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$25 00 15.00

To cutting and stacking 25 tons hay, at $1......
To feeding 30 bu. corn, 50c.......................... ........................................................................................................
To feeding and salt
To washing and shearing sheep, and marketing wool...........

............................ ..............................

10 00

10 00

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By 103 fleeces, average 3 lbs. 10 oz. 373 lbs., at 46c..........
By 53 lambs at $1 25..

...........................

$171 58 66 25

$237 83

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Net profit.........

$47 00 CR.

$150 00

47 00

$103 00

Dr. To fatting one sow and four pigs, 80 bu. corn at 50c.........
Cr. By 1500 lbs. pork, at 5c. per lb...........

Net profit.........

40 00

75 00

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25 bu. apples, $1..

8 bu. peaches, $1

5 swarms bees, $5.......

50 lbs. honey, 124c.........

25 00

8 00

25 00

6 25

24 turkeys, 50c.........

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Cost of keeping the above....................

12 00

750

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Net profit...........

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The preceding twelve accounts kept of farms in the most widely separated parts of the State, will be sufficient to give the reader an idea of the comparative profitableness of husbandry in Illinois. To these accounts we now add several other communications, which, though not calculations themselves, serve nevertheless very well to show that the Illinoisian farmer has all reason to be satisfied with his lot.

John Williams, Esq., of New Albany, Coles Co., says, in a letter dated Dec. 23, 1855:

"I can raise on my farm, and have done it, 60 to 100 bushels of corn to the acre; 30 to 40 bushels of wheat per acre, and every kind of vegetables in the greatest abundance. I harvested off my farm this season 15,000 bushels of corn; two men raised for me with but little more than their own labor, about 7,000 bushels of corn and oats; this corn is now worth in the crib over 25 cents per bushel. My neighbors raised from 25 to 38 bushels of wheat per acre, and sold it on the spot at from $1 25 to $1 30 per bushel. Early in the season, Mr. Cuthbertson, a neighbor of mine, sold the crop of wheat off of 50 acres of land, as it stood, for $1500, cash."

"The "Chicago Democratic Press," dated Dec. 23, 1855, states that, in that year, Mr. Lewis Prettyman derived from his farm of 80 acres, the sum of $3965, receiving, among others, $230 for cider, $460 for apples, $10 for pears, $20 for asparagus, and other potherbs, $375 for wheat, $168 for oats, $1320 for Indian corn, $20 for potatoes, $200 for hay, $400 for horned cattle, $450 for horses, &c., &c

Peter Unzieker, Esq., of Groveland, Tazewell Co., in a letter dated Nov. 20, 1855, says the following:

"In 1848, I purchased a farm of 182 acres, together with a dwelling house and a good well, for $1,250; in 1853, a man from Pennsylvania offered me $4000 cash for it, and if I would sell it now, I would receive much more for it; but I do not think of it. I have now been fourteen years in America, and came soon after my arrival in this country to Illinois, when my resolution of settling here became irrevocably fixed, and I am now very glad to have executed it. I am of opinion that any man, especially however, the farmer, can acquire and obtain in Illinois, as contented and independent a living as he could anywhere else. I have travelled through many States, but was never pleased better than when settling on the exuberant soil of Illinois."

A short time since there appeared in the "Hunterton Gazette," New Jersey, a letter written by a well known citizen of that State, who, having travelled through Illinois to see whether it would be advisable for him to settle there, takes occasion to drop the following remarks concerning the state of affairs there. We quote from his letter the following passage:

"Let me cite a few facts which I know to be true, however large they may seem to be. Mr. Peter C. Rea, who resided twelve years in Raritan, near Clover Hill, and emigrated to Fulton County, Illinois, in the early part of this year, told me he had raised and sold more wheat since he had been there, than he had done in twelve years he had resided in Raritan. He simply raked and burned the cornstalks in the spring, and without ploughing the ground, sowed it with spring wheat, and harrowed it in; and in a few months he reaped a fine crop of spring wheat. He has, besides, on his farm, a good prospect for a crop of winter wheat. I ate at his house some bread made of the flour from his spring wheat, and it was as white and as good as any I ever ate in New Jersey. He also told me he should probably make as much money this year in Illinois, as he did in twelve years in New Jersey.

"I saw a farmer in Peoria County, who lived on a rented farm of eighty acres, for which he paid $200 rent for the land, and $26 for the house; he did all his work himself, except some help in planting corn; had one team of horses, and after paying his rent and supporting his family, would clear one thousand dollars this year.

66

My friend, Mr. D. H. L. Sutphen, of Pike County, formerly of this county, had a field sown with wheat, and harvested therefrom upwards of 3000 bushels. He hired everything done, and if I remember correctly, had cleared over and above all expenses, about $2000 by the operation. He introduced me to a gentleman by the name of Simpkins, in that county, who came there a few years ago with nothing save his health and his hands. He was now farming, and he told us that he would sell this year, produce from his farm amounting to between $17,000 and $18,000. I saw his hog-pen, containing 481 fat hogs, which would average 350 pounds each."

