BEES— DAIRYING. 61 



nadian. But for real hard service on the farm I use neither, 

 greatly preferring large active mules. For driving I find none 

 equal to the Morgan. As a rule, large horses are poor 

 roadsters. 



BEES. 



Every farmer will do well to keep bees. I have found 

 them always profitable, but think it will not do to keep too 

 many of them in close proximity. 



FRUIT. 



I have already said all I need say on this subject, but 

 will add that I find no apple so profitable as the Ben Davis. 

 With all my prejudice against it, it has overcome my scruples. 



DAIRYING 



will soon be introduced, more or less, in all farming operations. 

 But I do nothing save for family use. I find the best cows 

 for producing milk to be the common stock of the country, 

 improved by judicious selections generally best made by the 

 housewives of the country. This part of husbandry deserves 

 more attention than it is receiving from the Illinois farmer, as 

 a rule. 



LAND. 



The eastern portion of Tazewell County is high, rolling 

 prairie, intersected by streams of water and skirted with belts 

 of timber. The western portion, bordering the grand naviga- 

 ble Illinois River, is a sandy loam, well underlaid with coal. 

 Timber and springs abound. Farms throughout the county 

 are valued at from twenty to one hundred dollars per acre. 



CONCLUSION. 



My best paying fruits are apples, grapes and strawberries. 

 Little account is taken of any of them save the apple. Still, 

 these smaller fruits enter so largely into the necessaries and 

 luxuries of the dining room, that they should not be ignored. 

 Corn is, however, the crop of Central Illinois. Certainly the 

 most important cereal. Wheat, in certain localities, and on 

 clay soils, which lie chiefly along the belts of timber, is 

 always to be encouraged. 



