The Wcstcrti Prairies. 223 



stripping the hills of their forest-growth, and exposing the country to 

 sudden changes of temperature and to long-continued droughts, we of the 

 prairies have begun at the bottom round of the ladder, and must perforce 

 ascend. We have forests to build up, not to cut down. Every tree we 

 grow, every shelter-belt which we plant to shelter our stock, our crops, or 

 our orchards, has its influence in modifying the climate, and in giving us a 

 more generous supply and equable distribution of rain. We find the loess 

 soil of the large rivers eminently adapted to the grape, the pear, the peach, 

 and certain varieties of the apple ; while the peach, the pear, a few varieties 

 of the early apples, the strawberry, the raspberry, and the blackberry, flourish 

 on the hills of the grand chain, in the south part of the State, by the side of 

 cotton and other semi-tropical plants, fruits, and nuts. Central Illinois is 

 the great plateau or corn zone of the West, and also well adapted to the 

 culture of the whole range of small fruits, apples, pears, with fair crops of 

 the peach, say, in three out of four years. Vegetables do very well in most 

 parts of this section, but, on the whole, are not as sure a crop as in the soils 

 of the north part of the State. 



In variety of products in soil and in climate, this State can challenge any 

 State in the Union. 



The immense water-power in the north part of the State, the extensive 

 coal measures of the centre and south, the belt of navigable rivers that 

 girt her round and penetrate the interior, the lines of railroad that radiate 

 from her great centre, all point to the fact, that, at no distant day, she will 

 have to supply a dense population engaged in manufactures, in commerce, 

 and in mining ; that all points to the north will demand at her hands 

 early fruits, early vegetables, and the long-keeping apples. These demands 

 will and are already stimulating her industry in the productions of the 

 garden and the orchard, and will give her a commanding position in the 

 higher departments of rural pursuits. M. L. Dunlap. 



Cha.mpaign, III., Jan. 20, 1867. 



