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grasses, we can make our selection from the whole family of each, and select those best suited to the condition of each cultivator, as regards his peculiar taste, the crops previously grown, or the demands of the market. The great staples are grass and corn, around which all others play but a secondary part.

ROOT CROPS.

Potatoes yield fair crops, but, on account of cheap corn and cheap forage, the root crop is of less importance, and little attention has been paid to it; but if planted at the proper season, with that care usually devoted to this class of crops, we meet with good average results.

SORGHUM.

This crop has met with more encouraging results in this county, than any other in the State. This has resulted from two causes: 1st, the superior quality of the crop; and 2d, in the skill with which it has been manufactured. Its future will depend on the success of the sugar-cane of Louisiana, under the new regime of paid labor.

THE ORCHARD.

In regard to orcharding and the small fruits, this county is second to no other, not even Union county, for with the exception of peaches, it has many advantages, such as a more favorable surface, a less compact washy soil, cheaper labor, and more convenient markets. This is no empty boast, but a fact of easy proof, that fruit-growing in this county has paid a better net profit than in any other part of the State. I have yet to hear of the first fruit farm for sale, or of one person of any practical knowledge who has not made it highly remunerative.

No one claims that the peach is a largely paying crop, but the apple is perfectly at home, and the range of varieties is much larger than in any of the apple districts at the East.

The pear crop has no great encouragement in any part of the West, on account of blight, but succeeds as well with us as at any other point. The early Richmond cherry is a favor

Welch Clocks.

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it è, and large orchards have been planted. The blackberry, raspberry and strawberry produce fine crops, and cost but a small sum for freight, as compared with those grown in the south part of the State.

In fruit culture one great advantage is, that it may be made either the leading or secondary feature of every farm, according to the taste and ability of the farmer. It is these varied conditions so admirably organized for a mixed husbandry, that give this county so many advantages in the culture of the soil.

THE MARKETS.

There are in the county two great competing points for our railroad freight, to the north, the south, the east and the west, and just outside its limits, two others more or less available to our farmers, and from which they will derive more or less advantage. These competing points must always give us cheap freights for our farm and orchard products.

THE GROWING OF TIMBER.

In the growing of timber for useful purposes, such as the larch, for railroad ties, fence posts, car frames and building purposes; the ash for implements and carriages; and other woods for the varied uses of life; we have the advantages of a rich soil, especially adapted to the purpose, and a climate, highly favorable to the growth of these useful trees. Then again, large plantings of this kind will further modify the rainfall and equalize the season, and in time there is no reason why the peach may not be a favorite crop in our orchards.

Space will not permit of more than a mere glance at the agric ultural advantages of this county, nor even to predict what it may be, when the vast bed of coal that underlies the entire area shall be made available for manufacturing purposes. Its future in agriculture, in manufactures and commerce, will be second to no inland county in the West, from the intrinsic value of the soil, the salubrity of the climate, its immense coal fields, and the ready access to the markets of the world.

Gold and Silver Chains.

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known.

CHILDS

To whom shall be accorded the honor of having first settled in the county, is a matter of some little difficulty. It lies between one Runnel Fielder, who settled about four miles north-east of Urbana, in 1822, and Wm. Tomkins, who stopped near where the Union Mill now stands in Urbana, about the same time. Which of these two men was the first here is not The next of which we have knowledge, was Henry Sadorus. To them, and to those who joined them in those early days, be all honor given; for they, meeting the trials and discomforts attendant upon pioneer life, endured them, yielding not to discouragements, and fought the long weary way through years of hardships, privations and dangers, from the unbroken solitude of nature's unclaimed wilds, as it came from the hands of the Maker, up, and out into the broad, glad sunshine of a beautiful land, blessed with the presence of a God-praising civ. ilization. Henry Sadorus settled with his family on the very spot where he now lives, in Sadorus township, in the spring of 1824. His son, William Sadorus, now living near the old gen. tleman, came with him, being at that time twelve years old. These were the first settlers; and in all this county, now teeming with wealth and a busy population, their only associates were the Indians or wild beasts.

Gold and Silver Finger Rings.

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