LETTEE V. 



Springfield. Appearance of Country. Cattle Show. Stock Farming. Experi- 

 ence of a successful Farmer. His Mode of laying his Farm to Grass. Novel 

 Implements. Merino Sheep Farming. Account of it by the Owner of a large 

 Flock. System of managing Prairie Land recommended. Sowing Grass 

 Seeds on Snow. Valuable Meadow. Price of Merino Sheep. Superiority of 

 Prairie to Timbered Country. The Governor of Illinois. The Public Officers 

 of State. Manners of the People. Decatur. Lost on the Prairie. The 

 American Settler. Mutual Help. Fences. Pana and its Neighbourhood. 

 Settlement of French Canadians. 



FROM Bloomington I proceeded southwards to Springfield, the 

 capital, and not far from the centre of the state of Illinois. 

 This is a fine town, with good streets and shops, and the neigh- 

 bourhood is diversified by timber. It is like all other places 

 in this part of the country, surrounded by the wide prairie. 

 The view from the top of the State house very much resembles 

 that of the plain of Lombardy as seen from the Duomo of 

 Milan, except that there is nowhere a boundary of mountains. 

 But there is the same far stretching plain, with trees in lines 

 and groups, the timber becoming denser along the banks of 

 the streams, which have cut out for themselves hollow passages 

 winding about on the panoramic landscape spread before the 

 eye. The inhabitants of the town, like those in the country, 

 are not this season exempt from ague. 



I visited the country cattle fair or show which was then 

 being held in a field close by the town. The best short-horn 

 stock were exhibited by Mr. Brown, a celebrated cattle breeder 

 of this State, whose acquaintance I had the good fortune to 

 make in the show yard. He exhibited a short-horn cow, bred 



