138 



THE ILLmOIS FARMER. • 



Mat 



and tlio gr.in mpasureJ three iiiid lliree quarter 

 pecks, w iiriiing fo;ty-seven a d one li:i!t' pounds. 

 The ij^raiiis w-re J'Stimaied as nuinhering 576,840. 

 AU this w;->s t!'.c product of a singly grain. 



Wo liope none of our readers will pass over 

 the reading of ihe above, but we do not ask 

 them to subscribe to tlieE gilops theory, yet 

 without that they will find much to interest 

 them. The wheat plant to this State is its 

 commercial tower of strength, and we shall 

 continue to urge its importance upon our 

 readers. With improved culture we shall 

 hope to see the product doubled. At 

 this writing, April 8th, our spring wheat pre- 

 sents a broad expanse of green nearly equal 

 to the winter. Ed. 



The Farm and Gai-den. 



A LOOK THROUGH TWO HUXDllED MILES OF COUNTRY. 



THE STARTIVG POIiVT. 



March 5ih. — The ciiy of C.iampaign, as most 

 of our renders know, is one hundred und thirty 

 miles nea ly due souih (rum Chi'MfiO, and may 

 ■well be lalled the great corn sta ion of tliat 

 prolific corn region, Central lUinuis. At this 

 time there is an embargo of mud laid on the 

 roads, and the shipping interest i^ at a stiin l-still, 

 thouj.h the cribs that make liO small snow about 

 the watehou-its will be drawn on uu = il the roads 

 improve, when the villaae (city I) will again show 

 its wonted activity, as the stock of corn in the 

 couniry is yet large. Ol p.t.tiues there are but 

 few to go forward from this poii.t. But little 

 winter wheat nas sown last fall, but thiS little 

 looks very [iromising. A lew fanners commenced 

 sowing spring wheal last wetk, but the heavy 

 rain of the 2d and subsequent fronts have arrest- 

 ed further progress in this directon, for a week 

 at least A Vcry large breadth of this grain wiil 

 be sown at this point. All of the stations as far 

 soutti as Mattoou deal largely in corn, bu; ship 

 no potatoes; in fact the potato region ends at 

 this last named point, which is just within the 

 southern lim of the black or mulatto soil of Cen- 

 tral Idiuois, and at; the top of the slope whence 

 we descend into Egypt. Here we are over a hu'i- 

 dred and fifty leet above Lake Michigan, and fuur 

 hundred ami tifty feet above tlie Ohio at Cairo. 

 All bouih of this over the greyish lime mud drift 

 of Upper Egypt, the drouth made sad havoc, an 1 

 conscquentiy uo shipments of cor i are made 

 south of Mattoon. The corn fields have been 

 pretty generally sown wi'.h w nter >' heat, which 

 presents a promising appearance, and notwith- 

 Btaudmg the Hessian iiy made a vigorous demon- 

 Btratii n aga nst th** new crop, yet its natural en- 

 emy, the ichneumon fly, m>ide so vigorous a one 

 on the pupa of this marauder that the crop will 



nenr'y recover faom the injuiy done it early in 

 the season. It i^ now probable that from the 

 presence of this enemy of the Hessian fly that 

 its deftructive powers will be very much curtail- 

 ed, and when the f >11 weather is favorable to a 

 vigorous growth as the 1st one, its ravages will 

 be sf^arce'y noticed. Before reaching Centralia 

 ii'ght had closed in and we took to the sleeping 

 car. and arr.Vid at Cairo at four a. m , '■■ ut slept 

 und'sttirbcd until the breakfast bells around an- 

 nounced that even in Cairo it was neces^aIy to 

 attend to thit impirtant duty, but we soon learn 

 for the thousandth time that bad coff-^e ani poor 

 cooks will sou. (times insinuate themselves even 

 into large hoteis. 



THE BUSINESS AT CAIRO. 



March 6th — Transferring of freight from the 

 r' ilroad to river craft and the coaling of steam- 

 ers are the priiudpal things done here. The 

 wholes^ile grocery tr'do is limited to two or three 

 smrtll houses. It would appear th^U Cairo should 

 be the great point for the distribution of goods to 

 the south part of our St»tf', part of Kentucky and 

 .Missouri The truth is, gioceries aie sold ex- 

 tremely low, bur the want of large stocks of dry 

 goods, hoots a' d shoe«, hardware, etc., make it 

 no object for the country dealer to visit Cairo for 

 the simple pnrcha'-e of his g.oceries, but with 

 the new impetus now given, it is fery probable 

 that the time !•< not far distant when mrire atten- 

 tion will be given to this departihent of business. 

 With levees, it is always a slow and expensive 

 process to re-s!iip goo>is of all kin''s and espe- 

 cially grain, thougb we see no reason why steam 

 elevators cannot be used h re for the latter, and 

 thus save the cost of sacking, which is a severe 

 drawback to ship^in;i South. It costs on an ave- 

 rage about nine cents a bushel for the sack and 

 sacking. Take, for instance. Champaign, which 

 is the center of the great corn zone. The ship- 

 per pays : 



16 cents for the ccrn in the ear. 

 3 " shelling aad shipping. 



9 " freight. 



1 " selling, 



2 " buying. 



ol 



" total cost in Chicago. 



Selling at twenty-eight cents — a loss of three 

 cents per bushel. To send ttiis same ccrn south, 



costs as follows : 



« 



16 cents for corn in the ear. 



2 " buying. 



4 " shelling, sacking and shipping. 



8 " gunnies. 



22 " freight to New Orleans. 



" tratislerring to jiver at Cairo. 



" insurance. 



n 



56 



" commission, selling and dockage. 

 " total cost in New Orleans. 



Selling it at fi ty-five cents — loss one cent. 

 Now, if the corn could be shipped in bulk, the 

 margin would be largely in favor of the South. 

 While com is only worth fifty-five cents in New 

 Orleans, it is worth much more at other points 

 and shippers are looking to this matter. There 



