in the Wabash country.

Of the trefoil, or clover, there is but little cultivated. A prejudice
exists against it, as it is imagined to injure horses by affecting the
glands of the mouth, and causing them to slaver. It grows luxuriantly,
and may be cut for hay early in June. The white clover comes in
naturally, where the ground has been cultivated, and thrown by, or along
the sides of old roads and paths. Clover pastures would be excellent for
swine.

_Animals._ Of _wild animals_ there are several species. The buffalo is
not found on this side the Mississippi, nor within several hundred miles
of St. Louis. This animal once roamed at large over the prairies of
Illinois, and was found in plenty, thirty-five years since. _Wolves_,
_panthers_ and _wild cats_, still exist on the frontiers, and through
the unsettled portions of the country, and annoy the farmer by
destroying his sheep and pigs.

_Deer_ are also very numerous, and are valuable, particularly to that
class of our population which has been raised to frontier habits; the
flesh affording them food, and the skins, clothing. Fresh venison hams
usually sell for twenty-five cents each, and when properly cured, are a
delicious article. Many of the frontier people dress their skins, and
make them into pantaloons and hunting shirts. These articles are
indispensable to all who have occasion to travel in viewing land, or for
any other purpose, beyond the settlements, as cloth garments, in the
shrubs and vines, would soon be in strings.

It is a novel and pleasant sight to a stranger, to see the deer in
flocks of eight, ten, or fifteen in number, feeding on the grass of the
prairies, or bounding away at the sight of a traveller.

The _brown bear_ is also an inhabitant of the unsettled parts of this
State, although he is continually retreating before the advance of
civilization.

Foxes, raccoons, opossums, gophers, and squirrels, are also numerous, as
are muskrats, otters, and occasionally beaver, about our rivers and
lakes. Raccoons are very common, and frequently do mischief in the
fall, to our corn. Opossums sometimes trouble the poultry.

The _gopher_ is a singular little animal, about the size of a squirrel.
It burrows in the ground, is seldom seen, but its _works_ make it known.
It labors during the night, in digging subterranean passages in the rich
soil of the prairies, and throws up hillocks of fresh earth, within a
few feet distance from each other, and from