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tered in pastures or forests with very little extra feed, and sheep often with 
none at all. On the 1st of April sheep may be seen in excellent condition, 
which have received little if any attention or fodder during the winter. The 
price of pasturage varies ; increasing in accessible and improving localities. In 
Mineral the price reported for the season, which is comparatively short, is $2 50; 
in Grant, $4; in Barbour, Kanawha, Cabell, and other southern counties, $6 ; 
in Tyler, $7; in Jefferson, $8; in Mason and Brooke on the Ohio, $10; in 
Ohio county, $14 for cattle, and $17 for horses. The average will not exceed 
a dollar per month for the State. 
7. Nearly all kinds of fruit do well. It is essentially a fruit-growing State. 
Apple-growing for the New Orleans market has long been a specialty of the 
river counties. Vineyards in the vicinity of the Ohio have proved exceedingly 
productive, and far more reliable than in the vicinity of Cincinnati. On the 
Kanawha, the soil, elevation, and climate, seem peculiarly adapted to grape- 
growing, and the hills of the southern part of the State are already sought for 
vine culture by Europeans who contemplate colonizing this region with vine- 
dressers from Europe. In the interior, in absence of transportation facilities, 
much fruit is dried for the market. In Braxton, the central county, the price 
obtained for dried peaches is $2 per bushel—if pared, $3; apples, 75 cents—if 
pared, $1 per bushel. Apples and pears are claimed to be best adapted to the 
soil and climate of Hancock county, the crops yielding a greater revenue than 
anything else raised from the ground. The Kanawha correspondent says : 
A neighbor told me yesterlay he had an apple tree which frequently produced 40 bushels, 
but only every second year. Peaches will yield from four to eight bushels, but cannot be 
relied upon every year, as much as one year in three will miss. 
The bell-flower, golden russet, Milam, and Rambo apples are general 
favorites, well suited to the river region, very productive and reliable. Peaches 
in Mineral county are reported at 50 cents per bushel. Of all fruits in Wood 
county, apples are the most certain and most profitable, and approach nearer to 
a staple; a good orchard of five or six acres sometimes yielding as much money 
as the remainder of a good farm. In Tyler 250 apple trees averaged 43 barrels, 
or 1,200 barrels worth $2,500. In Jefferson an average of 200 gallons of wine 
can be made from an acre of grapes, with moderate cultivation, and with a profit 
of 90 cents per gallon, equal to $180 per acre. There are some drawbacks, of 
course, as elsewhere. Early frosts occasionally change prospects of peaches 
and other fruits. It is noticeable that no correspondent complains of depreda- 
tions of insects, with the single exception of the curculio upon plums in Harrison. 
Apples in this county will average a net profit of $600 per acre. | 
