The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-11-22 00:00:00

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

The Times of Tuesday published the following extremely
interesting letter, under date St. Paul, Oct. 11th, furnished
by their Special Correspondent, and descriptive of rural
life and agricultural prospects in the American States.
The letter will be read with interest at the present time,
when depression at home is causing agriculturists to look
abroad for new and extended fields of enterprise, and when
members of the Agricultural Commission appointed by
Government are also prosecuting their inquiries as to the
state of American agriculture

St. Paul, the capital of the State of Minnesota, is
one of the most charming and prosperous cities in
America. Its terraws of handsome stone houses rise
along the left bank and elevated bluffs of the Mis-
sissippi. From many a commanding position the un-
dulating wooded country, the beautiful valleys, the
grand sweeps of the great Father of Waters present a
magnificent, almost matchless panorama. Around St.
Paul are many famous haunts of the Indians, who, with
a spirit of poetry often seen in savage tribes, have a
strong appreciation of the picturesque and beautiful.
St. Pau repeats the story of many Western towns. It
has grown and developed with wonderful rapidity. In
1849 it had thirty inhabitants, now it has 5000. Its
aggregate annual trade is stated at 44,000,000 dole. It
is the centre of a growing network of railways. Its
elevated position and fine climate attract many visitors,
especially from the Southern States. Limestone rock of
beautiful quality and of three shades of colour in grand
blocks is readily got out of the cliffs and ridges on
which the town is built, and, used alike for the public
and private dwellings, gives a solidity and freshness
which wooden or brick towns can scarcely possess.
Villas as sumptuous and inviting as those around
Kew or Richmond abound in the well-laid out avenues
and extend out into the suburbs. With this material
growth education and culture have been well pro-
vided for. Churches and handsome public schools,
quite as imposing as those of the London School
Board are numerous. But the cost of erection and
maintenance fortunately do not come out of the
pockets of ratepayers. One-eighteenth portion of the
lands of the State has been set aside for educational
purposes. The endowments, which must gradually
become very wealthy, give gratuitous education for
every child. But more advanced culture is also pro-
vided. A State University was eight years ago
inaugurated near Minneapolis, five miles from St.
Paul, where the President, William W. Folwell,
LL.D., and twenty professors and tutors, give
gratuitous instruction in literature, art, and science
to nearly four hundred students of both sexes, and
of ages varying from 15 to 21. There are special
curriculums for arts, for agriculture and for
mechanical science. On the occasion of our after-
noon visit, a lecture on elocution was being given,
other students were at geometric drawing, another
class were busy at various chemical analyses and in-
vestigations in the well equipped laboratory, while
small children, apparently from some junior school,
without hindrance, were sauntering in an orderly way
through the natural history museum, rich in elks,
moose, deer, and other western fauna, and unrestrained
by college don or janitor. Another lot of plainly
clothed youngsters were strolling in the conservatory
and botanical museum, and evidently enjoying and
making good use of their rights as citizens of the great
Republic.

On Saturday, the chief market day, the wide streets
are thronged with buggies and wagons often to the
number of 400; wheat, hay, vegetables, and other farm
produce are brought in; lumber and stores are the
homeward carriage. The teams are chiefly active
horses of the stamp of a London light omnibus nag,
and weighing 9001 b. to 1,2001 b. Some of the farmers
have driven in 12 miles • more distant visitors have
usually arrived by rail. Factors collect and despatch
from St. Paul large and increasing quantities of wheat.
Besides home supplies, 2,000,000 quarters annually
pass through the elevators for transhipment. By one
railway 1,000 cars of Indian corn are forwarded from
Omaha via St. Paul to Duluth at the moderate cost
of eight or ten cents a bushel, the cars loading back
with lumber. A large number of cattle grazed and
fed throughout the State are railed to Chicago and
New York, and during the past ten days three special
trains, each containing upwards of 1,500 compact,
useful, well-fed beasts, have been unloaded, fed,
watered, and rested in transit from Montana, wlere,
at a coat of £3 or £4, they are picked up, quietly
driven, grazing by the way, to Mandon or Bismarck,
there loaded, and forwarded by Northern Pacific to
Chicago, a distance of upwards of 800 miles, at a
cost of about 3t dole., or 13s. This is a comparatively
new source of cattle for the eastern markets, and
with the railway facilities is likely to be greatly
developed.
Driving north eight miles over beautiful undu-
lating downs of light sand and limestone soil, grazed
by useful dairy cattle, with varied view of water,
wood, and hill, Minneapolis is reached, famous for its
great water-power flour mills, whence the day pre-
vious to my visit 5,300 barrels of flour had been
despatched, on through bills of lading, vitt New
York, for Europe. Between the two cities, which it is
said will in 20 years merge into one, there is ample
choice of drives; one by the Mississippi banks is
specially fine, and another 601 t. to 901 t. wide, where
not already fringed with timber, is being planted as a
boulevard, and laid out in park-like fashion
with racing and driving paths, and broad walks
for foot passengers, Here on a capital Rotten.
row of the Far West, numbers of horsemen
and horsewomen turn out in the fine autumn
afternoon, and help to illustrate, as so much else does,
that here in the centre of the American continent,
where, within the memory of many inhabitants,
Indians, elks, and buffalo roamed the wood and
prairie, there have rapidly grown prosperity and
culture undistinguishable from that of many English
towns dating from the Norman Conquest.
. _

