PAPERS OX GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY :. 



on account of consecutive wheat crops on the same land, 

 that it was necessary to plant other crops in order to 

 get rid of them. 31 The locust plague, which partially 

 destroyed the crop in the central and western parts of 

 Minnesota from 1872 to 1877, did not affect the south- 

 eastern counties in any large way. 32 On the other hand, 

 the chinch-bug appeared first in the southeast, and in 

 1877 destroyed two-fifths of the crop in Houston 

 County. 33 The ravages of this insect were sufficient to 

 make profits from the wheat crop uncertain. 



By the middle of the decade, from 1880 to 1890, railroad 

 mileage was extended so that most farms were within 10 

 miles, or nearer, of a station, and it was possible to 

 market other farm products profitably. During the same 

 decade, breweries began business in LaCrosse, "Winona, 

 Wabasha, and Red "Wing, and a local market for barley 

 was created. In addition, the losses incurred in wheat 

 farming had led many farmers to mortgage their farms, 

 so that progressive farmers realized that a change must 

 take place. The Commissioner of Statistics and other 

 state officials, the scientists from the State Agricultural 

 College, the State Dairy Commissioner, the State Dairy- 

 men's Association and other agricultural societies com- 

 bined with the state press in a protest against the old 

 method of farming. Gradually the change to a more 

 diversified crop system took place. 



11 Bull, C. P. : Barley Investigations, University of Minnesota Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, Bulletin 148, p. 7. 



"Statistics of Minnesota, 1873, p. 192; 1874, pp. 7-9; 1875, pp. 19-22; 

 1876, pp. 49, 80, 88; 1877, pp. 17. 19; 1878, p. 9. Fifth Report of Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, pp. 96-97. 



^Statistics of Minnesota, 1S77, pp. 18, 94. 



