280 
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
ants, one-third of whom are in the lower town, which has 
sprung up about the depot of the Milwaukee & Prairie du 
Chien Railway since 1857, when the road reached that point. 
The site of the town is unequalled for beauty and extent by 
any on the great river: and in it are located the principal 
stores, machine shops &c., of the county. There are also 
several villages growing up in the county, along the rivers and 
the railway, which are becoming prominent business points. 
The Soil of the county is of the best character for agricul¬ 
tural purposes. It consists of a soft clay, covered with a 
vegetable mould. The bottoms and plains along the rivers 
are sandy. As high as 55 bushels of winter wheat have been 
taken from an acre, though from 20 to 30 is considered an 
average crop. Fifty bushels of corn is an average crop per 
acre, though 120 have been taken. The produce of potatoes 
varies with the season and the hind; some kinds yielding as 
high as GOO bushels to the acre, while others do not reach 100. 
Oats and barley do very w r ell. The sorghum or Chinese sugar 
cane matures and does well, especially on the sandy lands. 
The tame grapes do tolerably well on the up lands, but better 
on those that are more moist. Sweet potatoes, and even cot¬ 
ton have matured on the sandy plains. 
The Timber of the county is mostly oak, of the different 
varieties. The sugar tree or hard maple, soft maple, elm, 
hickory, white and black walnut, willow, cotton-wood, red 
cedar on the cliffs of the hills, and basket willow on the river 
bottoms in any quantity, which the Germans who have wrought 
willow in their “ fatherland,” say equals, and in toughness 
excels that of the old country. That portion of the county 
which lies west of the Kickapoo river is oak openings, with 
small pieces of prairie, while that on the east of that river is 
a dense forest, mostly of oak, with linn, and other kinds inter¬ 
mixed with it. 
The Water Courses, besides the great rivers, the Missis¬ 
sippi and Wisconsin, are numerous, and there being no 
swamps or marshes at their heads, are supplied entirely from 
