254 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



one-fouttli down, and the balance in small payments at yearly intervals. 

 For cash in hand good wild land was offered, last spring, at $5 per acre. 



In this portion of the State there is no prairie within 30 or 40 miles of 

 the Ohio river. This circumstance, together with the comparative mild- 

 ness of climate, gives it an important advantage over more timberloss and 

 northern localities. The face of the country and qualitj' of the soil does 

 not, I think, differ materially from the more northern portions of the State, 

 except that in the vicinity of the Ohio it is usual to find hills of considera- 

 ble magnitude. We lack water power, but have, as an offset, inexhaustible 

 mines of excellent coal. 



Wheat and corn are very sure crops, and are the principal kinds of grain 

 raised. Oats are not a profitable crop. Timothy and clover do well. Irish 

 potatoes have never had the rot here, though the yield is less than in a 

 higher latitude. Sweet potatoes, melons, and garden vegetables generally, 

 are seldom wanting in their season. We are not more subject to excessive 

 droughts than localities four or five degrees to the northward. Apples sel- 

 dom fail, though the late varieties, in old orchards, are in some seasons 

 subject to the bitter rot. Peaches produce abundantl}'-, as often, on the 

 average, as every alternate year. Grapes, strawberries, and some varie- 

 ties of plum, do well. Cherries and red currants are less prolific. 



Cotton, though seldom raised for exportation, can be cultivated with 

 success. During my seven years residence here I have known of its failure 

 but once. At present prices it is undoubtedly the most profitable product 

 of the farm. Tobacco is a sure crop, and is extensively cultivated by the 

 middle and poorer classes. It is their chief dependence for monej'-making. 



Frost seldom appears after the 1st of May, or before the 10th of October; 

 and the time for successfully planting corn ranges from the middle of April 

 to the 1st of June. The ground is rarely covered with snow to the depth 

 of six inches, or remains covered a week. Sheep are health}^ and hardy, 

 and live under a system of neglect, exposui-e and starvation that would 

 prove certainly fatal to the whole stock four degrees to the northward. 

 Figs not unfrerjuently run wild, and remain several years in the woods 

 without being fed. 



Springs are rare, but durable water of excellent quality,, though usually 

 hard, is found upon mediunf elevations, at a depth of from 15 to 20 foet. In 

 the more elevated localities, wells of that depth are liable to failure. Small 

 streams are numerous, but not being fed by springs, are usually dry, or 

 supply water only in stagnant pools one-third of the year. These streams 

 have mostly deep channels, which afford excellent outlets for the artificial 

 draining of the extensive bottom lands that lay upon their borders. 



No product of the farm is exported largely', except tobacco. Whatever 

 the farmer has to spare he can commonly dispose of at his own house, and 

 that, too, at a price often equal to what he could obtain in the markets of 

 St. Louis or Cincinnati. There are always many among the numerous 

 tobacco-growers who, from their eagerness to produce a large crop of that 

 commodity, neglect to raise an adequate supply of the necessaries of life. 

 These are the usnal purchasers of the surplus hay,-grain, meat, etc., of each 

 neighborhood. 



Agriculture is at a low ebb in southern Illinois. What would be called 



