I James Caird, esq. I Letter on the Lands of the Illinois Central Railway Co (Jan. 1859) LETTEE ON THE LANDS OF THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILWAY COMPANY. BY JAMES C^IRD, ESQ., M.P. London, January, 1859. 70 George, Moffatt, Esq., M. P., Chairman of the London Committee of 'the Illinois Central Hallway Company. Having undertaken in August last to \ visit Illinois and examine the lands of the Illinois ; Central Railway Company, and as circumstances may p? prevent me from being present at the meeting of the r - Company on the 6th inst., I beg to report to you, for their information, my opinion of their landed property. Having traversed nearly their whole line on three different occasions, and spent many days besides in driving through the country from numerous points, I had very ample opportunity for inspecting the nature and quality of the soil, and the condition and prospects of the settlers upon it. The whole extent of the lands of the Company is 2,595,000 acres, which is more than the fourteenth part of the entire state of Illinois, and nearly equal to the fourteenth part of all England. Of this vast territory 1,244,000 acres have been sold, and 1,351,000 remain on hand. It would seem to me a very moderate estimate to value these at 11,420,000 dollars, which, with the price of the lands already sold, w r ould leave 6,500,000 dollars of a balance after the redemption of the whole mortgage debt. In offering this moderate valuation, which is less than what has been previously put upon them, I do not say that the unsold lands may not yet realize the full sum at which they have been hitherto valued. The gradual $39434 rise in the value of land which the annual accumulation of gold is bringing about, and the increasing population of Illinois, are circumstances that may more than counter- balance those which weighed with me in reducing the generally received valuation; and if the Company were capitalists who had no other object than to wait till time developed the value of their lands, their can be no doubt but that the first valuation would be realized; their main object however is to create traffic for the railroad, and I believe it can be demonstrated that every acre of good land along their line which remains un- broken, or in the hands of people who are unable to cultivate it, is an annual loss to the Company of at least one dollar an acre. For that reason it is certainly their policy to encourage early sales. With regard to the lands already sold, you are aware that a majority of the purchasers are persons of very small means, who were encouraged by the credit system to buy more land than they could use, and who were dependent on the produce of the land itself for the means of paying it. I am convinced, from personal observation and inquiry among them, that the general failure of the last wheat and oat crop has crippled them most seriously, and that few of them can have any fund from which to pay their land notes before at least one good harvest. But I am also convinced that they are anxious to redeem their obligations, and that they reckon their farms of considerably more value than the price at which they bought them from the Company. For, though they often offered to sell their farms to me, it was invariably at a price which was meant to include both the first cost and reimbursement to themselves for " improvements :" that is, for the buildings, fences and cultivation they had put upon them. I cannot, however, agree with the policy which has been hitherto adopted of permitting persons to become the purchasers of any extent of land for which they could pay a deposit of 6 per cent. ; the Company neither knowing, nor caring to know, whether they had adequate means to cultivate the land. Such a system was sure to lead to over speculation; for though the sales in 1855, 1856, and 1857, which were so enormous in extent, may not have been forced by any undue exertions of the land department of the Company, they were, undoubtedly, encouraged by the facility offered by the credit policy. The consequence is, that a vast extent of fine land is locked up in the hands of persons who are unable to make a profitable use of it, and whose poverty and complaints deter others from. becom- ing purchasers. The sudden demand which arose for the Company's lands in 1855, and which was followed by such, seem- ingly prosperous and extensive sales, was the result of a general and great rise in the price of all agricultural produce, and was by no means confined to the lands of the Company. The price of wheat was 100 per cent, higher in Illinois in 1855 than in 1853, and in conse- quence of this, the public sales of land by the American Government rose from one million acres in 1853 to fifteen million acres in 1855. It is not to be wondered at that the Company's sales should have risen in an equal proportion, especially when it is considered that men with very little cash in their pockets could pur- chase from the Company a farm near a railroad and good markets, and of rich land, for an absolutely smaller deposit of cash than must have been paid down for public lands in the remote regions of the West. Bat if the Company's policy had then been to demand in 6 addition to advance interest a deposit equal to the price of the public lands, their sales would have been very little diminished, and