West-Jersey pioneer., 1873-07-11
For the West Jersey Pioneer.
LETTER FROM ILLINOIS

PEORIA Co., llunOlS, June 26th, 1873.
Mr.. Editorials the weather forms the
first topic of conversation when persons
meet, SO it seems to be necessary to give it
the first place in correspondence, especially
now that Uncle Sam deems it of sufficient
Importance to demand ''bureau" of obser-
walton. The weather for the past few weeks
has been fine; very different from tine pre-
ceding two months. The excessive rains
ceased about the first of June, but much
low ground was too wet to plow for some
time after that; so all the corn was not
planted until after the middle of the month.
or course much of it is small, and ''there' s
a poor show for crop" as genuine West
ern people would say. Where the land is
rolling, the corn looks finely, but an early
frost in the Fall would ruin the best Of it.
Since the crop is fairly in, the weather has
been all that could be desired for it-hot,
with showers occasionally. Some of the
time this week the mercury stood at one
hundred. Corn grows with amazing rapid
ity here, when once started.
Grass and oats look we'll, as they are apt
to in such season as the present. They
will probably be cheap, and corn little
dear, or at least better price than last
year; for the crop will certainly be some
what shortened. But then Iowa sends in
enormous quantities Of corn, so the price
may not rise very much. If it does not,
many farmers will try raising something
besides corn. The subject of dairying is
receiving some attention, and will receive
more in the future. In the northern part
of the State, cheese factories are very sue
cessEnl, and the butter from the butter fac
tories at Elgin is sold as fast as made, at
the highest prices. One cheese factory has
been in successful operation the past year,
in the county north of this, and there is talk
rious how opinions change. A dozen years
ago, almost every one thought tame grasses
a failure here, for what reason l cannot
tell, as very few had ever sown any. But
when all the open prairie was fenced in. and
they were forced to pasture their stock at
home, they found they could grow timothy
and clover here as well as anywhere. And
it has always been said that no good butter
water. But good butter is made here, though
very little of it ever goes East. The trou-
BILE is, a vast amount of very poor butter is
made here, principally by the Irish people,
,l,~o oil ba
The merchants must take this poor butter
or lose the custom of these Irish farmers.
Then, to make it sell at all, they work to-
gether all but the best, and pack it; and this
inferior mess gives all Western butter bad
name. A few leading dealers in the large
towns can afford to be independent, and re-
fuse this poor butter, but the small country
and village storekeepers canr OF do this.
Cheese and butter factories will be great
improvement on the present state of things
in many ways. They will afford new
branch of industry, the pressing need of
which, here, the people of South Jersey,
who can scarcely fail of finding ready
market for everything that can be glown or
made, can hardly conceive. The crying
need of the West is larger variety of in
dustrial pursuits.
While farmers must grow corn almost ex-
clusively, and that corn must find a distant
market by expensive modes of transporta-
ton; the West will be poor in spite Of her
vast agricultural and mineral resources.
Western people boast, and with justice, of
these mag niHcent resources, but they can
never be transmitted to gold while the con-
sumers of our products live thousand
miles away. People complain of the extor-
tionate railroad charges, but the root of the
difficulty lies back of the railroads. The
West has filled up with producers with
wonderful rapidity, but the consumers are
yet to come, and they are the prime neces-
sity. With two great hungry cities to feed,
South Jerseymen cannot feel the need of
manufactures except in limited degree:
but here, manufactures would be the saliva
tion of the country. The farmers here are
forced to virtually pay the heavy transpor-
tation charges Oh corn going East, and the
quite as heavy freight on the goods coming
West, besides the regular profits of manu-
facturer, wholesale dealer, and retail mer-
chant; SO they are worse off than Eastern
farmers. in spite of large fertile farms, and
huge crops of corn. No wonder people are
in ferment about freights, and new routes
to the seaboard. A Convention of Con-
gressmen met in st. Louis not long since,
to deliberate about the expediency of open
ing water communication with the East by
way of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal,
and the Hanawha and Ohio rivers. If this
should be done, st. Louis can rival Chicago,
for this Southern water way would be avail
able earlier in Spring, and later in Autumn
than the lakes.
Even Peoria, with her 0,000 inhabitants
begins to compete with Chicagoin her ship
ments of grain and pork, while she enjoys
the bad pre-eminence of outdoing her alto
gether in the whiskey trade. Of late, there
has been great dissatisfaction with the man.
ner of grading corn in Chicago, insomuch;
that some river shippers have taken their
cargoes to St. Louis, after carrying them up
the river to Chicago, and they claim that
they gained three cents on the bushel, after
deducting all expenses; by so doing, as the
corn passed one grade higher in the former
city, than the Chicago warehousemen would
allow. And this dissatisfaction also di-
verted much of the corn carried by rail
from Chicago to Peoria, whereat the people
Of that burgh are greatly rejoiced.
Peoria now has five elevators, two Of
5hem intended for the river trade, having
capacity of three thousand BUSH
lis per hour. ILLINOIS.
LARGE YIELD OF WHEAT.-Last week,
here was harvested on the farm OF Thos.
Hustled, Back Neck, Fairfield Township.
.bout nine acres of as handsome wheat as
81, +1ic oounty tho ,,rocopf |