398 



made successful. Apples, peaches, pears, plums, and small fruits are 

 abundant and good. 



The mildness of the climate, and the excellence of native grasses, 

 render stock-raising a very remunerative business. Animals need shel- 

 ter for only a small portion of tbe year. Cattle and sheep can be raised 

 more cheaply than in Texas, and a thousand miles hearer the market. 



Game and fish are still abundant. Deer, wild turkeys, squirrels, 

 hares, partridges, water-fowl, &c., offer great attractions to sportsmen, 

 though bears are becoming scarce. The rivers and smaller streams 

 swarm with trout, pike, buffalo, perch, &c. Timber in great variety and 

 I)rofusion can yet be had, suited to all purposes. The water-privileges 

 are excellent, being easily adapted to any kind of manufacture. Good 

 water is accessible in wells of moderate depth. 



Kailroad facilities are already extensive and increasing, while water- 

 transportation is fbund in all parts of this region. Social order has 

 become more stable. The population is mostly native American, largely 

 recruited from the North. The colored element amounts to about a third 

 of the whole. All the leading religious denominations are strongly 

 rei^resented, and a public-school system of advanced ideas has been 

 organized. 



The price of land is very low, from $2 to $6 per acre for choice tracts. 

 Farms often sell for less money than is realized from a single crop of 

 eotton grown upon them. These can be had on accommodating terms. 

 Capital invested in manufacture is exempted from taxation for seven 

 years. Our correspondent believes that the advantages of this region 

 are fully equal to those of sections more thoroughly known. 



Large yields of wheat. — From seed obtained from this Depart- 

 ment a farmer in Warwick, Cecil County, Maryland, raised 132 bushels 

 of Fultz wheat on three acres of land, or 44 bushels per acre. 



It is reported that in Dallas County, Texas, Mr. James Horton has 

 thrashed out 3,300 bushels of wheat, produced on 100 acres, and Mr. 

 George Penn 4,000 bushels, produced on 150 acres. 



A correspondent reports that a farmer in Escambia, Delta County, 

 Mich., harvested and thrashed 2^ bushels of " nice" Clawson wheat 

 from a quart of seed, or 72-fold. 



Reduction of stock-hogs. — A correspondent in Van Wert County? 

 Ohio, reports many farmers in that region as selling off' their stock-hogs 

 in anticipation of a scarcity of corn following the late floods. 



Grape-culture in Northern Ohio. — A correspondent sends us the 

 statistics of grape-culture in Ottawa County according to the assessor's 

 returns for 1874, showing 1,596 acres in grapes, producing 5,601,684 

 pounds, and 433,552 gallons of wine. These figures, he is confident, fall 

 much below the facts. 



Planting forests in Texas, — Mr. A. McKinney, of San Felipe, 

 Austin County, Texas, contributes some very interesting facts in regard 

 to timber-culture upon the prairies of that State. The richest lands have 

 a A'ery inadequate supply of timber even for tire- wood. The soil of these 

 vast savannas possesses all the elements of heavy forest-growth, and 

 young timber planted would have a rapid and healthy development but 

 for two obstacles hitherto insurmountable. Of these the first is the fire 

 that so often sweeps the prairies, the dry grass furnishing the material 

 for the annual combustion of all incipient tree-growth. The occupancy 

 of these lands by a regular farming population would remedy this diffi- 

 culty. 



Another obstacle to tree-culture is found in the ravages of cattle. 



