INDUSTRY OF COUNTIES. 
323 
teeming soil. Manufacturing and agriculture may there be 
cairied on, in such juxtaposition that the one may become the 
immediate hand-maid of the other; and we may reasonably 
hope and confidently trust, that when the capitalist possessing 
manufacturing proclivities, shall have seen that the North-west 
possesses superior advantages for the investment of his capi¬ 
tal, this county will 'become as famous for its manufacturing, 
as it now is for its agricultural pursuits. 
The county of Rock, as a whole, consists of a fair propor¬ 
tion of prairie and timber lands; the latter somewhat predom¬ 
inating, and though in some sections the one variety will be 
found to the exclusion of the other, there is, in the main, such 
a convenient alternation of each, as to adapt all its parts to 
agricultural pursuits, with reasonable facility and convenience. 
The two most extensive prairies in the county, are those known 
as u Rock" and “ Jefferson;” the former of which is mainly, 
and the latter entirely situated east of Rock river; and it is 
perhaps, not too much to say, that these prairies are scarcely 
surpassed in beauty and fertility, by any other region of that 
great garden of the world, the “ Mississippi Valley.” And 
though it may be truly said that the soil is rich and fertile in 
nearly all portions of the county—being very well adapted to 
the raising of wheat, corn, barley, &c., &e., including all the 
grains, grasses and vegetables, suited to this northern latitude— 
yet its quality and fertility varies, materially, in different 
localities. 
Agricultural improvements and domestic conveniences, are 
being added from year to year with an increasing ratio ; there¬ 
by evincing a healthful advancement and laudable ambition, in 
that most useful of the departments of labor. It is gratify¬ 
ing to perceive, that many of the farmers are beginning to 
have greater regard to the continued productiveness of their 
lands, than is usually found to be the case in the early settle¬ 
ment of a country; thereby avoiding the too common error, 
of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. The alarm 
cannot be too loudly sounded in the ears of western farmers, 
to beware of plundering the future, for the sake of present 
advantage too dearly purchased. 
