306 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEK. 



Oct. 





Temperature, length of season, and chemical quali- 

 ties of soil, are here peculiar, but remarkably suited 

 to nearlj all kinds of fruit. If pains be taken to 

 plant fruits best adapted to the country, nature 

 meets us with a lavish hand. 



But it must not be supposed that permanent 

 success in fruit culture will accrue from the mere 

 planting and waiting. Obstacles, formidable and 

 obstinate, must be overcome. In the large fruits 

 the "Little Turk" is our chief enemy, and he is 

 not to be despised. He has an army in the field 

 as numerous as the leaves of the forest, and armed 

 with deadly weapons. As our peach orchards 

 multiply, so does this army of vandals, and it has 

 really become a serious question whether they can 

 be put to flight. The failure in the peach crop 

 this year has been owing in a great extent to the 

 ravages of these insects. We hear very little com- 

 plaint of their interference with the apple crop, 

 although we have noticed apples on particular and 

 apparently diseased trees completely riddled by 

 them. There is a large crop of apples, and of good 

 quality. 



Grapes, of the common varieties, are all rotten 

 A very few varieties, however, are all right — the 

 Delaware pre-eminent among these. The Scnp- 

 pernong, so successful in North Carolina and Vir- 

 ginia, has not yet been fruited, but much is hoped 

 for it. Your correspondent knows nothing of 

 grape culture, and he may be lucky in this ; but it 

 seems to him that from the mean annual tempera- 

 ture of the country, and the corresponding loc^on 

 of the isothermal zones, that the hardier southa^ 

 grapes must be the best adapted to cnltivatiofl 

 here. That the problem will be solved soon there 

 is no doubt, and there is much to indicate this as a 

 grape growing country. 



All varieties of potatoes, early planted, are in 

 abundance. But you people who cultivate the 

 clean mellow soil of the prairies know very little 

 of our sorrows in this line. Among the pests of 

 the farm is the sassafras. This oderous shrub is 

 difficult to exterminate. In plowing, the roots are 

 cut in many pieces, and each piece is sure to send 

 up a thrifty shoot. On fields that have been culti- 

 vated for twenty years, this nuisance remains as 

 vigorous as ever. This and persimmon sprouts are 

 the chief woody encumbrances, and nothing but 

 the most radical pains taken will exterminate them. 

 Tne weed, commonly here as the rag-weed, I need 

 not mention, as weeds are common and vigorous 

 on all rich soils. But there are grasses peculiarly 

 obstinate — the chief of these are called by the 

 natives crab-grass and flax-tail grass ; they spread 

 over the ground in short-jointed vines, and take 

 root at every joint. The utmost vigilance is neces- 

 sary to keep these pests in subjection, as but a very 

 few days are necessary to cover the ground with a 

 complete matting of grass. 



Among the chief inconveniences of this latitude 

 is the want of comfortable dwellings, and I have 

 no doubt that full one-third of the sickness in 

 Egypt is owing to this cause alone, and another 

 third to the use of improper food. The influx of 

 northern settlers, is, however, working a change 

 in these matters. Sickness is unknown in their 

 families. . This may be owing to an almost wholly 

 vegetable diet, and a free and constant use of fruits. 

 Nothing, it seems, is so wholesome, as an article 

 of diet, as these, especially in a billious country. 



In the way of dwellings suitable to these long 



period feummer heats, the desidtratum has not been 

 reached. We must have abundant roofing. We 

 must have plenty of shade in the way of verandas. 

 We must have thick, non-conducting walls, and 

 large windows. Instead of our thin wooden boxes 

 which heat through like an oven, would it not be 

 well for our people to study the adaptability of 

 dwellings a little better. The old Spanish mode 

 of building dwellings, and even churches, of adobes, 

 is not to be despised. They are the coolest, cheap- 

 est, and most available dwellings in the world. 

 One might suppose that blocks of unburnt brick,- 

 moulded out of common clay would soon perish 

 and dissolve. But such is not the case. Your 

 correspondent has seen buildings in South America, 

 that have been built three hundred years, and 

 sound as a roach to-day. The old missions of Do- 

 lores and San Jose in California, that have been 

 built over a hundred years, were in good repair up 

 to 1848. The only caution to be observed, is the 

 provision of an imperishable roof, with very wide, 

 projecting eaves to shield the walls from vertical 

 rains, and stone underpinnings, to prevent the 

 absorption of moisture from the earth, and a more 

 beautiful and complete house cannot be imagined. 

 The walls are solid, and furnish no retreat for ver- 

 min. They are furnished in any style desired. 

 They can be furnished with plaster of Paris, to 

 imitate marble, or rough cast with sand or pounded 

 glass that will flash all the hues of the rainbow 

 for miles away, when reflected by the rays of the 

 sun. 



The adobe is a great institution in all Spanish 

 countries. Your Howadji has witnessed their man- 

 ufecture a number of times, and primitive and sim- 

 ple indeed is the process. Ground is selected near 

 the building to be erected, convenient to water. 

 The surface soil is removed from a circle of twenty 

 or thirty feet in diameter, the subsoil loosened up, 

 water and a little cut straw thrown on, and a yoke , 

 of oxen, driven by a boy, are set to tramping round 

 and round, until the mud is of the right consistency 

 for moulding, when the laborer with his mould, 

 would commence work, the attendant carrying 

 away and setting the adobes on edge on a level 

 yard, precisely like making bricks. These are 

 turned over and dried thoroughly, and placed away 

 under shelter for use. They are made any size 

 desired for the thickness of wall, which is carried 

 up like a brick one, the same being used for mortar. 

 One man will mould enough in two days for a good 

 sized house. The joists, window and door frames, 

 are all prepared beforehand, and when the plates 

 are on, the house is almost completed. There 

 should be a partition wall running through the - 

 center to strengthen and tie the side walls. The 

 roof is then put on and the building finished at 

 leisure. 



In Spanish countries tiles are universally used. 

 Here the roof may be made of any desired material 

 Houses made of this material are the coolest in the 

 world in summer, and warm in winter. They are 

 cheap as mvd, eminently practical, decidedly neat, 

 and we would recommend them to the considera- 

 tion of all our people. 



We had a frost last night which killed all the 

 cotton on the low lands, and blackened the sweet 

 potatoe vines. 



WooDKNHEiM, Union Co., Aug. 30. 



By the above it will be seen that there are draw- 



