CHAPTER X.

Agricultural Products.

The following remarks must be understood as applying to the state of Illinois, unless where other places are indicated. The writer's personal knowledge is confined chiefly to that region. The intelligent agriculturalist will easily apply the remarks to other sections of the country, making the due allowance for difference of latitude, and keeping in mind the great similarity of soil and exposure, which prevails over the whole western plain.

In speaking of the products of a new country, our estimate must necessarily be, to a great extent, prospective. The first settlers are too much occupied in providing the means of subsistence, to be able to make much for sale; nor do the farmers of any country raise produce to a large amount, until they are satisfied of being able to dispose of it to advantage. Trade and agriculture are so nearly connected, that neither can flourish separately. In order to support an active, steady, and lucrative trade, a variety of causes must co-operate together; and these causes must be sufficiently permanent to produce similar results throughout a series of years. The supply of produce must be abundant and regular, so as to enable the trader to make his arrangements in advance, and to calculate with reasonable certainty; and its quality must be such as to bring it into fair competition with a corresponding product from another country. Then there must be a market, easy of access; and a mode of transportation which shall be cheap, rapid, and safe, or which shall possess these advantages to a certain extent. There are a variety of other circumstances which are incidental, and which may or may not operate, at any given time; but all of which do invariably, at

some period or other, exert an influence upon trade and agriculture. Such are chiefly the condition of the circulating medium, the rate of exchange, the existence of war and peace in our own or other countries, the prevalence of famine, disease, or other calamity in large districts, and the influence of good or evil legislation.

It must be very evident, therefore, that in a new country, nothing can be settled, upon these points; and that our farmers will, for some years, be uncertain as to the proper objects upon which to expend their labor. They will be to some extent discouraged; and will exert less industry than they would if the channels of trade were fully opened, the markets regular, and the chances of success well understood. Besides, most of the products of a new country must be carried to market in a raw state, and of course in their most bulky and most perishable condition. It is clear that if, in any district, wheat may be made, but not flour, the choice of market and chances of sale are greatly reduced to the farmer; while the risk of loss, and the expenses of transportation must be greatly enhanced. In a new country, therefore, we seldom find any great variety in the agricultural products; and scarcely any are raised but such as require but little labor, are in general use, and may be disposed of in their crude state. These are generally raised in great profusion, and sold low. For these reasons the products of Illinois are comparatively few in number; but it will be .seen that this fact is not attributable to the soil or climate, but to other circumstances.

This state presents to the farmer a combination of advantages, in reference to its productions, which are scarcely to be found in any other country. Situated in the same latitude with Pennsylvania, and Virginia, it yields all the products which arrive at maturity in those states; while its interior position protects it from the extremes and vicissitudes of climate which are felt upon the sea

coast, where the warmth of spring is chilled by storms rushing from snow-clad mountains, and the ocean. breeze sweeping at all seasons over the land, produces sudden changes, and often reverses, for a time, the order of the seasons. Although we are not exempt from the operation of such casualties, we believe that there is no country where the just expectations of the farmer, are so seldom blighted, as in ours. We may plant early, or gather late; we carry on the business of husbandry throughout the whole and we find but few days at any one time, in which the laborer may not be usefully employed. We have the advantages of various climates, without suffering greatly from their inclemencies.

year,

Wheat, rye, barley, buck-wheat, oats, hemp, flax, turnips, and Irish potatoes, all of which arrive at perfection in more northern latitudes, succeed equally well here. The two latter, particularly, attain a degree of size and excellence, that we have never seen exceeded, and the crops yield abundantly. The produce of the potatoe crop is from twenty to twenty-four fold. No crop pays in quantity and quality more than this, for careful cultivation. The crops raised vary from one hundred and fifty to eight hundred bushels to the acre. The latter however is an extraordinary crop. The turnip is raised only for the table, but produces well. With regard to wheat, there is some diversity of opinion; not whether this grain will grow, but whether it is, or is not, produced in this country in its greatest perfection. We are inclined to adopt the affirmative of this proposition. It is true, that our crops vary greatly, both in the amount and quality of the produce. But we are satisfied that this disparity arises from the degree of care bestowed on the culture. Our husbandry is yet in a rude state. Wheat is often sowed in new land but partially cleared, often upon corn ground badly prepared; often covered carelessly with the plough, without any attempt to pulverize the soil, and very gen

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erally in fields which have produced an abundant crop of grass and weeds, during the preceding autumn. Few of our farmers have barns or threshing floors; the. grain is 'preserved in stacks, and trodden out upon the ground, with considerable loss, and injury. With all these disadvantages excellent crops are raised, and the grain is remarkably good. We learn from a respectable source, that the wheat of Illinois and Missouri, is superior to that of the other western states; it is worth more to the baker, and the bread made from it is lighter, and more nutritious. This fact is attributable to the richness of the soil, and the dryness of the atmosphere; the former cause brings the grain to its greatest state of perfection, while the latter protects it from all those injuries which are produced by moisture.

In 'the years 1830 and 1831, wheat was raised on the prairies both of Illinois and Missouri, which weighed sixty-eight pounds to the bushel. The writer would not state this fact, if he had not himself seen a bushel of this grain carefully weighed and measured, besides having the corroborating testimony of gentlemen residing in both these states, who all agreed in making the same statement. Sixty pounds is the standard weight of a bushel of wheat in the states east of the mountains; this weight is very rarely exceeded, and sixty-three is probably the maximum of the finest grain. In Ohio it has been known to weigh sixty-four, and we have heard of one instance of its weighing sixty-five pounds. We saw a bushel of wheat weighed in Kentucky in 1831, which weighed sixty-seven; in Illinois and Missouri alone has it been found to reach to sixty-eight, and that weight we suppose to be not uncommon there.

A gentleman from the east, who traveled through Illinois in 1830, was so struck with the whiteness and beauty of the flour made at Collinsville, as to be induced to carry a sample to Boston, where it was pronounced

superior to the best Baltimore flour. From these facts we are justified in asserting, that the soil and climate of this country is particularly propitious to the growth of " wheat; and that the prairie region especially, produces this grain in its greatest perfection. Twenty-five to thirty bushels are raised to the acre, and the price varies from fifty to seventy-five cents. Steam mills, for the manufacture of flour, have been erected in various parts of Illinois.

In Ohio, flour is one of the greatest staples. The other staples for export, are whiskey, pork, lard, bacon, beef, cattle, horses, butter, cheese, and apples. The agriculture of this state has assumed a steady character. Mills and distilleries afford amply the means of manufacturing grain for market; while roads, canals, and other facilities for transportation, have become so numerous as to encourage the farmer to exert his best energies.

Indian corn, is the great staple of the whole west. It is raised in immense quantities, with but little labor, and is sold at from 8 to 50 cents per bushel; thousands of bushels are annually disposed of in the interior parts of the country, at the former price. It constitutes the most prominent article of food for man, and of provender for stock. If a western farmer be asked the question, how many bushels of corn are raised to the acre, the usual reply is, one hundred. This quantity may be produced, on fine soil, with assiduous culture; but under ordinary circumstances, with careful attention, sixty bushels is about the average crop.

Cotton, tobacco, and sweet potatoes, which are indigenous to more southern latitudes, succeed well in all except the most northern parts of this region. Cotton has not become a staple for exportation, because its production requires more labor than can be afforded to it in a new country, where there are no slaves. But the farmers in Illinois, Missouri, and the southern parts of Indiana