Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1870-06-22
CHICAGO CORRESPONDENCE.

CHICAGO CORRESPONDENCE.
The weather-Busfness-
tures-soctaI scieuce-The Fruit Sea
son-The Fruit Region-Changes In
Muniffcent Land Grant-In-
crease of PopuIatton--Twent
Thousand Homes. Unsold Lands
Three Men Killed by Lightning.
CHICAGO, June II, 1870.-After long sea-
son of drouth, we, last week Friday, had
copious shower, and, since then, have had
several small drizzles, and some quite cool
days. 1t has been a good time for grain,
grass, and weeds to get strong root. The
season is much earlier than last year. Have
had peas and beets for a week on my table,
grown in my garden, in the open air.
BUSINESS
is now in the dull season, and for two months
to come trade will be quiet.
THE MANUFACTURERS
are very busy preparing for the fall trade
There is a very large capital invested in man
ufactures here, and the yearly product
amouats to many millions.
SOCIAL SCIENCE.
The annual meeting of the Western Social
Science Association was held in FarWell Hall
on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.-
Its OBJECT IS Ito promote the public welfare
by determination of the principles of social
science, and by their practical application to
existing social evils of any and every sort"
A pretty large field of inquiry and effort
Most Of the time of the meetings were occu.
pied in the reading CT papers on various sub
iects. Prof. Goodwin Smith made an able
and interesting address the last evening. on
the present political crisis in England In its
bearings on political science.
THE FRUIT SEASON.
The Chicago market for small fruits has the
range OF the whole temperate zone, and the
season lasts from March to September. The
Illinois Central R. R. Co. runs special trains
during the fruit season in Southern Illinois
for berries, tomatoes, peaches, apples, grapes
and sweet potatoes, giving ample time at the
stations for careful loading, till the limit of
the fruit region is reached, when the throttle
is loosed and the train run swiftly into Chi
cago. The first shipments of strawberries
are from the extreme South and from Califor-
MA. Next they come from the middle South
and from lower Egypt, and as the season ad-
vances the ripening belt moves Northward
till we now begin to receive strawberries from
Michigan.
THE FRUIT REGION
of Enthusiastically in Egypt-thougn not as
prollnc as III some seasons, has produced
large crop in the aggregate. The Illinois
Central Road brought from Southern Illinois,
in the fifteen days following May Odd, 4S0, 106
pounds of Strawberries, amounting to 30, $50
bushels, for consumption here, and distribu-
ton to all parts of the country,
CHANGES IN EGYPT.
There has been great change effected in
Egypt within few years The construction
of the Illinois Central Railroad has opened a
road 454 miles long, through the heart of the
state, and made market for the products of
the farm, orchard and garden at every mans
door. This great thoroughfare, together with
the mildness and salubrity Of the climate,
the fertility Of the soil and its peculiar adap-
tatlon to fruit raising, and the cheap and
easy terms on which land could be bought,
have attracted large class of intelligent and
oil nf he
Northwest, as well as many from the East;
go that the old name of Egypt, bestowed on
1t years ago, has little Specification in respect
to the inhabitants, and applies chiefly to the
climate and soil. No more intelligent, enter
prlsIng and prosperous communities can now
be found anywhere than in Southern Illinois,
THE MUNIFICENT LAND GRANT
Of 800, 900 acres to the Illinois Central Rail-
way company has been wisely managed, in
harmony with the interests of the railroad
company and the people. The policy Of the
company has been to promote tbs speedy set
tiement OF the portion of the state through
which their road runs, and in which their
lands are situated. There have been no
''rings" in the Board of Directors-as is so
often the case in land grant roads-to buy up
the lands for speculative purposes, but they
have been sold at q low price, for one-fourth
cash and the balance in one, two and three
years, at SIX per cent. interest, and the COM
pany has never troubled delinquent pur-
chaser who was making improvements and
doing his best to pay his Indebtedness. Their
policy has been to encourage actual oceu-
pancy and cultivation of the soil, and the re-
| suit has be
| INCREASE OF POPULATION,
in the f0rty-nine counties on the line of this
road. since 1850, of a million souls-nearly
| four-fold-while the increase of wealth las
| been far greater. Over two millions of aeree
| of the land grant have been sold, making
| TwENTY-sIx THOUSAND HOMES
| for as many comfortable, independent and
| happy families, in the most favored region
on the globe, most of which, but for the con-
struction of this road, would still be wilder
ness without inhsbitant. 1t is the only in
stance within my knowledge, of land grant
road whose lands have been so disposed of as
| to be q positive, enduring blessing to the
| railroad company, the people, the State and
| the general Government,
UNsoLD LANDS.
Some 1901 acres of these lands are still
unsOld chiefly in the southern, or fruit re-
| gion, of the State, and contiguous to the rail-
| road, and can be bought in tracts of 10 andS0
acres, or more, as purchasers may desire, at
| from ST to $12 per acre, on three -fourths
credit, at six per cent interest. There are
| thousands Of people in the NOTWITHSTANDING
| of them on farms, where by the hardest work
they can scarcely make a decent living, who,
| by purchasing these fertile lands, in mild
anu nbdlJly CI1udIo, WOulu Insure DOUn l6aItl
| and life and achieve ndependeDce-b blessings
which they can never realize ia their present
locations. Adam left Eden only on com pull
sion, and returned not because q flaming
sword guarded the entrance. The settlers
on these lands are free to leave. if thew
choose, but I never heard of their wishing to
return to their former bleak and less fertile
locations. Those wishing full information in
regard to these lands should address John
B. Calhoun, Land Commissioner, Chicago,
Illinois.
THREE MEN WERE KILLED
by lightning in q thunder storm in this city
last week Friday. B.
Flax Culture and Threshing.
Flax growing has become an interest of
magnitude in some parts of the country, and
is extending to new sections. Nearly a mill
lion acres were grown in the interior states
last year 1869). It's culture is foand profita-
ole, and is likely to be greatly stimulated
now that there is market not only for the
seed, but for the fibre, and also an economi-
cal method of threshing and saving the seed.
In addition to numerous oil mills which con-
sumo the seed at remuneratlve prices, many
tax mills for the manufacture Of the fibre
or tow into bagging are in operation, of
which Ohio has thirty-four, Indiana ten,
Illinois six, and Wisconsin, Minnesota.
Michigan, Iowa, Missouri and Kentucky
one to three each. One impeachment to fax
culture heretofore has been the incapacity
OF ordinary thfeshing machines to thresh it
economically, owing to the tendency of the
fibre or tow to catch and wind on everything
it comes i'll contact with. This difficulty,
however, seems to be overcome by the Ault-
man & Taylor Thresher, made at Mansfield,
Ohio, which is said to handle fax with as
little trouble as any other grain. 1t appears
that the same features which give this thresh-
er an advantage in wet and bad conditioned
wheat, oats, etc. viz: the entire absence of
revolving shafts, heaters, pickers, raddles
and rollers from the straw passage, and the
peculiar and effective method employed to
thoroughly shake the grain and seed out of