10 



Q£\)t ifarmer's iHontljlg Visiter. 



But we notice this improvement of Mr. Tudor 

 to show that deep trenching and digging into the 

 soil is always favorable to cultivation. Here we 

 see that where from the hardness of the surface 

 there can be none or very little depth of soil, the 

 vegetable mould is made by the deeper excava- 

 tion. Every new experiment confirms us in the 

 belief that much is gained in the deep stirring 

 of the earth, whether the ground be hard or po- 

 rous. Our very best and strongest lands will be 

 those where the. subsoil is hardest. Almost eve- 

 ry species of rock decomposed becomes the ba- 

 sis for the highest bearing soil : the loosest 

 gravel sands also will perform their part, after 

 the proper stirring and admixture in working 

 the earth into a luxuri ant c rop. 



To Prevent Wood Decaying. 



Take twelve ounces of rosin and eight ounces 

 roll brimstone, each coarsely powdered, and 

 three gallons of train oil. Heat them slowly, 

 gradually adding four ounces of bees-wax, cut 

 in small bits. Frequently stir the liquor, which 

 as soon as the solid ingredients are dissolved, 

 will be fit for use. What remains unused will 

 become solid on cooling, and may be re-melted 

 on subsequent occasions. When it is fit for use, 

 add as much Spanish brown, or red or yellow 

 ochre, or any color you want, first ground in 

 some of the oil, as will give the shade you want ; 

 then lay it on w'uh a brush as hot and thick as 

 you can ; some days after the first coat is dried 

 give it a second. It will preserve plank for ages, 

 and prevent the weather from driving through 

 brick work. Common white paint may be used 

 on the top of it, if required for the sake of ap- 

 pearance. Two coats should always be given 

 and in compound machinery, the separate parts 

 should be varnished before they are put together, 

 after which it will he prudent to give a third 

 coaling to the joint.-, or any other part which is 

 peculiarly exposed to the action of moisture, 

 such as water-shoots, flood-gate", the beds of 

 carts, the tops of posts, and all the timber which 

 is near or within the ground. Each coat should 

 dry before the parts are joined, or the lasl coat 

 applied. The composition should he applied 

 when the wood is perfectly dry. It is necessary 

 to mention that compositions made of hot oil, 

 should, for the sake of security, be heated in 

 metalic vessel--, in the open air; for when the 

 oil is brought to the boiling point, or six hundred 

 of Fahrenheit, the vapor catches fire, and though 

 n lower degree of temperature should be used in 

 the process, it is not always possible to regulate 

 the heal, or to prevent the overflowing of the 

 materials: in either of which cases, where the 

 melting is performed in a house, fatal accidents 

 might happen. — Archives of Useful Knowledge. 



A less artificial method of preserving wood 

 exposed to the atmosphere than that in die fore- 

 going extract has recently been mentioned to the 

 editor, of which be was not before aware In 

 s.itting posts and slakes and other timber ill the 

 ground, it had always seemed to us natural to 

 place the butt or largest end down. Mr. Web- 

 ber, of Honkinton, a practical man on this sub- 

 ject, assures us be has ascertained from actual 

 experiment, that I he wood of posts or stakes set 

 in the ground with the upper or smaller end 

 down, or reversed in the natural state of the 

 growth of the tree, will last inure than double 

 lb.- unrulier of years without decay of the same 

 article set in the ground as we would naturally 

 place them. Mr. Webber's statement is con- 

 firmed by others id' whom we bad inquired. In 

 .selling wooden fences we consider ibis a very 

 important matter to lie observed.— J$d. Visitor. 



Herod Chase, E*q., of Deering, has raised ihe 



past year, on seven and one-ball' square rods, 

 nixty-seven bushels of Carrots, with four anil 

 one-hair days' labor, after the ground was plough- 

 ed, lie thinks if our brother farmers would 

 pay more attention to raising roots they would 

 reap the benefit. 



Illinois as it was Twenty Vears ago. 



Emigration from Western JVeifl York lo the Soldiers' 



Bounty hands. 



