21 



it is hard to prevail upon its individual members to engage in 

 something they admit may be profitable, but with which they 

 are not perfectly familiar. 



All varieties of small fruit, such as strawberries, currants, 

 blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, etc., are as much at 

 home in Northern Illinois as anywhere in the Union, while 

 grapes, cherries, plums, pears, and apples, can be made prof- 

 itable with the selection of varieties which are prolific and 

 hardy. There is hardly a village in the whole section, which, 

 in the time of ripening of the local crop of small fruits, has a 

 sufficient supply for home use, while the farmer's table that 

 has an abundance is the exception, not the rule. 



Northern Illinois is most favorably situated with regard 

 to markets. Nearly every township is within six hours by ex- 

 press of Chicago, while the lumber regions of Wisconsin and 

 Minnesota, and the wheat fields of the two Dakotas, are not 

 much farther removed; while several trunk lines traverse the 

 whole section whose branches reach to every part of the North- 

 west, West, and Southwest, where an almost unlimited demand 

 exists for the products for which the district is noted, as well 

 as for those which it might supply, were the attention of its 

 farmers called to their cultivation. 



The farmers in this section possess an advantage over 

 those in other portions of the State, for the reason that their 

 market is largely at their own doors, thus doing away with 

 the cost of transportation, as well as the commissions of the 

 middleman. This permits the marketing of fruits and vege- 

 tables in a more mature state than when shipment by rail is 

 made to a distant point, which is also of value to the purchaser, 

 who can always be certian of securing a good article, for the 

 man of whom he buys is generally known to him, and self inter- 

 est prevents the palming off upon customers of immature or 

 worthless articles, an observation which cannot always with 

 truth be made of those who ship to a distant city. 



