A New Guide For Emigrants To The West Part 19

Lbs. of lead made from 1821, to Sept. 1823, 335,130 do. for the year ending Sept. 30, 1824, 175,220 do. do. do. 1825, 664,530 do. do. do. 1826, 958,842 do. do. do. 1827, 5,182,180 do. do. do. 1828, 11,105,810 do. do. do. 1829, 13,344,150 do. do. do. 1830, 8,323,998 do. do. do. 1831, 6,381,900 do. do. do. 1832, 4,281,876 do. do. do. 1833, 7,941,792 do. do. do. 1834, 7,971,579 do. do. do. 1835, 3,754,290 ---------- Total, 70,420,357

The rent accruing to government for the same period, is a fraction short of six millions of pounds. The government formerly received 10 per cent.

in lead for rent. Now it is 6 per cent.

A part of the mineral land in the Wisconsin Territory has been surveyed and brought into market, which will add greatly to the stability and prosperity of the mining business.

_Coal._ Bituminous coal abounds in Illinois. It may be seen, frequently, in the ravines and gullies, and in the points of bluffs. Exhaustless beds of this article exist in the bluffs of St. Clair county, bordering on the American bottom, of which large quant.i.ties are transported to St.

Louis, for fuel. There is scarce a county in the State, but what can furnish coal, in reasonable quant.i.ties. Large beds are said to exist, near the Vermillion of the Illinois, and in the vicinity of the rapids of the latter.

_Agatized Wood._ A petrified tree, of black walnut, was found in the bed of the river Des Plaines, about forty rods above its junction with the Kankakee, imbedded in a horizontal position, in a stratum of sandstone.

There is fifty-one and a half feet of the trunk visible,--eighteen inches in diameter at its smallest end, and probably three feet at the other end.

_Muriate of Soda_, or common salt. This is found in various parts of the State, held in solution in the springs. The manufacture of salt by boiling and evaporation is carried on in Gallatin county, twelve miles west-north-west from Shawneetown; in Jackson county, near Brownsville; and in Vermillion county, near Danville. The springs and land are owned by the State, and the works leased.

A coa.r.s.e freestone, much used in building, is dug from quarries near Alton, on the Mississippi, where large bodies exist.

Scattered over the surface of our prairies, are large ma.s.ses of rock, of granitic formation, roundish in form, usually called by the people "_lost rocks_." They will weigh from one thousand to ten or twelve thousand pounds, and are entirely detached, and frequently are found several miles-distant from any quarry. Nor has there ever been a quarry of granite discovered in the State. These stones are denominated _bowlders_ in mineralogy. They usually lie on the surface, or are partially imbedded in the soil of our prairies, which is unquestionably of diluvial formation. How they came here is a question of difficult solution.

_Medicinal Waters_, are found in different parts of the State. These are chiefly sulphur springs and chalybeate waters. There is said to be one well in the southern part of the State strongly impregnated with the sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom salts, from which considerable quant.i.ties have been made for sale, by simply evaporating the water, in a kettle, over a common fire.

There are several sulphur springs in Jefferson county, to which persons resort for health.

_Vegetable Productions._ The princ.i.p.al trees and shrubs of Illinois have been noticed under the head of "_Forest or timbered land_." Of oaks there are several species, as overcup, burr oak, swamp or water oak, white oak, red or Spanish oak, post oak, and black oak of several varieties, with the black jack, a dwarfish, gnarled looking tree, excellent for fuel, but good for nothing else.

The black walnut is much used for building materials and cabinet work, and sustains a fine polish.

In most parts of the State, grape vines, indigenous to the country, are abundant, which yield grapes that might advantageously be made into excellent wine. Foreign vines are susceptible of easy cultivation. These are cultivated to a considerable extent at Vevay, Switzerland county, Indiana, and at New Harmony on the Wabash. The indigenous vines are prolific, and produce excellent fruit. They are found in every variety of soil; interwoven in every thicket in the prairies and barrens; and climbing to the tops of the very highest trees on the bottoms. The French in early times, made so much wine as to export some to France; upon which the proper authorities prohibited the introduction of wine from Illinois, lest it might injure the sale of that staple article of the kingdom. I think the act was pa.s.sed by the board of trade, in 1774.

The editor of the Illinois Magazine remarks, "We know one gentleman who made twenty-seven barrels of wine in a single season, from the grapes gathered with but little labor, in his immediate neighborhood."

