SOLON ROBINSON, 1845 419 



an excited community. Our friend Wright of the Prairie 

 Farmer, was also at Springfield, engaged in a noble effort 

 to get an improvement in the present very defective com- 

 mon school law of Illinois. An uphill business — reminds 

 me something about casting pearls before a certain kind 

 of animals. 



There are a few good buildings in the "city," one of 

 which is the defunct State bank, built of the same mate- 

 rial as the State House, from a quarry about 8 miles dis- 

 tant — also a stone church. There is a large plow manu- 

 factory here, which makes about 2,000 a year, with 

 wrought iron mould-boards, which are not equal how- 

 ever to those made wholly of steel at Chicago. There 

 are two furnaces for small castings, that use iron from 

 Tennessee, and coal to melt it with from Philadelphia; 

 the coal of Illinois, which is abundant within a few miles, 

 not being fit for that purpose. 



This is an old and rich country, with good soil and tim- 

 ber, yet there is a great deal of uncultivated land. There 

 are some orchards, but as the country has not been set- 

 tled more than 20 or 25 years, people must be excused 

 for not having fruit, as it takes a great many years to 

 get that, when there are no trees set out. 



As an evidence of the rapid growth of timber, I was 

 told of one 80 acre lot that was cut off nine years ago, 

 and will now afford fifteen cords to the acre, mostly oak. 

 This kind of wood is worth about $1,25 a cord in Spring- 

 field. Wheat here, as well as all along the road from 

 Ottawa, is worth about 50 cts., corn 20 cts., oats 15 cts. 

 And every where through this part of the State, there is 

 one universal cry of no money, and very poor crops for 

 two years past, which I can readily believe, and will also 

 add that they will be so for two years to come; for no 

 system of farming like that almost universally followed 

 here, will ever afford the farmer good crops. Although 

 he may raise a great many bushels of corn, and keep a 

 great many poor hogs, horses and cattle to eat it all up 

 in the winter, which they must do for lack of any other 



