Book, Where to Emigrate and Why

Trascribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit 
or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations 
desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain 
the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of 
the submitter. All persons donating to this site retain the rights to 
their own work.



Where to Emigrate and Why - Frederick B. Goddard, Peoples Publ. Co., 1869
 
WISCONSIN.
 
        IT was the original intention of the compiler of this work to treat only 
of the Southern States, and the States and Territories lying beyond the 
Mississippi River; but the large amount of public land that may yet be secured, 
and the many advantages offered the emigrant in some of the Northern States to 
the east of the great river, have induced the belief that a book of this kind 
would be incomplete unless its scope was enlarged to include, at least, the 
attractive States of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois. The emigrant may 
conclude, upon investigation, that in crossing the Mississippi, he might "go 
farther and fare worse."
        Wisconsin was organized as a Territory in 1836, and admitted as a State 
in 1848. Its population, in 1860, was 775,881, which has increased to more than 
a million at the present time. The greatest proportion of the foreign-born 
inhabitants are from Germany and Scandinavia, or the kingdoms of Denmark, 
Sweden, and Norway. The State lies between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi 
River, and extends from the State of Illinois on the south, to Lake Superior on 
the north.
        Wisconsin has an area of 53,924 square miles, or 34,511,360 acres, of 
which about 10,000,000 acres are yet unsold, and open to the settler.
        There are no mountains, or even high hills in Wisconsin. Its whole 
surface is a vast rolling plain, elevated from 500 to 1,500 feet above the 
ocean, sloping, down to the lakes, or to the streams which drain it. At Portage 
City, the Wisconsin River, emptying into the Mississippi, and the Fox River, 
flowing into Green Bay, approach so nearly, that their waters commingle. They 
are joined by a short canal.
        The surface of Lake Michigan is lower than any portion of the State, 
being 578 feet above the sea; and the numerous streams which flow into it are so 
abrupt in their descent, and so full of rapids as to render them unnavigable; 
but they present admirable facilities for manufacturing. The descent of Fox 
River from Lake Winnebago to Green Bay, is 170 feet, affording a succession of 
the most valuable water-powers in the West. The Mississippi River flows for 200 
miles along the western border of the State, and streams innumerable, both large 
and small, water nearly its whole surface, and beautifully diversify its 
scenery. The State possesses many characteristics in common with Minnesota, 
which forms the larger portion of its western boundary.
        Like Minnesota, Wisconsin abounds in lakes, especially in its central 
and northern portions. They are most numerous around the sources of the St. 
Croix and Chippewa rivers. In this region the surface is studded with them. They 
are from one to twenty miles in extent, and form, in their picturesque 
loveliness, one of the most charming and attractive features of the State. They 
also contribute to render portions of the State a paradise for the fisherman and 
the hunter, their deep and pellucid waters being filled with trout, pickerel, 
perch, &c., and, at some seasons of the year, almost literally covered with 
geese and ducks of great variety, and other water-fowl, which subsist upon a 
kind of wild rice that grows abundantly in the shallow waters.
        The climate of Wisconsin is cold, but agreeable. The eastern tier of 
counties is considerably moderated, both in the cold of winter and the heat of 
summer, by the waters of Lake Michigan. It is stated that the average 
temperature upon its shores is six and a half degrees Fahrenheit, warmer than at 
corresponding points on the Mississippi. The southern portion of Lake Michigan 
never freezes over in winter, but is filled with vast fields of drifting ice, 
which impede navigation. The harbor of Milwaukee rarely remains closed more than 
about three months of the year. Frosts in the northern part of the State are 
always preceded by snow, which covers vegetation, and preserves it from injury. 
In the southern section, some winters pass with very little snow, but it 
frequently covers the around to the depth of 12 to 18 inches, especially in the 
interior, in districts remote from the lake.
        There is a certain dryness about the air of Wisconsin, which also 
characterizes Minnesota. This fact contributes to render it, in common with that 
State, one of the healthiest portions of the United States. The winters are 
severe, and linger along well into spring. The summers are short, but intensely 
warm, and the heat quickly accelerates the growth of vegetation. Autumn is the 
pleasantest season here, as it is in a large por­tion of the United States. This 
season is marked in Wisconsin by a long succession of mild and delightful days.
        "Nearly all the northern half of the State abounds in pine, balsam, 
hemlock, and other cone-bearing evergreen trees, of which the white pine, 
usually towering far above the other trees of the forest, is the most common. 
The great prairies of Illinois extend into several of the southern counties of 
Wisconsin, between which and the heavily timbered districts, there is a region 
of openings in which the bur oak chiefly abounds. A line drawn from Racine, on 
the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, in a northwest direction, will mark the 
boundaries between the openings and the heavily timbered lands. The red oak is 
the only species of oak that extends as far north as the shores of Lake 
Superior."
        Pine lumber is annually exported in immense quantities from the northern 
part of Wisconsin. It has been chiefly obtained from Ashland County, which 
borders on Lake Superior. This county has the greatest elevation of any portion 
of the State, and is the least settled and improved. It is almost one dense pine 
forest, alternating with lakes.
        Wisconsin is also rich in minerals. Lead is the most important product 
under this head. It is found chiefly in the southwestern part of the State, in 
Grant, Lafayette, and Iowa counties; its ores in these localities being very 
rich and abundant. Vast quantities of iron ore are found in Dodge County, Sank 
County, Jackson County, and in Ashland County, near Lake Superior. Copper, both 
native and in the ore, and zinc, have been found in various parts of the State. 
Limestone also occurs, and beds of peat and marl are found in the marshes.
 
