1863. 



THE ILLESTOIS FAEMEE. 



345 



BAILHACHE & BAEEB 



- PITBLISHEES. 



M. L. DUNLAP, Editor. 

 SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, NOVEMBER, 1863 



Where are we drifting, and where will we land, 

 are now all absorbing questions. The war contin- 

 ues — our young men are melting away like dew 

 before the Sun, and the national debt is rolling up 

 its dark masses, and yet money is abundant — a 

 constant river of it flowing, or what must pass for 

 money. Prices of all commodities have assumed 

 portentious magnitude, with still an upward ten- 

 dency, the great staples of the West have fallen 

 short and we stand in the midst of uneertainty. 

 The close of the war, the price of the present crops, 

 and the yield of the next are important questions 

 that time can alone unravel. We can only wait 

 with patience for the unfolding of the results, 

 results that may stagger us before another year has 

 rolled around. 



Of one thing we feel assured, that this rebellion 

 will be crushed out, whether it requires six months 

 or six years. The genius of the age is for free labor, 

 and the Anglo Saxon will carve his way to that re- 

 sult. The Negro must and will be crowded South, 

 his habits and this climate are not for him, and he 

 is of little value for himself or others unless compel- 

 led to labor. As fast as it is possible he will push 

 South to Central America to fulfil his destiny, thus 

 producing a revolution in the industrial pursuits 

 of the age. 



The drouth and frost of the season has made it 

 historic, and not soon to be forgotten, especially 

 in Central Illinois and the basin of Egypt. There 

 is one course for every farmer, and which at this 

 time is not safe to depart from, and that is to pay 

 up old debts as far as possible, and not to make 

 new ones that can be avoided, living strictly within 

 your means, making such improvements as are 

 needed, more especially in tree planting, for while 

 almost everything else has largely advanced, fruit, 

 shade and ornamental trees, plants and shrubs can 

 be had at nearly or quite the old prices. Although 

 lumber is high as compared with the past few years, 

 yet we do not look forward to any faUing off in 

 the price, as the former price was ruinous to lumber 

 interest. 



-«•»- 



Thi Cotton Chop. — On th'i timbered portion of 

 Egypt we learn from those in attendance at the 

 State Fair that the cotton crop will not prove so 

 great a failure as supposed at the time of^he Irost, 



but will yield from one to two hundred pounds to 

 the acre. 



Card of Thanks. — In behalf of the Executive 

 Committee of the Illinois State Agricultural So- 

 ciety, I desire to tender thanks to the press of 

 Illinois and Missouri for elaborate and interesting 

 reports of the late Trial of Implements and State 

 Fair at Decatur, and to acknowledge the obligations 

 of the Society and of the farmers of lUinoiB gener- 

 ally, to the able corps of reporters, who labored 

 with great industry to make faithful record of each 

 day's proceedings. 



JOHN P. REYNOLDS, - 



Corresponding Secretary Illinois State Agricul- 

 tural Society. 



Springfield, October 5, 1863. 



Painftti, Bereavement. — While our Western 

 Editor, Mr. C. D. Bragdon, was at Decatur, attend- 

 ing the Illinois State Fair, a telegram summoned 

 him to attend the burial of his only son — between 

 four and five years of age — who was drowned at 

 Pulaski, Oswego county. New York, where he had 

 gone with his mother to visit relatives. The be- 

 reavement is a very sad one, and awakens the pro- 

 found smpathies of the many relatives and friends 

 of the parents. — Rural New Yorker October \Qth. 



We deeply sympathize with the bereaved parents 

 in their sore affliction. We met our friend Brag- 

 don but a few hours previous to the receipt of the 

 unwelcome news. He had just received a letter 

 from his wife stating that herself and little ones 

 were in excellent health, and enjoying themselves 

 very pleasantly in their visit, and so soon as the 

 Fair closed he should join them for a few days, 

 and then return home. Fond hopes of pleasant 

 greetings were all too soon dashed to the ground. 

 When a boy we came near our untimely end near 

 the same place, to which we look back with a 

 shudder. 



Champaign County Fair. — This Fair was a great 

 improvement over last year. The show was not 

 large, but the attendance good. The new manage- 

 ment if continued will bring the Fair among the 

 best in the State. 



. 4«» 



Vermillion County Fair at Catlin. — This was 

 largely attended though the show was not large. 

 We were on the ground but part of a day. The 

 grounds are beautiful and the managers in earnest 

 to make it a successful institution. 



4»» 



Wheel Revolting Rakes. — ^We saw several of 

 these at the State Fair, but the one by Furst & 

 Bradley, of Chicago, was a long ways ahead with 



