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ILLINOIS AGRICULTURE.

In view of the limited means at the disposal of the Trustees, upon their first organization, the Corresponding Secretary undertook to gather together, by circulars, such an amount of scientific and practical information as might give to this first report a direct economical value to farmers and others into whose hands it might With this intent the following circular was issued:

come.

DEAR SIR:

ILLINOIS INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY.

OFFICE CORRESPONDING SECRETARY, BOARD OF TRUSTEES,
Alton, Dec. 1, 1867.

In order to obtain for the Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Industrial University reliable statements of the results of the experience and observation of practical farmers in all parts of this State, the following queries are addressed to yourself and others, in the hope that you will find it convenient to communicate any information you may possess upon one or more of the topics named, as well as concerning any other subjects that you may deem of value to the agricultural interests of our State.

Five thousand copies of the Report, in which we wish to embody your suggestions, will be printed and distributed at the expense of the State; and we hope that you and others will avail yourselves of this opportunity to improve the methods of agriculture by a wide distribution of the practices of our best farmers.

Address, W. C. FLAGG, Cor. Sec., Alton.

J. M. GREGORY, Regent.

1. What is the location of your farm by section, township and range; its distance from market town or shipping point?

2. Character of surface soil, as to depth, color and consistency; of subsoil, whether clay, sandy, or gravelly: natural growth, whether prairie or forest, with varieties of plants and trees growing spontaneously.

3. Number of acres in your farm: number in cultivation: number in woodland or wild pasture: division of fields: rotation of crops?

4. When was your farm first put in cultivation: kind of crops taken off: to what extent does the soil seem exhausted by cultivation: have you used manures, and, if

so, with what results: your experience in deep ploughing, and its effect on soil and crops: best plows or other implements for breaking up ground.

5. GRASSES, CLOVERS, ETC.-What do you find most suitable varieties for pastures and meadows: mode of seeding and quantity sown per acre: largest and average yields of meadow lands: average number of live stock of different sorts pastured per acre experience in top-dressing meadows and its effects: stage of growth at which grasses, etc., are best cut for hay: implements preferred for hay-making.

6. GRAINS.-Best varieties of corn, wheat (fall or spring), oats, rye, barley, buckwheat, etc., that have been tried in your neighborhood: the best time and method of preparing ground for each of the small grains: time and method of planting or sowing: drills, sowing machines or planters that you have tried and found best: best harrows and rollers: cultivation of corn, with the kind of implements used: experience, if any, in cultivating wheat by horse-hoe, or otherwise: time of cutting up corn method and implements: time of cutting small grains: reaper or header employed practice in shocking, stacking or putting small grains in barn: largest and average yield: insects and diseases, and methods of subduing them.

7. ROOT CROPS.—Best varieties of Irish and sweet potatoes, turnips, beets, and carrots: time and method of preparing ground: mode of planting, method and means of cultivation: largest and average yield: methods of digging and keeping: cost and value as compared with grain crops for feeding: insects and diseases.

8. LEGUMES.-Best varieties of peas and beans: their management: cost and value as feed crops.

9. TEXTILE PLANTS.-Your experience with flax, hemp and cotton: best varieties, method of planting, cultivating, etc.: value as a farm crop.

10. GROUND PLANTS.-Pumpkins, squashes, watermelons, etc.: management, cost and value as a field crop: insects and diseases.

11.

MISCELLANEOUS.-Hops, tobacco, broom corn, sorghum, onions, chiccory: growth, management and value as farm crop.

12. ORCHARD FRUITS.—Apples, pears, peaches, cherries: preferred varieties for various purposes: preparation of ground: planting, cultivation and pruning: gathering and keeping of fruit: packing for market: fruit houses and cellars: value of orchard products as a farm crop: insects and diseases.

13. SMALL FRUITS.-Grapes, currants, gooseberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries: varieties preferred: mode of preparing ground: planting, cultivation, pruning, draining and gathering: value as a farm crop insects and diseases,

14. WOODLANDS AND TIMBER PLANTATIONS.-Experience in forestry: in management of woodlands, or in growing timber trees from seeds or young trees: value as a crop and as shelter for crops and animals.

15. LIVE STOCK.-Cattle, horses, mules, sheep, swine; breeds preferred: breeding of each: rearing and training: dairy management: fattening of animals: wool growing: management of manures: diseases.

16. OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS.-Poultry, bees, silkworms, etc.: best breeds: rearing and management: diseases.

17. RURAL ARCHITECTURE, ETC.-Houses, barns, (for hay and grain and different kinds of stock,) root and fruit houses, etc.: the materials preferred; best arrangement for economy of labor and comfort.

18.

FENCES.-Material preferred: cost per rod, and cost of keeping up hedge, board and rail fences: value of hedges for protection: is it cheaper to fence out stock than to keep them up?

