522 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 9 



The first is from the Bangor Whig, and from 

 the pen of the editor, who was then travelling in 

 the north-western states. 



"I cannot say I am so well pleased with what 

 I have seen in the western country as I anticipat- 

 ed, but I am but ill (lualified to judge as yet. One 

 thing is certain, this part of the country, if it ever 

 arrives at the greatness predicted, must do so 

 through the deprivations and sufferings of the pre- 

 sent generation. The present settlers are working 

 hard for posterity— will posterity reward them? 

 The common comforts and conveniences of life 

 are given up, — people merely stay, dragging out 

 an existence ; toiling and sweating lor the im- 

 provement of a country which it will take years 

 to bring to a state of civilization, if one may so 

 term it. The cities of the west are comfortable 

 compared to the interior settlements, but even 

 those are at present miserable places for men to 

 live in, but yet they are inhabited. Chicago, for 

 instance, on Lake Michigan, is below the level of 

 the water in some places, and no where above it. 

 No cellars can be duff because of water. Here 

 lurk bilious and intermittent fevers and agues. 



"The past summer, throughout the whole 

 country, as you are aware, has been remarkable 

 for its intense heat, and great drought — through 

 the west this has been the case in a most extraor- 

 dinary degree. The consequences are now being 

 experienced, and they are indeed awful. A wide 

 spread pestilence extending from the Ohio to the 

 far west, is sweeping mariy to their sravee, and 

 causing an immensity of suff^ering. Places have 

 been deserted, and the cattle turned in the unreap- 

 ed fields. Whole towns have been sick — six or 

 eight patients to a family — none have escaped, 

 far and near this disease has stricken the weak 

 and the strong. It is a bilious fever, not very fatal, 

 it is true, but exceedingly distressing. I have 

 scarcely seen a good looking countenance since I 

 left Detroit. This fever is natural to ihis new 

 country, and always prevails during the latterpart 

 of the summer in some places, and to some de- 

 gree, but it has never before made the sick trem- 

 ble and the well man turn pale. The fever will 

 undoubtedly stop as soon as cold weather ap- 

 proaches." 



" Health of Iowa and fVisconsin. — The Galena 

 Advertiser and Gazette of the 10th ult., [Oct.] 

 says: — 'We have distressing accounts of sickness 

 from almost every quarter of the inhabited parts 

 ot the territories of Wisconsin and Iowa, as well 

 as many portions of Illinois. The raotality, ge- 

 nerally, we are happy to learn, in this affliction, 

 bears but a small proportion to the number of at- 

 tacks. The chief causes, according to all accounts, 

 are bilious fevers, and fever and ague." 



The next is from the Cultivator of November. 



"Sickness in the West. — The Land Sales. — The 

 citizens of northern Indiana have addressed a 

 •petition to the president of the United States, ask- 

 ing a postponement of the sales of the public 

 lands in that section. They give as their reasons 

 for making this request, that " there is now pre- 

 vailing throughout all that section an unparallel- 

 ed epidemic, that is carrying hundreds to their 

 graves, and thousands to their sick beds, while 

 Iheir crops are rotting in the fields unharvested ; 



amid such universal distress that it renders it im- 

 possible for the settlers to make the necessary ex- 

 ertions to obtain the means of purchasing their 

 humble homes." 



The next is a letter to the editor of the Cincin- 

 nati Gazette. 



"Lake C. H., la. ISlh Oct., 1838. 



"To the Editor of the Cincinnati Daily Gazette. 



"Dear Sir. — The unparalleled drought still con- 

 tinues with unabated intensity. Scarcely rain 

 enough has fiillen in this section of the country 

 to lay the dust, since theforepart of June. Wells, 

 ponds, springs and streams, that had every mark 

 of 'living water,' are gone, no one knows whither. 

 Many have their water, for family use, to haul 

 miles. Cattle are turned out upon the broad com- 

 mons to seek their daily drink. Even the musk- 

 rats, Ihatabound in such immense numbers around 

 the head of Lake Michigan, are wandering far 

 and wide over the dry prairies in search of their 

 natural element. 



" 'The Eclipse'' and the Equinox have passed, 

 a dry storm of wind. No frost as yet has been 

 sufflcient to kill vegetation, and yet it is dried up 

 and ready for the spreading fires that annually 

 sweep over the prairies, the smoke of which now 

 fills the air, and darkens the sun. A cool dry at- 

 mosphere, with high winds, has slightly improved 

 the health of the country, but much suffering still 

 exists. 



" A most singular and remarkable fact is worthy 

 of notice. While all the waters around have 

 fallen. Lake Michigan has risen. The Indian 

 tradition, lonor doubted, is likely to be verified, of 

 a septennial tide in the northern lakes. It would 

 appear as though all the surplus waters of the land 

 had been conducted by some mysterious agency 

 into the lake, until it is so swelled that its waves 

 sweep with unrelenting fury over the fair fortune 

 of many a rich owner of city property, whose 

 thousands are permanently invested in 'Water 

 lots,' 



" A gentleman now present, whose word can- 

 not be doubted, informs me that on a recent trip 

 from Detroit to Chicago, he saw numerous de- 

 serted habitations upon the shores of the lakes, in 

 some of which the water was two feet deep. And 

 at Milwaukie, that many a lot was more suitable 

 to sailing than walking. 



" A hard fate seems to await numerous 'fine 

 flourishing towns' in these parts. Some are sub- 

 merged, and some are dried up with the great 

 drought until they have 'not a local habitation,' 

 though none lack a name, and some a very great 

 one — in sotmd." 



From the New England Farmer. 



AGRICUi:.TURAL, 



SOCIETIES 

 SHOWS. 



AND CATTLE 



The cattle shows and exhibitions of manufac- 

 tures in our states having closed for the season, 

 we propose now to say a few words, of their utili- 

 ty, and the modes of managing them; and to sug- 

 gest such measures as in our opinion would in- 



