CLIMATE — TOBACCO. 99 



goose, the swan goose, ducks of almost any grade or color, 

 and white, yellow, and black turkeys ; only kept on the farm 

 as an incident, and sold when over-stocked. 



Our lands are a light colored loam, with yellow or red 

 clay sub-soil, mostly timbered in this county ; in Wayne on 

 the north about one-half prairie ; on the west, Jefferson and 

 Franklin, each about one-third prairie ; Saline on the south, 

 nearly all timber ; White on the east, about one-sixth prairie, 

 generally rolling. In the north part of this county, which for 

 a prairie country is quite hilly, it is well adapted to the produc- 

 tion of all kinds of grain or grass, and is surpassed for fruit- 

 growing by few counties in Southern Illinois, the apple, peach, 

 pear, quince and plum growing in perfection and profusion. 



Our climate is quite temperate, but subject to sudden 

 changes of temperature, the country north to the lake being 

 almost an open plain. With the exception of some bilious fever 

 in unacclimated persons, sickness is almost unknown. It is 

 one of the best counties in Southern Illinois for rearing 

 and fattening stock ; for dairymen or any other farming enter- 

 prises. 



Our inhabitants are a hardy, robust people, bred from the 

 plebeian class of the Southern States, crossed with German, 

 Irish, and Eastern Yankees. 



The St. Louis and Southeastern railway, running from St. 

 Louis to Evansville, enters the county in the northwest cor- 

 ner, the Shawnee branch going out at the southeast corner, and 

 the Evansville to the east. Near our east line is run and oper- 

 ated a branch of the O. & M. R. R., formerly the Springfield 

 and Southeastern, and on the south, near the line, the Eldorado 

 and Carbondale. They are so located that any citizen of Hamil- 

 ton County can reach a station on some one of the several 

 railways in. less than ten miles. 



Last year one-half million pounds of tobacco were pro- 

 duced in the county, but our fine wheat crop of two years ago 

 has almost stopped tobacco planting, and the region is now 

 converted into a vast wheat field. Commencing its general 

 culture in the season of 1878, this county produced nearly 



