stuffs would be annually purchased from the United States. But it is not alone to wheat and corn that the export trade is confined. In Illinois almost every thing that contributes to food for man is produced in excess of the wants of the population, and finds a profitable market in the Eastern States and in Europe. As before stated, the price of the lands varies from seven to twelve dollars and upward per acre. The prairie lands, except in the immediate vicinity of towns and stations, are generally sold upon the "Long Credit Terms," i. e., payments of principal in four, five, six, and seven years, with interest annually in advance at the rate of six per cent. The timber lands in the southern part of the State, within three miles of the railroad, are sold upon what are known as "Canal Terms," i. e., one-fourth of the purchase money in cash, and the balance in one, two, and three years, with six per cent. interest each year in advance. The following examples illustrate the different terms: 40 ACRES AT $10 PER ACRE-LONG CREDIT TERMS. Thus, forty acres bought on the long credit system, if the credit is all used, will cost the buyer $132 for interest, and $400 for principal-a total of $532. If bought on canal terms, they would cost him $36 for interest, and $400 for principal-a total of $436. If bought for cash, the discount of twenty per cent. would reduce the cost to $320. Some years ago, Mr. John S. Barger bought five hundred and forty acres of the company's land for $1,513. He had two hundred and eighty acres prepared for seeding, and his gross income, the first year, amounted to $4,428, of which $1,210 was net profit. But to this should be added $1,094, the cost of making the farm, as it was not necessary to repeat the same work another year. Mr. B. had little more than a theoretical knowledge of farming. Mr. William Waite purchased a prairie farm of eighty acres, in the spring of 1853, paying $4.50 per acre. His land thus cost him $360; the fencing, $400, and the breaking up of sixty acres, $150—a total of $910. None of these outlays would have to be repeated a second year. He marketed 2,100 bushels of wheat and corn, producing him $1,545, leaving him a clear profit of $134, to which the $910 aforesaid should be added. In three years from the time Mr. Waite first broke up the prairie, his farm was worth $25 per acre. Every small capitalist who can command only $200 or $300, can quickly acquire a farm in this locality. At first he must put up a shanty of some kind in which to live, then a fence just high enough to turn cattle and horses, these being the only stock permitted to run at large. Then what is known as sod corn may be planted in May, and if the season be fair, it will yield him twenty to forty bushels per acre. The planting is done by striking an axe or spade between the layers of sod, and after dropping the corn, applying the heel of the boot freely. It needs no culture whatever. A man with two horses can ordinarily attend to thirty or forty acres of regular corn land, one ploughing being sufficient. Wheat follows the corn crop. An industrious man can manage eighty acres, by having help at seedtime and harvest. Mr. W. R. Harris began in 1847 with a capital of $700. He bought one hundred and eighty acres of timber and prairie, of which he broke up fifty-five the first year, and at the end of the fourth year had one hundred and fifteen under the plough. The annual product was $2,000 in cash. At the end of six years, Mr. Harris's capital of $700 had increased to $8,000. These settlers on the prairie are not subjected to the inconveniences that many will suppose inseparable from a pioneer life. Such as they may be, the robust and thorough-going man will not regard with apprehension. A very neat little house, sixteen by twenty-four feet, a story and a half high, containing five rooms, is furnished and delivered on the cars for about $200. When within one hundred and fifty miles of Chicago, it is put up, plastered, painted, and made ready for occupancy for $350. There are regular manufactories of these portable houses, at which they can be purchased ready made, and the settler fitted out without delay. But the great West is full of instances like the foregoing. It is true that there have been disastrous failures. Whoever goes there must make up his mind to dispense with some of the comforts and conveniences to which he may have been accustomed. If without capital, he should avoid hanging. round the towns, but strike directly for the country, where labor is in demand at paying rates. When able to buy a team, to fence his farm, and pay for a cheap dwelling, then he may safely purchase land. Let him avoid grasping after too many acres at first. The great rock on which many have split is that of seeking to own greater tracts than they can either manage or pay for. Three years of working out will enable a man to save money enough to make a safe beginning. His first crop of sod corn, with a little money, will carry him through the first year, and the second year his land will be mellow enough to bring him a crop of double value. The Central Railroad Company have given no encouragement to speculators, few of whom are either permanent or improving owners. Their effort has been to secure the actual settler by offering him extraordinary inducements, for it is he whose labors enhance the value of the neighboring lands, and contribute to the traffic of the road. The good effects of this policy have long been apparent. More than a hundred cities and villages now line the railroad, with populations varying from 200 to 10,000 or more, having factories, mills, stores, postoffices, schools, churches, and newspapers. They rapidly increase in numbers and wealth, distributing the comforts and luxuries of civilized life to the settlers, while they open up unlimited opportunities for profitable employment to the business man, the trader, and mechanic. Other western States afford diversified openings for all classes of enterprising men, whether rich or poor. Kansas has some thirty thousand farms. already hewed out of the forest and prairie, on which at least ten millions of dollars have been invested. Some of her towns have grown up as in a single night. Leavenworth expanded, in three years, from a population of 100 to 8,000, with eight newspapers. All the towns of Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, are growing rapidly. The immigrant can find a farm under the Homestead Law, let him look in what direction he may. Missouri has been extensively settled by colonies of German wine-growers. These form communities by themselves, who are covering the hillsides with vineyards, and have already had remunerating vintages, their wine carrying off the premium at Cincinnati, and coming everywhere into demand. The single town of Hermann, with less than 2,000 inhab |