The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1874-09-10

The general surface is similar to that Of
Union township, part prairie and part
timber, considerably broken along the
Skunk river which flows through the south
west corner. Moon, Pleasant Run and
Cedar creeks, traverse the various parts,
while South English river cuts of the
northeast corner Many beautiful homes
may be found herein, and good soil and
thrifty farmers add to its worth. Agri-
cola is the only town therein. 1t is a
small place in the north part The Mus
catine Western railroad survey runs
through the township, and is to make
station therein. At present they are
long ways from market, but the compile
ton of either the Southwestern or Mus
catine Western railroads will give them a
good market
By perusing the foregoing, and referring
to the map above, some idea of the coun-
ty its formation, location, ETC., may be
had. We have no wish to exaggerate
would feel we were doing the reader and
the county an injustice, but do honestly
believe that Iowa is the best State in the
Union and Mahaska the best county in
Iowa.
THE SOIL.
The soil is a rich black loan, of remarka-
BILE depth and fertility, and never fails to
produce good crop. Corn, wheat, oats,
potatoes, anything we plant yields good
harvest. Notwithstanding the great min
eral wealth of Mahaska county, its coal,
iron ore, building stone, clay, ETC., the
impartial judge must admit that in its
broad acres lie the great mine of wealth
of the county. Twenty-four miles square
of as rich land as the sun ever shone up
on, capable, every acre, of being put in
tillable condition, must, as the reader
can see at a glance, hold in its palm
great future for the county. A single
glance at the map of Iowa, of to-day, is
sufficient to give the reader a correct idea
of its vast undeveloped resources Think
of its age-less than quarter of century
Naturally it must be to a great extent de-
void of the numerous heavy capitalists so
common to so many of the older States,
and yet we find over 1000 miles of rail
road now in operation. Where does the
money come from? Evidently from East
ern capitalists, not loaned, but invested
by themselves, after personal investigation
and certainty in their own minds that so
rich soil can never fail to make railroads
or any other proper investment pay. The
capitalist does not blindly invest his mon
ey, but by careful investigation has assur-
ed himself that the great untold and un-
developed agricultural resources of Iowa
will amply repay him for his investment.
AS it is with the State, so it is with the
county, for Mahaska is as rich county
as productive Iowa can boast of. Wheat
corn, oats, rye, barley, buckwheat, potatoes,
sorghum, flax, hay, vegetables, etc, are
some of the products we raise, and not
least of our attractions to the herder is
the vast ranges of free meadow to be
found wherever the fence has not been
made and the sod turned, and every year
thousands of cattle avail themselves of
this meadow for a livelihood during two
thirds of the season.
THE PRODUCTS
are varied, and consist of almost every
thing common to the climate, though corn
and wheat are the principal The county
contains 36S, $40 acres, of which 100000
are under the plow, and the balance awaits
the coming man who will bring it to that
useful and profitable state, when it shall
blossom, not as the rose, but in more
useful and profitable manner OF the
above, 10000 acres were sown in wheat,
as shown by the census of 1870, from
which were gathered 100000 of as good
wheat as ever was ground, being county
average of Is bushels. And 54,O65 acres
were planted in corn from which was
gathered 2,lS7 ,663 bushels, averaging Al
bushels to the acre. In 1872 over 3,OOO,-
900 bushels of corn were gathered This
year we have much larger area, and will
undoubtedly gather 100000 bushels,
and the average will be nearer seventy
bushels to the acre. Mahaska ranked as
the second corn growing county in the
State of Iowa, and Iowa is the second
corn growing State in the Union, which
places us high in the hog and hominy
business OF other products, the yield
was large, as few of the following fig
ures will show: Bushels of oats, 255,-
373; Irish potatoes, 7a,449; apples,
1884; gallons of sorghum, 1866 /;
pounds of butter 393,S73; pounds of
wool, l99,57l tons of hay, 1924.
For long time it was generally be-
lieved that fruit could not be raised in
Iowa, but the beautiful samples we yearly
show as common average of our crops
are fast dispelling the delusion, and the
minds of the people are awakened to the
fact that Iowa will in ten years-when
the orchards have little more age, be
the best fruit State in the West, and Ma
haska is well represented in this respect
The apple is the principal fruit, and the
yield last year was ii, 1874 bushels, but we
raise some very nice peaches, and pears,
plums, cherries, grapes, currants, goose
berries, blackberries, raspberries, straw
berries, etc, are almost certain crops and
of the most delicious quality Wild fruits
are abundant, such as plums, cherries,
gooseberries, strawberries, blackberries,
raspberries and crab-apples. The largest
orchard in the State is in Mahaska county
the property of Hon. John N. Dixon,
three miles west of Oskaloosa, consisting
of IL, 900 trees, as thrifty and beautiful
as was ever seen. Many have from 1000
to 5000 trees in various parts of the
county, and We feel safe in saying that
five or ten years hence we will discount
some of the fruit states east There are
many reasons why fruit did not flourish
well here in the early days. The first and
most important is that the right kind of
fruit was not cultivated. The grower
planted out his favorite Ohio apple, prob
ably brought from that State, and never
asked aohy it did not thrive well, but be-
came disheartened because the tree that
that was acclimated to old Ohio would not
put its best foot forward in new Iowa.
Experience is splendid teacher, and soon
it taught us that we must choose those
kinds of fruit best adapted to our climate.
"But how will we find it out ?" "Only one
way to do it, and that is to experiment.
and at it they went, not expecting to reap
much benefit from it themselves, but in
tending to leave posterity valuable in
heritance. 1t proved, however, less task
than they supposed and few years caused
the scales to fall from their eyes and the