390 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
reaps here as rich rewards for his labor as do those who have sought homes 
on distant prairies. 
The soil of the high lands is a light sandy clay, easy of tillage, and is 
celebrated for producing the finest qualities of wheat, while the yield is about 
the same as on the prairies. It is equally well adapted to corn, oats, grass, 
barley and buckwheat, while for potatoes and other root crops it is of su¬ 
perior quality. These natural advantages were overlooked by immigrants for 
many years, but the fact that during the last decade our farming population 
has almost doubled, proves that our lands and agricultural facilities are ap¬ 
preciated, and that in the future they will be sought more and more, not 
only by our own countrymen, but by immigrants from foreign lands. 
There is no county in the state better adapted to fruit growing than is 
this, the soil seeming to possess the requisite elements in the right.propor¬ 
tions for healthy growth and prolific fruitage. Fruit is rarely killed by 
frosts, and trees and shrubbery are less affected by disease, climatic changes 
and vermin than in other less favored localities. 
The practicability of apple culture is fully demonstrated, careful and ob¬ 
servant nurserymen having discovered after years of experiment the va¬ 
rieties best suited to this soil and climate. Thousands of acres of the hills 
of this county should at one be planted with apple orchards and vineyards, 
whose products in a few years would far exceed those of all its grain fields. 
Besides the apple, there is an abundance of wild fruits; and currants, goose¬ 
berries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, grapes, etc., have a rapid 
growth and rarely fail to produce well. 
But little attention has yet been given to the rearing of imported or 
blooded stock, but the organization during the last year of the Crawford 
County Agricultural Society has excited a new interest in this direction, 
and a generous rivalry among stock growers; and in the future we shall not 
be behind our neighbors in this, one of the most important and profitable 
industries of the country. The interest in that society < will, also stimulate 
to a higher order of agriculture, and to greater system and perfection in 
workmanship, not only on the farm, but in the shop and factory. 
Lead and copper ores have been discovered, and there are indications of 
the existence of heavy bodies of those minerals, but none have yet been 
found which would pay for working. Extensive quarries of excellent build¬ 
ing stone are found in every town in the county, and from the bluffs on-the 
Wisconsin river large quantities are taken each year and shipped to the 
east. The best stone in the beautiful capitol building at Madison are from 
I 
this quarry. 
Agriculture and trade have hitherto been the pursuits of the people to 
the almost entire neglect of manufactures, the census of 1870 showing an 
aggregate of farm production of $828,000, while the product of our manu¬ 
factures was but $240,000. But during the past year the people have 
awakened to the importance of manufactures to all other branches of indus¬ 
try, and henceforth the hammer, loom and anvil are to have their devotees as 
