sible to conceive of better butter than is made while the grass is in this stage. On the lower, humid prairies, where the clayey stratum lies close to the surface, the middle or principal stalk of the grass, bearing the seed, grows very thick, having long and coarse leaves, and attaining a height of nine feet, so that the traveller on horseback will frequently find it higher than his head. Although the plants are very numerous, and stand alone by each other, they seem to grow up each one by itself, the whole effort of vegetation tending upward. On the undulating prairies the grass in finer, and exhibits more leaves, its roots are interlaced so as to form a compact mass, and its leaves spread in a dense sod, which rarely exceeds the height of 18 inches, until late in the season, when the seed-stalk shoots up. In the earliest stages of its growth, the grass is interspersed with little flowers, the violet, the strawberry-blossoin, and others of the most delicate structure. When the grass grows higher, these disappear, and taller flowers, displaying more lively colors, take their place; and still later a series of still higher but less delicately formed flowers appears on the surface. While the grass is green, these beautiful plains are adorned with every imaginable variety of color. It is impossible to conceive of a greater diversity, or discover a predominating color, save the green, which forms a beautiful dead color, relieving the splendor of the others. In the summer, the plants grow taller, and the colors more lively; in the autumn another generation of flowers arises, which possesses less clearness and variety of color, and less fragrancy. In the winter, the prairie presents a melancholy aspect. Often the fire, which the hunters annually send over the prairies, in order to dislodge the game, will destroy the entire vegetation, giving to the soil a uniform black appearance, like that of a vast plain of charcoal; then the wind sweeping over the prairie, will find nothing which it might put in motion, no leaves which it might disperse, no halms which it might shake. No sooner does the snow commence to fall, than the animals, unless already before frightened away by the fire, retire into the forests, when the most dreary, oppressive solitude, will reign on the burnt prairies, which often occupy many square miles of territory. In the southern part of the State, the prairies are comparatively small, varying in size from those of several miles in width and length to those which contain only a few acres. Here many flowery prairies may be found, presenting a spectacle of unrivalled splendor. A rich soil is covered with innumerable turnsols (Helianthus tuberosus), great euphorbias, and purple lupines, intertwined with the rosy blossoms of the wild mallow, and the brilliant orange-tawny vermilion poppy, while the ground is literally crowded with beautiful violets. The traveller on horseback then looks down upon a sea of flowers, over which float thousands of the most sumptuously colored papilios and scarabees, with the many variegated buzzing insects, while he is nearly overpowered by the penetrating, delicious perfume, with which the immense multitude of blossoms impregnate the air. In the north the prairies widen, and frequently extend from six to twelve miles in width, intersected in every direction by groups of forests and woods, alternately advancing into and receding from the prairie towards the water courses, the banks of which are usually to be found lined with timber, principally of magnificent growth. Between these rivers, in many instances, are groves of timber containing from 100 to 2000 acres, in the midst of the prairie, like islands in the sea, this being a common feature, of the country between Lake Michigan and the Sangamon River, and the northern parts of the State. As to the origin of the prairie-lands, various speculations have been indulged, giving rise to a diversity of opinions, the least tenable of which is that, according to which stately forests once covered these plains, afterwards being destroyed by fire; for nothing is better established than the fact, that the travellers who first entered upon these plains, 200 years ago, and gave them their present name, found them destitute of woods and forests; and, moreover, evidence may be adduced to the effect of showing, that wherever those dangerous enemies of the forests, the Indians and buffaloes, were expelled, and the settlers com menced planting trees, as well as in the vicinity of extensive inhabited tracts, the grass will at once recede, giving free scope for the forest to develope itself. In proof of our position, that these prairies were not formerly covered by forests, we may also refer to the immense savannahs and Llaños of South America and Middle Africa, where traces of former forests have yet to be discovered. Thus the late distinguished English traveller, Mungo Park, speaks of the plains of Mandingo, in Western Africa, as having probably existed there since the earliest times; he also describes their annual burning in the same manner in which that of the prairies in the Western States would be described now; the practice there, according to his account, being attended with the same results as here, the country there being also within a short time covered with a luxuriant growth of young and tender grass, on which the cattle feed with avidity. According to another opinion, the truth of which is highly probable, the level surface of the State of Illinois was formed by inundations. The whole of the State, from a few miles north of the Ohio, where the prairies commence, affords tolerably conclusive evidence of having been once covered with water, which, having forced itself a passage, whereby it was drained off, the ground was left with a rich, soft, muddy, level surface, much of which was afterwards successively worn off by waters formed from the effect of rain; whence it will not be difficult to account for the greater dryness of the more elevated undulating prairie lands. From whatever cause the prairies took their origin, they are no doubt perpetuated by the annual fires that have swept over them, from an era probably long