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agricultural capabilities ; timber being comparatively scarce, and minerals not 
generally abundant, so far as yet developed. The timber is mostly confined to 
the banks of the streams, and commands high prices, and farmers are wisely en- 
gaging in the culture of forest trees for the wants of the future. Our correspond- 
ent reports a vast deposit of iron ore in Gage county, of good quality, the 
vein commencing near the surface of the ground and running very deep. Iron 
ore is also reported in Dixon and other counties. Coal is found in various sec- 
tions, but has been but slightly developed. It is found in Richardson at adepth 
of 20 feet, while in Pawnee it crops out of the bluffs along the ravines. De- 
posits exist also in Jones, Dixon, Cass, and other counties along the Missouri, 
worthy of attention. Rock and sandstone, for building purposes, abound in 
various localities, supplying, to some extent, the want of timber. Limestone is 
also found in several counties. Our Jefferson reporter says : 
We have a mineral white clay here which we think is valuable for pottery. It is used also 
for paint, and seems to answer every purpose of white lead. We also have a stone-colored 
clay, peculiar for its toughness and hardness when burned. 
4, Wheat, corn, oats and potatoes are the principal crops grown in Nebraska, 
though various others are successfully cultivated to more limited extent. Our 
Hall reporter writes that wheat, oats, barley, corn, potatoes and peas are pro- 
duced in that county, with an average yield as follows: wheat, 25 bushels to 
the acre, worth $2 per bushel; oats, 50 bushels, at 80 cents; barley, 40 bushels, 
at $1 25; corn, 40 bushels, at $1; potatoes, 100 bushels, at $2; peas, 30 bush- 
els, at $3 per bushel. As an extraordinary crop he names 45 bushels of wheat, 
70 bushels of oats, 45 bushels of barley, 80 bushels of corn, and 250 bushels 
of potatoes, In Pawnee, Richardson, Otoe, and several other counties Indian 
corn is made a specialty ; in the first named, yielding about 50 bushels to the 
acre; and in Richardson, from 50 to 75 bushels, never failing, and largely fed 
to hogs. Wheat is the chief crop in Dakota and Dixon, in the latter yielding 
about 25 bushels per acre, worth $2 per bushel; profit, 100 per cent. In Dodge 
county, last season, the crops averaged as follows: corn, 35 bushels, worth 90 
cents ; oats, 50 to 60 bushels, 55 cents; wheat, 18 bushels, $1 25 to $1 40. In 
Jefferson they raise as high as 35 bushels of wheat to the acre; corn, from 25 
to 60—the former worth $1 25, the latter 60 cents per bushel. Our Cass 
reporter writes : 
Corn, wheat and oats are the staple crops of this county. A man and team, with the 
improved farm machinery, can easily cultivate seventy acres of corn, wheat and oats, and 
do it well, with the addition of a little help in harvest time. 
Sorghum has been successfully grown in some sections. 
5. Canada Club, Rio Grande, Scotch Fife, China Tea, Golden Drop, May, 
Blue Stem, Mediterranean and Black Sea are the principal kinds of wheat 
grown in Nebraska, the spring varieties forming a large proportion of the whole 
crop. The China Tea, Canada Club, Seotch Fife and, Rio Grande appear to be 
equally popular and esteemed for hardiness, yield and value in market, making 
superior quality of flour. The Fife is given the preference in some localities as 
less liable to rust and injury from insects, and also for its greater productive- 
ness. Winter wheat is sown in September, and the spring seeding is done from 
the middle of March to the middle of April; the harvest commences the early 
part of July and continues up to the first of August. Drilling has been seareely 
introduced as yet, but the system is meeting favor, and will soon be more gen- 
erally adopted. The mode of culture is very simple, and promises to exhaust 
the land as rapidly as settlers of other new States have been able to accom- 
plish the work, even though the rich soil of Nebraska may now appear almost 
inexhaustible. The general practice is to plough the ground in the fall, and 
harrow in the seed in the spring, though better culture is given in many instances. 
Our Hall reporter writes: 
All lands intended for wheat are ploughed in the autumn as early as possible, and well 
manured, if it can be done. In the spring, as early as the frost is out of the ground, we 
