, II
nr1row beds, say Of two rods 1ide, and In
early spring stirred to the depth Of four or
five inches with slx-ghovcl cultiyator, and
tic crops sowcd or planted in March aud
Arrfl, 60 as to have the benefit Of the spring
rains, We can sec no reason why that parf Of
the State would not produce annual crops
with as much certainty IS other parts.
The late call Of troops will make another
draft on farm labor, Which We must be pre-
pared to make good with new implements
and more economical application Of labor.
This Is attainable to great extent. In the
first place, now is the time to begin, BY get
ting mp the years supply Of fuel, OF fence
poets, timber for ehcds, corn houses aad 9th
CT purposes. The man who has to send d
team to the woods for fuel In harvest time,
| will find that he committed q fltnl error in
january, and If he fails to haye Is cribs ready
at the time for husking corn, lie will hare
cold fingers before the crop is harvest
cd. Every fall We, sec hundreds Of
teams vending, their way over mud
dy roads to haul rails four to eight
miles to make corn cribs. We never could
fFn $r>1 r+4% ia
have no money or time to throw away in
that direction, and crop Of corn once mado
is worth the saving in good order. Farm
aftcr farm can hc pointed out within sight Of
our window, where not only hundreds but
thousands Of bushels Of com hare been
thrown ont Of the cribs Or rail pens as rotten
three years. II wou1d appear that lessons
thus appealing TO their pocket would siuk
deep Into theft hearts, fnr many Of them arc
now paying seventy-fFe to efglty-hVe cents
buahel 10 supply what they lost through
crop brought corn up TO seyenty-dye cents
busLel, six successful crops gave us, an over
supply, and the price went down so low that
on every dollar received for corn ianother
dollar was lost, but single short crop
OCCURS, and the price goes up nearly four
times that at which 1t can be proftably pro-
duced. 1t It takes six full crops to curry the
price down to lalfits cost Of production and
but one failure, to place 1t four hundred per
cent. above, will It not be found good econ
omy to provide like the Egyptians; of old,
against the famine? Then look to 1t, and
make your cribs during the leisure Of winter,
not rail pens covered with the flcecy clouds,
but with good board or shing1c roof
Tie w.ntcr promises to be one Of Unusual
severity, and It will stand the farmer. in hand
to shelter his stock SO NJ to economize the
short supply Of fodder which has been made
still shorter by large sales to contractors to
the government
EFFECT OF TILE STORM on PEACH TREES.
This morning, knife in hand, VIC waded out
to TIE peach orcf ard and examined over d
hundred buds, not one Of which was alive;
all had the we'll known brown speck In the
center, which but too truly points to the full
ure Of the peach crop. II is not probable
that further investigation will show moro
favorable result.
Ae the apple trees mndo moderate growth,
it is not probable that they are injured by the
Cellars arc reported badly frozen, md Of
course the remnant OF the short vegetable
crop will come in for further shorteniDg,