MINNESOTA. 



449 



1869 was composed of about 470,000 persons; 

 out of which number some 100,000 reside with- 

 in the limits of incorporate cities and towns, 

 attending to commerce in its various branches, 

 and other avocations of city life ; while the re- 

 maining 370,000 dwell in the country, and are 

 connected more or less with the pursuits of 

 agriculture. The extent of land put under 

 cultivation in Minnesota, mostly for the rais- 

 ing of grain, is very remarkable, especially con- 

 sidering the paucity of its inhabitants. The 

 acres tilled in 1868 were not less than 1,397,470, 

 and the acres tilled in 1869 were 252,000 over 

 and above that number. But the extent of 

 their agricultural operations may be inferred 

 from the amount and variety of the products 

 gathered last year, as is shown by the follow- 

 ing table, which presents some general results 

 of the details contained in the official reports, 

 namely : 



Total tilled area 1,690,000 



Area in wheat 1,000,090 



Bushels of wheat 18,500,000 



Areainoats 274,800 



Bushels of oats 11,816,400 



Area in corn 175,000 



Bushels of corn 6,125,000 



Area in barley 20,400 



Bushels of barley 625,006 



Area in rye 3,250 



Bushels of rye 58,600 



Area in potatoes 27,500 



Bushels of potatoes 2,475,000 



Area in buckwheat 1,700 



Bushels of buckwheat 27,500 



Area in hay 208,000 



Tons of hay 410,000 



Pounds of wool 425,000 



Pounds of butter 5,750,000 



Pounds of cheese 158,600 



The estimated total value of the agricultural 

 product of 1869 is $25,000,000. 



The average yield of almost every species 

 of product named in the foregoing table was 

 in excess of that respectively obtained in 1868, 

 although this abundance has probably proved 

 of little or no benefit in some cases of actual 

 loss to the farmer on account of the exceed- 

 ingly low price of his crops, especially wheat. 

 The amount expended for raising and gather- 

 ing this grain was ascertained by actual reck- 

 oning, in several instances, to have been con- 

 siderably greater than what could be realized 

 by selling it. In consequence of so depressed 

 a market, not a few farmers were represented 

 to be largely in debt for supplies of provisions 

 and implements used, as well as for money 

 borrowed at high rates of interest for the reg- 

 ular carrying out of their agricultural opera- 

 tions, ancl likely to continue in that condition, 

 if they did not get into a worse one. This 

 state of things was generally considered to be 

 the result of the high protective tariff in force 

 for several years, and the rate of transporta- 

 tion. It is stated that the market-price of 

 wheat at Milwaukee, in the neighboring State 

 of Wisconsin, being only one dollar per bushel, 

 the Minnesota farmer, who wanted to send his 

 wheat thither for the purpose of selling it, was 

 charged for its transportation alone at the rate 

 of twenty-five cents per bushel. 

 VOL. ix. 29. A 



The live-stock existing in the State at the 

 end of 1869 was as follows: Horses, 98,980; 

 cattle, 275,977; mules and asses, 2,450; sheep, 

 135,450; hogs, 109,000. This stock was esti- 

 mated to be worth $15,561,887 in actual cash 

 value. 



In order to promote the interests of agricul- 

 ture in all its branches, and reap the greatest 

 benefits that may be realized from it, agricul- 

 tural societies have been organized in various 

 counties. 



To the above-mentioned products of the soil, 

 by tillage and pasture, there must be added 

 those which are obtained from the extensive 

 pineries and other heavily-timbered land a 

 vast amount of business being carried on in 

 Minnesota in felling trees and preparing wood 

 for logs and lumber of every description. The 

 logs scaled last year in the two districts of St. 

 Anthony and Stillwater, official reports aver 

 to have exceeded three hundred and six mil- 

 lions of feet, which is above fifty millions of 

 feet more than the logs scaled there in 1868. 

 The gross amount of the log and lumber busi- 

 ness in the State for 1869 is set down at four 

 hundred millions of feet. 



The State possesses also mineral wealth, 

 which promises largely to employ the industry 

 of her inhabitants, and by its results contrib- 

 ute in no small degree to her forward progress 

 and general prosperity. Concerning the Yer- 

 million mine, referred to in the CYCLOPAEDIA 

 for 1868, quartz-mills and other machinery 

 have been established there for the purpose of 

 working its ores. 



Still greater advantages than may be expect- 

 ed from other minerals, however, will accrue 

 to the State from the working of coal, which 

 is now ascertained to exist within her limits, 

 it having recently been discovered near Eed- 

 wood Falls, in Kenville County ; and the same 

 is probably the case with other localities. The 

 mining operations which have been prosecuted 

 there to a considerable extent, and with stead- 

 ily-increasing prospect of final success, seem 

 to have placed beyond the reach of doubt the 

 fact that the coal existing near Eed-wood Falls 

 is both of good quality and in quantity large 

 enough to become of general use. 



What Minnesota needs most for her growth 

 and speedy development is an adequate num- 

 ber of people apt and willing to work out her 

 abundant resources. Were she to depend only 

 on the natural increase of her present popula- 

 tion, a long time would elapse in waiting, as 

 such progress is exceedingly slow, and some- 

 times none. The marriages in the State last 

 year were 3,569, which is twenty-six more 

 than in 1868 about three-fourths of one per 

 cent, of the entire population. With a view 

 to a future rapid growth, she has recourse to 

 the extraordinary means of inviting immigra- 

 tion. 



Besides employing agencies, she causes pam- 

 phlets to be published and distributed among 

 persons of different nationalities abroad, set- 



