of the United States; it stretches from the junction of the Kaskaskia with the Mississippi, along the latter to the mouth of the Missouri, containing about 450 square miles, or 288,000 acres.

Secondly, the table-land, fifty to a hundred feet higher than the alluvial land; this commences at the slopes, by which the latter is encompassed; it consists principally of prairies, which, according to their respectively higher or lower situations, are either dry, or humid and marshy.

Thirdly, the somewhat hilly sections of the State, which, alternately consisting of wood and prairie, are on the whole not as fertile as either the alluvial or the table land.

The soil of Illinois is unsurpassed in fertility by that of any other State, there being no room for doubt, that at the time it shall have been settled throughout its entire extent, the produce of its harvests will surpass that of many other States together. Where in the world could a fertility be found equal to that of the American Bottom, which, ever since it was settled by the French, about 150 years ago, has, without any manuring whatever, yielded, year after year, the most abundant crops of Indian corn?

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STATISTICS.

THE population of Illinois is returned, by the Census of 1855, at 1,300,251 souls; having, since the year 1810, increased as follows:

What distinguishes the state of Illinois from the other states of the Union, is its gigantic growth in numbers, as upon instituting a comparison with those states, the ratio of the increase in the population of which has also been very considerable, will be placed beyond a doubt.

The United States' Census returns the population of Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, as follows: