530 



MINNESOTA. 



new building will allow vacating the attic dormi- 

 tories. 



The School for Dependent Children appeared to 

 be in excellent condition. The new wing for the 

 little children is approaching completion, and 

 is admirably planned. The cottage for the resi- 

 dence of the State agent was under way. 



The Reform School is in process of removal. 

 The new plant is one of the finest, if not the 

 very finest, in the United States. 



The Reformatory has reached a satisfactory 

 financial basis. Beginning the year with a defi- 

 cit of $14,217, it closed with a surplus of $10,- 

 152. Besides this, unsold stone is estimated at 

 $15,000. During the year 78 inmates have been 

 released, of whom 49 remain under its guardian- 

 ship. 



The State Prison runs quietly, and is to all 

 appearance admirably conducted. The managers 

 are negotiatitig for an additional binding-twine 

 . plant, being encouraged by the success of the 

 binding-twine business thus far. 



The new solitary prison has been opened, and 

 is a decided improvement upon the old one. 



The two years' prison contract expired Sept. 

 30. No bid was received, except that of the 

 Minnesota Thrasher Company, which was 45 cents 

 a day for half the convicts. The bid was rejected 

 as being too low, and a new contract was finally 

 closed at 55 cents a day. 



Tho Cottonwood County poorhouse has proved 

 an expensive nuisance, and the commissioners 

 are seriously discussing the sale of the farm. 



Goodhue County poorhouse proves to be thor- 

 oughly satisfactory. 



Redwood County has a poor farm of 170 acres in 

 the northeastern corner of the county, which 

 served an admirable purpose in relieving the 

 county of the care of a class of paupers who 

 became self-supporting when required to go to 

 the poorhouse. 



The Renville County commissioners purchased 

 a fine farm of 320 acres, with a large stock barn 

 at a cost of $8,000. Specific reports on the dif- 

 ferent county jails were included in the annual 

 report of the commissioners. 



Minnesota at the World's Fair. The 

 board of managers of the World's Fair for 

 Minnesota includes : D. A. Montfort, J. J. Fur- 

 long, A. L. Ward, George N. Lamphere, M. B. 

 Harrison, and L. P. Hunt. Minnesota has been 

 assigned a site for a building. It is about 175 

 feet square, and is on a corner of two avenues. 

 It is in the improved portion of Jackson Park, 

 near a lovely artificial lake, and only a short dis- 

 tance from Lake Michigan, with magnificently 

 adorned landscape between it and the lake. A 

 legislative appropriation of $50,000 has been 

 made and further funds are being collected, so 

 that Minnesota may erect a building and make 

 a display equal to her importance in the sister- 

 hood of States. 



Agricultural Experiment Station. The 

 biennial report of the State Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station shows that numerous improve- 

 ments have been made in the buildings and a 

 dairy department equipped, in which there is an 

 increasing interest and demand for instruction. 

 Much attention was paid to experiments in the 

 use of fertilizers, in the hope of discovering what 

 fertilizers were most available and effective in 



the State. Experiments were continued with 

 a great variety of grasses, many varieties of corn, 

 with leguminous plants and root crops. Mixt- 

 ures of oats and peas of different varieties and 

 of different relative quantities were sown under 

 similar and unlike conditions. Root pruning, 

 listing, deep tillage and surface tillage for corn, 

 together with tests of varieties were continued. 

 In the line of animal industry several kinds of 

 work were undertaken and are progressing satis- 

 factorily, giving promise of results of great 

 value. A valuable stock of hogs was secured. 

 Sheep feeding was made a subject of experiment. 



White Pine. There are really but three 

 white pine States- Minnesota, Wisconsin, and 

 Michigan and for census purposes statistics of 

 the standing pine owned by manufacturers and 

 the amount of State holdings were collected. 

 The figures of the latter were furnished by the 

 State Auditor, but there can be only an estimate 

 of the standing pine owned by the Government, 

 as the figures of the land office are inconclusive. 



In Minnesota the manufacturers have 10,000,- 

 000,000 feet of building pine, the State has 20,- 

 000,000,000 feet, and the Federal Government is 

 estimated to have 20,000,000,000 feet, a total of 

 50,000,000,000 feet, more than the holdings of all 

 manufacturers in the three States. 



The statistics show that Minnesota has ad- 

 vanced from third place in 1880 to first place 

 in 1890, with double the amount of manufactured 

 product. It is the opinion of the expert that 

 another lumber-manufacturing city will soon 

 have to be built in Minnesota on the upper Mis- 

 sissippi, in order to accommodate needs of the 

 manufacturers. There is not room in Minneap- 

 olis to manufacture any more, and with the im- 

 mense pine forest yet untouched, there is enough 

 to build another lumber city and also to keep 

 Minneapolis going. The output of lumber from 

 Minneapolis, Minn., amounted to $6,584,456. 



Crops. During August a report was prepared 

 by the State Auditor from returns received by 

 him from the county auditors of the State. 

 These reports were quite elaborate, and showed 

 the acreage, number of bushels, and yield per 

 acre for 1890, and the acreage for 189+ in the 

 various counties. The wheat acreage an 1890 

 was 2,078,787, yielding 40,298,142 bushels of 

 grain, but this year the acreage is 3,359,983, 

 which, estimated at 20 bushels an acre, a fair 

 average for this year, will yield 67,193.660 bushels 

 of wheat. The corn crop was estimated at 21,- 

 907,648 bushels, taking an average of 28 bushels 

 to the acre ; the oats about 51.000,810, on an 

 average of 35 bushels to the acre, and the flax 

 5,598,144 bushels, an average of 12 bushels. 



The following gives an estimate of the acreage 

 sown in this State to the three great crops- 

 corn, oats, and flax by counties: The total 

 acreage in corn is 782,416, an increase of 55.923 

 acres over 1890. The acreage in oats is 1,457.166, 

 giving an increase of 117.179 acres over 1890. 

 The flax acreage is 466,512, an increase of 6G,'3T1 

 acres over 1890. 



The figures issued by the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment at Washington credit Minnesota with a 

 wheat acreage in 1891 of 3,143,917. bushels 55.- 

 333,000, value $45,159,692; corn 814,556. bushels 

 21,586,000, value $8,418,436; oats 1,415,080, 

 bushels 52,015,000, value $14,044,163. 



