1863. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



45 



much can be raised in this latitude from one 

 picking, as in Mississippi from four pickings, is 

 because the soil is stronger and has greater vital- 

 ity, giving, as a consequence, a greater number 

 of larger bolls. Let one look on the map again, 

 snd see how large a part of the North lies south 

 of Mr. Dunlap's cotton, which, according to pre- 

 sent prices, is worth more than a hundred dol- 

 lars to the acre. I have now an encouraging, 

 even a romantic account. 



A certain gentleman, who has lived eighteen 

 years in a Southern State, who still owns a plan- 

 tation there, stocked with negroes, and has rais- 

 ed cotton there on a large scale, came to Illinois 

 a few years ago, and purchased of the Illinois 

 railroad company, on one of the lines of their 

 road, 18,000 acres of choice land. On these 

 lands he settled about eighty families, who seem- 

 ed devoted to him, for as I rode with him in a 

 buggy, he was stopped by one and another. One 

 wanted shoes — one smith-work done — one was 

 buildiDg, and he wanted advice as to how the 

 door and windows should be placed, and the like. 

 I noticed a very neat church which he had built 

 for them, and he told me that for two years the 

 crops failed, and he had to support these people. 

 His main object in coming hither was, so far as 

 I could see, to prove that cotton can be raised at 

 a profit in Illinois. For he makes it a condition 

 with his tenants that each one shall raise all the 

 cotton he can cultivate, taking into account the 

 number of children, whose services will turn to 

 good account in picking. I perceive that the 

 reader will wonder why I do not mention the 

 gentleman's residence and name. I have this 

 reason : He does not wish me to because his fam- 

 ily remains on his Southern plantation, and he 

 fears if the efforts he is making to raise cotton 

 were known to such rebels as formerly knew him, 

 that his property may be destroyed and his fami- 

 ly murdered. Many distinguished persons will 

 know of whom I am speaking, for he is an inti- 

 mate friend of Gen. McClelian, and when Pxince 

 Napoleon went down the Illinois Central in his 

 own car, he sent word to have this gentleman 

 meet him at a certain town, which he did, and 

 they rode together over much of the road; this 

 was that the prince might get correct informa- 

 tion of the affairs of this country, South as well as 

 North ; and it was from such sources that he de- 

 rived such favorable views of the North which he 

 so freely expressed in France. 



The latitude in which this gentleman's lands 

 lie is 39 deg. 30 min. Last year he raised 

 enough cotton to encourage h!m greatly, and this 

 last spring he prepared several hundred acres of 

 ground. But the great difficulty arose in the 

 want of seed. He could get only about sixty 

 bushels, which he sowed thinly so as to have it 

 go far, but a good part of it was eaten up almost 

 as soon as planted by the white grub. He got a 

 little more seed and replanted it ; the rest of the 

 ground he put in corn. This season, as every 

 one on the prairie knows, was unusually wet, 

 and he could not work the cotton in time. I have 

 now to report the result. He has about forty 

 acres of cotton, much of it planted in the first 

 part of May, which, though the bolls are not yet 



opened, are so matured that nothing can pre- 

 vent his having three-fourths of a crop — that is 

 150 pounds to the acre. He showed me one 

 patch which the grub did not touch ; the stalks 

 were ripe, the bolls were opening, much of it had 

 been picked, This was the short staple of Ten- 

 nessee. By the side of this he showed me some 

 rows from Louisiana seed ; that plant as high as 

 my head, as green as grass in June, and much 

 of it blossoming. He stated that the bolls which 

 I saw on ripened cotton were larger than they 

 were on his plantation at the South, and that 

 there were as many or more on a stalk, or "tree," 

 as he expressed it ; and the reason he gave for 

 this was, that the soil had superior vitality, and 

 also that though it is rich its ripening qualities 

 are equal to its vegitative qualities, or it pro- 

 duces seed as well as stalk. He says one should 

 plant as early in April as possible ; that wet 

 weather does not make prairie ground hard, and 

 that a month gained in spring is worth two 

 months, even without frost, in the fall. 



That he might make the exeriment thorough, 

 he planted in various localities, that is, on low, 

 moist ground, on high ground, on sandy ground, 

 on ground sheltered by timber and on open, fair 

 prairie ground. He prefers the last ; it was on 

 the last, he showed me the richest cotton. I 

 have this to say on my own account : This ripest 

 piece was more forward than any I have seen in 

 the timbered country 250 miles South. 



Last year he sent a specimen of the cotton he 

 raised, to England, and it was examined and an- 

 alyzed at Manchester. The report published in 

 the journal of the Illinois Agricultural Society, 

 is to the effect, that the specimen was better than 

 Orleans cotton and twenty per cent, stronger, 

 but not quite so good as Sea Island cotton. The 

 reason he gives for this superiority is, that in 

 the South, particularly on low grounds, the dews 

 are very heavy — the cotton is drenched with it 

 by night, by day the intense heat of the sun 

 scalds and steams it, and, as a consequence, 

 weakens the fibre. On the prairie there is much 

 less dew, a fresh wind always blows, and the sun 

 shines with milder rays. 



Next year he will plant all the seed he can get 

 providing it will not be more than will l^e requir- 

 ed for 2,000 acres. 



The cost of raising an acre of cotton is very 

 little more than is required for an acre of com. 

 It is about the same as an acre of broom corn. 

 An acre of tobacco can be raised ready to hang 

 up, for twenty dollars, and it is worth tea or fif- 

 teen dollars more to cure it. 



' — Dr. Mesker, the writer of the above, is a 

 careful observer, and bis estimates are worthy 

 of attention, a practical farmer and fruit grower 

 himself, he can more fully appreciate the diffi- 

 culties in the way of progress, and at once grap- 

 ple any advantage that might be offered. 



It has generally been supposed that all the un- 

 opened bolls of cotton at the time frost killed 

 the plants, would be lost, but this is not the case 

 in this part of the State. In our grounds not a 



miimt^^ 



