25 



ited quantities of fruit and vegetables, the fact, nevertheless, 

 exists that 



SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 



possesses a soil and climate, which in the estimate of practical 

 men, make it par excellence the home of all the fruits grown in 

 its latitudes anywhere. Covered originally over nearly half 

 its area with a huge growth of forest trees, which attested the 

 fertility of the soil and a favorable climate, it was so far re- 

 moved from market except by steam or flat-boat that its forests 

 were comparatively untouched when the other sections had 

 become well settled. The prairies of the interior were con- 

 sidered valueless for any practical purpose, but time has dem- 

 onstrated that the soil is admirably adapted to the production 

 of hay, wheat, small fruit, and especially apples, large orchards 

 of which are to be found along or near the railways. 



When the Illinois Central railway first penetrated the hills 

 of the Grand Chain, and the sound of the locomotive whistle 

 awoke the sleepy inhabitants from their lethargy, and opened 

 a market for their products of which they had never dreamed, 

 but few of the natives realized the capabilities and opportuni- 

 ties that were at their doors. Slowly, one by one, buyers of 

 fruit from Chicago made their way to this region, which in the 

 language of that day was called Egypt, from the fact that in 

 years of scarcity the residents further north had gone there 

 for corn, but which term was soon made to mean intellectual 

 darkness, from the supposed obtuseness of many of the original 

 inhabitants who resisted progress until it pushed them aside. 



The size and quality of the peaches and the beauty of the 

 apples as well as the healthy growth of the few native pear 

 trees excited the wonder and curiosity of the outside world, 

 and soon attracted the attention of nurserymen and others 

 from the North, who saw the opportunity and took advantage 

 of it, so that at the present time whole townships maybe said 

 to be given over entirely to fruit and vegetable culture. 



