1853. 12 ACRES OF OATS. DR. April 15.-To 5 days' ploughing, at $2.. "4 days' harrowing, at $2. 66 66 66 1853. "36 bu. oats for seed, and 1 day's work at $1...... Total....... By 87 bu. per acre, making 1050 bu., at 25c............. Sept.-To 5 days' ploughing, 8 inches deep, at $2.... "19 bu. Rio seed wheat, at 75c.......... 1853. $10 00 8.00 10 00 60 00 $88 00 CR. $262 50 88 00 $174 50 $7 33 DR. $10 00 14 25 1 00 6 00 Cost harvesting 9 acres, at $1 50 per acre.......... March 25.-1 day sowing the same................................................................................ 3 days' work harrowing, at $2.... By 9 acres, 24 bu. per acre, 228 bu., at $1.................................................... By 2 acres, 22 bu. and 7 qts. per acre, 50 bu. at 50 c... $25 00 CR. April.-To 23 days' ploughing, at $2.. To 12 bu. seed at 40c................. To 1 day's work sowing same.................................................................................. To carting 182 bu. to market, 2c.......... Total cost 1853. By 5 acres, 33 bu. 3 qts. per acre, 180 bu., 40c........... DR. $5.00 4.80 1.00 3.00 825 3 64 25 69 $40 25 CR. $72.90 40 25 32 55 $7 32 One half of this was fall ploughed, the balance timothy sod, broke May 1st, 1852, 7 inches deep. Cost of tending about the same as fall ploughing. To 28 acres ploughing, at $1 per acre........................................................ .............. To 5 days' harrowing, at $2....... To 4 bu. seed corn, 75c.... To 94 days' planting, 7s....... To 26 days' cultivating corn, $1 25. Shelling and marketing 1710 bu. at 4c................ Total cost.................... By 281 acres, 60 bu. per acre, 1710 bu. at 50c......... $28.50 10.00 3.00 8 31 30.50 10.56 57.00 68 40 $216 27 CR. $855 00 216 27 ONE HUNDRED AND THREE SHEEP. To cutting and stacking 25 tons hay, at $1.............. To feeding 30 by. corn, 50c........... To feeding and salt To washing and shearing sheep, and marketing wool...... Total cost................. DR. $25 00 15 00 10 00 10.00 $60 00 CR. By 103 fleeces, average 3 lbs. 10 oz. 373 lbs., at 46c... $171 58 By 53 lambs at $1 25....................... Cost......... Net profit........... 66 25 Net profit..... Dr. To fatting one sow and four pigs, 80 bu. corn at 50c......... $25.00 12.50 10 50 $47 00 CR. $150 00 47 00 $103 00 40 00 75 00 60 chickens, 124 C.......... 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, $160 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. 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.” |