INDUSTRY OF COUNTIES. 
303 
marshes and waste lands, there are none. The southern and 
western parts of th4 county, embracing two-thirds of the whole, 
are prairie, dotted with occasional clusters of timber; while 
the remaining one-third is wood-land, somewhat more hilly 
than the prairie sections. The west branch of the Pecatonica 
river, affording abundant water privileges for mills and manu¬ 
facturing purposes, runs south-easterly through the center, and 
unites near Green County with the east branch of the Peca¬ 
tonica, which with like advantages, runs through the eastern 
towns, belted with heavy groves of timber. Besides these 
streams, the head waters of Galena river, presenting superior 
mill sites, diversify the south-west, and altogether making the 
county as well w T atered as could be desired. All these waters 
and the numerous springs and brooks, are uniformly sweet, 
crystal and healthy. 
The soil is a black, calcareous loam, with a silicious admix¬ 
ture and a sub-soil of clay; dry, and exceedingly fertile. 
There are places where a clayey, or a sandy soil abounds, but 
these occupy only a trifling portion of the surface. The soil 
is excellently adapted for all northern grains, especially wheat, 
oats and potatoes; while fruits, flax and barley, have been culti¬ 
vated with success. In short, no equal body of land in the 
State, surpasses either in the quality, beauty, fertility, health, 
or natural advantages, the county of La Fayette. 
Three-fourths of the population are engaged in agriculture, 
arid one-fourth in mining and other industrial pursuits. The 
amount of land under tillage cannot be far from 70,000 acres, 
h— somewhat more than one-sixth of the whole. The staple 
products are wheat, corn, oats and potatoes; with considerable 
quantities of buckwheat, flax and barley. Garden vegetables 
of all kinds are abundant. Sorghum is little cultivated; but 
the fruit crops for 1860 amounted to not less than 4,500 bush¬ 
els of apples, with some peaches, pears and plums. Sixty 
barrels of cider, the first ever made in the county, were made 
at Shullsburgh, this year,—the farmers in the vicinity furnish¬ 
ing the fruit. Currants, grapes, strawberries and gooseberries 
have also begun to receive attention, and so far have not only 
