194 
than from all the rest of their farming operations. Our reporter says the expense 
of cultivating and picking is 5 to 10 cents per bushel, the crop selling for 25 
to 50 cents per bushel; in 1865, from 50 cents to $1. 
WISCONSIN. 
1. On the basis of the county returns received from Wisconsin, the average 
increase of the value of farm lands in the State since 1860 may be estimated at 
from 45 to 50 per cent., but one county reporting “ no advance”’ since that date. 
Sauk county, the great hop district, shows the largest increase, our reporter 
stating that lands averaging $6 per acre in 1860 are now held at $35 per acre, 
an advance of nearly 500 per cent. Calumet, on the eastern border of Winne- 
bago lake, reports an increase of 150 per cent.; Chippewa and Marathon, in 
the northern part of the State, La Crosse, in the western, and Green Lake, in 
the central part, 100 per cent.; Pierce, Trempeleau, 60 per cent.; Clark, Buf- 
falo, Jackson, Washington, Brown, Outagamie, 50 per cent.; Ozaukee, 40 per 
cent.; Vernon, Lafayette, Rock, Walworth, Fond du Lac, 30 to 35 per cent. ; 
Monroe, Richland, Crawford, Green, Racine, Portage, Columbia, and Marquette, 
20 to 25 per cent.; Kenosha, 15 per cent.; Winnebago, 10 per cent., and St. 
Croix, 5 per cent.; Douglas alone reporting “ no change.” 
2. The value of the wild or unimproved land in the State is variously 
returned from the several counties, running from 75 cents up to $50 per acre. 
In Sauk county the average is fixed at.$4 50 per acre; mostly broken, stony, 
and barren, covered with stunted jack oaks, but capable of growing light crops 
of hops, corn, wheat, potatoes, &c., and in choice selections some of the hardy 
fruits. Columbia, $8 per acre; but little in the county, quality fair; mostly 
openings, sandy, with clay subsoil. Marquette, $2 50, chiefly good for pasture. 
Green Lake, $10; mostly timber-land and marsh. Portage, $2 to $10; embrae- 
ing all grades, from rich alluvial bottom to high mountain range. Outagamie, 
$15; soil mostly black loam, with a substratum of stiff red clay, capable of 
producing all farm crops usually raised in that latitude. Calumet, $20 to $25 ; 
forest, hilly; soil very fertile. Door, $3; limestone land. Brown, $1 25 to 
$50 ; two general qualities—red clay and black muck ; the former retentive of 
manure but inclined to bake; the latter, when well drained, very productive 
for ten years without manure. Fond du Lac, $10 to $50, according to capacity 
for natural hay or burden of timber. Washington, $30; all timber, good soil. 
Ozaukee, $50; timber. Racine, $16; about'30 per cent. timber; 10 per cent. 
prairie, and 60 per cent. marsh; the latter containing large quantities of peat. 
Green, $15; prairie, second-rate quality. La Fayette, $10 to $20; the former 
for barrens, oak openings or brush lands; much injured by drought and soil 
soon exhausted. Crawford, $5; rough and broken, good for grazing, wheat, 
oats, potatoes, &e. Richland, $3 50; rich, black muck, founded on clay and 
hard pan; deep soil, timber land. Vernon, $3; soil very rich. Monroe, $3 ; 
blu# land, good soil, well timbered ; valley land, sandy soil; oak and pine tim- 
ber. Jackson, $2 to $10; on the east side of Black river the soil is sand, sand 
loam, and extensive pine, tamarac, and cranberry swamps; on the west side, 
mostly oak land and openings, and small prairies and valleys. 'Trempeleau, 
$7; suited to grazing, wheat and corn. Buffalo, $4. Pierce, prairie and oak 
openings in good locations, $8 ; hard wood timber, $4, pine, $10. St. Croix, $7 ; 
mostly prairie ; three-fourths first quality soil; one-twentieth timber. Clark, 
$3 to $5; hard wood timber; soil good for all small grains. Marathon, $4 for 
prairie, $10 to $20 for pine land. Chippewa, light prairie $3 ; heavy soil $5 to 
$8 ; timber, hard wood, $3; pine, $5; the county about equally divided between 
prairie and timber. Douglass, $1 25; within limits of land-grant railroads, 
$2 50; Wisconsin State lands, 75 cents to $1 25. A number of counties report 