anterior to the earliest records of history, and still often continue, lit by the hunters, in order to frighten and bewilder the game that bounds over these prairies, and thus render them an easy prey, or to replace the old grass by a luxuriant growth of tender herbage, which might serve as nourishment for the deer. Where the soil is too wet to produce a heavy annual growth of grass sufficient to sustain a strong fire, there is no prairie. Forests prevail along the streams, and in other places where vegetation does not suffer from the drought of the latter part of summer and early autumn, and, therefore, is less combustible than in the open plains. And the prairies themselves, wherever they do predominate, as will be found invariably the case on dry level regions, exposed to the heat of the sun, may be easily converted into wooded land, by destroying with the plough the tough sward which has formed itself on them. There are large tracts of country, where a number of years ago the farmers mowed their hay, that are now covered with a forest of young, rapidly-growing timber. As soon as the prairies are ploughed, and the heavy grass kept under, timber or orchard trees, when planted in them, will grow with unexampled luxuriance. A resident of Adams County testifies to the may be found, presenting a spectacle of unrivalled splendor. A rich soil is covered with innumerable turnsols (Helianthus tuberosus), great euphorbias, and purple lupines, intertwined with the rosy blossoms of the wild mallow, and the brilliant orange-tawny vermilion poppy, while the ground is literally crowded with beautiful violets. The traveller on horseback then looks down upon a sea of flowers, over which float thousands of the most sumptuously colored papilios and scarabees, with the many variegated buzzing insects, while he is nearly overpowered by the penetrating, delicious perfume, with which the immense multitude of blossoms impregnate the air. In the north the prairies widen, and frequently extend from six to twelve miles in width, intersected in every direction by groups of forests and woods, alternately advancing into and receding from the prairie towards the water courses, the banks of which are usually to be found lined with timber, principally of magnificent growth. Between these rivers, in many instances, are groves of timber containing from 100 to 2000 acres, in the midst of the prairie, like islands in the sea, this being a common feature, of the country between Lake Michigan and the Sangamon River, and the northern parts of the State. As to the origin of the prairie-lands, various speculations have been indulged, giving rise to a diversity of opinions, the least tenable of which is that, according to which stately forests once covered these plains, afterwards being destroyed by fire; for nothing is better established than the fact, that the travellers who first entered upon these plains, 200 years ago, and gave them their present name, found them destitute of woods and forests; and, moreover, evidence may be adduced to the effect of showing, that wherever those dangerous enemies of the forests, the Indians and buffaloes, were expelled, and the settlers com menced planting trees, as well as in the vicinity of extensive inhabited tracts, the grass will at once recede, giving free scope for the forest to develope itself. In proof of our position, that these prairies were not formerly covered by forests, we may also refer to the immense savannahs and Llaños of South America and Middle Africa, where traces of former forests have yet to be discovered. Thus the late distinguished English traveller, Mungo Park, speaks of the plains of Mandingo, in Western Africa, as having probably existed there since the earliest times; he also describes their annual burning in the same manner in which that of the prairies in the Western States would be described now; the practice there, according to his account, being attended with the same results as here, the country there being also within a short time covered with a luxuriant growth of young and tender grass, on which the cattle feed with avidity. According to another opinion, the truth of which is highly probable, the level surface of the State of Illinois was formed by inundations. The whole of the State, from a few miles north of the Ohio, where the prairies commence, affords tolerably conclusive evidence of having been once covered with water, which, having forced itself a passage, whereby it was drained off, the ground was left with a rich, soft, muddy, level surface, much of which was afterwards successively worn off by waters formed from the effect of rain; whence it will not be difficult to account for the greater dryness of the more elevated undulating prairie lands. From whatever cause the prairies took their origin, they are no doubt perpetuated by the annual fires that have swept over them, from an era probably long anterior to the earliest records of history, and still often continue, lit by the hunters, in order to frighten and bewilder the game that bounds over these prairies, and thus render them an easy prey, or to replace the old grass by a luxuriant growth of tender herbage, which might serve as nourishment for the deer. Where the soil is too wet to produce a heavy annual growth of grass sufficient to sustain a strong fire, there is no prairie. Forests prevail along the streams, and in other places where vegetation does not suffer from the drought of the latter part of summer and early autumn, and, therefore, is less combustible than in the open plains. And the prairies themselves, wherever they do predominate, as will be found invariably the case on dry level regions, exposed to the heat of the sun, may be easily converted into wooded land, by destroying with the plough the tough sward which has formed itself on them. There are large tracts of country, where a number of years ago the farmers mowed their hay, that are now covered with a forest of young, rapidly-growing timber. As soon as the prairies are ploughed, and the heavy grass kept under, timber or orchard trees, when planted in them, will grow with unexampled luxuriance. A resident of Adams County testifies to the |