512 Transactions of the American Institute. 



there is an abundance of pure water and pure air, but little timber ; 

 timber planted there grows very rapidly. 



Cotton-wood, black walnut, and locust are planted most. Cotton- 

 wood grows sufficient for fire-wood and fence-rails (poles) in four or 

 five years, and locust from the seed grows sufficient for fence-posts in 

 six or seven years. The Platte valley is a fine country for 200 

 miles or more west of the Missouri, but not equal in richness of soil 

 to the Missouri valley and the bottom lands on many of the smaller 

 streams, where the soil is from ten to twenty feet deep, and is a rich 

 black mould where any crop after it fairly covers the ground will not 

 suffer by drouth, as the heavy dews and the porous nature of the 

 soil always keep it moist. A drouth in the fall never injures any 

 crop. 



Fruit. 



Northern Nebraska has not as yet been proved to be a very good 

 apple or peach country, although some very fine apples and peaches 

 have been grown there. There is a great abundance of wild straw- 

 berries, raspberries, gooseberries, plums, and grapes. The plums are 

 of several varieties, and some of them are very delicious. The 

 gooseberries are very prolific, and fully equal to the best I have ever 

 seen cultivated. The gi-apes are the fox ; small, but of fine flavor, and 

 make excellent wine. Several of my neighbors in Burt county make 

 from five to ten barrels of this wine almost every year. These 

 grapes are the variety so highly commended by the late Mr. Long- 

 worth as making the richest quality of wine. 



Homesteads. 



Good homesteads can be obtained by going to Nebraska early in 

 the spring, and in many desirable neighborhoods, where neighbors 

 are near and where wood can be had at moderate rates. Good bar- 

 gains can be had by those who have money to invest in improved 

 farms. The Union Pacific Railroad Company will offer their most 

 desirable lands for sale in the spring ; and, unlike Mr. Tewksbury as I 

 am, Nebraska is the first place I would advise my friends to emigrate 

 to. If you want to escape pinching poverty, be somebody, and do 

 something for yourself and your posterity, go to Nebraska and see 

 the long, high, and wide cribs of cron, stacks of wheat and oats ; see 

 the sleek cattle and horses, fat pigs and flocks of fowls that surround 

 those who went there seven or eight years ago with scarcely a dollar, 

 and then if you don't like it don't locate there. 



