a bushel in Chicago. After that prices declined, except for wheat. The price of the latter was kept up by the foreign demand and its growing scarcity around Chicago. Such a reign of high prices while crops were unusually good, gave the farmers of Du Page County and other places away from the scene of battle, an unusual opportunity. Increasing use was made of farm machines because it not only added to the acreage which a man could cultivate by himself, thus increasing his income, but because it was necessary on account of the absence of so many laborers. Such an era of agricultural prosperity during a great war has no counterpart in history and at the end, instead of the land having depreciated in value in the North, it had risen on an average $5 an

acre.

The period between 1850 and 1870 was one of transition, due to the tremendous changes brought about through the medium of railroads. They facilitated the settlement of the prairies, the movement of lumber, machines, and manufactured articles into the country and that of farm products to the city. Under conditions of rapid transportation only, could the dairy industry have developed. The competition of the cheaper western grain in Chicago markets discouraged its production near Chicago. By the end of the period the farmer had gradually adjusted himself to the new conditions which inaugurated another period.

There was notable development of agriculture from 1870 to 1911. The first really scientific plow appeared about 1870. This was light in weight and shaped to cause motion between the particles in the furrow. The first plows had only scratched the surface; the breaking plows with their long, twisted mold boards simply turned the sod and at the same time compacted the subsoil, while the heavy plows of the previous period turned the furrows without loosening the soil particles. Modern plows are (1) adapted for riding (2) combined to do many times the work of one, and (3) adjusted to different kinds of power. For Du Page County the sulky and gang plows are most efficient. Some farmers are adapting gasoline engines to plows as well as to other machines.

Broad-cast seeders have given place to drills which plant and harrow in one operation. Disk drills are the most common, and even corn is planted in this way when used for fodder. Corn harvesting is not yet completely mastered by machinery. There are machines for cultivating, husking, cutting, and shredding corn and stacking it in silos. A great deal of corn is cut while still immature and carried directly to the pastures when they begin to fail in the

summer.

Grain harvesters were improved greatly after 1870. An adjustment was made to lift the grain to a table by which two men stood to bind it into sheaves. In 1875 the automatic binding was done but with wire which gave way later to twine. Formerly the bundles were tossed out as fast as bound, but an attachment for holding and delivering bundles at intervals made the shocking less work.

Threshing machines were introduced, and were run first by horse power and later by steam. The grain and straw were expelled together and had to be shaken apart and the straw stacked by hand. Now the threshing machines deliver the cleaned grain in one place and expel the straw by a pipe which can be regulated to build a stack of any size or shape desired. Threshing machines travel through the county from the first of July to the end of summer, often visiting the same farm twice, for winter wheat and later crops.

Many farmers are cutting grain as high as it can be conveniently harvested so that the straw which was formerly wasted will be left in the field. This they turn under, improving both the physical and chemical properties of the soil.

Hay harvesting machines have become important within the last 25 years, particularly the hay loader. This gathers the hay directly from the swath and loads it on the wagon. Hay forks in the barns greatly facilitate the handling of large crops. Some hay is baled on the farm and shipped to Chicago. This is usually done in the spring to make room for the new crop. Steel windmills have replaced wooden ones and are now found on practically every farm. The exigencies of the dairy business make it necessary to have cold water for cooling the milk. Sometimes the wind is not blowing and the farmer needs some other motive force for his pump. For this reason a number of farmers are installing gasoline engines which when used for cream separators, for running farm machinery, and for pumping water, are very economical.

The saving in time and money brought about by modern agricultural methods and machines is shown by comparing the labor and time required for the early crops and for those of the present. In 1830 an acre of wheat took an average of 64 hours, 15 minutes of labor and cost $3.71, while in 1896 it took 2 hours, 58 minutes and cost 72 cents. In other words, the production of one bushel of wheat took 3 hours of labor in 1830, and 10 minutes in 1896.

In 1880 the average number of acres which could be tended by one man was 23, while in 1900 it had risen to 31 acres. The value of product per person had increased in the same time from $286.82 to $454.37.

The growth of Chicago and the improvement of railroad facilities are responsible for the growth of the dairy industry in Du Page County. It is part of a great industry extending out 65 miles, and more in some directions, from Chicago. It is favored by the relatively cool climate and the good soil. It was encouraged by the decrease in grain farming and the increased attention to stock raising. The demand for fresh milk in the city made its production more profitable than that of butter and cheese. About 1870, factories were built which by their efficiency took over the butter and cheese production of the whole county. They prolonged the life of the butter industry for a decade, but the amount of cheese produced declined very rapidly, as the milk pro

duction increased. The removal of butter production from the farm has led to a more uniform product of higher grade, especially since the introduction of the cream separator in 1878. The factories now buy any excess milk produced and convert it into butter for the farmer and the town trade. In nearly every town there is a small butter factory, but there are very few cheese factories in the whole county.

The production of milk has been the dominant interest in Du Page County for 40 years, and probably will continue to be as long as Chicago continues to grow or until the land is needed for city uses. It is a permanent and profitable business because the demand is constant and because it does not depend on favorable legislation; furthermore, it benefits the soil. It has led to the improvement of the country roads and has removed by so much the isolation of the farm.

Du Page County has gradually increased in milk production until now it is one of the greatest milk producing counties in northern Illinois. Since 1900, the amount of milk shipped has decreased, because of the increasing amount which is separated on the farm. A number of separators have been installed in the county and are very profitable, since the farmer can use the skim milk for fattening calves and hogs. The cream production rose from 90 gallons in 1900 to 13,000 gallons in 1910.

