72 MACON COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



better than ten per cent., but be sure to liave good tile. I 

 think that there are no better made in the State than those 

 made here. 



I think a visit to my farm by any one who has not yet 

 done any tiling will so thoroughly convince him of its great 

 benefits that he will go home and do as I have done in this 

 particular. 



H. W. DAVIS, 



DECATUR, MACON COUNTY. 



Mixed Husbandry — Tiling is Working Out the Road Prohlem — 

 Feed on the Farm all the Grass Grown — iVb Cure for Hog 

 Cholera, But a Big Preventive. 



Connected with the region of the Grand Prairie, where 

 the ever flowing Sangamon River, with its many creeks and 

 rivulQjbs, contributes to water and drain and timber the soil, this 

 greai expanse of grass and corn-growing country, has appeared 

 to me to be about the center of the Universe, neither too far 

 North nor too far South. It has been complained of as being 

 too muddy at times, and again too dry ; too cold, and too hot ; 

 in short, too changeable. But these charges are made mostly by 

 old chronic grumblers, who are never satisfied with any thing 

 or any body. Our lands are about one-quarter timber and three- 

 quarters prairie, mostly dry enough, slightly rolling. Some of 

 the prairie contains small ponds or basins that hold water a 

 part of the year, but ditching and tiling will soon cure the 

 worst cases. 



THE SOIL OF THE PRAIRIE IS ALL GOOD, 



and there is hardly an acre to be found in a day's ride 

 but can easily be made to produce abundant crops. No waste 

 land whatever. True, our rich loamy soil, when water-soaked, 

 mixes up into mud, and at times we have bad roads ; but tiling 

 is working out the road problem, as well as the drying of fields^ 



