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INDUSTRY OF COUNTIES. 
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of the county have given way to permanent and beautiful structures, and 
the county now boasts of a splendid court house, costing over one hundred 
thousand dollars, and churches of all denominations, equal in size, style 
and convenience to those of almost any county in the eastern or middle 
states; and the citizens of Jandsville and Beloit each support a new and 
creditable opera house. 
Rock county is pierced east and west, north and south, by the Milwaukee 
and St. Paul, and the Northwestern railways. 
The educational interests of the county have not been neglected. Under 
our system of free graded schools, upon the New England plan, valuable 
results have been attained, and it is gratifying to observe a steadily increas¬ 
ing interest in the schools, and a proper appreciation of them by the peo¬ 
ple generally. The cities of Janesville and Beloit have each expended 
large sums in the erection of school buildings, and the sum invested for 
school purposes cannot be less than two hundred thousand dollars. Super¬ 
add to this Beloit College, under the patronage of the Congregationalists, 
one of the best managed and most flourishing institutions of learning in 
the west; Milton College,under the management of the Seven Day Baptists, 
and the Evansville Seminary, under the control of the Freewill Baptists, 
and you place within the reach of every child in the county the means of a 
liberal education. 
The Young Mens’ Literary Association of the city of Janesville, have col¬ 
lected within the last four years a very creditable library of about four 
thousand volumes of well selected works, which form a nucleus for ulti¬ 
mately placing within the reach of the reading public a valuable means of 
culture. 
Rock county contains two of the finest cities in the state of Wisconsin— 
Janesville and Beloit; the former containing a population of about ten 
thousand, the latter five thousand, besides numerous villages. 
In matters pertaining to horticulture, the inhabitants of this county are 
not behind those of the other counties of this state. Considerable pro¬ 
gress has been made in the past few years in these pursuits, and an 
improved taste is being manifested by the people generally in beautifying 
and adorning their homesteads by the liberal planting of fruit and orna¬ 
mental trees, vines and shrubs. Time and experience have demonstrated 
that with care and attention certain varieties of apples as well as pears and 
plums can be successfully and profitably grown. The time has arrived 
when many of our “ country seats ” take pride and pleasure in fine grounds, 
and tasteful gardens; and in the cities, nearly every house has its garden 
spot, tastefully arranged with choice flowers, vines and evergreens, and 
kept in the neatest order. In addition to the flower garden, many have 
conservatories stocked with choice winter flowering plants; while others 
with less conveniencies keep them in the parlor, and the effect is a wide 
diffusion of a taste for flowers and a corresponding taste and order 
