298 



THE ILLmOIS FAKMEE. 



Oct. 



chard, btlts of trees for protection are of value, 

 but much less so than with high heads. As an 

 evidence of this we saw an orchard within two 

 miles of Mr. Coe, well protected by locust belts, 

 the trees had heads sufficiently high to drive 

 a team under them, had been set several years 

 longer, but yet is not as productive, though the 

 trees are very thrifty, taking into considersation 

 their manner of treatment. 



Quincy was our next point of visit, but the 

 war played the dicVenswith the river travel, and 

 it is now but a waste of waters, with only a semi- 

 occasional steamer plowing its placid surface, we 

 therefore retraced our steps by rail to the memo- 

 rable "Pond Creek," and crossed over to the C. 

 B. & Q. Road at Wyanet, and at one o'clock in 

 the morning of the 6ih August, arrived in Quincy, 

 and put up at the Adams House. 



SOKGUUM. 



Nearly every farm in the west part of the State 

 appears to have its acre of Sorghum, and we 

 saw several mills and boiling houses, where it is 

 worked up on the shares. From what we saw 

 and heard of the extent of the planting, the west 

 part of the State will nearly or quite supply the 

 local demand for sirup the coming year. The 

 crop is rather late like that of corn, but is 

 well grown, and must turn out a good yield. 

 As a general thing the farmers understand its 

 manufacture, and since the chemists have let 

 them alone, will make a good article. Sugar 

 making is yet in the distance, at least its profita- 

 ble demonstration. 



BROOM CORN. 



Immense crops of this was growB last season, 

 and the price broke down so badly, carrying with 

 it numerous growers, that this season very much 

 less was planted, and we shall look for a brisk 

 demand. 



THE MISSISSIPPI BOTTOM. 



• From Quincy, our route led for nine miles along 

 the river bottoms, tho road running just under 

 the high bluff that shoots out the prairie to the 

 west. The heat was intense as we rode out of 

 city down under the shadow of those cliffs, 

 clothed with the giauts of the forest, and were 

 met with the cool broeze that came up from the 

 river; the birds made merry music as if enjoy- 

 ing the scene. The river is away to the far side 

 of the wide sweep of the bottom land, now dot- 

 ted with vast fields of corn, and of the new 

 plowed stubble, now be'ng prepared for winter 



wheat, for here winter wheat, year after year, is 

 sown on the same ground, and from the appear- 

 ance of the large stacks of grain, must produce 

 abundantly. The lower lying portion of the bot- 

 tom are yet in timber of the heaviest description. 

 Some excellent springs burst out from the rocky 

 bluffs, mostly in the sandstone shale, which has 

 erliidthe lime. On our return in the after- 

 noon, the scene had changed, the wind had ceas 

 ed to come up from the river, the sun poured its 

 fiercest heat unobstructed on our road, the dust 

 rose on all sides and covered us as in a fog. The 

 sweat poured from our horse, whose fastest gait 

 was a slow walk. The birds had fled from the 

 road side, and nought looked pleasing save the 

 fresh springs as they gushed forth from ttei'^ 

 rocky beds to refresh the thirsty traveler, and 

 more thirsty horse. The poetry of the morning 

 had turned to dusty, dreary prose. 



Ascending the bluffs, a drive of a mile brought 

 us to the farm of 



CLARK CHATTON. 



This had formerly been heavy timber when Mr, 

 Chatton, fresh from Yankee land, with axe on 

 shoulder, a quarter of a century since, entered 

 its massive aisles of towering oak and maple, 

 and commenced carving out a home for his young 

 family. The small clearing and log house have 

 given p'ace to ample buildings, extensive out- 

 houses, and far-reaching fields. The farm con- 

 tains four hundred and eighty acres of cleared 

 land, two hundred and fifty acres in winter wheat 

 now in stack, forty acres of apple orchard, 

 twelve to peach, and six to pears, the remainder 

 to corn, meadow and pasture. The whole is divi- 

 ded into fifteen fields, requiring fourteen miles of 

 fence, all of which is of rails, laid in the worm 

 form with stakes and riders, and bid defiance to 

 brutes, while for man it is no small amount of 

 labor to get over, as we had abundant opportunity 

 to testify. The farm is mostly worked on shares 

 by tenants, six of whom have houses for their 

 accommodation. The soil is the greyiah white 

 drift, peculiar to the basin of Egypt. 



VARIETIES OF WHEAT. 



Mr. C. SOWS the Red Blue Stem and the May 

 or Alabama in about equal quantities. He esti- 

 mates his crop this year at an average of thirty 

 bushels per acre. Clover grows rank, and is ex- 

 tensively cultivated. Lime is being used, and 

 promises to prove profitable. Even on this lime 

 soil, so Mr. C. thinks, and is making extensive 

 arrangements for burning it on his own land 



