21 
DELAWARE. 
1. Delaware shows a marked increase in value of farm lands since 1860. 
Neweastle county has not been subject to any great fluctuation since that date, 
but the high prices of agricultural products, aud the steady increase of the 
population of its chief city, Wilmington, now containing 25,000 inhabitants, have 
justified a regular advance in the price of lands within convenient distance of city 
markets, which is estimated at one hundred per cent. in the time named. An equal 
percentage of increase is also reported for Kent and Sussex. In the latter the 
railroad running across the western part of the county, and the Junction and 
Breakwater railroad, one-half of which is now completed, have added much to 
the price of lands adjacent, some farms having been sold at four times their 
market value six years ago. 
2. In Newcastle county there are little or no wild or unimproved lands. In 
Kent the average price of such lands is given at twenty dollars per acre, the 
low swamp lands at ten dollars, while in Sussex the average is placed at ten 
dollars for wild lands. A large proportion of these lands are capable of high 
cultivation, and are now being rapidly improved, and when fenced and cleared 
of bushes and briers, by ploughing and applying fertilizers, it may be in- 
creased in value several hundred per cent. The swamps are comparatively 
worthless, except for firewood, unless thoroughly drained, when they may be 
made equal in value to the upland. 
3. The soil of the State is varied, a portion being well suited to the culture 
of vegetables and fruits. Oak and pine timber is abundant in Sussex. Kent 
was at one time noted for its fine white oak and poplar timber, but the most 
valuable is now cut off. There is some iron ore in Sussex, and limestone is 
found in Kent suitable for building and fertilizing purposes. There are great 
inducements for the development of the agricultural resources of the State, as 
most of the lands are susceptible of high improvement. 
4. Wheat and Indian corn are the principal crops grown. Our Kent corre- 
spondent states that much of the land in that county will produce thirty bush- 
els of wheat and fifty bushels of corn to the acre. In New Castle a mixed 
husbandry prevails. ‘The lands are generally divided into small farms, say 
about one hundred acres on an average, and the fields in proportion, to answer 
the usual rotation of crops, which is, chiefly, corn from ploughed sod, oats, 
wheat, and then the artificial grasses.” 
5. In New Castle the old bearded Mediterranean wheat is cultivated, pre- 
ferred chiefly from its supposed greater immunity from attack of the Hessian 
fly and less liability to rust, being ten days earlier in ripening than other varie- 
ties. The Mediterranean and German wheats are almost exclusively grown in 
Kent county, while in Sussex the Kentucky white, blue-stem white, red Medi- 
terranean, and Boughton, are grown—the red Mediterranean gaining favor 
on account of its early ripening and freedom from rust, though the yield is not 
large. The seeding season runs all the way from the Ist of September to the 
middle of October, while the general harvest comes the first week in July ; 
but the red Mediterranean ripens somewhat earlier. The usual mode of cul- 
tivation in Kent is to “ turn fallow in August, harrow well, and drill the wheat 
with fertilizer, though many seed the corn ground with wheat.”’ In Sussex the 
mode of culture varies, and the correspondent estimates that one-half is ploughed 
in, one-third drilled in, and the residue is sown and put in with a spike-harrow. 
In New Castle three-fourths of the crop is drilled in. 
6. The natural grasses are white clover, blue grass, green grass, June grass, 
and crab grass; and the cultivated grasses are timothy, herd grass, and red 
clover, upon which cattle can feed exclusively about six months of the year, 
at an estimated expense of about $1 50 per month in Kent, $1 65 in Sussex, 
and about $3 in New Castle. 
