PURSUITS. 147 



Price of a quarter section, 160 acres, at $1,25 per 

 acre $200 



Breaking forty acres, at $2- - - - - 80 



Fencing with post and rails, 5 rails high, 40 acres, or 

 5280 feet, 6 rails for every ten feet, including 1 to 

 each pannel for post, will take 3168 rails, at about $1 

 per hundred, say $32 ------ 32 



Cost of setting uncertain. 



$312 



The price paid for getting out rails is usually 62 g cents a 

 hundred. If brought from a distance, the transportation will 

 of course increase the price. They are brought down the 

 Missisippi, and sold at the landing at the foot of the Upper 

 Rapids, at $2 a hundred. 



The cost of a cabin may be set down at $50 to $150; 

 and with stable and sheds, may make the whole amount to 

 $500. 



Eighty acres of land is quite sufficient, — will yield as 

 much as 200 acres in the east, and, especially while the pas- 

 ture and hay may be taken from the public lands, should be 

 the limit of a farmer's purchase. This would reduce the 

 cost $100, or save him that sum to add to the improvements. 



The product of an acre ranges from 50 to 80 bushels of 

 Indian corn, from 30 to 40 bushels of wheat, from 70 to 80 

 of oats. All the roots grow Avith great luxuriance, onions 

 attaining to five or six inches in diameter ; radishes, and the 

 long roots, to double the common size in the east. Potatoes, 

 and other garden vegetables, are of superior quality and 

 abundant yield. 



The farmers of this country are generally men of good 

 habits, and of good information and sense. They are also 

 hospitable and kind. With the small expense which I have 



