102 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



stuff, and never yields, but to greater 

 force or more favorable circumstances ; 

 and in summer with the Lake and cheap 

 labor, she can and will to a certain ex- 

 tent command the trade. But the great 

 natural outlet of Central Illinois products 

 is over the great]|( through route before 

 noted, and the attempt to force trade 

 and travel over the Toledo and Western 

 Railroad beyond Fort Wayne only tends 

 to call forth northern competition, and 

 turn the tide north at Tolono. Would 

 not our good friends of the G. W. and 

 T. W. & W. do well to look at the ef- 

 fect of these through routes along the 

 Lake shore as compared with the one 

 named? And would it not be better to 

 have the divergence at Fort Wayne than 

 at Tolono? We think so? 



COAL AT DANVILLE. 



The Great Western passes over the 

 immense beds of coal at this place, but 

 instead of opening the veins, as they 

 should have done, along side of the track 

 and loaded the cars on the side track 

 they must run an extra track into 

 some deep ravine so as to get at 

 the outcrop, and thus get not only 

 a poor quality of coal, but at a 

 greatly increased expense. We shall 

 hope at no distant day to see these 

 mines worked in a business-like way, and 

 cheap coal distributed within the range 

 of the mines, of a quality that shall 

 make them valuable. We look upon these 

 mines as of great ultimate value to the 

 State, but to be so they must be worked 

 in a more systematic manner. 



THE COUNTRY. 



From Naples to the State line the prai- 

 rie predominate?, and the timber is in 

 groves and timber belts of no great 

 maeinitude; but soon after leavinfi; the 

 State line, the prairies become small and 

 a few miles brings us to the great forest 

 that skirt the Wabash, and which with 

 a fev7 intervals of prairie is continued 

 on east in unbroken wood-land to the 

 Atlantic; in fact, it is the western limit 

 of the great forest that once covered the 

 valley of the Ohio and swept up to the 

 lakes on the north. The prairies make 

 but an interlude to the forest range 

 along the south bank of the Wabash ; 

 whence to the capital of Hoosierdom, 

 we dive through one great wilderness 

 of massive growth, upon which the wood- 

 man's axe has made but slight impres- 



sion, and upon whose deep leafy ailes 

 the prairie traveler can feast his eye 

 with forest grandeur. 



ATTICA. 



Lies mostly in the valley of the Wa- 

 bash where it comes up from the South 

 and takes a bold stretch to the eastward. 

 The village is pretty and well built, 

 and does a large amount of business. 

 It is not only an outlet for the hoosiers, 

 but draws to itself no small amount of 

 trade from the Prairie State. The river 

 bottoms are noted for great yields of 

 corn, but of course subject to summer 

 Hoods, which every five or six years is 

 sure to sweep them off. But yet with 

 this disadvantage they are the most pro- 

 fitable lands for corn in this part of the 

 State, perhaps the Wea plains excepted. 



CROPS IN THE TIMBER LANDS. 



We had supposed that the shelter of- 

 fered by the timber lands would present 

 us an advanced growth of vegetation, 

 but to our surprise found that it was full 

 a week behind the prairie, and we sought 

 for an explanation. In looking at the 

 map it will be seen that the little pond 

 called Lake Michigan lies to the North, 

 and stretches away toward the hyper- 

 borean regions a long way, and conse- 

 quently that when the north wind 

 moves over her bosom, it gathers up a 

 vast amount of cold water, which it 

 spreads over this forest range in the 

 form of cold mist and chilly winds, thus 

 retarding vegetation. In addition to 

 this, the soil, as far south as Lebanon, 

 is a heavy clay, and needs underdraining 

 more or less. From thit point south 

 we observe a change of soil for the bet- 

 ter, and as the lake winds have faded 

 away into other air currents, coming 

 from the south and west, vegetation is 

 much more advanced. The clearings 

 along the line of the Lafayette and In- 

 dianapolis Road are small, and of recent 

 date, and the heavy forest walls close in 

 on the little way stations, giving them 

 an air of seclusion that, were it not for 

 the little ribbons of iron that connect 

 them with the rest of mankind, might 

 well account for tlieir want of know- 

 ledge of the out-^ide world. 



THE IIOOSIER CAPITAL. 



At 11 o'clock, A. M., we emerged from 

 the deep forest that we had so much ad 

 mired for its almost impenetrable depths 

 of wooded verdure, in contrast with our 



own prairie slopes; and the broad streets 

 and shaded avenues of Indianapolis were 

 before us. We were welcomed at the De- 

 pot by Dr. L. Dunlap, one of the pio- 

 neers, who, forty years ago, just fresh 

 from his college course, rode into 

 the little village of a hundred souls 

 that has since grown up into a city of 

 25,000 inhabitants. It was then even 

 beyond the further west, a mere point 

 in the distant horizon that shut out 

 the great prairie slopes, and between 

 which and civilization lay the mighty 

 fi^rests of Ohio, now carved out into 

 thousands of happy homes. But all this 

 has undergone a great change. The 

 National Road, that stupendous swindle 

 on the national treasury, here came to a 

 fatal end, and for a time gave this point 

 no small importance, as the eastward 

 travel must pass over it. But steam and 

 the lakes became the watchword, and 

 the prairies were opened up to the view 

 of the farmer, who could see in the fu- 

 ture, their rich undulating surface dotted 

 over with homes and protected from the 

 dreary winter by belts of artificial forest. 

 And not until the iron horse broke the 

 stillness of the streets of the hoosier cap- 

 ital, did she begin to recover from |the 

 stagnation that followed the opening up 

 of the great lake route. The city is now 

 the railroad centre of the State, and ap 

 pears in a healthy and prosperous con- 

 dition. It is well laid out with ample 

 width of streets, with fine yards well 

 cared for, which to us, glowing as they 

 are with roses in full bloom, form no 

 small attraction. The Locust is the most 

 common shade tree, and no where have we 

 seen this tree look so well, but its day 

 is over, and it must give room for the 

 Catalpa, the Silver Maple and the Elm. 



On our return from further East we 

 shall have more to say of the city and 

 the State Institutions that are in such 

 good hands. 



The Asylum for the insane, the Blind 

 and the Mute, we visited to-day, all of 

 which we found in the most flourishing 

 condition. 



Indukapolis, June 4, 1860. 



One year ago this morning, when the dusky 

 night hud melted into morning, and the sun 

 threw his floods of light over the northwest, 

 it was reflected back by a mantle of frost, 

 white and glittering, as in modest beauty it 

 lay upon the vegetation with which May 

 hud carpeted the earth, now given over to 



■•J'f. l:i&-i::fn<.t.^: . 