the purchasers would have given better security for the regular and progressive cultivation of the country. I feel convinced that one- fourth part of the land that has been sold, if well cultivated, would bring a larger produce traffic on the line than the whole does under its present management. With these views, whilst I would advise, as a matter of necessity, every consideration to be given to the persons already on the lauds, even though that should include an extension of their present long credits, I think that the Company should adopt a different policy for the future. They might with great propriety demand a deposit of 1^ dollars an acre over and above whatever credit terms they may deem it right to grant. It can be no hardship to any man who is qualified to become a purchaser, that the Company ask so very moderate a guaranty as five shillings an acre, which, in the case of an 80 or 160 acre lot, would be a cash pay- ment in either case of only 20 or 40. The great body of settlers upon the lands of the Com- pany are farmers and tradesmen from the Eastern States. There are also some colonies of French Canadians. And the tide of emigration had likewise set in from Ohio, the temptation of open rich prairie land being an induce- ment to the woodland farmer to go farther west. This is a fact of much interest to the owners of prairie land, as it shows beyond question the higher value which a working farmer places on such lands. In the Ohio State Report for 1857, this fact is referred to at some length ; and it is there shown, that in many counties a decrease in the agricultural population had taken place, and that in five townships named, in one of the best wheat counties of the state, the farming population had decreased 6 per cent, by the emigration of small farmers seeking a better home on the virgin soil of the West. It is not to be supposed that the movement undoubtedly going on of the American farming population from east to west, will stop at Illinois. There are vast prairie countries west of the Mississippi, to which many are attracted. But having visited Iowa and Minnesota, the states which most com- pete with Illinois, I have not seen any lands of equal quality, and with the same facilities of railway access, which can be bought in these states on lower terms than the lands of the Company, while your lands have besides the immense advantage of being from 300 to 500 miles nearer the eastern market. This is an advantage equiva- lent to the whole price of the land in the diminished expense of transporting a single crop, a superiority so obvious, that it cannot be overlooked by men who have really the means to buy and cultivate land. We must otherwise imagine men of sense, with their eyes open, preferring to buy land 300 miles away from a market at the same price for which they can obtain it close to a market ; and granting that the distant soil and climate were equally favourable, which they are not. The rapid increase of the population of Illinois now said to be 1,600,000 which is ten times what it was in 1830, is of itself a proof that this natural advantage which the state possesses has been fully appreciated by the Americans themselves. The fertile character of her soil is so proverbial, that it has obtained for Illinois the distinctive appellation of the " Garden State of the Union." Though not a tenth of her soil is yet cultivated she already produces more grain than both Ireland and Scotland, and possesses twice as many horses, cattle and pigs as the latter country. The knowledge of such facts 8 is sufficient proof of the rich and fertile quality of the prairie soil of Illinois. But an evidence not less con- vincing is to be found in the character of the soil itself, as explained by chemical analysis. I brought home with me four samples of the prairie soils, taken from the Company's lands at different points, so distant from each other as to afford an average of the country. I sent these to Professor Voelcker, consulting chemist of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, requesting a complete analysis to be made, but without giving any intimation of the country whence the soils had been brought. The analysis has occupied several weeks, and has been made with great care, and the results are now before me. I annex for your information a copy of the Professor's letter, with the analysis, and, for the sake of comparison, columns showing the composition of some of the most fertile soils in this country. It will be found on examination, that in almost every element of fertility these prairie soils excel our best lands. They are especially rich in nitrogenised organic matter, that nitro- gen which yields the same ammonia for which we send millions sterling annually to Peru. Professor Voelcker says, " I have never analysed before, soils which contained so much nitrogen, nor do I find any record of soils richer in nitrogen than these." He adds, " In the least fertile of these four soils, there is more nitrogen than in the Carse of Gowrie soil.