Within the recollection of the editor of the 

 Visitor nearly the whole of the country west of 

 the Alleghany ridge was a wildei ness. Even the 

 State of Ohio was sparsely settled down to the 

 war of 1312: the laying of the soldiers' bounty 

 lauds in Illinois, after the war, seemed to be a re- 

 moval almost beyond the limits of civilization. 

 Western New York was all unsettled within our 

 memory: Ulica on the Mohawk, even Troy on 

 the Hudson, were in their infancy down to the 

 year 1798. Settlement and population increased 

 to nearly a mill ion in the subsequent twenty 

 years, so that the wilderness of western New 

 York then furnished the population which has 

 since spread itself over the " far west." 



Coming down to the latter period, (1826, 7 and 

 8,) the following correspondence, written in the 

 homely language of the early farmer laborer, but 

 with the graphic fidelity of the uncorrupted hon- 

 est farmer heart, presents an interesting minia- 

 ture picture of Illinois before it became a State, 

 and of the pioneer emigrants who have moulded 

 society there into its present shape. 



The letters are but now communicated from 

 New York State by the gentleman to whom they 

 were addressed, a subscriber to the Visitor, as 

 "giving some history, and showing the spirit and 

 leclings of past and by-gone days." 



LETTER t. 



Dear Sirs : — I have been in this country more 

 than one year, and according to promise, and the 

 many obligations that lam indebted to yon, 1 will 

 give you a short description of the country, in the 

 vicinity where I live, and up the Mississippi and 

 Illinois Rivers — not being able lo give any further 

 information only by hearsay, except the loute that 

 I came into this country, which would take more 

 than this letter can describe. 



The river bottoms are in general very wide,and 

 subject to inundations. The Ohio, where it emp- 

 ties itself into the Mississippi, is nearly as wide 

 us the Mississippi itself, (I judge nearly one mile 

 in width.) although it is much wider between its 

 mouth and ibe Tennessee. The Ohio is a beau- 

 tiful river, and when 1 came down it, it was liter- 

 ally tilled w'uh steamboats, arks and keels, some 

 laden with tobacco, others w'uh cotton, and some 

 with fowls, bound for the Natchez, Orleans, anil 

 other places. When you come near to the mouth 

 of the Ohio, then you can begin lo discover the 

 grandeur o( the great water, the Mississippi. 

 There the skilful pilot soon turns short lo [he 

 right, lo ascend the stiff flood, hauling his oft 

 passing steamboat close to bank, often touching 

 the shading boughs of the cottnn-wootl, which is 

 the common timber immediately on ils bank. 

 Altera lew passing hours you come ill sight of 

 the citv St. Louis. Soon then, by the crack of a 

 gun on board, its inhabitants are apprised, and 

 fiock at the landing in crowds, often lo receive 

 long-wished for friends. 



Between thirty and forty miles above St. Louis 

 von come lo the mouth of the Illinois. As you 

 enter ii, yon immediately perceive the difference 

 in the current. It is ii gentle stream and very 

 beautiful for navigation. The bottom in some 

 places is eight miles wide : anil in the bottom 

 prairies the grass and weeds grow as high as a 

 man's eyes when be sils on his horse, in some 

 places. The timber on the bottom is cotton wood, 

 pec. in. blue ash, rose elder, sycamore, buckeye 

 liackbuiy, black walnut; also white walnut or 

 Inn!, run'., while maple, mulberry, persimmon. 

 pawpaw, and other kinds of limber. Some pla- 

 ces, high banks. These rivers abound in fish. I 

 have seen cat fish that would weigh more than 

 one. hundred pounds apiece. 



No more of your large fish and rivers, (says 

 uncle Luther); I want to know about the land, 

 timber and water. 1 will with all frankness in- 

 form you, and also the rest of those kind neigh- 

 bors, thai I spy with distant thought. After ris- 

 ing up the bill, or bluff as We call them here, 



which is as barriers to all the rivers and streams 

 in this country, you can see by travelling through 

 the country, that it is interspersed with prairies 

 in every direction — and many of them extending 

 a great distance, being very beautiful and rich. 

