# # ■■"■ ■ 



92 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



Illinois Soils. 



Mr. D. D. Owen, State Geologist of Ken- 

 tucky, made a report to the Legislature of 

 that StatCj while ia session last winter, one 

 of the principal objects of which seemed to 

 be to depreciate the value of the soils of Illi- 

 nois. He had made an analysis of a speci- 

 men of soil from Hancock connty and com- 

 paring it with some soils of Kentucky, he 

 came to the conclusion that the soils of Illi- 

 nois would soon wear out by cultivation, 

 while those of Kentucky would not; and on 

 this basis he urged the people of Kentucky 

 not t© emigrate to the State of Illinois if 

 they regarded their future welfare. 



The Corresponding Secretary of the Illi- 

 nois State Agricultural Society drew the at- 

 tention of Dr. J. G. Norwood, Geologist 

 for Illinois, to this matter, and deeming the 

 subject important, by circular he communi- 

 cated with many distinguished citizens of 

 our State, and asked them to give their ex- 

 perience in regard to the lasting qualities of 

 the soils of Illinois. We are favored with 

 an answer to one of these communications, 

 which we here append. No comments are 

 now required. The experience of the writer, 

 we doubt not, will be confirmed by thou- 

 sands of our citizens: 



Makine SETrLEMENTjIlls- March 28, '57. 

 Dr. J. G. Norwood: 



Sir: I reside in Madison county, and 

 have done so ever since March, 1820, to 

 the present time. I have been tilling the 

 farm on which I now reside for 37 years, 

 and part of it had a crop on it during all 

 that time. When I fell heir to this old 

 homestead it was very impoverished, owing 

 to my father not knowing any thing about 

 farming. In 1839 and '40 I sowed it with 

 timothy, and much to my surprise, it pro- 

 duced a ton of hay to the acre without man- 

 ure. In 1849 I ploughed it under, when 

 the timothy and clover were in blossom, al- 

 ♦though there was no clover sowed on it. 

 It win get in my old meadows and I am 

 glad of it, for I have convincing proof that 

 when ploughed under at the proper time, 

 it makes it equal to new prairie. I have 

 raised five crops of corn off" of this land in 

 succession, which has averaged 60 bushels of 

 corn to the acre. In 1863 it produced 

 eighty bushels to the acre, with no eitrft 

 work, only deep ploughing, and no manure. 



I consider my farm about an average soil 

 of our State. I know of . some better and 

 some inferior. I am not surprised at so 

 many persons emigrating from Ohio and 

 Kentucky to our State, where they can put 

 the plough to work on our rich and fertile 

 prairies, which will produce forty bushels of 

 corn to the acre the first season, or an 

 equivalent to it, if cut up forfoddfer; and for 

 durability, I have no doubt that the soils of 

 Illinois are superior to the States which 

 they left behind them. 



With respect, DANIEL GROUND. 



■—>- 



, "Stick to the Old." 



So said an old fogy farmer. He did not 

 think where this doctrine would carry him. 

 It would prevent all improvement. If 

 practiced 2,000 years ago and from thence 

 down, we should be now clothed with skins 

 and live in holes in the earth. For such 

 was the case with our British ancestors, 

 when Caesar invaded Britain. In this coun- 

 try, almost every article of vegetable food 

 is exotic; wheat, rye, oats, barley, buck- 

 wheat; and so of other things, cotton, in-, 

 digo; indeed, we are indebted to other 

 countries for the most valuable articles, 

 we enjoy in this. The world is a stage of 

 improvement. He who does not catch the 

 spirit of the age, will find himself in the 

 back ground. There are doubtless hum- 

 bugs in the world. We may try all and 

 hold fast to that which is sure. The cul- 

 tivation of the potatoe was once called a 

 humbug, and the beet and the cabbage. 

 Indeed, the writer of this paragragh though 

 not an octogenarian, recollects when a very 

 small lad, an old gentleman eaid that when 

 he was a boy if a farmer raised three bush- 

 els of potatoes it was regarded as a remark- 

 able thing. The first cultivation of cotton 

 in this country, is within the recollection of 

 many. The Morns Multicaulis proved a 

 failure for a variety of causes. The Chineae 

 sugar cane will not, we believe, be a failure. 

 That boy who "sticks to what is old," will 

 be sadly behind his fellows in time to come. 



We urged our friends last fall to drill in 

 their wheat. Mr. James M'Connell, near 

 our city drilled in a field, which will show 

 what he has done by not "sticking to what 



