1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FAP.MER. 



101 



Lake St. Claib.. — By S. W. Higgins' geologi- 

 cal report of Michigan in 1840, 5 feet aboye Lake 

 Erie ; 564 and 5 equals 569 feet. 



Lake Htron — By S. W. Higgins' geological 

 report of Michigan in 1840, 13 feet above Lake 

 Erie; 664 and 13 equals 577 feet. 



Lake Wicoigan, (southern extremity.) — Ey 

 railroad survey from Toledo to Michigan City in 

 1851, (.1. H. Sargent, C. E.,) 18 feet above Lake 

 Erie : 18 and 564 equals 682. 



Thus Chicago is 582 feet above tide water. 

 The Ohio at low water is 300 feet below this, 

 namely, 282 feet. Central Illinois is much 

 of it higher than Chicago ; at this station it 

 is 157 feet. 



At Monee, thirty-four miles south of Chi- 

 cago and twenty miles south of the lake it 

 is 212 feet above the lake, being 794 feet 

 above tide water. This point (Champaign) 

 is 630 feet; Mattoon, 631 feet; Effingham, 

 587 feet, being nearly on the same level 

 with Chicago. Centralia, 492 -feet; Big 

 Muddy river (low water), 232 feet; railroad 

 track at Big Muddy river, 379 feet, being 47 

 feet above the stream ; Jonesboro, 629 feet. 



The railroad passes through the " Grand 

 Chain," along the depression made by the 

 " Drurv," and the hills on either side trav- 

 erse several hundred feet above the road bed. 



The top of the levee at Cairo is 41 feet 

 above the river, being 823 feet above tide 

 water. By this it will be seen that the de- 

 scent of the Mississippi, to the ocean is very 

 rapid, and if the stream was small could be 

 used for manufacturing purposes, but the 

 immense volume of water gives it depth. 



Pana is 92 feet above Chicago, or 674 feet 

 above tide water ; Decatur, 564 feet ; Clin- 

 ton, 625 feet; Bloomington, 721 feet; road 

 bed at the Illinois river at Lasalle, 508 feet, 

 being 74 feet below Chicago ; Mendota, 747 

 feet; summit between Illinois and Bock 

 river, 918 feet; Dixon, 716 feet; Rock 

 river (low water), 034 feet, being 52 feet 

 above Chicago. Freeport, 657 feet; Wis- 

 consin State line, 983 feet; Scales Mound, 

 940 feet; Galena, 598 feet, being 16 feet 

 above Chicago. Dunleith, 617 feet. The 

 Mississippi to Cairo falls, nearly 300 feet. 



For the elevations along the I. C. K. R. 



we are indebted to the politeness of the en- 

 gineer department under the control of chief 

 engineer Clark. 



Our readers will see by the above that the 

 country is not quite level, but on the con- 

 trary, shows a wide difference of elevations, 

 giving ample drainage. The water sheds 

 are, 1st, the " Grand Chain," near Jones- 

 boro; 2d, Central Illinois, and next from 

 Monee northwesterly to Scales Mound. To 

 drscribe the topography of our State would 

 require more space than is at our disposal, 

 but we hope these hasty notes will be found 

 of interest to our readers. 



—9— 



Flowers. 



Much has been written on this subject, 

 and we are glad to notice a very slight im- 

 provement in consequence. Nothing looks 

 more beautiful than a well kept flower gar- 

 den. What gives your wife and daughter 

 more pleasure than to visit a nice garden 

 that is filled with flowers ? Perhaps you 

 have begrudged her the small place in front 

 of the house, or ten to one you have no 

 place in front at all, and all the flowers that 

 she has, are out in the back garden (if you 

 have one) among the cabbages and turnips. 



Often have we been at a neighbors at this 

 season of the year and find the good wife 

 looking up her flower seeds. The husband 

 IS either busy plowing or planting and can't 

 afford time to spade up a foot of ground for 

 ber, and often have we laughed to see how 

 awkward a woman is with a dull spade in hor 

 hand, trying to turn over the earth, so that 

 she can have a few flowers. Why^ a man 

 that has a family ought to be ashamed to let 

 his wife undertake such a job, when he 

 could in an hour's time spade up more 

 ground than she can in a week. This may 

 be all economy ; better to have half an acre 

 more corn than you can even half tend, than 

 to have a few flowers in your front yard, 

 and your wife and children good natured, 

 and to be obliged to hear such sayings as : 

 " I do wish father had as nice a yard as 

 Mr. Smith's;" and perhaps your children 



