, 1859-04-08

Which dog may hr In the right,
For my hcsa1 .r.H i,eat willie It heats at a1l.
| For the u'nkr dug III liz htLt.
perehanct ~hat 1'yc said lad better net sid,
= tIr 't~rrc better had sail it .;.cng-
III w TICS a ua ssf 'se a%s s'ff to the '
Prairie Farming in the West.
By JAMES oA1RD, MP,
AS'9s Sp s6 fana WI hfi & irt.a e e &C.
LETTER Y.
SOIL aud Climate or IHinofs. Mature OF
I'ratrtf SET, ffs Chemical <'ompostffo'.,
produce, i"aian Corn, Facility or cai- M.
t"rf, 0ais, Farley, >oF$i.ua., 8utsfftufe
for Sugar cane. f'oiafofs, !siofE Farn,ins,
Prairie Grnzs, Isiae Grass, Timothy.
Having now obtained the necessary lnforma-
ton for forming an opinion Of Illinois. rru-
pose here to consider its advantages as place
Of settlement.
SOIL AND CLIMATE.
The characteristic soil Of this State is that Of
the prairies, of which it Chiefly consists, and to
which alone my attention was directed, They
comprise many million acres Of land, more or
less unduuting-in their natural state covered
with grass which is green and snccucnt in May,
June, mud July, and shoots up in autumn from
three to six feet in height.
How the prairie formation originated it is I'LL
necessary here to inquire. II is sufficient to
know that We have soil evidently Of great nat
ur;ll fertility which for thousands Of years has
been bearing annual crops Of grass, llle ashes or
decayed stems Of which hare been ull that time
adding 10 the original fertility uf the soil. 50
lung back us We have any knowledge Of the
country, it had bcen te custom of the Indians
to set fire to the prairie grass iu autumn, after
fro:t set in, the fire spreading with wonderful!
rapid'ty. covering vast districts Of country, and
filing the atmosphere, for weeks with smoke.
In tic course Of ages i soil somewhat reseml-
ling in aSlI-hcap must have been thus gradually
creuted, and if Is no wonder that il should he d.
clarcd to be incxhaustiblc in fertility, In Eu-
rope such tracts of fertile country Us the plain
Of I4ombardy are known to hare yielded crors
for mere than 2ttvA years without intcr,nssioli,
aud yet no one says that the soil is exhausted.
Here W. have tract naturally rich, a,ld with
tile addition Of its OWN crops rotting upon its
surface. and adding to its stores Of fertility all
that TING. 1t need occasion no surprise, there
fore to be told Of twenty or thirty crops Of H.
dian corn being taken in succession from tie
same land, without manure, every crop, good Or
better, uccurding to the nature Of the seasnn.
Externally the prairie soil appears to be ariel,
black mould, with sufficient sand to render it
triable, the surface varying in depth from twelve
inches to several feet, lying On Il rich but n"t
stiff yellow sub-,, brluw which there is gcuer-
t!lh Csit4 HIS tt!ll eiilICt HES Hll TOEhS
cuaslstin. ii shalrs, sands1onrs, and iimrstpncs,
belonging to the coal measures.
lis chemical composition has been asceftaincd
for nlr BY Professor Eorcker, cunsultiu. chem
isl To the Royal Agricultural Society Of England,
to whom sent fur samples Of prairie ssiE fer
ANALYSIS, brought by nle from different and dis
tant points Of the lunfs belonging 10 the Illinois
Central Railway Company. The letter Of Pro
fcssor Enc!cker, and i copy Of the complete un-
alyss, will be found i'll tile Appendix. TlIcy
bear out completely the high character for fer
tity which practice and experienced had already
proved these sUlls orossess. The most notice
able feature in tc ualySis rs il appears to MT,
is the very large quantity Of nitrogen which
each Of the soils contains, nearly TWICE rs much
rs the most fertile soils of Britain. In each
case, taking the soil ii IN average depth Of ten
inches, acre Of these pralries will contain IT,
wards of three tons Of nitrogen, and As j heavy
crup uf wheat with its straw contains ubout fifty
Two pounds of nitrogen, there is thus d natural
store If ammonia i'll this soil sufficient for more
than Il hundred wheat crops. III }r. foclcker's
words, is this large amount Of nitrogen, and
thu beautiful state of division. tint lnpurt pr
culiar character to these soils. and distinguish
'!leu So iayurab]y. They are soils upun which
>upposin. the climate TO BIZ otherwise favorable
IAdre Atr.r htf"re "h"iys'd sotiS sraicA contained
mur1 httrojtn, nor do / ind any record If soii+
rtcher /" nAFoytM Maa hsse."