The State-of Minnesota comprises 53,459,840 acres :
it approaches the size of New York and Pennsylvania
together; it has two-thirds the area of the British
Islands. One-third is occupied with timber, whiLlr
abounds in the north-east, where the country is hilly
and rugged and the Boil thin and poor, yet capable of
growing good oak, elm, and pine. Another belt of tim-
ber extends from St. Paul towards the south- western por-
tion of the State. There are 7,000 lakes, most containing
fish, the shallower frequented by wild ducks and geese,
their bright, clear aspect fully justifying the title of
"Minnesota," or the sky-tinted waters." In a
primeval state these waters have generally over-spread
this and adjacent States, and have left on the lime-
stone and cretaceous clay subsoil a diluvium of one to
four feet of fertile loam. On many elevated positions
huge boulders of blue granite, gravel, and other rocks
of foreign material have been deposited by glaciers.
The level prairie surfaces, often extending for a stretch
of 25 miles in every direction, are interspersed
with more rolling country, and are drier and cut up
by fewer "slews " and gulleys than are met with in
the Red River or Assinibone valleys, These prairies
are kept bare of trees by the frequently recurring
fires, which occasionally in spring, more frequently
in autumn, devour every green thing. When they
gather force and are impelled by a steady breeze,
they advance in a V shaped form at the rate of a
mile in three or four minutes, the flames towering
50ft., and extending two or three miles wide.
Owing to the uninterruptedly dry weather of the last
two months, these fires have recently been numerous
and destructive; houses, barns, and hay ricks have
been destroyed, some lives sacrificed, and at one point
I saw, a few days ago, on the blackened prairies, the
roasted carcase of a cow which had been unable to
escape from the devouring element. To protect home-
stead, hay or corn ricks, or young trees from such
danger, the land :Around for several yards is ploughed.
Trees eight or ten years old stand the scorching.
Rivers and lakes along their southern and eastern
shores usually escape the fire, which travels with the
prevailing north or north-westerly winds. These re-
curring fires get rid of coarse grass, continually fur-
nish valuable plant food, and improve the herbage.

The extreme winter cold is probably the chief die.
advantage of life in Minnesota; but although the thermo-
meter sometimes falls as low as 40deg.t the atmosphere
is dry and clear, the sun shines, and if care is taken
that the ears are not frosted and one can move briskly
about, there is less discomfort than in damper Eastern
climates with the temperature 60deg. higher. Keen
cutting winds occasionally drive across the prairies;
there is (idiom much snow—more would be acceptable.
The summer heat in the shade reaches 90deg, ; 22in.
to 231 n. is the rainfall reported in various seasons and
localities.

Farming in Minnesota is more diversified than in
many other States, either to the north or south. As
in Dakota and Manitoba, wheat is grown; the spring
varieties are almost invariably preferred; the hard
winter and sparse protection of snow prevent the suc-
cessful planting of winter wheat. The ample crop of
1877 produced, according to the United States official
returns, upwards of 33,000,000 bushels. or an average
of 185 bushels an acre; but the scorching summer of
1878, and the dry spring of the present year reduced
the last two crops to about half their normal average.
Although some successful managers have secured 20
bushels per acre, a good many unfortunately have had
to content themselves with six or eight. Corn,
although not so largely grown or so luxuriant
as in Nebraska and Southern lowa, grows capi-
tally and pays well. The State is credited with
17,000,000 bushels in 1878, which is an average of 30
bushels an acre. Probably three-fourths of this is
wisely consumed at home in the feeding of cattle and
hogs. A still larger number of bushels of oats are pro-
duced, and the yield is officially stated at 33 5 bushels.
The oats do not, however, usually weigh over 321 b. a
bushel. The cultivation of barley is extending both
for malting and for feed. In many districts linseed
is being tried, but although profitable use can be made
of the seed, the fibre is not yet readily disposed of.
Sorghum is grown in many counties, and yields an
abundance of rich syrup, producing readily eryhtal-
lized sugar. For the preparation and refining of
this sugar a manufactory has been established at
Farribault, forty miles south of St. Paul. Pota-
toes and other vegetables grow well. Within the
last few years cattle are being reared in in-
creasing numbers, of improved quality, and with
satisfactory profit. The chief difficulty and expense
is providing a really useful bull. The cows run on
the prairie or among the shaded shrubs, water is
abundant, and where lakes and streams are not acces-
sible a well of 201 t. to 50ft. reaches a good supply. No
provision generally is made for roots or green crops to
carry the stock over the winter; but hay is cut and
cocked at the cost of 1 dole, per ton, and is brought
in for the stook as they may require it in winter, In
many districts hay well saved can be delivered to the
farmers' stables at 2i dole, to 3 dole, a ton of 2,0001 b.
As three tons of this useful blue joint hay, and 31b.
or 41b. of corn, worth one halfpenny a pound, will
keep in improving condition a two-year-old beast
throughout the five months of winter, some esti-
mate may be formed of the moderate cost of stock
rearing. The summer feeding entails even less
trouble and expense. A lad at 6 dole. or 8 dole, a
month will take charge of 50 to 100 cattle on
the prairie, on one's own lands, or graze them over un-
occupied Government ecnool or other lands, where
the only fault of the grass is its luxuriant abund-
ance, occasionally altogether concealing the stock
grazing among it. For the privilege of Buell
pasturage over the unoccupied lands of absentees
rent is seldom asked or offered, One successful
stock owner showed me, however, last week several
Government sections which he rents for lc. an acre
annually, and without any restriction as to mowing
and carrying the hay on to his own land adjacent.
Sheep as yet are not much cultivated, are generally
more or less of the merino character, wool rather
than mutton le etfil dedderated; the confinement