The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1876-12-20

IlSlb w EhSAon0 AOOChAAys WAOeO No
letter from Loughborough, his native
place, which we have been trying for
some time to find room for. And now
for want of space,we are compelled to omit
his description Of his trip TO the centen-
NAL exhibition, and across the water, and
take up his letter at Liverpool Mr..
Starkey is one of our clearest headed
farmers who sees things with his own eyes
and makes his own comments. He says:
Arriving at Liverpool, was struck by
the vast amount of shipping ahoat, and
the number and extent ofits docks.
Leaving this place l made my way to
Loughborough by a fast train on the
Midland railway, through a number of
tunnels, some several miles in length.
This seems TO be the way IN which they
get over the difficulty of hills in this
country. The scenery along this route
was beautiful in the extreme being through
Derbyshire or what is called the Peak
District, And here perhaps l ought to
say found Pullman" cars, the veritable
Pulman's, built in the States and
shipped here. The great number of trains
running in a day, together wit b the
punctuality in running them seem TO be
much appreciated by the numerous
passengers am informed that the num-
Der Of trains passing through this depot,
including freight trains, would be from
$50 to 800 every twenty hours, and that
such is the traffic upon the Midland hat
they have constructed along side their
main line and one or two of the branch
lines where the mineral traffic is heavy,
another up and down line for the convey
ance of goods only, so that often you may
see two trains running each way upon both
these lines. The Midland l understand
is the crack" line of the English rail
ways, and although. as its name indicates,
it was intended only for the midland
countries yet it has pushed its way to
London in the south, Scotland in the
north, Lynn eastwarn, and Bristol west.
ward, with running powers also over other
lines to any place in the country and run
ming trains at the highest rate of speed.
And now / had arrived in the centre Of
the lace and hosiery trade, but at this
time trade is very much depressed. Not
tingham, town of perhaps 10000 per
sons, is devoted to lace, whilst
Leicester, another town equally
large, has staple trade of
uObioEy huu SudWlS, CuH 0OlSGIY business
extending to many places around.
Here, too, l found farming carried on to
a high degree of perfection; splendid
brick farm houses and farm buildings, and
from the appearance of the land, as |
passed, it seemed that we, in the states,
could gather something worth learning
from the farmers of this country. In the
management of the farms / found steam
warn rnuob ,,aaI Thaaa aknono o,,lk.,,o
tors, as they are called, do all the
pioughing and narrowing and are also
used for threshing purposes, and, having
finished the work on one farm. are moved
on to the next, the engine passing through
the streets of the towns, drawing
behind ii the various implements
required for the particular work
it is to be lengaged upon. These
steam cultivators l understood to be the
property Of private individuals or compan-
les, who contract for the work at a price
Could not Illinois farmers adopt this sys-
TEN with advantage2-especially on
prairie land2
The sheep and horses struck me as
being very fine The Leicester breed of
sheep are very large, and good mutton is
produced here, but prices are high, 10
pence per 10 for legs and loins, whilst beef
is still dealer.
saw very fine teams of horses; good
horses are fetching very high figure ESQ
to $50 is often obtained for a good horse,
but the use of steam is helping the farmer
in the work of the farm, and thus re-
duces his expenditure on this head, and
also lessons the number of hands employ
ed. Still there is room for the advance of
the agricultural labOrer 10 this country,
and, notwithstanding all that has been said
against the agitations which have taken
place of late years in this country, | fe ell
that the laborer should be thought of.
Cambridge is town l visited, the seat
OF learning; and here l witnessed a con
test of boat races between the respective
colleges. Thousands were assembled to
see this trial Of strength between the
rising aristocracy of England here were
gathered the future lawyers, parsons,
doctors and others who will be the leading
characters in the next generation. The
numerous array Of boats which extended for
or miles along the river | shall never
forget. The university buiidings-grand
old places, stone built-which have
stood for hundreds of years, filled
me with admiration The Fitzwilliam
museum is fine building; and
here | must say word with regard to
the system of board schools which has
been established in England, and which
seems destined to work moral revolution,
l visited, too, the scenes of my hoyhOod,
IN the county Of Cam bridge, but did not find
so many acquaintance Lying there as Ihad
expected. Death had reaped his harvest;
many had emigrated to the states and
other places; others had removed to the
larger towns in England; and this / found
to be constantly going on,-the people
leaving the rural districts and loca-
ting themselves in towns, thus swelling
the population Of the towns, and decreas-
ing the numbers in the country places.
And now as to the resources of Eng
land: 1t would be quite unable to main
tain its enormous population if its home
production was not largely supplemented
by supplies from other countries. The
wheat harvest this year was bad yield.
and here the maize from abroad
comes in to aid their lack. Grapes
are shipped here from the continent Of
Europe, and sold at 8 pence per pound.
Potatoes and apples are brought to the
English market from Belgium and France
but with regard to apples, we, in the
states, could beat them badly. Potatoes
are very much diseased here this year
and the price is very high, to pence
per gallon Of 10 pounds.
And now having had 80 much to say
about this country, you will think
have forgotten the states; but / must
assure you that have watched the papers
here, and am very glad of the success Of
Tilden in the presidential election.
l. n