The milk is hauled to the railroad every morning and shipped to a distributor in Chicago, who has it tested, bottled and ready for distribution in the afternoon and next morning. The regulation concerning the inspection and testing of all milk distributed in Chicago has done much towards making the output of standard quality. Now cement floored barns are common, while white-washed walls and improved sanitary conditions are the rule.

NEW TOPOGRAPHIC MAP OF CINCINNATI

An excellent example of a topographic map is that which has just been issued by the United States Geological Survey of the city of Cincinnati and environs—an area of over 400 square miles in Ohio and Kentucky. The area includes Ohio River from Tenmile Creek in Pierce Township, Clermont County, Ohio, to the town of North Bend in Miami Township, Hamilton County.

All railroads, electric roads, and principal and secondary wagon roads as well as bridges, canals, and other works of man are shown in their exact relative position. Surveyed in such detail and published by private enterprise this map would doubtless have to be sold for $5 to $10 a copy, but it can be obtained from the Director of the Geological Survey, Washington, D. C., for 20

cents.

CAPE VERD ISLANDS; A VISIT TO SAN VICENTE IN 1890

WE

By Mark Jefferson

Normal College, Ypsilanti, Mich.

E were steaming through an expanse of long oily swells off the West African coast. The awnings and the Aquila's sixteen knots an hour alone saved us from scorching between the tropic sun and its reflex in the glassy sea. All the afternoon there had been a haze to the north-east, where Captain Lavarello said we should sight San Antonio about six o'clock. This had been a source of great expectancy to all the passengers, as we had seen no land since leaving Fernando Noronha, off the Brazilian coast, and were all ready to hail the Cape Verde Islands as a variation of our daily scene of sea and sky. However, just as the gong rang for dinner, came the expected cry of Terra. Sure enough, the haze had cleared away and there, somewhat to the northward of where we had been gazing, rose a faint blue cloud far into the sky. There was nothing definite about it to look at long, so, after expressing doubts as to whether land could be so high, we went to dinner.

You see many of us had lived beside the lofty peaks of the Andine system; yet the effect of the mountain heights, where they rise sheer from the ocean, is so surprising that Aconcagua's twenty-two thousand feet seem less actually than San Antonio's five or six thousand. You may see the same effect in Green Mountain, Mt. Desert.

That night little more was to be seen than the lights of the Port and the village of San Vicente. We had to defer our sight-seeing till morning. Then we found ourselves lying in a circular bay, nearly surrounded by queer red and black crags of volcanic rock. Here and there a beach or hillside of bright yellow sand varied the scene, while to the right of the town, a long hollow swung back from the bay, carpeted with what seemed at first sight low firs, but on nearer approach, turned out to be plants peculiar to the islands. They are apparently maintained by the moisture of an underground water-course that follows the hollow.

Excepting a fine double row of shade-trees on the street along the water front, this is all there is of green on the island, fruit and vegetables being brought from San Antonio, that looms blue and hazy before the entrance to the harbor.

Nearer, dividing in two the harbor's mouth, stands an odd-shaped jagged rock, bearing the chief lighthouse high above the waves. The whole rock foundation of the island is so soft that the sea and weather readily work it into fantastic forms. The most notable illustration of this fact is seen looking seaward from the centre of the town. It is a huge face profiled in the hilltops, gazing skyward. We climbed some lesser heights behind the town and

The above notes were written down in 1891, one year after the event, excepting the parenthesis near the end, which I am adding from memory.

found the firmest of the rock crumbled beneath our feet. Driven down to the shelter of the town by the sun's glaring rays, our attention was attracted by the throng about the public well, and we stopped to peer in. Without, it is a circular structure of volcanic rock, faced with lime, as are all the buildings on the island. Walled up for about ten feet from the ground, open arches, supporting the broad roof above, allow a free circulation of air within. The building is about thirty feet in diameter and is entered through a broad door to the north. Within, the actual well occupies the centre, being enclosed by a parapet about breast high opening on the side side to a sort of balcony over the water. There the women stand to lower their cans to the water. The form of this balcony and of the masonry brackets that support it is sufficiently graceful to lend a certain beauty to the otherwise simple lines of the building. The cans once filled, were lifted in true southern style to the heads of women and balanced nicely on a sort of turban of wet rag that is applied to the crown

of the head for this purpose. Those who have not seen can hardly appreciate

the ease with which even unstable loads can be carried in this manner. For instance, I have seen a South American Indian girl carry a quart bottle filled with milk, simply standing it upon her head. To them it is an every day matter. One recalls the English contractor on an Indian railway-cutting who thought humanely to substitute wheelbarrows for the baskets in which the coolies carried the excavated earth on their heads. On visiting the cut, to observe the result of his innovation, he found the navvies carrying the loaded barrows on their heads!

The well, as a centre of common necessities, is one of the liveliest points on the island. Of course women predominate as drawers of water.

The physical types vary between pure African and Portuguese, but visitors of every nationality may be met with at any time, as all the English, German and Italian steamship lines take this convenient place for their coaling station on the South American voyages. The French, of course, prefer their own station at Dakar on the African coast opposite.

Passing down the well-paved streets-there are no horses nor carts—we were invited by a sentinel to visit the jail. We stepped in. The building differed from the usual residence only in having wooden and iron bars across its doorways. Standing in the corridor, we could converse with the prisoners inside about the reason and length of their imprisonment. They were cheerful and no worse appearing than the usual run of the inhabitants, nor did they seem to feel shame at being thus made objects of curiosity, rather availing themselves of the opportunity to beg the visitor for small coins or tobacco. Of course the impassive jailors expect to share in this bounty.

But most striking among the sights of San Vicente to our eyes was the Cammoens school, where an aged negress, dressed in the most spotless white, presided over two rooms full of bright, neatly dressed little girls, daughters of the richer class among the islanders. There were no benches; only chairs in no fixed order.