256 now TO GET A FARM, 



the most inviting and valuable of any wild lands on our 

 Continent ; and though the Federal grant covered more 

 than two and a half millions of acres, we believe the public 

 domain was increased not merely in value, but in produc 

 tiveness to the Treasury by this enlightened liberality. 



&quot; Illinois, already the fourth, and probably soon to be 

 the third State in the Union for Virginia is already be 

 hind her in every element of consequence and power is 

 yet in her infancy. Of her soil, probably less than one- 

 fourth has yet been ploughed ; and her last crop immense 

 as it was, especially of corn is but a fraction of what she 

 can and will produce. We believe her product of this 

 staple already far exceeds that of any other State, while in 

 wheat, beef, and pork, she is scarcely second to any. Her 

 coal is hardly exceeded in abundance by that of any other 

 State ; nearly every foot of her surface is underlaid with 

 lime ; and her iron, though less abundant, is good. Her 

 chief mart, though hardly thirty years old, ranks seventh 

 among American cities ; it promises ere long to be the 

 fifth. Illinois bids fair to have five millions of inhabitants 

 in 1880, and to increase the number to ten millions early 

 in the next century. Her career is hardly begun.&quot; 



Three years after the Central Railroad Company 

 began their operations, their sales of land amount 

 ed to 1,312,373 acres, realizing a total sum of 

 $16,663,823. The terms of sale are probably more 

 liberal than are elsewhere to be found. Had they 

 been otherwise, it would have been impossible to 

 attract to a new and wholly unsettled country the 

 largest body of settlers ever voluntarily collected on 

 one spot within so short a period. The buyer has 

 his choice among a million of acres still unsold, and 

 may take land at from $7 to $12 and upward per 



