18 



as the central division of the State was comparatively an un- 

 known wilderness, except along the courses of a few rivers. 

 The south end of the State produced in great abundance a class 

 of fruits whose varieties were entire strangers to people who 

 lived north, and vice versa. At the south there was no demand 

 for commercial fruits, for there were no large cities, and no 

 means of communication except by boat if there had been. 

 Almost the same condition existed in the north until the open- 

 ing of railways made Chicago grow, and consequently made a 

 market for the surplus grown in that region. For many years 

 commercial orchards and small fruit farms paid .good dividends, 

 and would today were the same conditions present. The de- 

 mands of a large city for milk, butter, cheese, hay, and vege- 

 tables at large prices caused the growing of fruit to be 

 neglected; and as the old orchards, with their many worthless 

 varieties and non- bearers, died out, new ones were not planted, 

 and many sections which formerly produced abundant yields 

 of apples are now buyers in other markets. To some extent, 

 also, the opening of railways in the central and southern por- 

 tions of the State, and the virgin soils for the first time made 

 available for fruit culture, caused many fruit-growers to seek 

 locations in those sections. The earlier season further south 

 had much to do with this, for then as now the first fruits 

 always returned to the grower the most profit. Land was also 

 cheaper, owing to its remoteness from market, although it 

 produced crops of all kinds that frequently challenged belief. 

 All that was required was to tickle the soil with the plow, plant 

 a tree or vine, and the most gratifying results followed. This 

 change of condition came about in northern Illinois with the 

 year 1865, when the close of the war threw a million of men, 

 most of them young and active, into civil life and caused a 

 demand for the opening of new states until then unthought of 

 by the most enthusiastic. 



DIVERSIFIED CROPS. 



The effects of diversified industry and products, to which 

 we called the attention of the reader in the cases of England 

 and France, apply with equal force to the individual as well as 

 to the nation or state. The man who devotes his whole farm 



