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Southern Illinois. 

 A distingaished Horticulturist, who was 

 at the Reaper and Mower trial, in Salem, 

 on the 8th inst., in a private letter to the 

 editor, thus writes: 



"I had the pleasure of visiting Mr. 

 Reynolds' farm and saw the pear trees you 

 speak of, and it really made me feel a re- 

 gret thac I was not located in as good a 

 fruit region, especially for pears. The soil 

 of Marion county is the kind for pears. The 

 deep green hue of the foliage of those 

 veteran pear trees was ample proof of that 

 fact. I noticed a singular circumstance as 

 exhibited in that section, that whilst the ap- 

 ple trees were injured somewhat by the 

 severe winter one year ago, the pear trees 

 escaped injury. I am captivated with this 

 portion of ihe State, as the fruit region of 

 the West- It is not too far south for the 

 apple, and not too far north for the peach. 

 Could I by some legerdemain f'preSto 

 change,"; transfer our establishment, with 

 other advantages, I would do it and pay one 

 half I am worth "to boot." 



"Do not think I am too enthusiastic, for 

 am only speaking forth the words of sober- 

 ness and truth. Our black soil will never 

 do for the pear and cherry, unless, for the 

 first, the clay and warm subsoil is well in- 

 corporated with the surface soil, and for the 

 latter, only when our gravelly subsoils are 

 brought to the surface, or otherwise, the 

 soil is impoverished, and then only the 

 hardier kinds will answer. We are throw- 

 ing out of culture all varieties of cherries, 

 except Dukes and Morellos. Wq have had 

 good crops of the Dukes when the trees 

 were standing on gravelly subsoil. Those 

 standing in the prairie soils have borne but 

 very slightly; making always too much 

 wood. 



"Had I spare time, I would like to spend 

 a few weeks with you this summer in strol- 

 ling through Southern Illinois. Southern 

 Illinois within the next half score years 

 will take the lead in many products of the 

 soil; and enterprise and improvements, and 

 all those conveniences and comforts found 

 in any portion of the West, will be found 

 there ." 



We were about writing a short notice of 

 our impressions on a visit to the Central 

 Southern counties of our State; but the 

 above extract contains the gist of what we 

 could say. Our impressions, like those of 

 our friend, are that Central Southern Illi- 



nois is to become the great fruit region of 

 our State. The noble pear trees spoken of, 

 are some six or eight in number, and stand 

 on the farm of J. P. Reynolds, Esq. They 

 have been growing thirty-six years. They 

 are more than two and a half feet in diame- 

 ter. The limbs spread out beautifully and 

 naturally, the foliage is a deep green, and 

 the trees are manifestly, at this time, in a 

 high state of health, and if no untoward 

 casualty happens, they are likely to live a 

 century after this time. They remind one 

 of the noble old pear trees in the east, 

 which have furnished fruit for many genera- 

 tions. The lands of Marion county, so far 

 as we could examine them, will not only pro- 

 duce fruit in perfection, but will bring more 

 certain crops of wheat and grass than the 

 lands of Northern and Central Illinois. 

 For corn and oats, in our opinion, they are 

 not equal to our northern black prairie soils. 

 We obtained some statistics of health while 

 visiting for a brief day the farm of Mr. 

 Reynolds, and we were surprised and grati- 

 fied with the results. A large family who 

 had resided ten years on his place, before 

 he pui-chased it, had not paid ten dollars 

 for doctors' bills, A near neighbor, an old 

 settler, had never had a severe sickness in 

 his family, and he had brought up a large 

 number of children. We judge that the 

 county is far healthier than the most healthy 

 portions of the eastern States. There are 

 no local causes for sickness — no swamps or 

 stagnant waters. 



We have no pecuniary interest in South- 

 ern Illinois, (we wish we had.) We have 

 a strong desire that the country should be 

 settled, and soon, with an intelligent and 

 enterprising people. The present settlers 

 will take the kind and good hearted emi- 

 grant by the hand, and will do him all the 

 good they can. Improved farms can be 

 purchased at from $15 to $18 dollars per 

 acre, and wild lands from $1 to $10, de- 

 pending on their location. These prices 

 will not last long. The great wave of em- 

 igration is to pass into Southern Illinois, 

 and ten years will not go by before im- 

 proved farms in Southern Illinois will bring 



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