1862. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEE. 



73 



Fruit Lands in Egypt. 



Probably no part of North America has re- 

 ceived an equal share of the attention and inter- 

 est which have been bestowed upon the famous 

 Fruit Belt of Southern Illinois during the last 

 four years. Pomologists are deeply interested in 

 spite of themselves. The chain of miniature 

 mountains that runs across this peninsula ishea 

 vily wooded with a dense growth of oak, poplar 

 and hickory, and the surface of the country is 

 very rough and broken ; but the vegetable won- 

 ders that grow upon its lofty table lands and its 

 fertile slopes pay the traveler a hundred fold for 

 a few day's sojourn among its hospitable people. 

 In no part of North America, perhaps, has the 

 peach attained so high perfection in the short 

 space of time in which choice varieties have been 

 cultivated, as in this. 



The climate is a happy blending of the tropica 

 with the north temperate. The valleys furnish 

 excellent pasturage, the slopes grow the best 

 quality of cane, upland cotton, apples, pears, 

 grapes and vegetables, while the tops of the hills 

 are the crowning glory of Egypt. Here the 

 peach, almond and apricot grow to their ut- 

 most perfection, entirely exempt frum the frosts 

 of the valleys which nip the fruit buds of these 

 tender vaiieties farther north. 



During the latter part of December while stop- 

 ping a few days in this mountainous region, we 

 noticed strawberries and crysanthemums still in 

 full bloom in the open air, and in places open to 

 the south, swarms of insects were sporting in the 

 warm rays of the sun. It seemed so strange to 

 hear the murmur of insects wings, and see flow- 

 ers open to the sun, when two daysbefore we had 

 breathed an atmosphere whose temperature de- 

 noted 15° below zero on the banks of Lake Mich- 

 igan, whose waters, tossed by the bitter wind into 

 the air, fell back in showers of ice-jewels. 



We learn, however, that more snow has fallen 

 in the fruit region this winter than has been 

 known be*ori» for many years, and (he Egyptians 

 are enjoying it to tlie best advantage — the boys 

 in riding down hill on their hand-sleds, and the 

 older people in more dign fied sleigh rides. Such 

 visitations of snow are like " angels' visits, few 

 and far between." 



This mountainous country was opened to set- 

 tlement and made available as a fruit growing re- 

 gion by the Illinois Central Railroad, to which it 

 owes everything that makes fruit culture desira- 

 ble. The railway plunges into these mountain 

 solitudes soon after leaviag Carbondale, going 

 south, climbs nn up-grade which culminates at 

 or near Cobden in Union county, and then de- 

 scends toward Cairo and the land of Dixie. Cob- 

 den is called by the inhabitants. The PafS. The 

 name of its post ofiSce is South Pass. 



Fruit lands in this neighborhood are being rap- 

 idly taken up and improved by enterprising and 

 intelligent men. To illustrate the high value 

 placed upon them we may be allowed to copy 

 from a private letter in which the writer says : 

 " All the land is being bought about here. The 

 Hartline farm by a man from Cincinnati, and the 

 Clemons farm by a man from Watertown, N. Y. 

 And I have just heard that Col. Bainbridge has 

 sold his place for ten thousand dollars to a Mr. 



Evans from Makanda," the first station this side, 

 aud equally good for fruit — " who ha" sold his 

 place, one mile from the station, for fourteen 

 thousand and five hundred dollars. Evans is a 

 good man — one of the right kind." Of course 

 he is, or "any other man," who brngs like in- 

 tellect and capital to bear in propagating fine 

 fruits in one of the finest fruit growing regions 

 in the world. An ofiicer in the U. S. Army for- 

 merly of this city, lately left here with his family 

 to purchase a fruit faro in the heighborhood. He 

 intends, after threshing out the rebrls, to retire 

 to his Egyptian paradise, sit under his own vine 

 and fig tree, and live on peaches and poe-try the 

 rest of his life. His sword will make a splendid 

 pruning knife. Such may be deemed truly, 



"A consummation 

 Devoutly to be wished." 



l^Farmer^s Advocate, Chicago. 



[From the Ch'cogo Tribune.l 



Saltpeter Caves— What has become of 

 them?— The Palma Christa, or Castor 

 Bean— The History of its Culture in 

 this State— Suggestions in Relation to 

 its Value. 



Champaign, Ills., Feb. 7, 1862. 



AN OLD LAW STILL IN TOECE. 



In Gale's statutes, page 623, is "An Act to pro- 

 vide for the enclosing and guarding of Saltpeter 

 Caves in this State " : 



" Sec. 1. That all persons working saltpeter 

 caves in this State, for the purpose of manufac- 

 turing saltpeter, shall, previous to commencing 

 the manufacture of saltpeter, enclose said cave 

 with a good and lawful fence, and keep the same 

 at all times in good repair, so as to prevent cattle 

 and other stock from gaiiiing access thereto. 



" Sec. 2. All persons working saltpeter caves 

 in this State, and not first complying with the 

 first section of this act may be fined in any sum 

 not exceeding fifty dollars, to be recovered be- 

 fore any Justice of the Peace of the county in 

 which the offence may be commi ted, upon com- 

 plaint made by any person in the name of the 

 County Commissioners' Court of said county, one 

 half to the person suing therpfor, the other to 

 the County Commissioners' Court of the proper 

 county, and may be liable for all damage which 

 individuals may sustain by reason of their stock 

 gaining access to sal pel er caves or manufacto- 

 ries. Approved Feb. 5, 1835." 



The above law has been brought down in the 

 present statutes, and would lead one to suppose 

 that there are in this State extensive caves of 

 saltpeter. We have been a resident of the State 

 within less than a year of the passage of the 

 above act, have been in most parts of it, but have 

 never had the pleasure of seeing one of these 

 caves, nor d« we know more of their existence 

 than is contained in the above law. 



