St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1862-06-19
FREE HOMES IN MINNESOTA
EUREAu OF STATISTICS,


st. Paul, May, 1862 {
EpIroR DEMocRAr:-Uuder. the Homestead
Law recently passed by Congress. Minnesota
offers to free settlement 4 much larger area Of
public lands add better adapted to successful
agricult III in soil, climate aud situation rela-
lively to the great avenues Of inland commerce,
than any other Western State. !
Minnesota contains t3, 76O, 900 acres of land.
OF this the whole area appropriated by settle
ment or purchase 10 about $500, ,OcO acres. and
there are 8 $4,000 acres of School Lands,
leaving 43,9jO,UN acrcs still open to free settle
n,<nt lnder the operation Of the Homestead
Law
Three quarters of this surface consists Of
rolling :rairic, interspersed with frequent
groves, oak openings aud belts Of hard wood
tiu,oer, watered Ly nunberless lakes and
streamp, and covered with warm. dark soil
Of great fertility. The rest. embracing the ell
waited district Immediately west of Lake Su-
2erior, consists mainly of the rick mineral
ranges on lis shores, and of the pine fcresfs
| which clothe the headwaters of the Mississippi,
af8orEng inerAaas'itle supplies cflumber:
The climate is beautiful, and one of the
most healthful and productive on the contin'
ent. Though the winter is cold-its mean
temperature being tha, Of New Hampshire
its severity is very much mitigated by the e.
tseme 4rtness Of air, the whole average fall Of
mois' ure being bat one-sixth that Of New Eng
land.
The summers, on the other hand, are very
| warm. their mean temperature being that Of
Southern Pennsylronia, and the rains At this
season are abundant and never failing, though
| the cir continues comparatively dry Profess
sor Mxury pronounces il the best watered "f
all the Wes' evn States 1t il alike exempt
| from the severe drouths ef Kansas, and the
| frosts and diseases incident to moister atmos-
phere and heavier and less thoroughly drained
soils.
The following facts are collated from the off,
cial statistics OF Minnesota:
| Rapid o. has been the growth of the new
Western States. Minncsots has surpassed them
all in the rapidity Of its progress. Its P'|PU-
LATlCN in 1850 was s, $50; in 1850, IL, ,O22.
Its AoRfcULrUn " DEVELOPMENT has been even
more remarkable.
The number of acres of plowed land in 1850
WAS 1902; in 1851, $4,000; in 1876 ), 433,267
|-having increased nearly thirty fold in six
years.
Tie number Of fbushels Of whest produced in
1850 WAS ,40l;in 1854. 7.0c0; in 1860. 6.M1.-
'2buslels being nearly thirty bushels to each
|inhabtant, or four times much as the whole
wheat crop -f New England in 1850.
The whole amount of grain and potatoes pro-
duced in Minnesota in 1880 was 7l.7J9 bush
els in 1885,, it was II ,G03,517 hushels-most-
ly in the small grains. What y progress for ten
years!
This rapid agricultural growth has been
achieved chiefly since the collapse of
land SPECULATION in 1857 In 1873 Mime.
sofa i'm portsht bread and provisions. 10 1861
she exported 8. .O0O, ,0t'0 bushels Of wheat alone
Minnesota is probably the best soheat State IN
the Union. with thu exception perhaps OF Cal
iforna. The statistics of her wheat crops show
an average yield in 1860 oftwenty two bushels
per acre, nnd in 1859 Of nineteen bushels
these results being from fifty to three hundrtd d
per cent. greasher than th~t Of tho principal
wheat States, with the exceptions noted. Ia
1862, for example. the average Yell Of low
was four and one third busheli per acre; o.
Ohio, seven and cns-third bushels. Illinois
according 10 high local authority. produces
from year to year not more than eight bushels
per acre. and fifteen bushels is considered al
unusually large average for the best whea
States. The comparative exemption OF Min
nesota from the diseases an1 insects which
ravaee the wheat crops Of other States, gives i
4 rrsat advantage in the cultivation Of thi
most valuable staple. 49, :, e..
Minnesota 10 often supposed to be too IA
nerth for corn. This is great mistake, found
cd ON tho popular fallaoy that tho, latitude
governs climate. But climates grow :warme
/. towards the west coasts Of continents, an al
though ito wnters are cold, tho summers o
Ninnesota sre % warm 20 tAoss q oeutherl