1861. 



TPIE ILLINOIS FAEMEK. 



139 



can tie no que.^t'on but that Cairo instead 

 of ^ ew Oilftuns should be the head quarter* of 

 the yrain trade for the South instead of KewOr 

 leans as now. 



The aiiv nfage would be to ship it direct to 

 tho(-e ponit-^ want'ng it, without breabit g bulk 

 It couid be put in guiuii>'s at the pbice whe-e 

 wanted, and thus make a large saving in Fhipping 

 gunnits both w^js. Ihecon-umer would return 

 them to flie wartrhouse, and thus they would be 

 used ?everal times ; but now thry f-re cf little 

 Ta'u^' after ( nee being used. •• e would advise 

 all p.-irties shipping south to consign their crn to 

 parties in Cairo anil order them to sell or ship it 

 to such points as oSer tr.e best markets. We taw 

 the captiiin of a i-mall steamer that had just re 

 tunivd fr. m one of the interior rivers, and had 

 madf twenty cents on the bushel over the usual 

 freight and cbiuges by not trciiking bulk at New 

 Orlians A large part of the com sold in New 

 Orl.iins rcturi s i.>or h to fiiid a maik.t, and thus 

 the extra cost to vhe consumers, and at most of 

 the ir.temied.a e points is se'liiig at a dollar per 

 bushel. It is thus the height of folly to ship to 

 New t'rlcans when Cairo offers gteiter f;dvan- 

 toge-:. while at ihe same time it would be giving 

 a lar e ainount of business to onrownSt-ite that 

 now is done at an inconvenient puint We h pf 

 our dealers will look to this mutter and see if 

 someitiing can' ot be done to advance the inter 

 est of viur producers. The rwiiroad company 

 have ample couvetdences for traisferring to .h*- 

 wbar bo its, but it Hppears to us that these could 

 be sii an a ged that goods ond grain could be so 

 arranged that goods and grain could go at once 

 on to the steamers. Messrs Graham, Halliday & 

 Co. iiave a large wharf boat, but so great has 

 been the increase of the lu-iness that they aie 

 buihJiiig anu have nearly iea<ly a mammoth new 

 wharf DOiit. It is 330 feet long by 75 wi 'e and 

 cap ble of holdinii 8,600 tons. This, in addition 

 to the boat no^ used, will relieve the depot and 

 levees of their targe piles of freight, which to no 

 small extent is njw subject to damage by a sud- 

 den rise of the r^ver. There are several other 

 wharf boats at this point, mostly employed in 

 breaking bulk for river craft, as large amounts 

 are transferred from the large to the small up 

 river steamers. The shipping of corn has so 

 slackened up that only some seventy car lo.ds 

 are in store. E ich car contains some one hun- 

 dred and sixty sacks of two and one-fourth bush- 

 els each, and must be carried by men on an ave- 

 rage of some two hundred feet each, besides the 

 pas-^a'xe d' wn the levee on the railway tra-k, or 

 in slides. This to persons in the habit of look- 

 ing into the Chicago elevators, appears to be a 

 slow and tedious process. 



About twelve hundred tons of Illinois produce 

 is sui; pod south daily, and some two hundred 

 tons of groceries go North per day, and two 

 thou -and bales of cotton per week from Memphis, 

 and two hundred from other points. About two 

 hundred tons of tab^icco, corn and pork are re- 

 ceived diiily from the Wabash, Tennessee and 

 Cumberlfiud rivers, and re-shipped South. It will 

 thus be seen that Cairo is assuming somewhjit of 

 that importance in trade that its friends have 

 claimed for it. The line of eight steamers from 



here to New Orleans has been of vast u.'-e, and 

 without which the business could not f ave been 

 done They carry from one thousand to f' urteen 

 hundred tons each, niakiiig an aver,:ge of o.OOO 

 tens jicr week. A large number of oibtr Dcata 

 are m the trade, but tun independent. Cairo has 

 improved within t! e past ytar. The levies have 

 been subsiantiiill^' ret)uilt, and theinhabitMiits no 

 longer fear an inundation. The flood of 1^-58 de- 

 stroyed all the shrutibery, shau'e treis and plnnts, 

 and the- citizens are now busy re{laniing ihem. 

 tugar, tobacco, etc., instead of going into ware- 

 house, as at the north, lay on the levee ai:d are 

 protected by tarpaulins, but a sudden ri-e in the 

 river woul.i muke a hurrying time to get it Jibove 

 high water, as the ditference between liigh and 

 low water is forty leet, and reaching wiiiiin two 

 feet of the lop of the levee. 



COBDEN AND THE PEACH OJICHAEDS. 



Since the fi.st introditciion of budded prach 

 trees, ti e prospect of a lull crop of these supe- 

 rior varieties has not bten so prui> ising as at 

 present. Not a bhssom bud appears injured, and 

 at thi ■ time ii>ey are near y ready txi burst into 

 bloom ; three or four clays and the peach ot chards 

 will present a sight worth beholdin.;. Tbe na- 

 tive seedlings are near.y a week behind the bud- 

 ded varieties, an i it is ihis difiFcrence that may 

 account lor tl.e destruction of previous crops of 

 the more choice vaiieiies. The buciding if the 

 peach appears to change its r.atue, m .king it 

 more impi.tieut of frost, and starting the buas oa 

 the pproach of w;irm we.aher. Hence the dan- 

 ger on warm days in winter or in warm locations. 

 This point is io be overcome before the more 

 choice varieties will give satisfactii n to the or- 

 charidst. We hear no part.cuiar complaints on 

 this head from the Micbigan orc'iards, and the 

 difficulty may be only in ihs lucadi.'U. In our 

 own grounds this wiiie ditterence is not so appa- 

 rent, though the bud -ed trees are Itss reliable 

 than the seedlings. If nothing untoward sliould 

 occur, the Noith may expect an abundance of 

 fine peache- at reasonable rates. The peach or- 

 c ards have been lapidiy extended, and within 

 the next five years the trees will have attained a 

 size capable of growing a la'-ge amount of fruit. 

 For the first time some attention will be given to 

 the protection of the fruit Torn the rava es of 

 the curcuLo, which has thus far been a serious 

 drawback to this delicious fruit Mr- Colby, for- 

 merly of Janesville, will lead off in this insect 

 crusade, and we hope with success. The vine- 

 yard of Col. Bainbiidge, of some two acres, gives 

 promise of a good crop of Iruit, the canes are 

 strong, the ground in most excellent coud t on, 

 and the vines pruned and tied to stalks in the 

 most approved Cincinnati mode. The cat-bird 

 and oriole have shown a fondnes for grapes, and 

 last year took more than their proper share of 

 the straggling bunches produced by the young 

 vines. It is feared that their numbers and vo- 

 racity may make serious inroads into the crop, 

 as they have the impudence tc pick outtheiipest 

 berries of every bunch. The woods here swarm 

 with these birds, and it will be difficult to pre- 

 vent their depredations, an'l our main hope is ia 

 growing too large crops for them. 



