AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Jmgttrir ta int^roire i\t partner, tire flanter, anfr tlje <®arfonet\ 
-- 
AGRICULTURE TS TEE MOST HEALTHY , THE MOST USEFUL , AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN. — Washington. 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY ALLEN & CO., 189 WATER ST. 
YOL. NIL—NO. 9.] 
r^FOR PROSPECTUS, TERMS, Ac., 
SEE LAST PAGE. 
AGRICULTURE IN MINNESOTA. 
We have received a visit from a resident of 
St. Anthony, in this new territory, and gleaned 
from him the following information concerning 
its climate, soil, and productions. St. Antho¬ 
ny’s Falls have long been known to geographers 
as upon the upper waters of the Mississippi, far 
beyond the outskirts of civilization. It was 
dream-land to us when a school-boy, a quarter 
of a century ago, and we never expected to see 
a citizen of a village of thousands of inhabitants, 
located within the roar of its waters. Already 
the water is partially appropriated, and is driv¬ 
ing saw-mills and grist-mills, turning out lum¬ 
ber, and meal, and flour for the inhabitants of a 
rising State. It was not till 1849 that this ter¬ 
ritory was organized, and yet it has already a 
large population, principally from New-England, 
who are planting there the Puritan institutions 
of the East. St. Anthony has six organized 
churches, and the university of the State has 
been located at this place. Congress appro¬ 
priated twenty thousand acres of land for its 
support. A building has been erected by pri¬ 
vate subscription for school purposes, which it 
is expected will grow into a college. 
The village is about in the latitude of northern 
Vermont, and the extremes of cold are as great 
as in New-England, but the atmosphere is more 
dry, and more favorable to health. Colds are 
not so prevalent, and the climate is favorable to 
all affections of the lungs. The thermometer 
one morning the last winter stood at thirty-five 
degrees below zero. In summer it goes up to 
over ninety. 
The spring comes on very rapidly, and vege¬ 
tation is more forward than in the same latitude 
in the east. The soil is a sandy loam, resting 
upon lime-rock. This rock underlies the whole 
region for hundreds of miles north and south, 
and may be found below the surface, from one, 
to one hundred feet. On the banks of the river, 
it crops out, presenting in some places a perpen¬ 
dicular face, in others, an alternation of rock 
and soil, the soil every where being covered 
with grass to the water’s edge. Sand and vege¬ 
table matter enter largely into the composition 
of the soil, so that it immediately feels the in¬ 
fluence of the sun, and brings forward vegeta¬ 
tion very rapidly. The surface soil is from one 
to three feet deep. The river is full of islands, 
which are generally covered with wood. The 
prevailing timber upon the islands is cotton¬ 
wood, elm, sugar-maple, bass-wood, and walnut. 
Back from the river the oak-openings are almost 
he only appearance of timber. These oaks are 
NEW-YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1854. 
scattered about upon the prairies, appearing 
more like an orchard than any feature in our 
landscape. A characteristic feature of Minne¬ 
sota is its beautiful lakes. These are large and 
numerous, perfectly clear, apparently fed with 
living springs, and abounding with fish. The 
white fish and lake trout are among them. 
The emigrants coming from the East, follow 
the habits in which they have been educated, 
and put in a crop of corn and potatoes when 
they first break up the soil. Wheat-growing, 
to which both soil and climate are admirably 
adapted, follows later. Large quantities are 
now raised of the usual farm crop, but so great 
is the tide of immigration pouring into the ter¬ 
ritory, that they do not supply the wants of the 
population. Large quantities of grain and meat 
are brought up the river. Besides salt provi¬ 
sions, large numbers of beef cattle are brought 
up for slaughtering. At all the landings upon 
the river, farm products bear a high price, so 
that the farmer can oftentimes pay for his farm 
in a single season. 
