1883 .] 
AMERICAN AGBIOIXLTtIBXST. 
380 
Editorial Correspondence. 
From New York to Chicago. 
The routes of travel from New York to the West are 
now so numerous, that one has a variety from which to 
select. We came through Pennsylvania, to ascertain the 
crop prospects, and found them encouraging, except as 
to corn. Heavy rains and cold weather combined have 
seriously affected corn, hut hopes were entertained that 
warm days and warm nights in July and August would 
right things. 
Unlimited Oil.— One of the great oil kings told 
us there were no evidences of oil exhaustion. It is true 
wells are giving out here and there, but new ones take 
their places. The Legislature of Pennsylvania, last win¬ 
ter, passed an Act providing for free pipes; that is to say, 
the right of way is thrown open to all to construct pipes 
for conducting oil from the oil regions across the State. 
The company now engaged in this business has pipes 
laid to New York, Cleveland, and Pittsburg, and the pe¬ 
troleum fluid is forced from the wells through five-inch 
pipes to these distant points by means of pumps, placed 
fifty miles apart along the route. These pipes are laid 
under ground, and policed telegraph lines, with stations 
every few miles apart, immediately locate the break 
whenever any occurs. The present company claim that 
they made no opposition to the Act providing for free 
pipes, while on the other hand it is charged that they are 
a vast and dangerous monopoly. 
Chicago Redivlvus.— For some time after the 
great conflagration, ten years ago, it used to be commonly 
observed that New York and Boston owned Chicago, 
these two cities had advanced such immense sums to the 
latter for the re-erection of the destroyed blocks. How¬ 
ever this may have been, most of these bonds and mort¬ 
gages have now been paid off. The debt to New York 
and Boston capitalists has been canceled, and you to-day 
find many Chicagoians expressing the opinion that the 
fire, upon the whole, was a good thing, it has led to the 
erection of such magnificent thoroughfares of magnifi¬ 
cent buildings. 
Through Illinois. 
Fulton, one hundred and thirty-six miles west of 
Chicago. Small crops look very promising in this sec¬ 
tion of the State. Owing to the heavy rains, corn was 
very backward in June. During the last ten days of the 
month, however, it came forward very rapidly, and now 
presents a very satisfactory outlook. West of Fulton, 
the country has been considerably inundated by the 
heavy rainfalls, and at the beginning of July there 
was a good deal of ground still under water. 
We have now crossed the entire State of Illinois, and 
so far as our observations extend, all crops are exceed¬ 
ingly promising in the State, with the exception of corn; 
and if the present hot weather continues, corn, hitherto 
go backward, will come forward very rapidly. 
Through Iowa. 
Clinton.—Two miles beyond Fulton, we crossed 
the Mississippi on a substantial bridge to the thriving 
city of Clinton, Iowa, whose fifteen thousand popula¬ 
tion are largely interested in saw mills. Countless num¬ 
bers of logs are floated down the Mississippi from the 
timber regions above, and are here, at Clinton, sawed 
into timber, and distributed through the extensive rail¬ 
road syatem to various parts of the West. We are now 
in Iowa. The ground is rolling, and for some miles 
along the railroad the crops look very thriving. 
Mt. Vernon.—Here, on a beautiful plateau in the 
centre of a rich agricultural country, is Cornell College, 
comprising costly edifices, collegiate, scientific, busi¬ 
ness, and musical courses, embracing over five hundred 
students, and second only in means and influence to Cor¬ 
nell University,New York. It was Commencement season 
at Mt. Vernon. The villagers were at their best, and the 
country lads and lasses from all the surrounding country 
had flocked in to participate in the Commencement exer¬ 
cises. The number of such educational institutions ex¬ 
plain the superior morality and intelligence which pre¬ 
vail through Iowa. 
Cedar Rapids.— Here is a city which, as contrast¬ 
ed with Clinton, a place of the same population, is all 
bustle and activity. The people are out in the streets 
in full force, and the place strikes you as possessed of a 
good deal of vim and vigor, with considerable wickedness 
thrown in. It is a railway and pork centre, and the lo¬ 
cation of agricultural implement manufactories. Here¬ 
abouts crops look well, corn alone being backward. 
Xliroug'k Nebraska. 