19. Capital per acre required for good farming?

Thirty-four answers were received, which are arranged according to latitude, beginning with the northernmost counties, for facility in comparing the opinions of those in the same latitude. Answers were received from the following persons:

E. Moss, Belvidere, Boone county; Geo. Chaffee, Belvidere, Boone county; M. A. McConnel, Richmond, McHenry county; Asa Baley, Lindenwood, Ogle county; Silas Reynolds, Aurora, Kane county; D. C. Scofield, Elgin, Kane county; Joseph Tefft, Elgin, Kane county; H. Pierce, Moline, Rock Island county; Jacob Schoen leber, Allen, LaSalle county; Charles E. Barney, Providence, Bureau county; Verry Aldrich, Tiskilwa, Bureau county; Adam Rankin, Monmouth, Warren county; George W, Minier, Mackinaw, Tazewell county; James Robinson, Tremont, Tazewell county; John R. Tull, Pontoo suc, Hancock county; Thos. Gregg, Hamilton, Hancock county; A. C. Hammond, Warsaw, Hancock county; Harvey Sodowsky, Indianola, Vermilion county; William M. Allen, Mt. Pulaski, Logan county; Samuel P. Boardman, Lincoln, Logan county; B. Sweet, Tuscola; George Harding, Bloomfield, Edgar county; G. W. Vaughan, Sullivan, Moultrie county; Sylvester Butler, Majority Point, Cumberland county; W. F. Bliss, Nokomis, Montgomery county; D. Gove, Carlinville, Macoupin county; J. G. Swann, Elsah, Jersey county; E. A. Riehl, Alton, Madison county; John Balsiger, Highland, Madison county; J. Y. Bothwell, Clay City, Clay county; Theodore Engelman, Mascoutah, St. Clair county; George C. Eisenmeyer, Mascoutah, St. Clair county; Joseph Barber, Richview, Washington county; Joseph Warder, Vienna, Johnson county.

The following statements, in answer to the first and second queries, show the conditions of farming which call out the differing opinions.

1. What is the location of your farm by section, township and range its distance from market town, or shipping point?

E. Moss.-One mile south of Belvidere.

G. Chaffee.-Two and one-half miles from depot at Belvidere.

M. A. McConnell -One-half mile from Richmond Station.

Asa Baley.-Six miles from Rochelle, fourteen from Rockford,

H. Pierce.-One-half mile from Moline, three from Rock Island, four from Davenport.

Joseph Tefft.-Five miles west from Aurora on the C. B. and Q. R. R.

J. Schoenleber.-Location of farm: section 9, township 31, range 5, southeast quarter, eleven miles from canal and railroad In Seneca.

V. Aldrich.-Location of farm: section 23, township 15 north, range 1 east, 4th principal meridian. Distance from shipping points: from Hennepin, on Illinois river, five miles; Henry, on Illinois river, thirteen miles; Tiskilwa, on Chicago, Rock

Island and Pacific railroad, five miles; Bureau Junction, three miles; Princeton, on Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad, nine miles.

A. Rankin.-Location of farm; section 31, range 2 west of 4th principal meridian, Monmouth township, one mile and a half from the depot.

G. W. Minier. My farm is northeast quarter of section 3, town 23 north, range 2 west of the third principal meridian; three and a half miles due north of Minier Station, on the St. Louis, Jacksonville and Chicago railroad.

J. Robinson.—My farm is located in section 10, township 24 north, range 4 west of the third principal meridian, in Tazewell county, Illinois, and is distant seven miles from Pekin, on the Illinois river.

J. R. Tull-My farm is located in south half of section 7, township 7 north, of range 7 west of the fourth principal meridian, Hancock county, Illinois. It is two miles from a shipping point, and four miles from a market town.

Th. Gregg. My farm or fruit lot is located in the city limits of Hamilton, on section 29, township 5 north, range 8 west of the fourth principal meridian, in Hancock county, at the foot of the Lower Rapids, and opposite Keokuk, Iowa, from which it is distant one and a half miles, including the river. Keokuk and Warsaw, five miles below, are our shipping points by river, Hamilton by rail.

A. C. Hammond.-My farm is situated in township 4 north, ranges 8 and 9 west, four miles from Warsaw.

Harvey Sodowsky.-My farm is situated on the Little Vermilion river, being in sections 17 and 18, township 17, range 12 west. I am half a mile north of Chillicothe and ten miles south of the Great Western railroad. Fairmount and Catlin are my nearest shipping points. I am some twenty miles west of the Wabash river.

Wm. M. Allen.-Section 8, township 18 north, 1 west. Shipping point Lincoln, distant twelve miles.

S. P. Boardman.-That my farm consists of the west half of section 29, the east half of section 30, the southwest quarter of section 20, and the southeast quarter of section nineteen, all the tracts being in town 20, range 1 west of third principal meridian. It is six miles and a half from Lincoln, the county seat of Logan county, and my market town.

G. Harding. Farm located in township 15 north, range 12 west, twelve miles from Paris.

G. W. Vaughan.—Part of my farm is in section 3, township 13, range 5, and the rest in sections 27 and 34, 14 south east, third principal meridian. Its distance from a shipping point by rail is twelve miles, but the best shipping point, and that to which we usually take our grain, is Mattoon, 18 or 20 miles distant. My farm is one and a half miles from Sullivan, the county seat of our county.

8. Butler.—My farm lays lengthwise, east and west, section 9, township 10, range 9, E.

W. F. Bliss.-Montgomery county; section 21, in township 10 north, range 2 west, one mile west of Nokomis, which is its shipping point, and 81 miles from St. Louis on the St. Louis and Indianapolis railway.

D. Gove.-My farm is located in sections 9 and 10, in township 10, range 7, Macoupin county; is two miles and a half north of Carlinville, the county seat of Macoupin county.

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