1861. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



207 



precisely similar in Us results to the '« pig and 

 poultry/" remedy, and to EUwanger & Barry's 

 mode of beating the earth smooth and sweeping 

 up daily the fallen infested fruit— all three de- 

 etroy this year's worms, and save next year's 

 supply. The jarring and killing method saves 

 the crop of this year, and has, therefore, by 

 one year, the start of the other three. These 

 four remedies are the only ones of any value. 

 The "pig and poultry" and the "jarring" pro- 

 cess combined, constitute the most efficient cure 

 for the evil. — Country Gent. 



Great Excitement !— Gold Discovered 

 on the Columbia Slough ! 



Ed. Oregon Farmer : As the public mind 

 seems to be in a high state of excitement on 

 account of the recent discoveries of gold on the 

 upper Columbia, I thought it might not be un- 

 interesting to some of your readers, to know 

 that extensive quarts leads and surface diggings 

 have recently been discovered on the Columbia 

 Slough, only six miles east of Portland. 



I arrived in Oregon a little over a year ago, 

 and in miners' phrase, was "flat broke," and 

 being green — right from the Green Mountains 

 of Vermont — and having heard it said there 

 was gold in payirg quantities in the vicinity 

 and on the banks ol all the rivers in Oregon, 

 I commenced prospecting up and down the Co- 

 lumbia bottom, from the mouth of the Sandy to 

 the mouth of the Willamette rivers, and have 

 found the whole valley filled with splendid 

 "quarts leads," and in msny places extensive 

 " surface diggings." I have given them the 

 name of the "New-milk I-mean Mines." 



1 have a "quarts mill" in opera'ion which 

 has, so faTj yiel ed a very fair profit. 1 have 

 used No. 1 dairy cows for crushing out the 

 "quarts." Each cow crushes out from six to 

 twelve "quarts" per day, which, when panned 

 out yields absut thirty- five cents to the pan- 

 full. There are many singular features about 

 these mines ; as, for instance, quality of the 

 gold, and the manner of obtaining it. 



I think ihe purity of the gold surpasses any 

 yet discovered, far when properly panned out 

 it has invariably proved pure coin, and I ha'^e 

 never paid one cent discount to get it exchang- 

 ed at any banker or broker's ofilce where I 

 have presented it. The manner of obtaining 

 the gold is very different from the usual mode 

 of mining, but may be varied to suit the fancy 

 of the miner. Instead of long-toms, rockers, 

 sluices and riffle boxes, I use the cheese tub, 

 basket, press, churn and butter worker. And 

 instead of using quicksilver on copper and sil- 

 ver plate, I use salt and rennet, prepared in a 

 white earthen pitcher. But, Mr. Editor, I find 

 it impossible to speak of the advantages of 

 these mines in this letter to the people of Or- 

 egon, over those of the Rock Creek, iS'ez Perce 

 and Pen de Oreille, and defer it to another 

 number, but would say to the farmers of Ore- 

 gon, prospect your farms at home thoroughly 

 before going to the upper Columbia mines, for 

 I have not seen a farm in Oregon yet, that did 



not contain diggings that would make any man 

 independent in ten years if properly worked. 

 Yours, etc., Vermontee, 



P. S. — I forgot to mention the singular fact 

 that the "tailings" from my "quarts" works 

 make splendid feed for hogs — depositing in the 

 meat from six to ten, and in a few instances 

 as high as twelve and a half cents worth of 

 gold per pound. Also that gard n vegetables, 

 oats, wheat, and in fine almost ever> produc- 

 tion of the farm contains a large percentage of 

 gold. V. 



Columbia Slough, May 7, 1861. 



We take the above from the Oregon 

 Farmer of May 15th, which is just f-t 

 hand. " If properly worked," that is the 

 secret ; if we will properly work our farms 

 there can be no doubt that we can pan out 

 the gold in paying quantities. We need 

 not go to Oregon for the diggings, for they 

 are right here in the precious drift that forms 

 our prairies. Ed. 



•- »•* 



The Price of Wool. 



Almost every Eastern paper we take up, par- 

 ticularly those published in the manufacturing 

 States, contain articles going to prove that wool 

 must be sold very low this year. Many of these 

 papers seem to think that if the farmers get 15 

 or 20 cents they may think themselves very for- 

 tunate. 



Now, we fail entirely to see any good reason 

 for this opinion. The following table will show 

 the prices of wool in Chicago for the last eight 

 years : 



June. Julv. August. 



1853 40a55 38a50 35a45 



182-i 20a.30 23a31 20a30 



1855 20a34 25a36 2oa38 



1856 20a87 20a3r 20a8r 



1S57 25a38 ■ 25a.40 31a42 



1858 16a.30 18a.30 25a34 



1859 25a40 25a42 25a42 



I860 25ia43 25a45i 25a4r 



So we see that the average price lowest in any 

 one month in these eight years was 23 cents, 

 while the highest average price was 40 ctnis. — 

 The average price last year was 35 cents. 



Now, it is very certain that there will be more 

 demand for woolen cloth this year, next year, 

 and probably year after that, than there has been 

 for some years past. We have an army of 200,- 

 000 men, soon to be increased to 300,000 men, in 

 the field, all of whom must be clothed in woolen 

 cloth. 



This alone would make a forced consumption 

 nearly equal to the ability of our whole wool crop 

 to supply. Then the ordinary uses for wool still 

 continue, and we see no reason why wool should 

 not be higher, instead of lower, than it was in 

 1860. 



At all events, farmers canlo?e nothing by hold- 

 ing on to theiv wool. It will certainly be no lower, 



