VOL. L. NO. 2 152. 
NEW YORK, APRIL 25, i89i 
PRICE, FIVE CENTS. 
$ 2 .oo PER YEAR. 
LILLYCACHE. 
A 90 ACRE ILLINOIS FARM HOME. 
Not all “big farms’ 1 out West; soil depth rather than 
soil surface; an ideal farm partnership; harns that 
save leg exercise; tools that save tracking; a mighty 
stock quartette; who wouldn't stay on such a farm? 
A River Farm. Why Selected. 
O UR farm is located on both banks of the Dupage 
River, at the mouth of the Lillycache Creek, from 
which I christened the farm “ Lillycache.” It con¬ 
tains 90 acres, 60 of which are under cultivation, i. e , five 
acres are occupied by buildings, yards and fruit, five acres 
are in permanent Timothy meadow, and the river occupies 
stream, decided me to make this our future home. There 
was when I bought it, 20 years ago, another tract of 80 
acres connected with it, on which were located the build¬ 
ings, but the site not pleasing me, I decided to build and 
improve on new, clean ground on the opposite side of the 
road, thereby gaining a south and east front, with a beau¬ 
tiful view of the river and the woods on the east and north. 
Wife as a Partner and Owner. 
In 1876 the terms of articles of agreement being satis¬ 
fied, I insisted on our present home being deeded to my 
wife instead of to me, I retaining the ownership of the 
80 acres referred to in the beginning of this article. In 
1879 this was sold to a neighbor. During the winter of 
1880-81, being impressed by the rapidity with which the 
public lands were being absorbed, and, seized with the 
A House Built for Comfort and Convenience. 
The main part of the old house being built entirely of 
black walnut, even to the roof boards and siding, and the 
corn crib being also in good repair, they were moved across 
the road and incorporated with the new buildings. Thejest 
of the old buildings were sold or destroyed, and the land 
cleared of all trace of them. The place was sold a few 
years later to a neighbor. # The house, see Fig. 109, is con¬ 
venient for the wants of a small family. The cellar Is 
large and dry, with a coal room and furnace for heating 
the rooms above. We have a 200-barrel cistern, a large 
sink in the pantry supplied with hot and cold cistern 
water, and also a driven well pump for well water. There 
is a dish closet, one side of which opens to the sink, and 
the opposite one into the dining-room. A bath-room opens 
about five acres, leaving 45 in cultivated crops, or corn, 
oats and clover. The soil is a deep, sandy loam with 
gravelly subsoil. Thirty acres on the other side of the river 
were originally heavily timbered with maple, walnut, oak 
and hickory, and were included in what was once known 
as “Walker’s Grove,” which, tradition says, furnished the 
lumber for the first frame building erected in Chicago, 30 
miles distant. This 30-acre field is nicely set in Blue Grass 
and has never been plowed. Some large and smaller tim¬ 
ber growth, with some hazel bushes, seem to make it un¬ 
desirable for cultivation at present, while it furnishes the 
earliest, latest and best of pasturage, nicely shaded from 
the hot sun by the numerous groups of trees and clumps 
of bushes, which also afford protection from the cold winds 
of late fall, and the nuts from these trees and bushes are a 
source of great satisfaction and enjoyment, and I really 
think the feeling of protection and shelter afforded by the 
surrounding woods, with the daily pleasure of seeing a 
clear running stream of water in contrast with the 
monotony p t the open prairie, distant from forest apd 
impulse of using my rights as a free-born American 
citizen of obtaining, while they were yet obtainable under 
our public land laws, my share of these lands, I started 
for the frontier—my wife managing her own farm during 
my absence, which continued for three years—securing 
under the provisions of the homestead preemption and 
timber-culture laws, three quarter-sections of land for the 
possible benefit of our three children. Returning in 1884, 
I resumed the direction of the farm matters here, my wife 
retaining the ownership. One of our daughters teaches 
school. Having no servants, either male or female, the 
other daughter and her mother devote their time to home 
and social interests, in addition to their household duties, 
caring for the lawn and flowers, and to some extent the 
garden, fruit and poultry. Our bank account is not large, 
but being at no expense for hired help, and being able to 
add each year some needed or fancied improvements to 
our home, we do not seriously feel the need of a larger 
one, and, as we seem to be about, equal partners, eaoj} 
works for the welfare of all, 
from the kitchen near the range, and there is also a hot 
water boiler. An ample wood and wash room is in the 
farther corner, and an earth closet is furnished with a large 
water-tight drawer on runners, to which a horse can be 
attached for hauling it to the barnyard or garden. Coal 
ashes are used for deodorizing. The pantry sink is pro¬ 
vided with a drain of six-inch sewer pipe with stench 
traps, which passes out below the wood-room near the 
kitchen door. In the washroom is a large opening to the 
drain, where on washday the tubs are emptied, thus flush¬ 
ing the drain nicely every week. 
The house is supposed to be supplied with about every¬ 
thing necessary for the comfort and convenience of my wife 
and daughters in their daily routine without the necessity 
of their going out-of doors, while the barn is arranged 
with the same object in view for myself and son in caring 
for the stock, etc. I consider any convenience necessary 
which saves steps and lightens labor, and believe that labor- 
saving tools should be comparatively as abundant indoors 
£s out, and that all unnecessary labor should he avoided, 
