308 NA TURK STUD Y RE VIEW 



along streams. The soil is a rich black loam, one to two feet in 

 depth, underiaid with the clay of the drift. This part of the 

 state is known as Central Illinois, or the "Com Belt." 



North of the prairie the country is more diversified. In the 

 eastern portion is the Valparaiso moraine, characterized by rolling 

 prairie with occasional clay or gravel hills, with rich bottom 

 lands along the streams. In the extreme northwestern part of 

 the state is an unglaciated area. In the greater part of northern 

 Illinois dairying is an important industry. 



As an inspector of farm lands for many years, I was able to 

 watch the development of the prairie region. When I first knew 

 it, it was in a transition state between grazing and general fann.ing. 

 During the grazing period an enterprising stockman would gather 

 together ten or twelve hundred cattle and allow them to feed 

 upon the prairie grasses. There were no fences. One m,an's 

 range was separated from that of his neighbor, perhaps 20 miles 

 away, by som.e stream. The soil was fertile and the ground 

 not closely pastured, so that the wild flowers suffered but little. 

 In the springtime one could see masses of the prairie phlox extend- 

 ing as far as the eye could reach; a little later large areas of the 

 yellow sensitive pea, while in autumn the whole prairie above 

 the tall grasses was covered with the reds of the blazing star 

 and the yellows of Silphium.s, Sunflowers and Coreopsis. 



But gradually settlers began to creep in. A m.an would buy 

 a 160-acre tract, paying $1.50 to $2.50 per acre. He would plow 

 up twenty or forty acres of this, and plant a crop. Each succeed- 

 ing year he would plow more land and plant more crops. Every 

 acre so plowed caused the destruction of the wild flowers growing 

 upon the tract. With such lands now selling at from $350.00 

 to :$5oo.oo per acre it is not surprising that there are no wild 

 flowers left on the prairies. Occasionally, along a railroad fence 

 there is a strip of no-man's-land, a foot or two wide where one 

 can yet see a few specimens of blazing star or sunflower that have 

 escaped the scythe and the competition of ragweed and thistles. 



The disastrous effect of cutting down trees and putting wood- 

 land areas under cultivation is so well known that it is not necessary 

 to dwell upon it. 



Equally serious, but not so immediate in its results, is the 

 drainage of lowlands. After plowing up and putting into culti- 



