160 LA SALLE COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 



We have some flat lands in this vicinity, but these are being 

 drained and redeemed. Hundreds of acres of this flat land it 

 was thought a few years ago would never be worth much of 

 anything except for pasture. Several 



MILES OF TILE 



have been put in during the season of 1879 which we feel 

 assured will enhance the value of such land from forty to sixty 

 per cent. A good many of our farmers have had open drains. 

 These have proved valuable, but they are inconvenient, and 

 every one now is substituting tile drains. 



These drains, hand-made, cost sixty cents per rod ; made by 

 new patent horse power ditcher, the}^ cost something less. 



FENCES. 



First we made " sod fence," then worm fence. Later we 

 tried hedge fence (Osage Orange). I have a few posts (Red 

 Cedar) that have been in use thirty-seven years ; a few rails 

 made and used forty-four years. Again we had wire fence, 

 and. the latest and most approved is the " Elastic barbed lock 

 wire fence." This last we think will take precedence of, and 

 supplant all other forms of fence. In the seven thousand 

 miles I have traveled. East, West, North and South, and in all 

 I have seen and learned, no place seems to me better adapted 

 for agricultural, horticultural and kindred purposes, than this, 

 our beloved county, and our dear flobal home ! 



