200 
Our Scott reporter says: 
Near Shakopee, our county seat, along the banks of the Minnesota river, and along the 
Minnesota valley railroad, is an inexhaustible bed of lime-rock, which is largely burned and 
marketed, chiefly in St. Paul and Minneapolis. 
A fine quantity of blue limestone, for building purposes, and an immense bed 
of peat, are found in Ramsey county, near St. Paul. 
4, Wheat is the staple crop of Minnesota, though in most counties a mixed 
husbandry is practiced—growing wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, potatoes, &e. 
This State is emphatically a wheat-growing region, and its fresh lands and deep, 
rich soil yield large crops, and, with proper cultivation, the average could be 
kept up and even increased instead of dwindling down to the standard of the 
older States, as is being witnessed in Minnesota, as well as in other new States. 
Our Wabashaw correspondent tells the story in few words: 
On new ground the yield per acre was this year 19 bushels; but as the land becomes 
older the yield decreases, and on some old land the average was not more than 8 bushels per 
age. Every man is anxious to raise all he can with the least expense, which is ruining the © 
In Washington county “land is frequently sown to wheat for 10 or 12 years 
in succession,” says our reporter, “then producing 12 to 18 bushels, and when 
planted to corn produces nearly as much as when new. This season I had 
wheat on ground for the ninth year, and raised 174 bushels per acre. ‘T'wo 
years ago, the seventh crop was 323 bushels per acre.” 
In Freeborn county “the culture is but slight, the wheat being generally sown 
and harvested carelessly, yet the average yield is good. The crop pays at 75 
cents per bushel, considering the cheapness of land and the careless mode of 
cultivation.” 
Our Scott reporter says: 
The blighting curse of western farming is, that our lands are exhausted by constantly 
repeating a wheat crop without manure. 
In reference to the profits of wheat culture, our Washington county reporter 
Says: . 
The profit varies with the skill and prudence of the farmer. At present a crop of wheat of 
20 bushels to the acre can be raised and marketed for about $14 per acre, as follows: plough- 
ing, $2; seed, 14 bushel, at $1 50 per bushel, $2 25; sowing and harvesting, $1 25; reap- 
ing, binding and shocking, $3 25; stacking, $1 25; threshing, at 15 cents, $3; hauling 
to market, at 8 cents, $1 60; total, $14 60. Twenty bushels, at $1 50 per bushel, $30, 
leaves $15 40 for land rent, &c., per acre. Profits often exceed this. In 1865 my profit was 
$27 10 per acre; in 1866 it was but $14 50. 
In Nicollet the average profit on wheat is returned at $10; oats and barley 
notasmuch. Le Sueur, from $9 to $12 per acre for wheat ; corn about the same. 
In Carver “lands well cultivated will produce from 20 to 30 bushels per acre. 
Estimating it at 20 bushels, at $1 25 per bushel, we have $25. From this deduct 
cost of ploughing and putting in the seed, $3; seed, two bushels, at $1 50 per 
bushel, $3; harvesting and stacking, $3 50; threshing, $1 60; carting to mar- 
ket, $2 50; total, $13 60; and we have a net profit of $11 40 per acre.” 
5. Comparatively little winter wheat is sown in Minnesota, on account of its 
liability to freezing out through the long cold seasons of that latitude, though 
it is claimed by several of our correspondents that timbered lands, after being 
cleared, do very well with winter wheat. Of the spring wheat grown, the “ Scotch 
Fife’ variety has been the favorite, as the hardiest and surest for that soil and 
climate, though it is falling in favor in some localities, the “ Rio Grande” yield- 
ing more and making a better quality of flour, but requiring more care in har- 
vesting than the former, as it is subject to falling out when ripe, and the straw 
is also more likely to lodge. Canada Club, Black Sea, Golden Chaff, and Cireas- 
sian are also sown to some extent. In Washington county “the Scotch Fife is 
preferred, as less likely to rust, and the straw being very stiff, it stands up well. 
The Canada Club makes the finest flour, but is more liable to rust and smut. 
