1848. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



151 



and if 50 cents only is offered t!iey take it, 

 knowing, as there is no other market, there is 

 no alternative. But these disadvantages we 

 think will not long exist. The telegraph is in 

 successful operation between the cities of Mil- 

 waukee and Chicago, and the la-t link will soon 

 be finisiied connecting us with all tlie principal 

 eastern cities. This will undoubtedly help us 

 some, (for produce dealers always get the news 

 several days in advance of the mail, especially 

 when the market is ueclining;) but good and 

 substantial rail-ways are what we most need, and 

 these we are " bound to have," at no distant day I 

 either ; and we shall not only have an eastern ; 

 market by railroad, but a western, by the " Chi- 1 

 cago and Galena," and a sauthern market by the ! 

 "Central" railroads. The latter, which com- 1 

 mences at Galena and terminates at Cairo, the j 

 junction of the Ohivi and Mississippi riveis, with 

 the Illinois river and canal, nearly encircles the 

 State with a communication to markets, and ai 

 choice of markets too, at all seasons of the year. 



In prospect of the early completion of these 

 improvements we hope for better days ; and all j 

 we ask is not extravagant but fair prices, a sound ! 

 currency, (for we have anything but this now,)! 

 and honest business men. These, Messrs. Edi- 

 tors, are some of the most prominent wants of i 

 the western farmer. The next in consequence '. 

 or importance is that of labor-saving machines.! 



This is the country for labor-saving machines, 

 all but the "stump puller;" that is an article ij 

 do not recollect of hearing any one inquire for, 

 and what we should do with it here is more than 

 I can imagine. This is the country for harvest- 

 ing machines, for several reasons. The first is, 

 because more is sown and planted every year 

 than can possibly be harvested by hand. I be- 

 lieve I bave seen more than a thousand acres of 

 all kinds of crops wasted for want of sufficient 

 help to gather them; and the amount of crops 

 put into the ground is being increased every 

 year. Why, sir, but a few years have elapsed 

 since all the principal food of the inhabitants was 

 imported hither; I believe the first exportation 

 of wheat was made from this place (Chicago,) in 

 1839. To be certain that I was correct I have 

 just referred to the weekly report of the "Chi- 

 cago Journal" for Nov. 22, 1847, in which I 

 find the following : — "In 1839 the export trade 

 (in grain) began, and consisted of a load of wheat 

 and 700 barrels of flour, the latter of which was 

 brought back for want of a market. The total 

 amount of exports for 1836 was $1,000.64, and 

 for 1847, $2,296,299, it being $836,880 over 

 1846." Mr. Morris, in his " Statistics of Chi- 

 cago," says : " So late as 1835 and 6 the fires 

 usual on the prairies in the fall overran the third 

 and fourth wards ; there were only some five or 

 six houses, built mostly of logs and a population 

 of less than a hundred." It now numbers 17,- 

 000 innabitants ; (you may if you please com- 



pare notes with your own, the " crack" city of 

 Western New York, of which it is said, " history 

 furnishes no parallel.") The report referred to 

 adds : " Over thirty thousand bushels of wheat 

 have been brought to market in a single day." 

 This would require, at 40 bushels per load, 750 

 teams, or at 30 bushels per load, which would 

 be perhaps nearest correct, considering the con- 

 dition of the roads, 1000 teams, which at two 

 rods apart, a distance compact or close enough 

 for safety, would reach three miles and eighty 

 rods (or 3 miles and a quarter. ) And " from April 

 15 to Nov. 15, 1847, there were exported 1,- 

 685,634 bushels of wheat and 29,688 barrels of 

 flour, which reduced to bushels gives us, at 6 

 bushels per barrel, 1,863,800 bushels, requiring 

 to carry it to market 62,125 teams, which at the 

 above estimate and distance per load would form 

 a string of teams 194 miles and 92 rods in length. 

 And it is estimated that not more than half of the 

 present or last year's crop is yet brought to market. 

 Now, taking the last seven years for your 

 guide, (for in reality only "one load of wheat" 

 was exported in 1839,) with the consideration 

 that our plank roads, two of them, and one rail- 

 road, beside the greatest canal in the country, all 

 leading from Chicago, will be soon completed, 

 and that we have scarcely began to cultivate the 

 prairie, and just commencing the use of harvest- 

 ing machines ; I say if you will take these 

 things into considefation, and are " smart" at 

 cyphering in progression, you can form a pretty 

 correct idea of what will be produced in this 

 " Eldorado" of the west, and also the number of 

 inhabitants the " Garden City of the Northwest" 

 will contain, from ten to twenty years hence. — 

 But my calculations are longer than my sheet, 

 and I am obliged to close for the present, promis- 

 ing to stick closer to my text next time. 



S. S. Crocker. 

 York Center, III., February, 1848. 



Curing Hams. 



Messrs. Editors. — Much as has been written 

 and published upon the subject of Curing and 

 Preserving Hams. The following excellent 

 mode of protecting them from the attacks of 

 flies, I do not remember of ever seeing noticed ; 

 and perhaps may not be generally known to the 

 readers of your valuable agricultural journal. 



It is simply this : — Let the last application of 

 smoke he made with sulphur. Although the 

 amount applied be not sufficient to affect their 

 flavor ; yet such is its efficacy, that no other sys- 

 tem of defence against the mischevious attacks 

 of flies will be required, until midsummer, at 

 least, (experimentally speaking,) and even those 

 newly cut, will remain undisturbed. The same 

 treatment is beneficial in case of cheese. 



Yours, respectfully, W. Hanford, Jr.. 

 Bryden, N. Y., Feb., 1848. 



