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Our Scott county reporter, speaking on this subject, says: 
Sanguine hopes were entertained a few years since that Minnesota would be able to add 
another staple product to her industry by the introduction of sheep husbandry, but the rapid 
and great fall in the price of wool has rendered the enterprise decidedly a failure, and those 
who embarked in the business are very generally discouraged, I may say disgusted. Sheep 
cannot be well fed and cared for here at less than $2a year. The price of wool this season is 
about 30 cents per pound, and the average clip not more than three pounds of washed wool. 
7. The cultivation of fruit has not received much attention as yet, though 
wild small fruits grow in great abundance, and of excellent quality. Wild 
strawberries are found in the greatest profusion, also blackberries, whortleber- 
ries, raspberries, cranberries, currants, gooseberries, and a wild plum nearly equal 
to eastern cultivated plums. Large fruits have not done well as a rule where 
tried, though some of our correspondents report successful experiments in this 
line. Our Ramsey reporter writes : 
No fruits do well here but grapes and small fruits. We have fine vineyard sites along the 
river bluffs and on our numerous lakes. Some vineyards have been started. No mildew or 
rot yet, and we think our soil and climate excellent for grapes. 
In Rice county they have succeeded-in producing all the crab varieties and 
some of the Russian varieties, viz: the Duchess of Oldenburg, the Fameuse, 
Perry Russet, &c., but without profit. Many orchards are being set out in Free- 
born county, and a few growers are already raising fruit. The Red Astrachan 
and Duchess of Oldenburg promise well, and all varieties of Siberian crab are 
said to do well. Thousands of apple trees have failed in Brown county, attrib- 
uted to some extent to want of judgment in selecting varieties. Our Scott 
reporter writes : 
Attempts to raise the larger fruits in this part of the State have thus far been almost com- 
plete failures. I have been largely engaged in the enterprise, having tried 150 varieties of 
the apple, and so far have found but two or three that withstand the rigors of the climate. 
All the varieties of the Siberian crab are perfectly hardy here, come early into bearing, and 
yield bountifully. Ihave pears now coming into bearing. The varieties of apples I have 
tound hardy on my place are the Duchess of Oldenburg, Golden Russet, and Talman’s Sweet. 
IOWA. 
1. Returns to our cireular from a majority of the counties of Iowa, embracing 
all sections of the State, and furnishing a fair basis for an estimate, show an aver- 
age increase of about 75 per cent. in the value of farm lands since the census of 
1860. Dubuque, Story, Calhoun, Marion, Delaware, Sac, Montgomery, Shelby, 
Chickasaw, Fayette, and Lucas report an advance of from 10 to 25 per cent. 
Clarke, Jackson, Des Moines, Decatur, Adams, 25 to 33 per cent. Jefferson, 
Black Hawk, Muscatine, Cedar, Linn, Clayton, Cherokee, and Wayne, 45 to 50 
percent. Louisa and Jasper, 75 per cent. Warren, Pottawatomie, Allamakee, 
Appanoose, Benton, Clinton, Palo Alto, and Marshall, 100 per cent. Crawford, 
Audubon, Jones, Emmett, and Winnebago, 150 per cent. Fremont 250, and 
Monona as high as 300 per cent. Harrison, Kossuth, Sioux, and other counties 
report lands “rapidly advancing,” without fixing the percentage of increase. 
2. Wild or unimproved lands range in price from $1 25 to $25 per acre, the for- 
mer being the minimum price for public lands remaining unsold. The average 
value of these lands now in private hands or the property of speculators is 
probably $6 to $8 per acre. ‘To indicate the general character of these uaim- 
proved lands we give extracts from letters of correspondents in different 
quarters of the State. In Muscatine there are unimproved lands contiguous to 
the county seat held at $150 to $200 per acre, while in the valley of Cedar 
river lands can be bought at prime cost, $1 25 per acre. The former is bluff 
land, covered with a dense growth of young oak and hickory timber, the soil a 
black loam for about six inches, lying on a subsoil of tough yellow clay, thought 
to be peculiarly suited to the culture of the grape in particular and nearly all 
fruits in general. The soil of the bottom land is a black sand, and when it does 