* It is the large amount of nitro- gen and the beautiful state of division that impart a peculiar character to these soils, and distinguish them so favorably." It only wanted this to confirm the favor- able opinion I had already formed of the remarkable fertility of Illinois. Underlaid as nearly the whole * NOTE Farms in this district, which is the celebrated wheat tract of Scot- land, let at from 3 to 4 an acre. 9 state is with coal, with, abundance of limestone, and rich in other mineral sources of wealth, this State, the nearest point to the Atlantic of that rich American western coun- try, which is destined ere long to become the most popu- lous part of the Union, must increase rapidly in wealth and population. With scarcely any part of its territory fifteen miles from a railway, and with the advantage of both river and lake navigation, the unoccupied land of Illinois will soon be taken up. Holland and Belgium put together are not equal in extent to one-half of Illinois, nor are they equal to her in natural quality of soil or mineral resources. Yet the population of these countries, which is chiefly agricultural, is nearly six times that of Illinois. If we were to estimate the future by the past of this State, we should expect her to double her present population in the next ten years, and then she would have room to go on for a long time at the same rate of progression. But every time the population doubles, wealth is said to quadruple, so that land which is worth 2 an acre now should in ten years be worth 8. To the capitalist seeking a safe and profitable investment, I know none so promising as the soil of Illinois, at the present low rates of price. If his lots were judiciously selected and placed under prudent skillful management, they could not fail to return a handsome annual dividend ; and, in the course of a few years, by the mere lapse of time and the progress of wealth and population, to double in value. There are only two classes of persons to whom I would recommend emigration from this country to Illinois, first, young farmers of activity and intelligence, and with some capital at their command; and, second, intelligent, hard-working farm laborers, not exceeding 35 or 40 years of age. I do not at present advise people from towns, who are unacquainted with 10 country labor, to go there, for the labor market is over- stocked, and our people of that class cannot adapt them- selves to the hardships and first difficulties of a settler's life so readily as an American. If a considerable num- ber could go together in an organized plan it might be different, and great facilities are now offered by the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada for conveying British emigrants in bodies from the Atlantic to the Western States. But I think nothing of this kind is likely to be successful without an united plan and arrangements made for the arrival and settlement of the party. But the advantages offered by such a country to the two classes to whom I have previously referred are very important. I am preparing a pamphlet for early publication, in which these are set forth in detail. I will only say here that, to the young farmer who has to face keen compe- tion at home, with rising rents and increasing wages, both good thing to the country at large, but both likely to be accompanied by diminished profits to himself, the change will be this that he may become the owner of better land in Illinois for the same sum as he would have to pay as a year's rent here ; that though manual labor is dearer it is greatly economised by machinery ; and that the soil is so fresh and inexhausted that it requires no outlay for manures. Moreover, in the present state of that country, he need not purchase more land than he can crop, as he is free to graze his stock on the unoccu- pied prairie. It is this that constitutes one great advantage of settling on the prairie in comparison with a woodland country. In the latter, the settler can use no land until he conquer it from the forest; in the former, he not only can at once put under crop all the land he purchases, but he is at liberty to pasture his stock and cut his hay without hindrance on all the unoccupied and 11 fertile prairie which stretches around him. The grass and hay for his cattle thus cost him nothing, and though manual labor is dearer, horse-keep, which in England is such a heavy charge on the farmer, is very cheap. The skillful stock manager could not fail to make money, whether by cattle or sheep. Merino sheep are found very profitable. And, in regard to corn farming, if he considers that the average price of wheat in Illinois for the last ten years has been more than half that of England during the same period, whilst land of equal quality can be bought at less than one-thirtieth of the English price, he will see in a moment the immense disproportion between the value of the produce and that of the land in the two countries, and the chances which he thus has of an im- mediate profit besides the farther great probability of such an early rise in the value of the land he buys as will tend to equalize the respective rates of profit in the two countries. The advantages which are offered to this class of purchasers by your credit system are very obvious. A young man cannot enter an arable farm of 300 acres in this country without a capital of nearly 2,000. Half that sum in Illinois will make him owner of the same extent of land, fenced, ploughed, and all under wheat And if he avails himself of the Company's credit system, little more than 500 will be necessary to start him. But no man can expect to reap such advantages without some drawbacks. A settler in any of