296 



THE ILLIIS^OIS 3h"A.RjS1EII. 



SPRINGFIEI.D, JUIiir 1, 1859. 



A Great Battle— Provisions Low. 



Our people have been calculating on 

 high prices for produce on account of the 

 present war in Europe. The same arri- 

 val which brought us the information of 

 a sanguinary battle in Italy between 

 the Austrian army and the Allied army 

 of French and Sardinians, in which the 

 former lost 26,000 men, and the latter 

 12,000, — also brought information that 

 provisions were low and markets dull 

 in Europe. Our farmers should recol- 

 lect that a war in Europe, — a local war, 

 as that which now exists is, stimulates 

 the agriculturists of the country to pro- 

 duce large crops. Latterly, crops have 

 been fine in Europe. Europe needs 

 little food from us; and while this fact 

 is presented, she is sending into our 

 country immense cargoes of goods, for 

 which we pay her gold. She does not 

 want our produce to feed her soldiers 

 or her manufacturers; her farmers raise 

 enough food for this purpose; but she 

 wants and will have, in payment, our 

 gold. Her manufacturers are now flour- 

 ishing by her trade with us. That is 

 precisely the present state of things in 

 Europe. 



What is the condition here? Our 

 manufacturers barely live, — they do not 

 extend their business; many of those who 

 would engage in manufactories are cul- 

 tivating the soil in the east — are produ- 

 cers instead of consumers; and our wes- 

 tern farmers, if they have good crops, 

 cannot reasonably look for good mar- 

 kets. Our people, who talk as though 

 they idolized Henry Clay, turn their 

 backs upon the great principles by which 

 he hoped to secure permanent prosperi- 

 to our farmers, and have sacrificed, 

 to a great extent, their manufacturing 

 interests, which, encouraged by govern- 

 ment, would have secured permanent 

 prosperity to our farming interests — 

 and also to the people of the Eastern 

 States, who would gladly have gone into 

 the work-shops and furnished a market 

 for the products of the West. 



We have been hoping that the war in 

 Europe would furnish a market for 

 Western produce. Wo are likely to be 

 mistaken. We can at any time secure 

 permanent markets and paying prices 



for the produce of our farmers, by car- 

 rying out the policy initiated by the 

 fathers of our country, and which has 

 been sacrificed for the purpose of secur- 

 ing the votes of the Slave States, for 

 the advancement of party, in utter dis- 

 regard of the interests of the farmers. 



Cashmere Goats— 4 New Source of Wealth to 

 ' Illinois Farmers. 



In 1838, Dr. James B. Davis, of 

 ^outh Carolina, then a resident of Tur- 

 /Icey, and holding an appointment under 

 the Sultan, in the agricultural depart- 

 ment of that government, conceived the 

 idea of taking advantage of his position 

 to secure a few of these valuable goats, 

 for the purpose of introducing them into 

 this country. In pursuance of this pur- 

 pose, with the consent of the Sultan, he 

 penetrated into Cashmere with an armed 

 company, and fortunately secured seven 

 female and two male goats, which he 

 was obliged to remove secretly. His 

 object was, however, discovered by the 

 natives, who pursued him for the purpose 

 of recovering the animals, and t iwas 

 only by the loss of several of his par- 

 ty that he made good his escape, with 

 the goats in his posossion. These goats 

 he introduced into South Carolina, and 

 in a communication to the Patent Office 

 in 1853, he states that the pure bloods 

 had then increased to thirty, while the 

 crosses on the common goats were nu- 

 merous. The products of these puro 

 bloods have since been purchased by a 

 wealthy company in Tennessee, who have 

 been actively engaged in crossing them 

 upon the coraraou goat, for the purpose 

 of making the Cashmere Shawl wool, an 

 article of staple product in this country. 

 It has been ascertained that the wool of 

 the third cross from the full bred and 

 the common goat approximates closely to 

 the finest Cashmere produced in Asia. 

 The wool from the goats already reared 

 by crossing with the common goats, is 

 at present only manufactured m Glas- 

 gow, Scotland, and commands $8 per 

 pound, each goat producing about three 

 pounds and three fleeces during the 

 year. 



These goats have proved to be entirely 

 hardy in New York, as well as in South 

 Carolina, and the wool of the mixed 

 bloods has been ascertained, by a scien- 

 tific examination, to be nearly equal in 

 finenesss to that of which the imported 

 Cashmere Shawls, of one thousand dol- 

 lars value, are made. The value of the 

 wool, the demand for it, the hardiness of 

 the goats, and the suitability of our 

 climate for their health and propaga- 



tion, indicate the expediency of continu- 

 ing the crosses of the pure blood upon 

 the common stock of the country as 

 rapidly as possible. For this purpose 

 bucks of fine blood have been introduced 

 into Tennessee, Mississippi and Texas, 

 andB. F. Bristow, Esq., of Jacksonville, 

 Morgan county, has accepted an agency 

 from the owners of the pure bloods, to 

 introduce the stock into Illinois. If the 

 project undertaken by him is seconded 

 by any considerable number of our 

 farmers, their propagation will be a 

 sourceof weal th,and especially so to those 

 who first engage in the business. 



The Jacksonville Sentinel contains a 

 communication from Mr. Bristow on the 

 subject under notice, in which he refers 

 to the origin of these goats, to the beau- 

 tiful fabric made of their wool, to the 

 peaceable and quiet nature of the ani- 

 mal, to their hardiness, enduring the 

 heat of the burning suns of the South, 

 and the cold blasts of the North, to 

 their thriving well on the coarsest as 

 well as the finest herbage; to their abil- 

 ity to defend themselves from the attacks 

 of dogs; to the rapidity of their prop- 

 agation, the females bringing two kids 

 in five months gestation, and to the 

 fact that four crosses on the common 

 goat of the country will bring the wool 

 nearly up to the standard of full bloods, 

 (an evidence of which Mr. B. can fur- 

 nish in specimens of wool. ) 



Mr. Bristow is acting for a responsi- 

 ble company, will make contracts in 

 their behalf, and will furnish security 

 for the performance of those contracts. 

 He concludes the communication refer- 

 red to by saving : 



"My plan of delivery and contract is 

 this : I bind the company in the sum 

 three hundred dollars, to deliver to each 

 one who makes an engagement with me, 

 beginning the 1st day of December next, 

 and ending the Ist day of December 

 1861, three bucks annually; the first to 

 be 3-4 Cashmere, the second 7-8, and 

 the third 15-16ths ; for which I am to 

 receive, on the delivery of each animal, 

 the sum of one hundred dollars. I will 

 continue to enlighten the public upon 

 the value of this animal by giving ex- 

 tracts from the Patent Ofiice Reports, 

 Washington, and also the opinion of 

 the leading wool growers of the country, 

 all going to show that instead of the 

 culture of this animal being in any way 

 associated with a species of humbuggery, 

 so common to our country, that it is one 

 of the most valuable as well as wonder- 

 ful developments in an important de- 

 partment of agriculture, and promises a 

 richer harvest to those who may engage 

 in it, than any other business in this 

 wonder working age." 



Farmers desirous of further informa- 

 tion on the subject of these Cashmere 

 Caoats, arc referred to the Patent OflBce 