CROPS.
Though these soils urc so rich in nitrogen,
th.v seem ia he too oose for wheat, which IS ut,-
donbtedly u rrccar"us crop upon them: The
open prairie country is SO wind swept in Winter
that snow seldom lics long to any depth, and
the young wheat Is tins left unprotected to tue
frost. Should it escape that, II il lublc to be
thrown out by the rapid changes Of weather in
Srring-and if ii is fortunate enough to escape
both, it is sometimes destroyed. as it WAS la>t
.yenr, BY its enormously rapid growth in forcing
summer weather. growing Us it does almost or
muck heap. In such season as the last, the
prairie wheat crops of Illinois were injured rrc-
cisety in the SAME manner our own in this
country sometimes suffer from Il too heavy dose
ri guAn". i'll Il warm moist summer. The growth
is loo rapid, tlir yesiclcs Of the stem burst, aud
the ear docs not fill ! cannot donbt that Pro-
fessor yocicker ind ica.es tlr proper remedy for
this in the application of lime, of which these
soits are comparatively deficient II would con-
su1itlate the sni render tue wheat less liable to
be- hosen, aud help to strengthen the straw. and
render the growth less rank. There is abu,l-
dance of limo in tile country, SO that the remedy
is at hand, mud will undoubtedly bc applied uti-
der more Scien,sic system of agriculture.
Autumn wheat is the most valuable corn. but
it is also the must difficult 10 be Erown for it has
to withstand the unprotected severity Of winter.
The earlier it is soWn after tllc 1st Of Septem-
ber the more likely is it tn succeed, and it is
second crops Of L newly-plowed prairie wl,icl,
las been broken in proper season: If any Of it
shnuld bc destroyed by frost, the ground is
suwn in Spring with Spring wheat, and this sell
dom fails. Tile crop varies from fifteen to forty
bushels All acre, twenty being reckoued Il fur
average.
Indian corn usually forms the third crop, and,
if the land is kept clean by d!ligcn, horsc-hoe
ing. this crnp may bc repeated Us lung us the
farmer likes. II is undoubtedly the main crop
Of the prairie tar7ner it never fails. IN some
Seasons il is more productive than others, but
the most ordinary care will secure crop.
Under good management the yield often exceeds
~ bushels an acre, and in the middle districts
of the State, fifty weuld be rcekoncd r. mode
rate average. One great advantage of this crop
is that inrge breadth Of it eau he cultivated BY
one man nnd II couple Of boys. Two men and a
boy with four horses can till loo acrcs. InStan-
res have been known Of luu acres of Indian
corn aud 60 acres Of wheat being all managed
by nun with his two sons aud their horses.
There is no hurry III harvesting it. 1t can be
Gu. Ut any time after it is ripe, aud takes no iu-
jury BY Standing e'thrr uncut or in the shock
ground BY cattle. the shocks arc merely opened,
and tue cattle shell The for themselves. 1t
is always convertible into money, either us corn
OF pork. and il is extensively used in distillatuu
and in tile manufacture Of starch.
Oats are not so certain crop, hut they IRE
extensively grown IN NGfthern ILLINOIS,, and
average about forty bushels au acre. They are
light compared will, gnod Scotch oats. and more
resemble the oats Of Northern Germany.
Barley is valuable crop when ii succeeds, as
it is largely used in the making Of beer, for
which q growing demand is sprin.iug I'D
throughout America. l llave little doubt That
the application Of lime to the prairie wonld
render it a better barley soil. The crop avera-
yes forty bushels an acre, on suitable soilt-
Sorghum, sacchnratum, er Chinese sugar
cauc, Is cultivated In arery part Of the Stute, Is
yet expesimentally, for the production oi suvp7.
The leaves are found very succuent and nutri-
tious as fodder when taken off before the plaut
ripens. 1t grows precisely like Indian corn. IS
the plants by bridize and both are dcteriorated
Some carefully conducted experiments show
that the yield of sugar, per acre. from this
plant, has amounted to l,s2l pounds. with Sc
ve1ty-four GALLONS Of 1nolas*cs, which is about
two-thirds Of an averege cane sugar crop in
louisiana 1t has been satisfactorily proved
that this plant may be made u substitute for
The production of sugar By white labor. should
any circumstance hereafter curtail the cane
produce Of The Stare States. The prairie soil
is also admirably adapted for the growth of su.
gar-beet.
Potatoes are q productive and va1nable crop
in the northern part Of the State. They rield
from $50 to &, ,G1 ton,
The rates Of price for agricultural produce in
America, as has been ALREADY shown, depend on
tue increase Of the population, md the capabil-
~ OF the land to produce certain crops. Price