160 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. 



yield of grapes. In this latter locality the Catawba is the favorite 

 wine-grape. It has stood the test of a severe trial, and the wine- 

 growers have faith in it. In Whiteside, Carrroll, and counties farther 

 north, the Concord is the favorite grape. It is found to be hardy, 

 prolific, reasonably sure of a crop, and comparatively free from, mil- 

 dew and insect foes. All over the district where the Galena and Niaga- 

 ra limestones outcrop the deep, loose, red soil, intermixed with loose 

 stones, ought to, and will produce grapes that will make a wine of high 

 excellence and great durability, although it may not attain the richness 

 and ripeness of flavor of that grown in sunnier climates. In the lati- 

 tude of Nebraska, the Concord, Hartford Prolific, Taylor's Bullitt, Ives' 

 and Norton's Virginia, and Clinton, have all, after a thorough test, 

 proved successful. Some of them never show mildew, or a diseased 

 berry, and are not subject to the ravages of insects. 



If we could produce grapes for the table and for wine, even as abund- 

 antly as we produce apples for the cellar and for cider, how much would 

 be added to our material wealth, our social enjoyment, and the health- 

 fuluess of our people. A new and profitable industrial interest would 

 spring into existence ; a blow would be struck at the consumption of 

 poisoned and adulterated liquors ; and a pure, healthful and invigora- 

 ting beverage would be furnished, which would do much for the de- 

 struction of a perverted taste for alcoholic stimulants. I have a deep 

 and abiding faith, that the awakening interest of our people in the cul- 

 tivation of the vine, and the making of wine, will do much towards the 

 accomplishment of this result. 



Peat. In Whiteside county peat exists in inexhaustible quantities 

 and of first rate quality. It has become, not only a subject of wide- 

 spread scientific interest, but an element of material wealth, and one of 

 the industrial and economical resources of the county. 



The most valuable deposit is found in the Cat-tail slough, a low swale 

 running through the highlands from the Mississippi to the Eock river 

 bottoms, in the western part of the county. In width this slough varies 

 from one-half to three-fourths of a mile. From Bluff station to Kock 

 creek, the Cat-tail proper, is about ten miles long. A heavy vegetation 

 of sphagnous mosses, sedge grasses, cat-tail rushes, and other aquatic 

 plants cover it. In approaching it from either side over the rolling prai- 

 rie, no indications of its existence are discovered, until the low bluffs 

 running along either side are reached. The broad, water-soaked swale, 

 then opens upon the sight, gray at the touch of October frosts, except 

 where blackened by the sweeping march of recent prairie fires ; dotted 

 with haystacks; a creeping stream of antiseptic peat-water, shining like 

 a thread of silver in the shallow black ditch, opened to drain the sur- 

 plus waters of the bog thus it appeared when I first went there to pur- 

 sue my investigations of the peat-beds of the county. 



