, 1880-04-26
Dakota Wheat Fields.

by far the largest portion is sown in
the fall, and is called winter grain.
The varieties are conditioned by soil
and climate, the latitude of Milwaukee
marking in general the northern bound
ary of winter wheat.
The area suited for the production of
wheat sown in the spring hitherto has
been of limited extent, but there is an
undeveloped section of the country SO
wide and far-reaching that it may be
regarded as the great summer wheat
field of the future. Its capabilities are
so vast, and the insurance of produc
ton so certain, that the millions of the
Old World may ever think of it as
land that will supply them with bread.
A traveller making the tour of the st.
Lawrence and its correcting chain of
lakes, landing at Duluth, and journey
ing west over the Northern Pacific
Railroad two hundred miles, beyond
the forest region of the Upper Missis
sippi, will find himself on the eastern
edge OF this bread land of the fature-
the valley Of the Red River, stream
flowing northward to Lake Winnipeg,
and thence to Hudson Bay.
ticle rode over this former bunting
ground of the Sioux, where through by
gone ages they chased the buffaloes and
fought the Chippowas. The valley of
the Red River was vast expanse. No
hill, no gentle undulation, nothing but
the fringes of trees along the streams,
bounded the sight. 1t was reach OF
prairie unbroken by the plough. Our
own voices, or the sound of the mead
ow-lark, plover, and carlew, and other
fowl, alone broke the solemn and op-
pressive stiffness of the solitude. At
Georgetown the Hudson Bay Company
had reared house, and two or three
settlers had set up their cabins on the
banks of the river. We encountered
man whose birth place was in Virginia,
who had been frontiersman in Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois. Wisconsin-a vidette
of civilization.
"Have you any neighbors ?" we
asked.
"Oh, yes; three families have just
settled about twelve miles from here.
They are getting pretty thick, and l
shall have to move on, reckon"
They have been getting thicker since,
and the locomotive is speeding its way
across the valley, on to the Missouri,
aud beyond to the Yellowstone; it is
flying down the valley to Winnipeg,
and soon it will thunder along the Sas-
katchewan, far away in the distant
Northland. Farm houses dot the land
scape; towns have sprung up; the
traveller beholds piles of lumber, long
Lines of farm wagons, ploughs, seeders,
harrows, reapers, threshers, and farm
engines at every railroad station. Mar
velous the change: in 1869 furrowless
plain; 1879, a harvest of eight million
bushels of grain-ere long to be eighty
million &c. G. COFFIN. in Huper's.
The Protection of Our Commerce.
AS respects our commerce, it is again
advancing. During the year 1877 the
arrivals and clearances in our foreign
and coaStwlse commerce, according to
the Bureau OF Statistics, exceeded SS,-
OO0, 900 tons, and were quite equal to
the arrivals and clearances in the ports
of Great Britain and Ireland. In our
foreign commerce the foreign flag pre-
dominated, but ia our coastwise trade,
exceeds the foreign trade of England,
the shipping was entirely American, so
that more than $4,000. 900 tons of it,
including repeated voyages, were our
own. Assuming the value of our ship
ping to be forty dollars per ton, and
the average value of the cargo per ton
to equal that of the vessel, the aggre-
gate OF American property exposed on
the oceans in each year reaches S., ,572,
00O, 900 and if we add for American
property in foreign bottoms but $780,
O00, 900, the whole property thus ex-
posed exceeds $4,000, 900, 900.
10 protect this vast amount of prop
erty, in which the whole country is in
terested, and moro especially the West
and South, which furnish or consume
most of our cargoes, we have expended
yearly on our decrepit navy, including
repairs, wages, and salaries, some ST.
900, 900, or for the insurance of such
property against piracy and war less
than three-tenths of one per cent per
annum.
Again, we have in our sea-boarl cities
property exceeding 81 900, 900, 900, ac-
corking to the assessors valuation, ex-
posed to foreign iron-clads, some of
which can throw Palliser shells of great
sizs more than four miles, while our
ships of war and our fortresses are in
sufficient to protect the property. The
property thus exposed on the water and
the land must exceed 10000, ,00O, 900
annually, and the amount we expend
on our navy for its insurance is but q
sixth of one per cent.
Az now applied, this is inadequate
for the purpose, and our nation, with
Its vast commerce and revenue, can
we'll afford sufficient premium. The