ire 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER 



JtrifE 



season. Oats produce heavy crops here, and 

 many times oa's are made from volunteer crops. 

 I give it as my firm conviction that with proper 

 cultivation, crops are surer here than in any part 

 of the world of which I have knowledge. Still, 

 farming is miserably done here. Stock will live 

 and thrive with little care ; sheep cost very little 

 attention — and we have a class of people — some, 

 not all — that don't like to work over much. 



There is no better dairy country in the world, 

 co'W'B plenty, and yet butter of eatable quality 

 cannot be had at less thEn thirty five and forty 

 cents per pound, and not enough at that. But 

 you can see our prices current. 



In the fruit line this is a great country. Ap- 

 ple trees : et out two years bear well, and they 

 are in their prime at s'x years. They are culti- 

 vated as dwarf.'', the central shoct cut out. I 

 suppose the dry and hot weather in summer 

 makes the growing wood form fruit buds. The 

 little trees are loaded with fruits in the season ; 

 and often you will see every limb and twig staked 

 up to prevent thein from bre'iking-, and son.e- 

 times, wl^eu the limbs sdmir, they lay on the 

 ground lo^ided with fruit. The same facts may 

 be stated in regard to the bearing of cherries, 

 plums and pears. Yon know nothing about the 

 perfection of these fruits in Illinois. We have 

 no trouble here to grow all these fruit trees. — 

 Plant out the trees on proper soil — and nearly all 

 soils are proper — trim the trees, and the thing is 

 done Ycu don't have to wash your tree with lie 

 —-you don't have to scrape them — you are not 

 troubled with worms, bugs, or those infamous 

 little raSL-als, the curculio. Lord ! Dunlap, if 

 you were here wi^h your orchard, you would 

 think, 30 far as fruit growirg is concerned, that 

 you were in Paradise before the fall. Peaches 

 are good — nice, but not the best ; apricots ditto, 

 nectarines ditto ; all Iheee grow here, and we 

 luxuriated upon them the last season. 



Of small fruits, they all grow here in abun- 

 dance — gooseberries, currants, all of various 

 kinds. We have a native raspberry here which 

 I think you would like- I don't believe it was 

 ever cariied over the mouctaiiis. I have cut 

 stalks of it large enough to make stout canes, say 

 an inch and a half through the butt. The canes 

 grow about six feet high, stout, and branch. The 

 berry is large, seeds small, and with the native 

 flavor, which I like. I must send some of the 

 seeds to you. These raspberry canes are very 

 productive. A dozen fhoots, allowing half dozen 

 canes to grow, will furnish fruit for a family — 

 and they continue in bearing several weeks. 



Now, here I am near the close of my sheet, and 



have not begun to write on subjects marked out 

 by myself. 



Oregon is in straits now. She paid out six 

 millions of property, at current prices, for the 

 Indian war. It took so much from a people that 

 had nothing really to spare ; just about as much 

 as 216 m'llions would be from your State. Do 

 you think Illinois could stand such a drain of its 

 capital? Oregon has had to do this. She had 

 more cause to denounce the government, a hun^ 

 dred million fold, than the secessionists of the 

 South ; yet Oregon has stood up under this — 

 bally enough, to he sure — and she is now recov- 

 ering from the dreadful wrongs inflicted upon her 

 by government. So much for the present condi- 

 tion of Oregon. 



Our future prospects are good. Vv'e are open- 

 ing gold mines on our frontiers, employing mi- 

 ners irom California and that class of people 

 here, our farmers are attending to their farms, 

 we are gradually building factories to work up 

 cur wool, and we offer to eastern emigrants for 

 their future homes a healthful country, a fertile 

 soil, a benign climate (potatoes and dahlia.shave 

 been in the ground all winter), and a hearty wel- 

 come. 



Please let me hear from j'ou. Mrs. F. sends 

 her respects to you, witii kind recollections. 



I am yours, as ever, 



S. Fkakcis. 



— It is with pleasure that we lay before our 

 readers the above, from Mr. Francis, our prede- 

 cessor in the chair editorial, and now editor of 

 the Oregon Farmer, of which we have had occa- 

 sion to speak on several ocrasions. It will be 

 seen that the letter is dated March 8th ; it came 

 to hand the 15th of May, and after the June num- 

 ber was made up, which will account for its late 

 appearance in this number, though we shall send 

 it to the printer, and if the fjrms are not all 

 made up to crowd out some less valuable matter 

 and give it a place at once. Mr. .F writes us that 

 bis wife, like most women, d^n't like the coun- 

 try, but that she is growing daily more and more 

 at home. The country is new, and of course 

 everything is in a transition state, but wiih the 

 natural resources of the country, its fine climate 

 and teeming soil it will be but a few years before 

 Oregon will put on some of the finish and airs of 

 of the older States. The Indian wars have been, 

 as stated, a serious draw back on the progress of 

 the State, but had it not been for our southern 

 embroglio, no doubt but that Congress would at 

 the last session have paid ofl" these claims and 

 sent the new State on her way rejoicing. We 



