The Illinois Farier. 



VOL. VI. 



SPRINGFIELD, NOVEMBER 1861. 



NO. 1]. 



November. 



Another month, and the year 1861 •will 

 have passed off the stage. As we write, the 

 year to tha farmer is passing smoothly on — 

 from the distance comes the faint notes of 

 the slogan — the sound of the deadly rifle, 

 and the occasional booming of the distant 

 cannon. On the farm, the only music is 

 that of the busy thresher, or the steady 

 grinding of the sorghum mill, as it presses 

 out the sacharine fluid, adding another to 

 the great farm staples of the Northwest. 

 As we ride down the pleasant slopes of sum- 

 mer into the valley of autumn, we can with a 

 greater certainty sum up the results of the 

 year, a year pregnant with the fate of the great 

 valley of the teeming West, may the fear- 

 ful and portentous cloud that now darkens 

 our horizon, pass off and leave us but the 

 gleaming sunshine that so lately sent its 

 bright cintilaiions across our pathway. 



The heavy rains of the last of August 

 and first of September have been highly 

 » beneficial to the corn crop, and the young 

 wheat is making a most satisfactory growth, 

 while the potato crop has recovered to a 

 reasonable extent, but not enough to make 

 amends for the limited breadth planted. 

 Late garden vegetables are also good, with 

 the exception of sweet potatoes, which have 

 made too large a growth of vines, without 

 special regard to the tuburs. The prices of 

 wheat are satisfactory, while the prospects 

 f Dr corn are not good, though better than 

 three months since. We look into the fu- 

 ture of prices for farm products with re- 

 newed hope, and are busy harvesting the 

 autumn crops with as much care as though 



we were guarantied the prices of '55-6, 

 that filled the coffers of the farmer and in- 

 duced all kinds of extravagance and follj. 

 Should our anticipations prove true, we hope 

 to be spared the extravagance. Time has 

 brought wisdom, and the great mass of the 

 farmers will hardly be caught so far cstray, 

 or on so easy terms as before. Credit ha» 

 become a victim of misplaced confidence, 

 and has shrank into small dimensions, and 

 of little power. Economy has become the 

 order of the day — economy in labor, econo- 

 my in expenses, and the wise will grow rich 

 with economy, for they are no longer spending 

 more than they earn. If farm products 

 are cheap, we do not fool away the small 

 sums on silks and finery, but put it to good 

 account. Notwithstanding the hard times, 

 the West grows richer and stronger year 

 after year, the unrivalled fertility of her 

 virgin soil outstrips all competition, and bids 

 defiance. 



No where else but in the West can wheat 

 be grown for fifty cents, corn for twentj, 

 and wool for twenty-five, and yet not im- 

 poverish the farmer. No where else can 

 beef be had at three cents and pork at the 

 same, without bringing ruin to the producer. 

 The ease with which the great prairie slopes 

 are cultivated, the certainty of the crop, all 

 point to the fact that they are the very gar- 

 dens of the world. The phantom, ague 

 and lingering fevers have been dispelled by 

 a more rational mode of living, and, to-day, 

 the bills of mortality compare favorably 

 with any part of the country. With such 

 continued industry and economy, let come 

 what will, the West will continue in her on- 

 ward progress. 



