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sow, harrow twice or three times, according to the condition of the land, and if not too wet 
roll it once. If the spring is favorable we sow one and one-quarter bushels to the acre; if a 
very dry season, one and one-half bushels. 
6. Common wild prairie grass, blue-joint, buffalo grass, red-top and wild 
timothy, with some white clover, supply the pastures of Nebraska. Kentucky 
blue grass and clover do well wherever cultivated, but the prairies are chiefly 
relied upon for the subsistence of stock during the pasturing season, which is 
reported to range from five to nine months in length. Otoe reports five months 
as the season upon which stock can feed exclusively in pastures; Dixon, Dodge, 
Hall, and Burt, six months; Cass, Gage, and Jefferson, seven months; Rich- 
ardson, Pawnee, and Jones, eight to nine months; and Merrick runs up to 10 
months, our correspondent claiming that stock will live the whole year on 
pastures in case not much snow falls in winter. The expense of pasturing 
stock during this season is generally the cost of salt and herding—the highest 
estimate being $2 50 per head for the season, and the lowest “nothing.” 
7. There is an abundance of wild small fruits, such as plums, grapes, rasp- 
berries, strawberries, gooseberries, &c., but little has yet been done to test the 
capabilities for large fruits. Our Dixon reporter writes : 
This county is not suited to the growth of apples, peaches, or pears, as they get badly 
winter-killed, and do not grow natural or wild, but plums, gooseberries, currants, cherries, 
mulberries, raspberries, walnuts, grapes, &c., grow wild and profusely. A family will fre- 
quently make 100 gallons of pure wine ina season. I have made 20 gallons for my own 
use, gathering the grapes in two days. The wine sells at from 50 cents to $2 per gallon. 
There is no grafted fruit cultivated here; those who have tried the experiment have failed. 
Hardy apples may generally be cultivated with proper selections of varieties 
and eare of trees. In Otoe county, according to our correspondent— 
Fruits that succeed in the north do well. The hardier apples grow and bear well, while 
pears are a complete success. Peaches will yield an occasional crop, when the trees are 
grown in the sod, so as to check the growth of the tree and render it hardy. The smali fruits 
all do well, except the Lawton blackberry and the raspberries, which propagate from suckers, 
as they badly winter-kill unless thoroughly protected. 
Our Dodge reporter says the hardiest fruits must be selected to prove success- 
ful, and advises the raising of seedlings, which he finds perfectly hardy. 
Hall county: 
Capabilities for raising fruit not very good. Apples and pears will not do well; I have 
tried it for the last 10 years without success, although I claim to understand it. Of 12 
varieties of cherries, only one kind (the Early Richmond) did well. Plums do well; also 
grapes, that is the Concord and Delaware, but no tender varieties. 
KANSAS. 
1. From the returns at hand we may fairly estimate the advance in price of 
farm lands in the settled counties of Kansas at not less than 150 per cent. as 
compared with the census values of 1860, the lowest estimate being 25 per cent. 
for Nemaha, and the highest 500 per cent. for Marshall, Washington and Saline. 
Pottawatomie and Butler report 300 per cent. advance; Marion 200 per cent. ; 
Jinn, Johnson, Doniphan, Clay, Chase, Osage, and Woodson, 100 per cent. ; 
Jackson and Franklin, 80 to 85 per cent.; Allen, Miami, Wyandotte, and 
Leavenworth, 40 to 50 per cent. In Linn county the location of the main 
trunk line railroad from the northern lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, our corre- 
spondent says, has advanced the price of lands generally 20 per cent. within the 
last few months. In Marshall, farm lands purchased at government prices in 
1860 now sell at from $5 to $20 per acre, according to the quantity under cul- 
tivation, and the real estate value of the county is claimed to be at least five 
times that of 1860, and the same facts are true of Washington and Saline, the 
Union Pacific railroad (E. D.) running for 30 miles through the county. Bour- 
bon reports an increase of from $2 to $10 per acre. 
2. Unimproved or wild lands are held at figures ranging from the govern- 
ment price for public lands up to $10 per acre. In Bourbon the average is 
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