AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
399 
the risk of breaking his neck, vith an open gate 
close by,through which he might walk with ease 
and safety. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
The Bright Side of “Egypt.” 
This name, given to the southern section of 
Illinois, is as familiar as “ Household Words,” in 
all the Northern States. It has been pictured as 
a land of swamps; where frogs, mosquitoes, and 
malaria are the chief products, where pccrle bare¬ 
ly live long enough to die ; the few remaining 
alive, being a set of heathens, who have had brains 
just sufficient to vote for Gen. Jackson, for the 
past twenty years. But the fine crops and gen¬ 
eral prosperity of the people are fast attracting 
attention to Southern Illinois, and dissipating its 
unfortunate reputation. Ge.ographically consid¬ 
ered, it is a most important section of country, 
being hounded on the North, by the Ohio and Mis¬ 
sissippi Railroad, on the East, by the Wabash and 
Ohio Rivers, on the South, by the Ohio and Mis¬ 
sissippi, on the West, by the Mississippi, beside 
being divided through its center by the Illinois 
Central Railroad. Its latitude is favorable, es¬ 
caping the cold Winters of the North, and the 
long continued heat of the South, while it has 
direct access to the three great markets of the 
West, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis, and 
also with New-Orleans, at the South. The nor¬ 
thern part of “Egypt” is well divided between 
prairie and timber; the southern part is mostly 
covered with timber, excepting where openings 
have been made for farms. It is quite broken 
with the exception of the bottoms. So far as 
health is concerned, the higher lands are as salu¬ 
brious as those of New-England. Immense beds 
of coal underlie much of this southern part of the 
State, and promise a glorious future for this por¬ 
tion of the Mississippi Valley, when a union is 
formed with the iron ore of Missouri, which is 
about being consummated by the new process of 
working iron. In Randolph County alone are 
seventy thousand acres of coal lands. 
The soil of Southen Illinois is of a lighter col¬ 
or than that of any other part of the State, and in 
some places too much clay prevails, but at other 
points, the soil at a depth of eight feet, after being 
exposed to the action of the frost and atmosphere 
one year, will produce fine crops of any kind ; of 
such are the bluff lands on the rivers, having a 
reddish tint. For quality of wheat, the timber 
lands of “ Egypt ” will bear away the palm, 
though occasionally a greater yield is had on the 
prairies. For a corn crop, Central Illinois leads 
any other part of the State, with the exception of 
the great American Bottom opposite to St. Louis, 
though the whole of “Egypt” brings fine crops 
of corn if Hie land is plowed deep and properly 
tilled ; while her level lands are better adapted to 
tame grasses than the deep black soils—partak¬ 
ing more of the nature of the celebrated blue- 
grass lands of Kentucky. For the certainty of 
the wheat crop in the timber lands of southern 
Illinois, 1 found some farmers who had grown 
twenty good paying wheat crops in succession, 
and those who had been less fortunate attributed 
i heir losses to their own neglect. 
The bluff lands and high ridges in “Egypt,” 
near the railroads and rivers, will make elysiurns 
for fruit growers ; in fact, there is no business 
connected with the farm that will pay better 
than fruit growing in this part of the State, and 
in time it will tell a tale of success and become 
justly noted, as it will have the St. Louis, and up 
river, Chicago, and Cincinnati markets at com¬ 
mand ; while these same high lands further back 
from roads and rivers make fine homes for sheep. 
Tire greatest objection to the Central and 
Northern part of Illinois, is the too frequent sub¬ 
soil of blue clay which holds every whit of water 
that falls, until it evaporates, instead of allowing 
it to leach off, which makes the land cold and 
wet in the Spring ; and the large prairies, making 
It cold and bleak in Winter. The prairies of 
“ Egypt” also have too much of this clay. All 
the good points and facilities are not centered in 
anv one section of country, but as a whole and 
without the slightest personal interest to warp 
my opinion, I should settle in Southern Illinois, 
for farming purposes in preference to any other 
portion of tiie West; and this, too, after four 
years’ experience in western life, during very lit¬ 
tle of which time I have been stationary. I am 
no fancy farmer, but have had the muscle, back¬ 
bone, and head experience, and would not picture 
an Eden any where; and if any one should for a 
moment imagine that Paradise is located in 
“Egypt,” the idea would soon be dissipated by a 
visit to the country. It has hitherto borne a bad 
reputation for health of body and of soul, but its 
future will be as bright as the past has been dim, 
and for the next ten years no part of the West 
will show a greater progress. Many Germans are 
settling in this portion of the “ Sucker” State, and 
make most excellent farmers, and are fast getting 
wealthy. Much of this section bears a New- 
England aspect, but with a far milder climate. 
Many of the so called “ barrens ” that are cover¬ 
ed in part with timber, with a little labor in clear¬ 
ing out the under brush, make most excellent 
sheep ranges, as there is fine grass growing all 
through the timber. Wheat, fruit, and sheep, or 
wool growing will be the leading features of 
Egvpt. E. G. Chase. 
