I 
166 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
vide shelter and wind-breaks for other portions of the farm, 
and thus be an advantage during the period of their growth. 
Many portions of these dry lands are naturally stocked with 
blue-berries. The bushes, if preserved while everything else 
is killed by the grubber, would soon take entire possession of 
the soil, and would yield a crop of fruit which would pay bet¬ 
ter than wheat on the richest soil of the state. If the blue¬ 
berry fields are located sufficiently near the railroad stations to 
allow the fruit to be carried to market, it might be disposed of 
while ripe. It is unnecessary to state what an acre of such 
berries would be worth to the owner. All that can be shipped 
are now sold at such prices as almost to preclude their use by 
the poorer classes in the cities and villages where they are of¬ 
fered for sale. A few years experience would determine the 
best methods of growing and marketing them. Of their value 
there can be no question. Such lands as lie too distant from 
railroads to allow their produce to be shipped, ought neverthe¬ 
less to be cultivated for their berries; such berries may be 
« 
dried and then marketed. When these dried berries are bet¬ 
ter known in the cities, they will command prices equal to or 
approaching raisins. Dry or green the crop will be very re¬ 
munerative. Other pieces of land are naturally stocked with 
whortleberries (<gaylussacica resinosa.) These should also be 
cleaned out and saved, and will prove a remunerative crop. 
Whortleberries carry better than blueberries, command 
nearly as high prices, and have a ready sale, but owing to 
their hard, round seeds they would not be as valuable for dry¬ 
ing. They are as productive, and ripen a little later than the 
blueberries. 
Among these dry ridges are sags and swales, where the 
wash from the higher lands has settled; there the timber 
grows taller and more thrifty, and a thick undergrowth of 
brakes, grass, pea-vine and many other plants are constantly 
adding to the soil. Such land will produce good crops of ce¬ 
reals, corn, roots and grasses, and have naturally a fair quanti¬ 
ty of humus in the soil. An annual addition of this vegeta- 
