(JI2 OTOE COUNTY, NEBRASKA. 



able to purchase hay in the stack at one dollar and a quarter 

 per ton, and corn at fifteen cents per bushel. He has allowed 

 each sheep to eat one and a half bushels of corn during the 

 Winter. He has lost few sheep by disease, and none have 

 been killed by dogs or wild animals. Last month he sold his 

 entire flock, numbering five hundred head, at an average of 

 two dollars and a quarter per head. His object in disposing of 

 them was to procure money to purchase high grade Merinos, 

 that will shear ten pounds per head. He finds sheep profita- 

 ble in proportion to the number of pounds of wool they pro- 

 duce. 



FRUIT. 



Another very profitable branch of husbandry here is fruit 

 growing. All kinds adapted to this latitude do well. Our 

 market promises to be good for a long time to come. Tlie 

 immigration will, for many years, take all we can spare ; and 

 the great mountain region, with its growing mining and manu- 

 facturing Interests, will be ready to pass in their baskets as 

 soon as we have a surplus for shipping. The character of our 

 soil and climate seems especially well suited to grape culture. 

 An acre of vineyard in the neighborhood has yielded an aver- 

 age of one hundred dollars a year profit to the owner. It is of 

 the Concord variety. The vines are trained to stakes, and 

 have never received any covering or protection in Winter. 

 The fruit has been sold at an average of about four and a half 

 cents per pound. On the same farm is an orchard, which has 

 been in successful bearing for the past eight years. The four- 

 teenth year after setting, one Winesap tree yielded fourteen 

 bushels, and six Rawle's Jannet trees yielded sixty-six bushels. 

 This orchard was cultivated for the first six years, and then 

 seeded down with timothy. A mulching of straw was also 

 spread about the trees to the extent of the limbs. 



Dr. Jolin A. Warder, of pomological- fame, in 1878, 

 attended the Otoe County Fair, and also the State Fair at Lin- 

 coln. After examining the fruits on exhibition, and visiting 

 many of the orchards of this part of the State, he is reported 

 to have pronounced the fruits remarkably fine, and of greater 