 The higher face of ibe ground is what may he 

 called a handsome level, or gently rolling, as if 

 by a Noah's flood the waters assuaged by a gentle 

 rock oft the lap of the earth (or prairie); and as 

 you advance towards the points of limber, they 

 become still more rolling, and form many beauti- 

 ful small streams, or springs, and also handsome 

 places for buildings. The prairies are generally 

 very rich, and covered with grass an. i weeds, — 

 an excellent country in prairie, and wood, for cat- 

 tle, horses, and hogs. 



The prairie grass will yield from 14 to 2 tons 

 of hay to acre, where it is high and dry, and much 

 better than the marsh grass in Ellisburgh. Tra- 

 vellers are not at expense here for grass or pas- 

 ture ; it is a pasture everywhere ; and it is a gen- 

 eral thing for a traveller to go free of expense, 

 for a meal of victuals, in this country, except at 

 a public house or inn. The timber of this coun- 

 try is of the best, such as white, black, yellow, 

 Spanish, pinn or jack, burr and chesuut oaks ; 

 Lynn or bass, white walnut or butternut, black 

 walnut, hickory, white, bitter and shell liark, red 

 elm, sugar maple, blue ash, cherry, hackbury, 

 honey-locust, mulberry, and other kinds, loo nu- 

 merous to mention. The timber land is the most 

 uneven ; the prairies lying generally on the high- 

 est ground. The waters breaking out generally 

 at or near timber, and the further it runs the more 

 it accumulates, and the larger the break or bluff. 



Every country has ils inconveniences, (says 

 uncle Amos,) and 1 would like to know what they 

 are. 1 will tell you as freely as 1 have told you 

 the rest. One great disadvantage is, the want of 

 good mills. The large rivers overflowing such 

 rich bottoms, hindering people from settling them, 

 is another. The want of schools where the peo- 

 ple are settled scattering, is another. The want 

 of money in pocket, is another. What will rem- 

 edy these difficulties? (asks Esq. Wood.) Some 

 such silver lined pocket men as could he hunted 

 out in Woodsville, to come here among us and 

 build us flouring, and sawmills, which would 

 make the country settled around them, by indus- 

 trious farmers, — also to build boats to carry on 

 trade. 



We have market enough at present here, but 

 people thai move in are generally poor, and not 

 able to pay cash, as is often the case in new coun- 

 tries. 1 have not raised any thing to spare yet, 

 but expect lo if I live long enough. I moved last 

 winter on my land, and what has been done on 

 it, has been done since. (Says uncle George,) Are 

 there no mill seals in that country, the reason 

 you want mills? Yes, sir, there are mill seats ; 

 but not so plenty as in Ellisburgh, which will 

 make it heller for ihe owner, and an encourage- 

 ment lo build gooil mills: we have some four- 

 penee-happeny mills. 



What is the price of sail, tobacco, and iron, in 

 that country ? (asks Mr. Buriiam.) Well, sir, there 

 is but one store in this country, — that belongs lo 

 Mr. Phelps, formerly from Palmyra of the State 

 of New York. He sells sail at $1.50 per bushel, 

 tobacco 25 cents, and iron 124 cents per pound ; 

 but at St. Louis, salt is 50 cents per bushel by 

 the barrel, (a bushel of salt in this State only 

 weighs fifty pounds.) tobacco 15.J cenls, and iron 

 $6 per hundred. 



(Are there any blacksmiths there ?) asks Mr. 

 Bachellor.) Yes, sir, there is, but not such axe 

 and hoe makers as in Ellisburgh. 1 have met 

 with chances to sell the axes that I had of yon 

 for live dollars apiece. 



(Says Mr. A. Jenkins,) you have not described 

 ihe country to my satisfaction in full yet. Are 

 there any slone coal, or salt springs in that coun- 

 try ? Yes, sir, ihere is a great deal of stone coal, 

 in almost every section of the country ; and there 

 are salt springs up the Illinois at ihe Rapids, 

 which the inhabitants think can be worked lo 

 advantage ; ihe place is settling. There are salt 

 springs in other pans of the State. 



Are there any stones ? Very scarce, excepting 

 quarries in the bluffs qf streams in several places, 

 generally of sandstone. Some of them are hard 

 enough for grindstones. Also there are some 

 appearances of limestone; some rocks heie and 

 there to be lound in the small runs or brooks, 

 that are grilled for the millstones. 



