92 HISTORY OF OHIO. 



lars more, in all seven thousand five hundred dollars a year, 

 besides all his pork, beef &c. say, two thousand five hundred 

 dollars besides supporting his family. So that, a farmer, who 

 owns a thousand acres of land in the Scioto or Miami valleys, 

 can lay up, they generally each lay up, or rather lay out, near- 

 ly or quite ten thousand dollars a year, in buying congress 

 lands, in Illinois, for their children. These are our wealthiest 

 farmers who own larj^e farms. 



If any farmers are prospering more than ours, then we know 

 not where to look for them. Farms which produce such a pro- 

 fit, could be purchased for forty dollars, an acre. It is easy to 

 see, that they are now worth, twice the sum for which they 

 might be bought. 



GRASSES, NATIVE AND NATURALIZED. 



When first settled, Ohio was a great grass country, especi- 

 ally, along our rivers and in our prairies and barrens. Even 

 in the woods, in many parts of our country, grasses grew every 

 where. In prairies, there were grasses, intermingled with 

 flowers, in endless numbers. There was a clover, called " buf- 

 faloe clover," but, our native grasses have disappeared, mostly, 

 and the naturalized, red top, blue grass, herds grass, red clover 

 and white clover, have conquered and expelled the natives 

 from our soil. Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri, and 

 the farthest-west, are still covered with wild grasses; but the 

 tame grasses will one day banish them along with the Indians, 

 over the Rocky mountains. The decree has gone forth, and 

 it is in the course of a speedy execution ;- " That all the west 

 shall be covered by well cultivated farms,'' all this country 

 was intended for cultivation, and all those rivers of the far west 

 will be navigated by the steamer, and the largest cities in the 

 world, will one day, be in the west, aud exert a vast influence 

 on the destiny of this nation. This decree is registered and 

 recorded. 



