MISCELLANEOUS 



ILLINOIS. 

 A correspondent of the New York Observer 

 gives the following attractive descriptian of the 

 face ' of the earth' and mode of tilling it, in a sec- 

 tion of the state of Illinois. 



In travelling through Illinois, from Qnincy to 

 Springfield, and thence to Chicago by the way of 

 Peoria and Ottawa, I did not notice a single swajup, 

 large or small : and I cannot recollect that I saw 

 an acre of really waste land in any one place. But 

 .suppose the whole state to contain a million of a.cre$ 

 of such land, there is then no less than Ihir'.yseven 

 millinns fit for cultivation ; and by far the greater 

 part of it, of the very best quality. I have not a 

 single doubt that Illinois, alone, is capable of sus- 

 taining a population of twenty millions. Fortyfive 

 bushels of corn to the acre, is less than an average 

 crop ; and with better cultivation it might be in- 

 creased twenty per cent. Put fftcen millions of 

 acres into corn, and then multiply it by fortyfive, 

 and see what it will amount to. Put ten millions 

 more into wheat, and estimate the average product 

 at the very moderate quantity of twenty bushels to 

 the acre, and it gives you 200,0(10,000 of bushels per 

 annum. Then you have thirteen millions of acres 

 left for rye, barley, hemp, farinacious roots, grass, 

 timber, &c. Would it be strange, if before the 

 thousand years of the millenium shall have half rol- 

 led away, Illinois, with such an extent of territory, 

 and sucli a soil, should feed and clothe thirty mil- 

 lions of people .' Missouri is nearly as large as Il- 

 linois, and and supposing the curse of slavery to be 

 removed, (as I am sure it will be) is capable of sus- 

 taining nearly as dense a population. And then 

 there are all the other great and fertile states of the 

 valley, besides the imuiense unexplored regions, 

 perhaps equally fertile, up on the tributaries, and 

 about tlie sources of tlie Missouri and the Missis- 

 sippi. 



One of the reflections which forced itself upon 

 uiy mind in travelling through a little of the West, 

 and having before my eyes from day to day proofs 

 of its extraordinary fertility, and of the little labor 

 which it requires to produce a redundance of food, 

 was, that these immense regions were intended and 

 reserved chiefly for the millenium. The land is 

 far too good for man, with those indolent and de- 

 praved propensities in full strength, by which he 

 has been hitherto governed. Indeed, the two great- 

 est objections to the west, in my judgment, are, 

 that the land is too cheap and too productive. Tak- 

 ing human nature as it is, howeycv industrious and 

 virtuous emigrants from the scanty and rugged soil 

 of New England may be, tliey must in general, 

 without a miracle to prevent it, degenerate when 

 planted down upon the fat vallies of the Scotia, the 

 Wabash, or the Illinois. It is a law of our lapsed 

 natures, not to work if we can help it. Ninetynine 

 out of a hundred persons will throw off just about 

 as much of the primitive curse as they can. If the 

 labor of five days in a week is sufficient to support 

 them they will not work six. If they can live upon 

 the product of two days, it is vain to expect them 

 to work three ; and if they could subsist comforta- 

 bly in any other way, they would not work at all. 

 Where the laziness of the boy has been counter- 

 acted by early habits of industry, and the man has 

 spent many of the best years of his life in hard la- 

 bor, under that ironheaded task-master necessity, he 

 may carry his habits along with him, and continue 

 to moisten the soil with the sweat of his brow, from 



the mere love of actron and regular employment. 

 But I was told over and over again, when I was 

 passing over those rich lands of promise, that after a 

 while, the great majority of the Yankees, as they call 

 them, «ho had been most laborious at the east, re- 

 lax and fall into the habits of tlicir neighbors. 

 Now if this is the case, even with the fathers, what 

 can we expect from their children, but that they 

 will be jtist as lazy as as they can be — that is, as 

 the soil and climate will allow; and if idle, then 

 vicious, almost as a matter of course — for there 

 never w-as a truer saying than that of ' the an- 

 cients,' that 'an idle man's brain is the devil's 

 workshop.' 



What then is the actual con<lition of a fanner 

 who goes out with moderate means from Massachu- 

 setts or New Hampshire, and settles down upon a 

 good section of land, wood and prairie, in Illinois .' 

 The first thing is, to fence as much of the prairie 

 as he wants for immediate cultivation. The next 

 is to plough it ; which, it he does not happen yet 

 to have a sufiicic-jit tfjam of his own, he can hire 

 done for two dollars and a half or three dollars an 

 acre. If he wants to get a crop of corn the first 

 summer, he has only to follow the plough, and drop 

 the seed in every third furrow, to give him from 

 fifteen to twentyfive bushels to the acre, without 

 going into the field again till harvest time. I saw 

 a great deal of corn, as I passed along, thus spring- 

 ing up between the furrows. The ploughing, how- 

 ever, must be delayed till the grass is quite green, 

 otherwise it will turn and spring up through the 

 sod, and you will lose your labor. The breaking 

 up requires three or four strong yoke of oyen, and 

 is done in this wise. 



