Litchfield enquirer., 1838-07-26
E.on tI. Lou;ar;IIe .Lorrnnl.
wESTERN TMPROVEMENTI

I tho SOutncrn part OI AlIlnOlS ana ln0Iano. 1 As far as the brief space of letter will ale
 low, will endeayor to give you. as you de- sire, sketch of the features of the country,
 it's soil, climate, and good productions, with
 any local peculiarities. Placing your fin-
 ger on the map of Illinois, at BeIlVille near
 the Mississippi, and drawing it eastward to
 the junction of White river, in Indiana, with
 the Wabash, a line will be described of about
 one hundred and fifty miles in length. It runs over a country of very uniform fertili-
 ty. The surface is unduating, and the whole
 country beautifully, and in happy proportion
 intermixed with prairie and timber. Mo- thing can be more enchanting in the spring
 and summer, especially to the eye of an Flu
 ropean, than the mild features of Nature ex- hibited in every variety of park scenery. -. The prairie is seen often embaylng itself
 in the woods, and the timber projecting in
 long prcmontories, in the prairie. Nume-
 rous groves stand far away in the prairie,
 like islands in the ocean. The soil IS easily
 wrought; a light friable hazel mould, free
 from stones. But quarries of freestone and
 stone coal are found at intervals all over the
 country. The wild fruits of the country are
 the plum and grape; to which may be add
 ed the persimon and variety of nuts; and all these fruits are in great abundance. Se- verdi specimens of wine have been made m my neighborhood, from wild and cultivated grapes. But the best cask of wine made It. self being placed iii an outhouse and forgot ten for four months; showing that wine, as
 well as man, is sometimes the better for hav-
 ing its own way. The south of Illinois was
 once wine producing country. The first
 three pipes of wine sent from the French set
 clement at Kaskaskia, to France, so alarmed
 the wine growers, that they procured an
 edlct, which is now extant IS Parls, pronlDit-
 ing the importation of wine from Illinois,
 But hog and hominy" is now the chief sta-
 pie of Illinois. In my neighborhood near
 Albion, superior breeds of cattle, hogs, and sheep are found, originally imported by Flu this district of country, Of sheep, l keep about one thousand of the fine wool breed.- They live on the prairie from April fill Sep tenber they are then brought into the pas lures, bit are not fed on hay and corn until hard weather sets in. This experiment, car ried on for twenty years, has proved that there is no deterioration in the quality of the wool. The horned cattle, spare horses and hogs, lie out in the range during the spring, summer, and autumn months. The charac- ter of the country changes directly after you cross the Great Wabash, which forms the line of separation between the States ot Illi- nois and Indiana. Pursuing the same in an easterly direction across Indiana, to Louis- vile, you will pass through heavy timber ed country the whole way in the western part, rather level and rich; more broken and somewhat stony towards the Ohio, at the eastern extremity. In point of climate, the line of latitude which I have described in both States has much the advantage of the North; circumstance highly appreciated kl, nd ha chs south of Illinois differs widely, not only in the climate but in the character of its inhabi- sants. E e.s.s54tss. ?. ..4..a ...-> ..
 The enterprising Yankee, and the still more speculative New Yorker, enter the north of Illinois by the lakes-their turn for enter prise and speculation have raised landed property in the north above its real value. Dealing in land is attended to rather than its cultivation. The great canal from Chicago to the Illinois river, thefunds for the construc- tion of which are entirely raised from the sale of lands given by the General Govern ment to the State, is another cause of the ad- vance of property in the extreme north of Illinois.
 In the southern districts of Illinois, the Eu- ropean emigrants, the Kentucky farmers, 1 and several Virginia planters, with industry and labor cultivate the soil. Land and the of land are alike abundant and cheap. If the north has had too much the | south has had too little enterprise. It has not even had leading road through it, to ductions. Now, it is true, the State is con- road from the Mississippito Mount | Carmel, on the Wabash ; and if it is carried through the southern part of Indiana to Louis | vile, then will this road have powerful ef- ! feet in promoting the prosperity of the old l sst but most neglected part of the two States. 1 A little assistance is wanted (and that will doubtless be given) to constract the road through to Indiana. Louisiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, are States that have an immediate interest in its con- The freezing up of the Ohio and Wabash suddenly stops vast mass of pro- visions from descending to the lower coun- try; and as consequence, the prices, on the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Ar kansas suddenly became runously high to the planters, and as ruinously low to the farmers of the upper country, when the glut of produce rushes down at the breaking up of the ice in the rivers.
 The rail road once constructed across In- diana, at all seasons of the year would the supply immediately follow the demand, pro- ceeding from the termination of the rail road at the mouth of the Ohio at once into open water. The trade of five hundred large steamboats from New Orleans to Louisville would not then be stopped, as it now is for two months in the winter by ice, and two months by low water in the autumn; but dis embarking in Illinois at Cairo, it would find an easy transit to Louisville in thirty.six
 hours. More distantly, though scarcely less
 important, are the interests of the two Caro-
 linas and Georgia affected; for the link of the Mount Carmel and New Albany rail road
 wanting, the railroad communication is bro-
 ken from the Atlantic to the Mississippi.
 Our towns are small and insignificant, our
 country is rich and beautiful-strikingly ex-
 emplifying the adage that "God made the cnnntrY and man made the tnWn ,, Yet