538 Transactions of the American Institute. 



Long Island Lands. 

 Mr. A. J. Hinds, Patchogue — When I speak of cheap lands I mean 

 of course relatively ; for instance, $100 will buy eighty acres out west. 

 Twenty- five years' experience in the west satisfies me that $500 a year 

 is more .than an average to clear from this land when well improved. 

 One hundred dollars will buy five acres here ; this into cranberries, 

 and some kinds of' garden truck, *will clear from $1,000 to $2,000 a 

 year ; and if a man is fortunate enough to get hold of a spring brook, 

 from $2,000 to $5,000 can be cleared yearly from one acre or even 

 one-quarter of an acre of water. There are individual cases in this 

 neighborhood which would satisfy any man, interested enough to 

 come here, of these facts. The natural advantages on Long Island 

 for trout propagation are these : The fact that most large fish-farms 

 are now located in the interior, where feed costs five or six times as 

 much as it does here, precludes all danger for some time to come of 

 injurious competition. Secondly, our streams are short and fed by 

 springs, and never fail in dry weather. Thirdly, the surface being 

 nearly level, and loose, secures us against any danger from freshets. 

 I will simply say, that this island is quite thickly settled near the 

 waters and railroads. Some four or five miles from the larger rail- 

 roads, heavy loam soil can be bought for from ten to fifteen dollars 

 per acre, according to growth of timber. 



Securing a Homestead. 

 Prof. J. D. Butler, Lincoln, Neb. — Nills Nysten is a Swede, and 

 was born where his forefathers, even to the years of many generations, 

 had been content with only this, and nothing more — 



" To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot." 

 He aspired higher ; but so low was his birth, and so strong the barriers 

 around him, that he was three score years old before he could work 

 his passage to America. A year ago he reached Iowa with his wife, 

 and penniless, stopping first in Mount Pleasant. While working 

 there at his trade of wagon-making, he became convinced that his 

 best means of further advancement was to secure a Nebraska home- 

 stead without delay. His mode of making this boon his own is worth 

 telling, " to encourage the others." He walked from his home to Lin- 

 coln, 307 miles, along the track of the Burlington and Missouri River 

 railroad. This journey he accomplished in about fifteen days. At 

 Lincoln he found shelter at the Immigrants' Rest, a building provided 

 by the Burlington and Missouri railroad, where land-hunters may 

 lodge and live without charge while seeking farms. Looking at the 



