Nebraska advertiser., 1868-06-18
Nnhraska.

we take the Following from the re-
port Of the Commissioner of Agriculture
for the Month Of May
1. Our returns from NEBRASKA are
chiefly from counties bordering upon or
adjacent to the Missouri river, or upon
the Kansas border, with a few Of the
interior counties, and basiug an estimate
upon the figures from these localities,
the settled portions of the State show an
increase in the value of farm lands of
from $50 to 175 per cent. since 1860.
Dodge county reports an advance of 400
per cent; Burt and Gage, 200 per cent;
Dixon. Dakota, Otoe, 100 per cent;
Cass, Richardson, Pawnee, so per cent. !;
Merrick, 33 per cent. In a number of
counties the settlements have been made
since 1850, when the farms were bought
at ST per acre, or entered under the home
stead laws. Such is the case with jeff.
erson, where are now farms held az high
as S15 per acre. In Hall county, in the
interior, farms of 100 acres which could
be purchased in 1860 for from $500 to
S400, now command from 81 500 to
81 600, according to Improvements and
distance from raiload stations
2. The value of wild or unimproved
lands ranges from the government min.
imum price Of 81 25 hp to $40 per acre.
In Dixon, choice locations on prairie, So
per acre, very fertile, we'll watered,
capabilities good Dakota, So to 81
per acre Burt, S. to Sc per acre, ex-
cellent farming land; Dodge, $4 per
acre Cass, So TO $40 per acre; for
lands lying to Is miles from the Miss
ouri river, gently rolling, we'll watered,
and unsurpassed in fertility; but little
government land in the county; Otoe,
S5 per acre, on the average, mostly
prairie, except along the streams gently
undulating, with no abrupt bluffs or hills,
except when il takes its first rise from
the Missouri river, and with this except.
ion is all capable of cultivation Rich
ardson, $4 per acre, deep, rich, sandy
loan; Pawnee, 50 to $40 per acre, soil
black muck or loan, with clay sub. soil,
very rich, producing wheat, corn, and
oats; Gage, 50 per acre, chiefly prairie,
timber lands generally being taken up
by settlers; Jones, 50 to SIS, mostly
prairie, good timber as high as S. per
acre; Merrick, So per acre, level prairie,
quality good, will produce all kinds OF
grain and roots Buffalo, 81 so per acre ;
Hall, So so per acre, nearly all level
prairie, rather sandy but rich, and pro-
duces well all the crops suited to the laii-
tude. There are millions of acres of
the best prairie lands in the State to
be purchased at government prices, OF
subject to entry under the povisions of
the homestead acts. but a small proport-
ion Of the State having been taken up by
settlers or spectators. In 1860 there
were over 48,0O0,0OO acres of wild or
waste areas in Nebraska, against less
than 100000 acres included in farms.
Sorghum has been successfully grown
in some sections of the State.
3. The great resources of Nebraska
are to be found in her deep rich soil and
agricultural capabilities; timber being
comparatively scarce, and minerals not
generally abundant, so far as yet develop
ed. The timber is mostly confined to the
banks Of the streams, and commands high
prices. and farmers are wisely engaging
in the culture of forest trees for the
wants of the future. Our correspondent
reports a vast deposit of iron ore IN
Gage county, of good quality, the vein
commencing near the surface Of the
ground and running very deep. Iron
ore is also reported in Dixon and other
counties. Coal is found in various Sec
tions, but has been but slightly developed.
It is found in Rishardson at a depth of
20 feet, while in Pawnee it crops out
of the bluffs along the ravines. Deposits
exits also in Jones, Dixon, Cass, and
other counties along the Missouri, worthy
of attention. Rock and sandstone, for
building purposes, abound in various
localities, supplying, to some extent, the
want of timber. Limestone is also found
in several counties Our Jefferson re-
porter says:
We have mineral white clay here
which we think is valuable for pottery.
II is used also for paint, and seems to
answer every purpose of white lead. We
also have a stone colored clay, peculiar
for its toughrness and hardness when
burned.
A. Wheat, corn, oats and potatoes are
the principal crops grown in Nebraska,
though various others are successfully
cultivated to more limited extent. Our
Hall reporter writes that wheat, oats,
barley, corn, potatoes and peas are pro.
duced in that county, with an average
Weld as follows wheat % bushels TO
so cents; barley, 40 bushels, at SIS :;
corn, 40 bushels, at 81 potatoes, 100
bushels, atS2; peas, 80 bushels, at SO
per bushel. As an extraordinary crop
he names 45 bushels Of wheat, 20 bush.
els Of oats, 45 bushels of barley, so
bushels of corn, and 250 bushels Of DO
tatOes. Ia Pawnee, Richardson, Otoe,
and several other counties Indian corn
is made specially in the first named,
yielding about so bushels to the acre
and in Richardson, from so to IS bush
els, never failiag. and largely fed to hogs.
WheaE is the chief crop in Dakota and
Dixon, IN the latter yielding about 25
bushels per acre, worth g per bushel
profit, 100 per cent. In Dodge county.
last season, the erofs averaged as follows
corn, 35 bushels, worth 80 cents; oats,
so to so bushels, SIS cents wheat, Is
bushels, 81 % to 81 40. In Jefferson
they raise as high as 25 bushels Of wheat
10 the acre corn, from 25 10 60-the