Omaha.- In our correspondence from this city a 
year and a half since, we alluded to the wretched condi¬ 
tion of the streets, and the almost entire absence of 
hotel accommodations. Now we find three new first- 
class hotels, streets paved, and many new and elegant 
business structures going up. Could George Francis 
Train come here for a short time from the Madison 
Square Park, he would hardly recognize the Omaha of 
old. The city is destined to a great future. 
Schuyler, seventy-six miles west of Omaha. This 
is in the heart of a fine agricultural country. Though 
the first building was erected only a comparatively short 
time since, the village now has a population close upon 
two thousand. All this portion of Eastern Nebraska 
has suffered from the heavy rains of May and June, 
which kept corn back. During the last week of June, 
however, corn has come rapidly forward, and now gen¬ 
erally looks promising. There will he a very heavy 
yield of grass, and small crops generally look well. All 
the Government and railroad lands in this region have 
been sold, and the fine farms, stretching out in every 
direction, now present a most beautiful and pictur¬ 
esque appearance. 
Columbus, ninety miles west of Omaha. Here is 
one of the most flourishing places in Nebraska, where, 
very many years ago, numerous Mormons settled. They 
were opposed to the doctrine of a plurality of wives, 
but adhered to all the other beliefs and tenets of the 
Mormon Church. They constructed a church edifice, 
and secured a strong foothold. 
O rer the Prairies. 
Yesterday and the day before we made a wide sweep 
over the prairie, passing through numerous cultivated 
farms, where the virgin soil was unbroken the last 
time we drove over it. From Schuyler to this place, a 
distance of sixteen miles (looking to the north), the high 
rolling prairie land is exceedingly picturesque, being 
dotted as far as the eye can reach with prairie homes, 
embosomed in groves of box elder and soft maple. 
When we -were here in 1877, the settlers were largely 
planting cotton-wood. We find, however, that these 
trees generally have suffered very much from the Cotton¬ 
wood Grub, a white worm with a large head, which eats 
into the heart of the tree and destroys it. North of 
Richlahd, eight miles east of here, we found on the 
farms of John Stibal and others that the cotton-wood 
trees had been almost wholly destroyed, while the box 
eiders, soft maple, and white ash were in a very flour¬ 
ishing condition. It is well for those emigrating hither 
from the East to bear this in mind, especially as hitherto 
the settler has supposed that the next thing for him to 
do, after breaking some land, was to plant a grove of 
cotton-wood. While the soft maple and other planted 
trees are now becoming large enough in Nebraska to af¬ 
ford fire wood, corn-cobs continue to constitute the 
main article of fuel. 
No More Grasshoppers.— The last grasshopper 
scourge in Nebraska took place in 1876-7. Homestead¬ 
ers and others were so completely discouraged by the 
loss of their crops, that many of them sold their lands 
for anything they would bring. Until 1880, there 
was a constant fear of the dreaded grasshopper, and the 
settlers had little heart for farming. Since then, how¬ 
ever, grasshopper fears have been entirely dispelled, and 
a succession of good crops have made the farmers in 
this part of the State happy, and materially enhanced 
the value of their lands. Those which, say seven years 
ago, they bought on time at five, six, and seven dollars 
and a half per acre, they now hold, with improvements, 
at fifteen dollars an acre. Here, as further east, in fact 
all the way from Chicago, corn has been kept backward 
by the heavy rains and cold weather. It is now, how¬ 
ever, coming forward finely. 
Raising Tobacco,—Here and there we have found 
farmers raising tobacco. They report that the crop does 
well in this region. 
Wire Fencing.—This is now being very largely 
employed in Nebraska, though numerous injuries are 
reported to horses. Only yesterday a beautiful animal 
at Welch’s Mill, near here, was frightfully torn and 
lacerated by being entangled in a wire fence which he 
had attempted to jump. It was the old story. The 
fence was not sufficiently high. There should have 
been another strand, and the horse would not have at¬ 
tempted the leap. Make the fences sufficiently high, 
and the damage to horses will be averted. 
Prairie Chickens Scarce.— Sportsmen will be 
sorry to learn that the heavy rains, overflowing the 
meadows and uplands as well, have drowned countless 
broods of prairie chickens, and in Iowa, Kansas, and 
Nebraska, we are informed that a great scarcity of 
birds is anticipated this season in many localities. 
IVortliern Nebraska. 
