The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-01-02
Notes BY the Way---NO. 2.

OF about two hundred miles was trav-
eled in the night, with the exception of
forty or fifty miles near Omaha. The
railroad south of the city is about twenty
miles west of the Missouri river and
passes through some of the finest farms
in Nebraska. These farms are valued
at from $50 to $50 per acre, those near
est the city being worth the most. Land
eight or ten miles from the city is val
ued at s 900 per acre. This is called
within the city limits. In fact, it is
hard to find the boundary line of
western city. The people expect such
a large growth that they won't acknowl-
edge that there are any limits to their
cities. Omaha, like many other west
ern towns, has had a phenomenal
growth, containing now about 125 900
inhabitants. 1t is a rival of Kansas
City for the cattle trade, having i'm
mense slaughter-Louses controlled by
the " big four" The city is finely To-
Gated on rolling prairie land and has
wide, well-paved streets. One great
hindrance to the increase of population
and the best development of the farm
ing interests in this section of the
state-and it is doubtless true in 9TH
ers-is the size of the farms Much of
the land is owned by the early settlers,
who took up large tracts and still hold
them for stock-farming or for higher
prices. The consequence is, neighbors
are few and far between" and society,
such as we have in the East, is unknown.
A leading farmer said to u.s. You
don't know how the western farmer
works from March to December He
must be in the fields from sunrise to
sunset. In the evening, as soon as
possible, he seeks his bed for needed
rest. He has little time for reading or
society and very little for religion In
time these hindrances will doubtless be
removed, but we fail to see how these
lands can be purchased at present prices
and cut up into smaller farms which
will pay even low interest on the cost.
Corn is about the only crop raised in
this section. The average Weld this
year was sixty bushels to the acre. One
man and good team, by what is called
listing cultivation, will tend fifty orr
sixty acres. d" Listing consists in split
ting the hills and planting the corn with
a machine, which makes blowing I'M
necessary. Many farmers think that
better crop is raised by this method than
by blowing. 1t should be borne in mind
that an average of sixty bushels to the
acre is not always raised in Nebraska.
After crossing the Missouri river at
Omaha we took the train for the East
at Council Bluffs. The track runs par
allel with the river for several miles.
Much of the river-bottom here is
marshy until the bluffs are reached.
In some places the bluffs are close to
the river; in others the river bottom
spr ads and the bluffs are a mile or
NOR away. They are not as high nor
as abrupt here as at some places on the
river, but they form pleasing contrast
to the monotOny of prairie scenery.
There is something remarkable about
the tenacity of the soil in this vicinity.
Some of the bluffs and cuts for roads
rise almost perpendicularly distance
OF from fifty to one hundred feet, and
the rains do not wash them away in the
least. After leaving the river we struck
a rolling prairie for about fifty miles.
| This appeared to be fine corn-grOwing
section. In fact, nothing but corn was
seen on either hand. Scarcely any of
it is cut. After husking, the cattle are
turned in to get what they can. y
farmer who is large stock-feeder told
us that, in his judgment, the time was
not far distant when farmers would see
| the advantage of cutting at least part
of their corn for feeding stock. Now,
however, the farmers who work the
land on shares and have no stock are
only concerned to get the fodder out of
| the way. We venture the assertion
that more fodder goes to waste in a
| single county in eastern Nebraska or
western Iowa than is required to winter
a large proportion of the cattle in the
state of Vermont. Here the corn alone
is considered valuable; in Vermont the
! fodder is considered an important part
of the crop. Farmers in this section
would like to engage extensively in
pOrk-raising, for two reasons. First, be-
cause corn is cheap; second, because
farmer can stock up with hogs in
short time and at comparatively small
expense. The hog-cholera, however,
is an unsurmountable obstacle. Were
it not for this disease eastern farmers
would be unable to compete with the
West in pork-raising. An Iowa farmer
may decide to stock up with hogs. For
a time he will probably get along swim
mingly, until he has perhaps 1000
on hand and is just ready to send
800 of them to market. Then the
first he knows the cholera gets hold of
them and 500 hogs are dead loss.
This is frequent experience, and gen
orally takes the sand out of a would-be
pork-raiser and teaches him to go a
little slow the next time. When the
cholera gets hold of herd of hogs it
takes pretty honest man to refuse to
sell the infected ones to buyers, which
can be found at any time. The knowl-
edge of the fact that no small amount
of Chicago pure lard is made from
these diseased hogs wskes the better
class of eastern consumers prefer east
| ern lard, We are now on the main line