The wild plum is found in every part of the State; but in most instances the fruit is too sour for use, unless for preserves. Crab apples are equally prolific, and make fine preserves with about double their bulk of sugar. Wild cherries are equally productive. The persimmon is a delicious fruit, after the frost has destroyed its astringent properties. The black mulberry grows in most parts, and is used for the feeding of silk-worms with success. They appear to thrive and spin as well as on the Italian mulberry. The gooseberry, strawberry, and blackberry, grow wild and in great profusion. Of our nuts, the hickory, black walnut, and pecan, deserve notice. The last is an oblong, thin sh.e.l.led, delicious nut, that grows on a large tree, a species of the hickory, (the _Carya olivae formis_ of Nuttall.) The pawpaw grows in the bottoms, and rich, timbered uplands, and produces a large, pulpy, and luscious fruit. Of domestic fruits, the apple and peach are chiefly cultivated. Pears are tolerably plenty in the French settlements, and quinces are cultivated with success by some Americans. Apples are easily cultivated, and are very productive. They can be made to bear fruit to considerable advantage in seven years from the seed. Many varieties are of fine flavor, and grow to a large size. I have measured apples, the growth of St. Clair county, that exceeded thirteen inches in circ.u.mference. Some of the early American settlers provided orchards.

They now reap the advantages. But a large proportion of the population of the frontiers are content without this indispensable article in the comforts of a Yankee farmer. Cider is made in small quant.i.ties in the old settlements. In a few years, a supply of this beverage can be had in most parts of Illinois.

Peach trees grow with great rapidity, and decay proportionably soon.

From ten to fifteen years may be considered the life of this tree. Our peaches are delicious, but they sometimes fail by being destroyed in the germ by winter frosts. The bud swells prematurely.

_Garden Vegetables_ can be produced here in vast profusion, and of excellent quality.

That we have few of the elegant and well dressed gardens of gentlemen in the old states, is admitted; which is not owing to climate, or soil, but to the want of leisure and means.

Our Irish potatoes, pumpkins and squashes are inferior, but not our cabbages, peas, beets, or onions.

A cabbage head, two or three feet in diameter including the leaves, is no wonder on this soil. Beets often exceed twelve inches in circ.u.mference. Parsnips will penetrate our light, porous soil, to the depth of two or three feet.

The _cultivated vegetable productions in the field_, are maize or Indian corn, wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, rye for horse feed and distilleries, tobacco, cotton, hemp, flax, the castor bean, and every other production common to the Middle States.

_Maize_ is a staple production. No farmer can live without it, and hundreds raise little else. This is chiefly owing to the ease with which it is cultivated. Its average produce is fifty bushels to the acre. I have oftentimes seen it produce seventy-five bushels to the acre, and in a few instances, exceed one hundred.

_Wheat_ yields a good and sure crop, especially in the counties bordering on the Illinois river. It weighs upwards of 60 pounds per bushel; and flour from this region has preference in the New Orleans market, and pa.s.ses better inspection than the same article from Ohio or Kentucky.

In 1825, the weevil, for the first time, made its appearance in St.

Clair and the adjacent counties, and has occasionally renewed its visits since. Latterly, some fields have been injured by the fly.

A common, but slovenly practice amongst our farmers, is, to sow wheat amongst the standing corn, in September, and cover it by running a few furrows with the plough between the rows of corn. The dry stalks are then cut down in the spring, and left on the ground. Even by this imperfect mode, fifteen or twenty bushels of wheat to the acre are produced. But where the ground is duly prepared by fallowing, and the seed put in at the proper time, a good crop, averaging from twenty-five to thirty-five bushels per acre, rarely fails to be procured.

The average price of wheat at present is a dollar per bushel, varying a little according to the compet.i.tion of mills and facilities to market.

In many instances a single crop of wheat will more than pay the expenses of purchasing the land, fencing, breaking the prairie, seed, putting in the crop, harvesting, threshing, and taking it to market. Wheat is now frequently sown on the prairie land as a first crop, and a good yield obtained.

Flouring mills are now in operation in many of the wheat growing counties. Steam power is getting into extensive use both for sawing timber, and manufacturing flour.

It is to be regretted, that so few of our farmers have erected barns for the security of their crops. No article is more profitable, and really more indispensable to a farmer, than a large barn.

_Oats_ have not been much raised till lately. They are very productive, often yielding from forty to fifty bushels on the acre, and usually sell for twenty-five cents the bushel. The demand for the use of stage and travellers' horses is increasing.

