206 
In Monona county they have a variety of wild grass called tassel or broad top 
grass, covering thousands of acres, and yielding five tons of hay to the acre, 
claimed to be equal to timothy or clover for wintering cattle. In many counties 
the wild grasses of the prairies furnish the pastures for stock, and animals subsist 
upon the range during five or six months of the year, at the expense only of 
herding and salting. Cultivated grasses will generally extend the season during 
which stock may subsist entirely upon pastures, one to two months, at an ex- 
pense of from $1 to $2 per head per month. Our Decatur reporter says: 
This county excels in timothy and clover; pastures 15 to 20 years old yield from two to 
two and a half tons of hay to the acre without manure. Cattle can feed on pastures eight 
months of the year. 
In Linn county stock subsist on the prairie grass exclusively six months 
and timothy seven months, the cost of the former nothing but herding and 
salt, the latter $1 to $2 per month. In the northwestern they have no cul- 
tivated grasses but an abundance of wild grasses of the best quality, upon which 
farm animals feed seven months of the year, at an expense of about $3 per head 
for the season. 
7. Fruit culture is yet in its infancy in Iowa, and owing to want of judgment 
in the selection of varieties of the large fruits and the proper care of the young 
trees, experiments have not been universally successful, yet results have satis- 
factorily demonstrated that hardy fruits may be grown successfully and profit- 
ably in every section of the State. Our Marion reporter writes : 
The capabilities of this county for apple and grape culture of the hardy varieties are abso- 
Intely unlimited. In common with other parts of the State we produce as fine specimens of 
Red June, Early Harvest, Sweet June, Summer Sweet, William’s Favorite, Red Astrachan, 
Dyer, Lowell, Belle de Harvest, Golden Sweet, Coles’s Quince, Jannetting, White Winter 
Pearmain, Wine Sap, Fameuse, &c., &c., @s I have ever seen in any country. There are 
parties in this county who have sold thousands of dollars worth of apples the past 
season at $1 50 per bushel. The Concord is the grape for this county for general culti- 
vation, perfectly hardy, very prolific, fruits early, and is as nearly every way right as any 
thing can well be of its kind—as a grape for the million. The Hartford Prolitic, Creveling, 
a few of Roger’s Hybrids, the Delaware, the Diana, the Black Hamburg, &c., are cultiva- 
ted in the gardens, but the Concord in garden and in field, in quanties. Grapes sell readily 
at 10 to 15 cents per pound, and there are parties here who have realized $300 per acre for 
Concords the past season. Pears and cherries are cultivated in a small way; peaches a fail- 
ure; but small fruits, berries, &c., do well. 
Jefferson county reports that locality well adapted to fruit culture, several 
varieties of apples doing well and making a profitable crop, the trees being 
planted much closer than in the east or south. Pears also do well, and grapes 
are a sure and highly remunerative crop; as per the following statement of our 
reporter: On one acre, 1,300 roots at 10 cents, $130; sub-soiling with plough, 
$25; planting, $15; trellising, $100; total cost, $270; average yield of each 
vine, 5 pounds, 6,500 pounds at 10 cents, $650; leaving a profit of $380 for 
the first crop. 
In Jasper many farmers, with orchards planted ten years ago, have plenty of 
fruit, and are selling their apples at $2 per bushel; grapes sell at 20 to 25 
cents per pound. In Mitchell, on the northern border, hardy apples, pears, 
cherries and plums do well; afew grapes flourish; orchards are yet young; 
one garden of 30 apple trees, yielded as many bushels as trees; strawberries, 
raspberries, currants, &c., grow nicely. Keokuk county, one apple orchard of 
300 trees, last year produced 1,200 bushels, which sold, in the orchard, at $1 25 
per bushel. Marshall, some varieties of apples and pears do well; most orchards 
not yet in bearing ; small fruits and berries yield immensely ; one acre of Con- 
cord grapes, three years old, yielded $1,000 worth of fruit, at 20 cents per 
pound; five and one half rods of Wilson strawberries yielded 135 quarts, at 30 
cents, $40 50. In Ulinton county, an orchard of 300 apple trees, ten years 
set, in 1866, produced 900 bushels of fruit; sold in the orchard at $1 50 per 
bushel, in 1867, produced 500 bushels, sold at $1.25 per bushel. The apples 