Madison. Madison Co., Neb. Here, fifty miles 
north of the main line of the Union Pacific railroad, we 
are surprised at finding a land flowing with milk and 
honey, a population equalling in intelligence that of the 
older States. For years, during the continuation of the 
great land boom in this State, the Union Pacific Hoad 
paid hut little attention to this portion, because it had 
no lands for sale here, while the Burlington and Mis¬ 
souri River Road in Nebraska directed its energies 
mainly to the advertising, placing, and sale of its lands 
in the South Platte. As a consequence, this portion of 
Nebraska has, so to speak, been unknown to the outside 
world. One of the most beautiful, fertile, and attrac¬ 
tive portions of the State, it has been left to look after 
itself. But perhaps it has been better for it in the long 
run, inasmuch as its own inherent advantages quickly 
made it known, and thereby attracted the very best 
class of population. A little time ago, the Union Pacific 
Railroad extended, almost in a night time, as it were, a 
branch road north here from Columbus, a distance of 
fifty miles or more, and then the boom began. Now 
Madison, which was a short time ago almost unbroken, 
except by the enterprising homesteader, now smiles 
with growing crops, and Madison Village, which was 
little more than a saw mill and outbuildings on Union 
Creek, is now a flourishing county seat, with stores,ho¬ 
tels, hanks, churches, Sunday schools, and, what is 
more, a tone of morality and a degree of intelligence 
which must prove very attractive to those who have 
been accustomed to the surroundings and civilization of 
the older States. Almost everybody here we find have 
been subscribers or readers of the American Agricul¬ 
turist. We have spent two days in long rides over the 
prairies of this county, and shall, in the future, give the 
result of our observations. Suffice it to say now, that 
this is one of the desirable points for people to come to 
from the Middle and Western States, who are able to 
pay from seven to eight dollars and upward per acre for 
their lands, and wish, instead of beginning at the very 
start, to find people already upon the ground with whom 
they can fraternize and affiliate. 
Southern Colonies. —It is noteworthy that sev¬ 
eral colonies of Virginians have located and are prepar¬ 
ing to locate in this part of Nebraska. One near Battle 
Creek is in a flourishing condition. At first thought one 
would infer that the climate was altogether too cold for 
Southerners, but the latitude is about the same as that of 
New York, while the air is very dry and the atmosphere 
bracing. Such movements of population should be en¬ 
couraging as tending to hasten the reconciliation era 
when the North and South shall forget that they were 
ever engaged in strife, and shall know one another only 
as brothers. 
Middle Nebraska, 
Lincoln, Nel>.— After four years, we again return to 
Lincoln, the Capital of Nebraska, to find a most beauti¬ 
ful city, with a marvelous increase in population and 
improvement. With the State Buildings, a new Capitol, 
the State University, elegant stores and private resi¬ 
dences, and twenty thousand population, this Nebraska 
railroad centre affords a most striking example of how 
towns and cities spring up here in the West, in a day. 
The office of ttie Journal newspaper, covering almost an 
entire block, is elegantly fitted up. and would do credit 
to New York City. It, in fact, is superior to what the 
New York newspaper offices were, until a few years ago 
they began to erect such elegant edifices. The B. & M. 
Railroad Company has likewise erected a depot here of 
dimensions and architecture, such nsare surpassed in but 
few instances in the older States. Hereabouts land, 
which was selling six and eight years ago for from six to 
eight dollars per acres, is now quoted at from sixteen to 
twenty, and lands which were then held at ten to twelve 
dollars per acre, are now held at irom thirty to forty 
dollars per acre. 
Land Sales. — Mr. J. D. McFarland, the Land Com¬ 
missioner of the B. & M. Railroad, who resides here, in¬ 
forms us, that the Company have sold about two million 
acres of its lands, and now have only about three hundred 
thousand acres remaining, distributed as follows: Fifty 
thousand acres in Franklin and Webster counties; fifty 
thousand in Antelope county; one hundred and fifty 
thousand acres in Greeley, Sherman, Howard, and Valley 
counties, and the balance scattered in small lots through 
older counties. These lands are sold for cash or on from 
two to six years time. 
Mr. Howard Kennedy, Assistant Land Commissioner of 
the Union Pacific Railroad, who accompanied us on a hun¬ 
dred miles tour west of Omaha, informs us that their Com¬ 
pany’s lands are now, with few exceptions, sold from the 