St. Louis, August, 1859. 
--o «- rd ^pg—-- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Are you going to the Exhibitions? 
Rustic life is too apt to become rusty life. The 
faculties are not kept bright by contact with oth¬ 
ers, and much of life’s enjoyment is lost. The 
almost necessary seclusion of farm life is one of 
its disadvantages. When men are shut up—eacli 
in his own little circle of observation, and having 
absolute dominion, they are in danger of becom¬ 
ing narrow in their views, and conceited in their 
opinion's; and this more than almost anythingelse, 
hinders progress in agriculture. “ I don’t believe 
in hook farming,” is still a common expression 
among those who scarcely understand what they 
mean by book-farming, and too many unproduc¬ 
tive fields bear witness to the truth of the asser¬ 
tion. The motto proposed by “ Punch,” for the 
building in which the “ World's Exhibition ” in 
London, was held a few years since, was expres¬ 
sive : “ It is a good, thing to have the conceit taken 
out of us.” 
Farmer Blunt boasts that he has always stayed 
at home and minded his own business, and has 
plowed and sowed as did his fathers, year after 
year, until he has come from force of habit to feel 
that there is but one way, and lie knows that way 
perfectly. If he can be persuaded to attend an 
exhibition, he will soon find that there are many 
things his philosophy never yet dreamed of. Un¬ 
der the influence of the good feeling which a 
large assembly inspires, he will be much more 
ready to hear and attend to the new ideas ad¬ 
vanced, than if they were brought to him in his 
own little kingdom at home—especially when the 
fruits of improved culture are present to sustain 
these opinions and ‘compel his admiration. 
“There may be something in it after all” he ex¬ 
claims, as he won ' v s at the report of the com¬ 
mittee oil the best farm, vvhich report details the 
various methods of culture and their results. 
‘Eighty bushels of corn per acre” is an argu¬ 
ment whose force he can feel, and the leaven of 
a new idea thus obtained will work good results. 
There can hardly be a more appropriate man¬ 
ner of closing the agricultural year than by the 
exhibitions of the produce of farm and household 
industry, and it is well that these exhibitions 
have now become so general. The partial re¬ 
lease from severe labor which this season brings, 
is itself an occasion of rejoicing, and it is natural 
and fitting that the invitation should be given and 
accepted, “ Come, let us make merry together.” 
Were no other end to he gained but the promo¬ 
tion of sociality, we should urge upon all to at¬ 
tend the annual gathering at the faimers’ festival, 
the agricultural exhibition. 
The managers of these exhibitions have been 
censured, justly perhaps, for the introduction of 
features that have made a mere show of what 
ought to be of a very different character. It may 
perhaps be said in their defence, that they resort¬ 
ed to questionable means for securing a large at¬ 
tendance, only because there was not interest 
enough in the community, in what is really bene¬ 
ficial, to sustain the enterprise. Their choice was 
between a good exhibition, where improvements 
were to be brought forward and their merits can¬ 
vassed, coupled with the prospect of a slim at¬ 
tendance and debt incurred, which they must 
pocket; or the addition of the racetrack, female 
equestrian display and other “taking” things, 
which should make it “ pay.” Those who have 
done nothing to support the County and State 
Societies and their exhibitions, ought not to com¬ 
plain if the officers resort to such measures to 
sustain themselves. If half of those who culti¬ 
vate an acre of ground would attend the exhibi¬ 
tion as a matter of duty, as well as interest, tak¬ 
ing with them the best of their produce, there 
would soon be very little complaint of misman¬ 
aged societies and useless shows. Let this year’s 
exhibitions show by the full attendance given, 
that the farmers consider these institutions as 
their own, and the managers will rejoice to make 
them what they should he, both the signs and the 
source of agricultural improvement. 
--- 
Get Ready for the “Census Man.” 
•Next year will occur the great decennial Cen¬ 
sus of the United Slates, made by the General 
Government Persons will he appointed for every 
locality in the Slates and Territories to gather 
statistics of the inhabitants, and of ail the agri¬ 
cultural productions, manufactures, etc. Every 
cultivator will be asked for a concise, accurate 
statement of land occupied by him, the number of 
acres and the amount of each crop raised during 
the year ending next June, etc. Those who were 
called upon in 1850 doubtless remember the diffi¬ 
culty experienced in making up an accurate re¬ 
port of the various crops. As these reports will 
he called for in June, it will be necessary to give 
in the crops gathered this year, and the sugges¬ 
tion we would now make is, that cultivators write 
down, while fresh in mind, the number of acres 
under cultivation, including the wheat, etc., al¬ 
ready gathered. The number of acres of each 
kind, the amount per acre, and the gross amount, 
will be required. The milk products also, and the 
amount of pork, beef, etc., will all be asked for. 
Grasshoppers are degenerating in Virginia 
They have begun to chaw the tobacco. 
How to make a clean sweep. Wash him. 
