SOLON ROBINSON, 1845 403 



the Doctor some two years ago, and found him in a very- 

 small log cabin, standing upon an unenclosed waste of 

 prairie; and now I find him in a snug frame house, sur- 

 rounded by a large well enclosed farm. Most of his fence 

 is laid straight, the ends of the rails fastened by short 

 blocks, which he prefers as a saving of timber, (a very 

 important item) to the common worm fence. I objected 

 to this, as less substantial than worm fence, but he as- 

 sures me that when well staked, and with heavy riders, 

 the wind has no effect upon it, and being straight, he 

 can plow closer, and thus give his fields a better appear- 

 ance. His lady-like eastern wife, is just such an one as 

 is calculated to make the "new home in the West" com- 

 fortable. I found the whole house carpeted with the 

 most beautiful rag carpet I ever saw, all the work of her 

 own hands. 



The 2d of January, like the day previous, was another 

 lovely day, for which I was thankful, as I had a dozen 

 miles across an open unsettled prairie, which must long 

 remain unsettled, unless cultivated without fence, or else 

 by some as yet undiscovered method of fencing; for the 

 settlements are already as much extended from the 

 groves upon each side as circumstances will admit, and 

 the experiment of sod fence, I look upon as a total fail- 

 ure. Twelve miles from Juliet, 1 we strike the "Hickory 

 Creek Settlement," one of the oldest in this part of the 

 State, possessing a fine body of timber, good mill privi- 

 leges excellent prairie, and many well improved farms, 

 the new houses and barns upon which show a thriving 

 Yankee population; there are but few orchards coming 

 forward, and in many cases where houses are situated 

 upon the bleak prairie, there is not a tree or shrub vis- 

 ible. This is a neglect that I cannot too highly censure. 

 Neither can I too highly censure an almost equal neglect 

 to make good roads through so good a country. 



Juliet. — This town is situated upon the "Riviere des 

 Planes," (a good sized mill stream,) 40 miles south-west- 



1 Joliet. 



