78 MOMENCE TO MONEE. 



running over a limestone bed, the banks of which are wooded 

 and picturesque. Improved land sells here at 51. to SI. an acre. 

 The Indian corn was good and well managed, and I observed 

 several fields of broom corn, a tall plant, exactly resembling 

 Indian corn and cultivated in the same way, but bearing its 

 seed, which is like millet, at the top. It is largely cultivated 

 for the manufacture of brooms, for which the seed-bearing fibres, 

 which are tough, elastic, and flexible, are used. An acre of 

 this plant is much more valuable than Indian corn. Manu- 

 factories are established in the State for making it up, and a 

 crop which is in all respects suitable for the purpose yields some- 

 times as much as 201. an acre. 



From Momence to Monee we passed through the same de- 

 scription of dry black rolling prairie. The country is higher 

 here, and the winters more severe. A settler told me that they 

 had generally to fodder their stock for seven months, for though 

 the snow did not lie long, the frost bound the soil eighteen in- 

 ches down. In order to secure the safety of the winter wheat 

 it is sown among the growing Indian corn, plenty of the stalk 

 of which is left when the corn is reaped to catch and hold the 

 snow, which thus shelters the young wheat from the intense 

 frost. The average crop of wheat is twenty-five bushels an 

 acre, forty to fifty bushels of Indian corn, and forty of oats. 

 But this year oats proved a total failure. White clover and 

 blue grass everywhere make their appearance among the prairie- 

 grass, where that is closely pastured. Cattle thrive well on 

 these prairies, and the natural hay cut in August or Septem- " 

 ber, on the upland prairie, makes excellent fodder for both 

 horses and cattle. But horses do not thrive so well in the 

 summer on the prairie, they are so tormented by the horse-fly, 

 whih seems unable to make any impression on the thicker 

 hides of the cattle. 



Towards evening we reached Monee, and an hour or two 



