The comet., 1880-09-11
THE COMETS AGRICULTURAL
EDITOR
ON A GRAND sPLURGE,
For the Edincatiom of Our Host of
Readers.
CHICAGO, Aug, 9th.

CHICAGO, Aug. 27th.
To the Editor OF the Comet
We arrived here about week ago
just in time to see the big crowd dis
perse. We wish we had been five ol
six days later, rs such large crowd,
are not agreeable.
Workmen are busy removing the
tents of the knights, which lined the
lake, and soon there will be no Vestiges
left of the Grand Triennial Conclave
except few struggling flags which
still tlaunt from some palatial store
houses. Chicago is full of activity and
life-and everything is ON Il grand
scale. New buildings are going up,
property is increasing in value and
now she ranks rs the third city in the
United States. There is being built
Il six million dollars court house; and
the parks and waterworks will soon
rank with any outside of New York.
Among the greatest curiOslties around
the city are her immense stock-yards,
which cover hundreds uf acres. We
visited Il slaughter house, where they
are said to kill $1,000 hogs per day
they are now using only one stand
upon which they were killing 5000
per day. Everything is done by steam
except killing and cmbowcling. You
hear squcal, and then see big five
hundred pound porker rolled over
into tank, of hot water, where large
iron wheels armed with tlanges, re-
volve at lightning speed take the hair
olt-then with the same lightning
speed, the hog passes through different
sets of hands till the meat is landed
into an ice house, frozen, cured and
packed, and sent to our Southern
smoke-houses. Underneath they were
slaughtering cattle j st about as fast.
Although the men engaged in this
bloody work were protected by oil
cloths, they were besmeared from
head to foot with the gOre-even the
visitors carried blood away on their
clothes and hats.
OF course our main object while
here was to visit South Water Street,
where all The vegetables are sold. 1t
was just in the height of the peach,
grape and pear season, and the whole
street was so densely crowded that
you had to force your way through
the moving throngs of people. Peaches
are mostly now brought from Michl- |
gan; they are shipped in baskets, and
a neat gauze thrown over them which |
makes them sell to greater advantage
Fine grapes were selling for two cents
per pound, and magnificent peaches
for thirty and forty cents per basket.
We were pointed out some peaches
gathered from trees which had the
ycllows, and the disease was discern
ible in the fruit.
We saw plainly that fruit put up in
neat packages, sells better than fruit
done up. Grapes which
scarcely sold for two cents pound
when packed in rough boxes, sold for
five and six cents when put up in
neat baskets.
Crystal Springs tomatoes have con-
reputation here, and are said
ta be the finest sent to this market
Among the clever gentlemen we met
while here was Col. Fairman, whose
relatives live in Crystal Springs. He
has been in the office Of the Illinois
Central for number of years, and has
seen the city grow up to be giant i'll
size. The Illinois Central, from the
number of hands employed in the
Auditors office, is doing an immense
business, not only in the railroad busl-
ness, but in disposing of the thousands
If acres of valuable lands owned by
hem along the railroad. We are also
lnder many obligations to our COM
merchant, Mr.. G. w. Barnett,
If the firm of Messrs. Barnett Bros,
Who took us under his hoSpitable roof,
md during our sojourn in the city
reated US with the greatest hOspi-
alitV. |