That was in the period when IlHnois was beginning 

 to develop its great slaughtering and packing industry 

 and in which many farmers were paying more attention 

 to livestock than tobacco crops. Urbana, later to become 

 the seat of the University of Illinois, for instance, was 

 the subject of a comment applicable to many towns in 

 the state. It had 



a record of more hogs in the community than 

 people, and the porker had an equal right with 

 citizens to the streets. 



Just before the Civil War the harvest of tobacco was 

 nearly 7 million pounds, worth $623,000. Of this, Wil- 

 liamson County produced a quarter of the total. The 

 average yield in the 1870-1874 period was about the 

 same. The banner year came in 1876 with a harvest 

 of over 11.5 million pounds from 18,313 acres. 



Tobacco agriculture began to decline thereafter, al- 

 though an excellent cigar leaf had been developed in 

 1863 from experimental plantings in Stephenson County, 

 northern Illinois, conducted by the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture. This seed-leaf district produced 

 types growing in Connecticut and Pennsylvania and a 

 variety of Havana Seed locally called "sweet-scented" 

 or "Spanish." Over a million pounds of this type were 

 harvested in 1879. It brought 11 cents a pound, though 

 an earlier crop had sold for 20 cents a pound. 



Meanwhile, in the southern part of the state, the 

 "shipping-leaf district," tobacco similar to the heavy 



