GOOD COUNTRY FOK POOR PEOPLE. 631 



were in a disordered state, and put the rows thirty-four and a 

 half feet apart, and thirty-four and a halt' feet in the rows. 

 My experience is that fruit trees crowded do not yield such 

 good fruit as those that the sun can shine well among. 



SOIL. 



My land is all prairie, mostly a gentle, rolling plain. The 

 land is rich. The clay, or subsoil, is full of lime, called by 

 Bome calcine. Vegetation on this, when mixed with the 

 black, upper soil, grows very rank. 



The eighty acres I bought on section twelve, was a home- 

 stead. The man I bought of was no farmer, and consequently 

 the land that Avas broken, forty acres, was in very poor 

 condition, full of weeds. I can not give the cost of the crops 

 raised this year. I have twenty-five acres of corn that Avill 

 average fifty bushels. I measured some that went over sixty 

 bushels. Oats were injured by the rain in harvest and con- 

 siderably damaged, so I lost many of them, and can not tell 

 what the yield was. 



There is probably as little waste land in Hamilton as can 

 be found in any county in the State. The Platte forms the 

 northwest boundary of the county, having the towns Central 

 City, Chapman, and Grand Island across the river on the Union 

 Pacific railroad, each about twenty-two miles from Aurora. 

 Blue river runs near tho south line of the county, and has two 

 branches, on which are mills. Beaver creek is south of 

 Aurora, running into York, and Lincoln creek is on the north 

 of the town, which is on the dividing ridge. Both of these 

 creeks are dry, except in places, most of the year. There are 

 ponds in them that furnish stock water. In places on the 

 creeks are some timber and plum thickets. I tliink I can 

 safely say this is a desirable countr}- for poor people to start 

 farms. Water can be found anywhere by going to the level of 

 the Platte, from twenty to two hundred feet. Nearly all the 

 wells are bored and curbed, costing about twenty-five cents 

 per foot. 