The beam of the plough is framed into an axle, 

 and so guaged as to cut a furrow eighteen inches 

 wide and four inches deep. The wheel for the 

 furrow is four inches larger ia diameter than the 

 other, so as to keep the bottom of the plough per- 

 fectly flat. Thus prepared and once put in mo- 

 tion, it requires no one to hold it, except where the 

 sward is very deep and tough. I noticed one 

 plough at least, going without hands, and I never 

 saw a handsomer furrow cut in my life. It takes 

 about two years for the turf to become thorouahly 

 pulverized, and then the land is tilled with as much 

 ease as if it had been under cultivation a hundred 

 years. One man, with two horses, will take care 

 of forty acres of corn, as it requires no hoeing, and 

 if the season is favorable it will yield him 2000 

 bushels. With this he can fatten a great many 

 swine, besides feeding a large stock of cattle 

 through the winter. 



Wheat and all other grains, may be raised with 

 about the same ease. 



The open prairies serve him both for pasturage 

 and mowing, and the less he owns the better ; be- 

 cause large tracts will for a long time remain in 

 common field, which he can have the use of, with- 

 out paying taxes. A friend of mine has planted 

 himself down on the margin of one of these prai- 

 ries where, aa he told me, he pould fatten five hun- 

 dred or five thousand cattle, if he had them. Tiie 

 young prairie grass is said to be e.xceedingly nutri- 

 cious ; and I am sure I never saw cattle look finer, 

 in any of our white clover pastures. 



Hale's Patent Horse Power and Patent Thresh - 

 ing niactaine. 



.TO^EPH KREGK & CO. offer for «ale this valuable 

 machine and feel gresi confidence in recommending it as the 

 iiesl machine now m use. It will thresh from 75 to 100 

 hushels per day in the he"^! possil.le manner. The horse 

 power is calculated lo propel any kind of machinery, 

 is very simple in its construciion, occupies f)ut the 

 small space of nne feet hy two, and can easily be transport- 

 ed from one piaie to another, and when combined with the 

 Threshing Machine it forms the most superior article for the 

 purpose ever invented. They can he supplied at short no- 

 lice at the N. E. Agricultural Warehouse and Seed Store. 



August 28. 



Xc-«- York Urate aud Poiidrette Company. 



Not incorporated but carried on by individual enterprise. 



The manures are not divided among the Stockholders, as 

 are those belonging to another establishment, but sold, to ap- 

 plicants, for ca.'^ti on delivery. Orders are supplied in the 

 order of time in which they are received. Urate 50 cents and 

 Poudrate 40 cents per bushel, with contingent charges for 

 ba<;s or barrels, &c. 



The companv are daily preparing for use, during the 

 warm, dry weather, the materials coHected during the past 

 winter, and will have several thousand bushels ready before 

 the first of October ne.xt. The material is disinfected and 

 rendered tree from offensive smell, f)y a compound, every 

 part of which is in itself a good manure. 



The experience of the past and present years, 18:)8 and 

 1839, on Long Island, has satisfied many of the farmers 

 that these manures have the quickest operation upon vegeta- 

 ble mailer, producing grecder abundance^ and the cheapest 

 of any manure they have ever tried. 



Amended irwtructions for their use, the result of practical ' 

 experience, will be furnished on application. The effect q/" 

 Poudrc'.te upon Grape Vines and Morus Multicaulis is bey- 

 ond all comparison. 



This company are erecting large aud e-xiensive works in 

 the vicinity of the city of New York to prepare the manures, 

 and larmers and gardeners may confidently rely on a supply. 

 Orders, postpaid, directed to " J'he New York Urate and 

 Poudrate Company,'' hox, No. 1211. Post Office, New York, 

 or sent to the store of STILLWELf, & DEY, No. 365 

 Fnltnn Street, Brooklyn, will he attended to. 



The Company will be very luuch obliged lo gentlemen 

 who have usetl the manures, to give them a statement in wri- 

 ting what has been the result of their use and experiments ui 

 relation to thent. 



New York, August, 1839. 



Berry Stains. — A friend requests us to state 

 that a teaspoonful of oil of vitriol mixed in a cup 

 of water, will without fail remove any berry stains 

 from garments without injury to the cloth. 



Mnlticanlis, Alpine and other Itli^berries. 



WILLIAM PRINCE & SONS, proprietors of the Lin- 

 nsean Nurseries near New York, are ready to receive orders 

 lo any extent for all the varieties of .Mulberries, including the 

 Chinese Multicaulis, .\merican Multicaulis, raised from seeds 

 and very hardy, Expausa, Elala, Alpine, Canton, Broussa, 

 Hose of Lombardy, Dandolo, Pyramidalis, &c,, the six first 

 named of which surpass all others and are placed in rota- 

 tion according lo merit. The prices will be inoderateand 

 terms easy, aud priced Catalogues will be sent to every one 

 desirous of porchasing, Fruii and Ornamental Trees and 

 Shrubs, Green House Planls, Bulbous Flower Roots, Field 

 and Garden Seeds, Rohan Potatoes, &c,, can be supplied, 

 and priced Catalogues will be sent lo erery ap;jlicant. 



September 4. 51 



THE NE-W ISNGL.A!VD PAKIMER 



Is published every Wednesday Evening, at S3 per aunam 

 payable at the end of the year — but those who pay wilhm 

 sfxtydays from the time of subscribing are entitled to a de- 

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