The immigrants are principally men of small 
means, with their fortunes invested in their per¬ 
sons. The first effort of the new citizen is to 
get him a home. If he has any capital, he buys 
his quarter section of 160 acres or more, and 
pays for it. If destitute of capital, he takes 
from the land office a preemption right for a 
quarter of a section, which secures him posses¬ 
sion for one year. Even if he does not pay for 
his land the first year, the government is very 
lenient toward the first settler upon the soil, 
and he is seldom disturbed without an equiva¬ 
lent for all his improvements. The best lands 
are often all bought up by speculators in large 
quantities, and this is a great disadvantage to 
the actual settler. It gives him the second 
choice of the lands, and often prevents him from 
having neighbors. Those who arrive after him 
will prefer to go further inland, and buy at 
government prices, rather than buy of the spec¬ 
ulators. 
When the settler has possession of his land, 
he puts up a log house, the best his means af¬ 
ford. The logs are hewn upon two sides, and 
the crevices are stopped with sticks and mud. 
The chimney is made of stone, if that article 
is convenient, if not, the mud plaster supplies its 
place. Glass can be had in the villages, and a 
very few windows generally satisfy the settler 
for the first season. 
Barns are very scarce. Hovels take their 
place, and as the prairie grass is very abundant, 
and to be had for the cutting ; it is piled upon 
and around the hovels so as to make a very 
comfortable shelter for the stock. The first 
winter is usually spent in getting out rails and 
fencing stuff, to enclose the ground he purposes 
[NEW SERIES.—NO. 35. 
to cultivate the next season. It is several years, 
usually, before the whole farm gets enclosed. 
The soil yields abundantly without manure. 
Three hundred bushels of potatoes are often 
raised to the acre, and as yet the rot has not 
troubled them. Pink-eyes, Irish greys, and the 
Chewangos are common varieties. Wheat, 
corn, and oats yield abundantly. 
The unenclosed prairie is the pasture ground 
for all the stock of the settlement. As all the 
calves are raised, it is an easy matter to call the 
cows home to their stalls, by keeping the calves 
in the hovels through the first season. Many 
of the cows are furnished with bells so that 
they are easily reclaimed by their owners. The 
young stock wander off, and are often not seen 
by their owners for months. The sight of these 
large herds, feeding upon the luxuriant prairie, 
is one of the richest in Nature. It carries one 
back to the patriarchal age, when men num¬ 
bered their flocks and herds by hundreds and 
thousands. 
Some attention is already paid to fruit grow¬ 
ing, and a nursery agent has established him¬ 
self near St. Anthony. He is furnished with 
his stock from nurseries in Iowa, and sells at 
prices not very much in advance of the East. 
Young trees are set out, but not many of them 
are in bearing condition. 
Wild fruits are abundant, especially upon the 
islands in the river. 
A plum resembling the Damson is very com¬ 
mon ; grapes, crab apples, thimble berries, and 
raspberries are found in many localities. The 
crab apples are large, but are not improved in 
quality by their size. The wild grapes are not 
of better quality than those found with us. 
To the New-Englander, Minnesota presents 
an inviting home, if he must leave his native 
soil. He will find there a more healthy climate 
than he leaves behind him, and a virgin soil 
yielding abundant crops. But it will be many 
years before he can surround himself with the 
many social comforts and privileges of the East. 
Of what avail is it that he gains a superfluity of 
the raw materials of comfort for his body, if he 
must live years in a log house, and be deprived 
of the school and meeting-house—those land 
marks of New-England? Why seek a richer 
soil when the wealth of his own soil, amid the 
institutions dearest to his heart, is not yet half 
developed? The industrious man, with a good 
house and a few acres around him, may support 
himself and family in comfort where he now is, 
ordinarily, with more ease than to seek a new 
home in the West. But the Yankee must move. 
Necessity is laid upon him to push off into the 
wilderness, and if he will leave us, we can only 
say to him, “Minnesota is a goodly land. Go 
up and possess it.” 
