SOLON ROBINSON, 1845 423 



dusty, and the land in fine order for plowing, though I 

 perceive but little of it doing. And would you know 

 why? Why, is it not winter? And who ever heard of 

 plowing in the winter, in a country where we are above 

 such vulgar business as working when we are not obliged 

 to. And another reason is that most of the cultivated 

 land is every year in corn, and much of that is not yet 

 gathered, and besides the stalk fields are the main de- 

 pendance of half the farmers in the country for win- 

 tering the stock. And under such circumstances, not- 

 withstanding the favorable nature of the weather for 

 plowing, if they even had a disposition to do it, they can- 

 not avail themselves of the opportunity. But you will- 

 say they might be otherwise employed; getting up wood 

 for instance. Beg pardon, but you don't know "our 

 folks," — they are waiting for sledding. 



But there are many exceptions to this waiting kind of 

 population, one of which I witnessed at Chesterfield in 

 this county of Macoupin. There were not only orchards 

 and barns, but beautiful groves of locust around the com- 

 fortable houses, at one of which I found a dairy of 70 

 cows; and at almost every house a file of the Cultivator 

 or Prairie Farmer, a paper in high credit in this State. 

 And reader, where do you think this intelligent and en- 

 terprising population were from : I shall not tell, but if 

 you are a yankee, you can easily "guess." I found one 

 of them busily engaged building a new barn, which he 

 assured me he was incited to by reading my remarks 

 upon the subject of the want of this indispensible farm 

 building in the west. I hope my remarks, and the con- 

 trast that I shall exhibit to them between good and bad 

 farmers, that I meet with upon my present tour, will also 

 excite many others to make improvements. 



And here is one example by way of contrast — I spent 

 the night in the cabin of one who had become familiar 

 with my name in the Cultivator, and felt great pleasure 

 in extending a warm welcome to the best he had, to one 

 he had long looked upon as an old acquaintance and 



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