the Western States need not look for the comforts of an old country. He must make up his mind to endure exposure, hard work if need be with his own hands, and many disap- pointments and unexpected annoyances before he finds himself successful. He must also be prepared to face the risk in certain years of fever and ague, to which all rich new countries south of the 45 parallel are subject, after 12 seasons of great humidity and great neat complaints for which, however, medical skill has discovered reme- dies and alleviatives, which greatly diminish their dan- ger. While young constitutions soon become acclimated, old people ought not to emigrate at all to such countries. In conclusion I would say, that I cannot see any cir- cumstances that should prevent a gradual but certain rise in the value of the Company's lands in Illinois. If I were a large shareholder, it would not disturb me much to hear that some considerable body of the inex- perienced and poor purchasers had abandoned their farms. It would seem to me rather an advantage for the Company to hold the land themselves, and receive the benefit of increasing value, than to resign all the benefit to parties who are unable to use the land so as to increase the traffic of the railroad, and yet wish to avail themselves of the Company's credit. I beg to express the obligation which I feel to Mr. Osborn, the President of the Company, for the aid which he gave me in prosecuting my enquiries, and to Captain McClellan and the officers of the Company for their valuable assistance. I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, JAMES CAIKD. London, 6, Sergeants' Inn, Fleet Street, January 3, 1859. Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, Dec. 28th, 1858. DEAR SIE, I have now the pleasure of handing you the results of detailed and careful analyses of the four soils you sent to me about a month ago. At the same time I enclose copies of two remarkably fertile soils rest- ing on the old red sandstone formation, as analysed by myself some time ago, and also a series of soil analyses made some years ago by Professor Anderson at request of the Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland. You will not fail to recognise a general similarity in the composition of your soils, and observe that they all contain large quantities of potash, no doubt in the state of easily decomposable silicate of potash. With the exception of No. 2, they also contain silicate of lime, which in No. 2 appears to be entirely replaced by sili- cate of magnesia. The soils are not very rich in phosphoric acid, but still there is amply sufficient to meet all the requirements of plants usually cultivated on the farm. However, I cannot help thinking that phosphatic manures, especially for root crops, should be used liberally on your soils, and guano and other ammoniacal manures more sparingly, for you will perceive that all four soils are very rich in nitrogenised organic matter. Indeed I have never analysed before, soils which contained so much nitrogen, nor do I find any records of soils richer in nitrogen than yours. In No. 2 the proportion of nitrogen is smaller than in the three other soils, which might have been expected, since there is not so much organic matter. In the soil from the Carse of Gowrie Dr. Anderson found 2 per cent, of nitrogen, which he considers a large proportion. Dr. Anderson, referring to this constituent, says, "The actually large amount of this quantity may not be apparent when it is expressed in fractions of a per cent. ; we must bear in mind that the weight of the soil ten inches deep on an acre is, in round numbers, about a thousand tons, and that quantity will contain about two tons of nitrogen. It will further serve to illustrate its abundance to mention that a crop of wheat, 14 amounting to 36 bushels with straw, contains about 52lbs. of nitrogen, and a crop of Swedish turnips only about 36lbs." In the least fertile of your four soils, and I consider No. 2 the least fertile, in a purely chemical point of view, there is more nitrogen than in the Carse soil. It is this large amount of nitrogen and the beautiful state of division that impart a peculiar character to your soils, and distinguish them so favorably. They are soils upon which I imagine flax could be grown in perfection, supposing the climate to be other- wise favorable. There is one particular to which I would direct your attention. None of these four soils contains in comparison with other soils, a high per cent- age of lime, and No. 2 especially I think would be bene- fitted by an occasional application of lime. The soil No. 3 contains most lime, both as carbonate and in the state of silicate of lime. I have analysed separately the portion soluble in acids, and the portion of the soils insoluble in acids. The analysis of the insoluble silicates requires fusion and takes up much time, and for this reason I could not send you the results before this time. For comparison's sake, with other soils, I have put together the results obtained in the analysis of the por- tion soluble in acids, and those obtained in the analysis of the insoluble silicates, so that you may see at a glance the total amount of lime, potash, O O CO O I-H O CO O 33 ~ O W *ij "^J 1 1~l W T-1 Vw* W ^^ ^T ~^T to 3 ^* t~^ (^ Of o M * O "C I " l. 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