_Hemp_ is an indigenous plant in the southern part of this State, as it is in Missouri. It has not been extensively cultivated; but wherever tried, is found very productive, and of an excellent quality. It might be made a staple of the country.

_Tobacco_, though a filthy and noxious weed, which no human being ought ever to use, can be produced in any quant.i.ty, and of the first quality, in Illinois.

_Cotton_, for many years, has been successfully cultivated in this State for domestic use, and some for exportation. Two or three spinning factories are in operation, and produce cotton yarn from the growth of the country with promising success. This branch of business admits of enlargement, and invites the attention of eastern manufacturers with small capital. Much of the cloth made in families who have emigrated from States south of the Ohio is from the cotton of the country.

_Flax_ is produced, and of a tolerable quality, but not equal to that of the Northern States. It is said to be productive and good in the northern counties.

_Barley_ yields well, and is a sure crop.

The _palma christi_, or castor oil bean, is produced in considerable quant.i.ties in Madison, Randolph, and other counties, and large quant.i.ties of oil are expressed and sent abroad.

_Sweet Potatoes_ are a delicious root, and yield abundantly, especially on the American bottom, and rich sandy prairies.

But little has been done to introduce cultivated gra.s.ses. The prairie gra.s.s looks coa.r.s.e and unsavory, and yet our horses and cattle will thrive well on it.

To produce timothy with success, the ground must be well cultivated in the summer, either by an early crop, or by fallowing, and the seed sown about the 20th of September, at the rate of _ten or twelve quarts of clean seed to the acre_, and lightly brushed in.

If the season is in any way favorable, it will get a rapid start before winter. By the last week in June, it will produce two tons per acre, of the finest hay. It then requires a dressing of stable or yard manure, and occasionally the turf may be scratched with a harrow, to prevent the roots from binding too hard. By this process, timothy meadows may be made and preserved. There are meadows in St. Clair county, which have yielded heavy crops of hay in succession, for several years, and bid fair to continue for an indefinite period. Cattle, and especially horses, should never be permitted to run in meadows in Illinois. The fall gra.s.s may be cropped down by calves and colts. There is but little more labor required to produce a crop of timothy, than a crop of oats, and as there is not a stone or a pebble to interrupt, the soil may be turned up every third or fourth year for corn, and afterwards laid down to gra.s.s again.

A species of blue gra.s.s is cultivated by some farmers for pastures. If well set, and not eaten down in summer, blue gra.s.s pastures may be kept green and fresh till late in autumn, or even in the winter. The English spire gra.s.s has been cultivated with success in the Wabash country.

Of the trefoil, or clover, there is but little cultivated. A prejudice exists against it, as it is imagined to injure horses by affecting the glands of the mouth, and causing them to slaver. It grows luxuriantly, and may be cut for hay early in June. The white clover comes in naturally, where the ground has been cultivated, and thrown by, or along the sides of old roads and paths. Clover pastures would be excellent for swine.

_Animals._ Of _wild animals_ there are several species. The buffalo is not found on this side the Mississippi, nor within several hundred miles of St. Louis. This animal once roamed at large over the prairies of Illinois, and was found in plenty, thirty-five years since. _Wolves_, _panthers_ and _wild cats_, still exist on the frontiers, and through the unsettled portions of the country, and annoy the farmer by destroying his sheep and pigs.

_Deer_ are also very numerous, and are valuable, particularly to that cla.s.s of our population which has been raised to frontier habits; the flesh affording them food, and the skins, clothing. Fresh venison hams usually sell for twenty-five cents each, and when properly cured, are a delicious article. Many of the frontier people dress their skins, and make them into pantaloons and hunting shirts. These articles are indispensable to all who have occasion to travel in viewing land, or for any other purpose, beyond the settlements, as cloth garments, in the shrubs and vines, would soon be in strings.

It is a novel and pleasant sight to a stranger, to see the deer in flocks of eight, ten, or fifteen in number, feeding on the gra.s.s of the prairies, or bounding away at the sight of a traveller.

The _brown bear_ is also an inhabitant of the unsettled parts of this State, although he is continually retreating before the advance of civilization.

Foxes, racc.o.o.ns, opossums, gophers, and squirrels, are also numerous, as are muskrats, otters, and occasionally beaver, about our rivers and lakes. Racc.o.o.ns are very common, and frequently do mischief in the fall, to our corn. Opossums sometimes trouble the poultry.