D. L. Phillippi, Esq., of Anna, Union Co., in a letter dated 22d Jan., 1856, recites as proof of the facility with which a man may acquire an easy, independent competence, in Illinois, the following facts:

"Winstead Davis, Esq, a native of Tennessee, came to Jonesboro thirty years ago, without means of any kind. He has been for many years both merchant and farmer. Owns now many thousand acres of land, and has succeeded well as a merchant. Has under cultivation between 2500 and 3000

acres of land. Rent corn this year, at 10 bushels per acre, 12,000 bushels; he is supposed to be worth $300,000.

"Willis Willard, Esq., a native of Vermont, farmer and merchant, commenced in the world penniless, and was left an orphan when very young. Owns, say 10,000 acres of land-possibly much more. Has, perhaps, 2000 acres in cultivation. Is one of the heaviest dry goods dealers in the southern half of the State, and is estimated to be worth $250,000 or $300,000. Willard came to Jonesboro when a small lad.

Mr.

"Jacob Randleman, farmer and tanner, a native of North Carolina, came to Union County when quite young; commenced poor; has now some 500 acres of land in cultivation; sold during the past year his crop of wheat to Messrs. Bennett & Scott, the amount was 3000 bushels, for which he received nearly $4000. Has on hand now, for sale, 4000 bushels of corn. Has always been healthy, and has raised a large family of healthy children."

To this he adds:

"Hundreds of other men might be named, who have succeeded well on a smaller scale, who commenced here without a dollar."

Jas. Philipps, Esq., of Nashville, Washington Co., in a letter dated Dec. 26, 1855, states the following instances, in which men acquired wealth by agricultural pursuits, in Illinois :

"There is Mr. K

who came here a poor adventurer, with nothing of this world's goods; he went to farming, continued it assiduously, turning his farm produce into stock, his stock into cash, and his cash into lands. now worth about fifty thousand dollars.

He is

"A son of the preceding commenced about ten years ago, doing business for himself. He had about one thousand dollars to start with, and has gone on increasing his wealth at the rate of a thousand a year. This was done exclusively by farming.

Colonel P- came here as one of the early pioneers of this country, went to tilling the land, and followed it up to the present time, engaging in nothing else; he is now worth about twenty thousand, having begun with less than one hundred dollars." He adds: "These are a few of many that might be cited. One remark about this country; one fair crop of any of the usual grains grown here, is worth, when harvested, what the land will cost; so that an emigrant can easily calculate what he can do on an average. Thus, if he can plant and till one hundred acres of land by putting in corn or wheat, he can pretty safely estimate that when he threshes his wheat, or cribs his corn, it will be worth

the prime cost of his one hundred acres of land. This is not all; for when his land is ploughed and fenced, it is worth double what it was before subjugation."

The "Prairie Farmer," of May 6th, 1856, says: "A farmer in Morgan County, sold last year, $60,000 worth of cattle, at a very handsome profit."

Jno. S. Barger, Esq., in his above mentioned letter, states as proof how easily fortunes are made here, the following facts:

“I will now give you a concise history of the operations of Mr. Funk. Both before and since his marriage he had made rails for his neighbors, at twentyfive cents per hundred. But when the lands where he lived came into market, 25 years ago, he had saved of his five years' earnings $1400, and says if he had invested it all in lands, he would now have been rich. With $200 he bought his first quarter-section, and loaned to his neighbors $800 to buy their homes; and with the remaining $400 he purchased a lot of cattle. With this beginning, Mr. Funk now owns 7000 acres of land, has near 2700 in cultivation, and his last year's sale of cattle and hogs, at the Chicago market, amounted to a little over $44,000.

"Mr. Isaac Funk, of Funk's Grove, nine miles distant from his brother Jesse, and ten miles northwest from Bloomington, on the Mississippi and Chicago Railroad, began the world in Illinois, at the same time, having a little the advantage of Jesse, so far as having a little borrowed capital. He now owns about 27,000 acres of land, has about 4000 acres in cultivation, and his last sales of cattle amounted to $65,000."

We do not consider it a matter of any importance, that there exist such rich men in Illinois as the Funks: for wealth may be inherited, and fast by the most magnificent wealth the most squalid poverty may drop her bitter tears; but we consider it a matter of no small moment, that the Funks have risen to their present condition from that of humble day-laborers; that they acquired this enormous amount of property in Illinois, and that all those willing to devote themselves to agriculture, can easily acquire wealth and independence in Illinois. Illinois is the paradise of the farmer; we have above stated several instances, in which the purchase-money was either wholly, or almost wholly, repaid by the produce of the first harvest. These are not such rare occurrences as will only happen under the most favorable circumstances, but it is the usual course of development, as it is conditioned by the state of affairs in the country; whoever would take the trouble of travelling through Illinois, in order to collect such instances, would have to register thousands of such cases.

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