        Mr. J. W. Hunt, in his Gazetteer of Wisconsin, published in 1853, says:―
        The natural feature peculiar to Wisconsin is the uniformity of its 
elevation, and shape of its surface, which is neither mountainous, hilly, nor 
flat, but gently undulating. The country west of Sugar River and south of the 
Wisconsin is somewhat broken, principally by the dividing ridge upon which the 
road from Madison to Prairie du Chien passes. In this section, known as the 
Mines, are several peculiar elevations called Mounds. West of the Wisconsin 
River is a range of high hills, being the only elevations in the State either 
deserving or assuming the dignity of mountains. The southeastern portion of the 
State is marked by ravines at the streams, but little depressed below the 
surrounding level. Its prominent features are the prairie, destitute of tree or 
shrub, covered only by a luxuriant growth of grass, interspersed with flowers of 
every hue; the oak opening, the lake, the woodland on the border of streams, and 
the natural meadow. Proceeding north, to the Fox and Wisconsin rivers and Green 
Bay, the timber increases, and the soil gradually changes from the vegetable 
mold of the prairie to a sandy loam. The surface also becomes somewhat depressed 
and uneven, diversified with timber, rolling prairie, large marshes and 
extensive swamps, having an abundant growth of cranberries and wild rice. Still, 
north and west the surface becomes more uneven, and the streams rapid, affording 
an abundance of water-power for the manufacture of lumber from the immense 
forests of evergreen, scarcely surpassed on the Western Continent.
        The soil of the prairie consists of a dark brown vegetable mold, from 
one to two feet in depth, very mellow, and entirely destitute of stone or 
gravel, and for fertility and agricultural properties can not be surpassed. The 
subsoil is a clayish loam, similar to the soil of the timbered lands, and is 
also suitable for cultivation. The soil of the timbered land is less rich than 
the prairie, not so deep, and contains less carbonate of lime, which enters into 
the composition of the latter in the proportion of from 20 to 40 per cent. The 
mining region, unlike that of any other mineral district, promises a liberal 
reward as well to the farmer as to the miner. The soil of the evergreen district 
is mostly sandy, and not so rich as in other portions of the State. It is, 
nevertheless, well adapted to agriculture and grazing. The prairies of Wisconsin 
are not so extensive as those of other. States, and are so skirted and belted by 
timber that they are well adapted to mediate and profitable occupation.     The 
openings, which comprise a large portion of the finest land of the State, owe 
their present condition to the action of the annual fires, which have kept under 
all other forest growths except those varieties of oak which can withstand the 
sweep of that element. This annual burning of an exuberant growth of grasses and 
of underbrush has been adding, perhaps for ages, to the productive power of the 
soil, and preparing it for the plowshare. It is the great fact, nature has thus 
"cleared up" Wisconsin to the hand of the settler, and enriched it by yearly 
burnings, and has at the same time left sufficient timber on the ground for 
fence and firewood, that explains, in a great measure, the capacity it has 
exhibited, and is now exhibiting, for rapid settlement and early maturity. There 
is another fact important to be noted in this connection. The low level prairie, 
or natural meadow, of moderate extent, is so generally distributed over the face 
of the country, that the settler on a fine section of arable land finds on his 
own farm, or in his immediate neighborhood, abundant pasturage for his stock in 
summer on the open range, and hay for the winter for the cutting —the bounty of 
nature supplying his need in this behalf till the cultivated grasses may be 
introduced and become sufficient for his use.
 
        Commissioner WILSON, in the last published Report of the General Land 
Office, says of Wisconsin:―
 
        The soil in the southern part is remarkably productive, and even in the 
mineral regions of the northwest it is well adapted to grazing. In the country 
lying upon Lake Superior, the overlying deposits of drift and bowlders, and the 
presence of swamps and marsh, limit the agricultural character of the soil.
.        * * Wisconsin is less liable than other new places to the diseases 
incident to new settlements, and compares favorably, as to salubrity, with other 
States, owing to the openness of the country.
        AGRICULTURAL.—The agricultural statistics of the State indicate 
extraordinary wealth in production and quality in wheat, rye, maize, oats, 
barley, hay, clover, grasses, hops, flax, and potatoes. Tobacco is cultivated 
quite successfully, while the yield of the dairies in butter and cheese, and of 
the vintage, is abundant, as also of maple-sugar, molasses, sorghum, honey, and 
wax; the products of the orchard and market gardening returning large rewards to 
the agriculturist. The aggregate results in 1860 reached in value upward of 
thirty-six and a third million of dollars, being an enormous increase. in 
percentage over previous decennial returns.
        MANUFACTURES.—The manufacturing establishments in 1860 numbered 3,064, 
with a capital invested of $15,831,581.
        The value of the raw material absorbed and cost of production equaled 
$21,406,042, the total product having reached $27,849,467, leaving a profit of 
$6,403,425, or upward of 40 per cent upon the capital invested.
        The necessities of a new country still limit the range of these 
establishments to the production of articles for common use, or in preparing the 
original products for the more elaborate processes of art elsewhere; yet the 
tendency to introduce higher branches of manufacturing industry becomes more 
evident as the resources of the State are developed.
        The facilities for propelling machinery found in the various 
water-courses of Wisconsin, invite large investments of labor and capital in the 
extension of manufacturing enterprise.
        MINERALS.—The mineral resources of the State are varied and valuable. 
The lead region of Illinois and Iowa extends over an area of 2,140 square miles 
in Wisconsin, which compares with the other portions in the abundance and 
richness of the ores.  In 1863 there were 848,625 pounds of lead received at 
Milwaukee. The completion of the Southern Wisconsin Railroad will raise the 
aggregate to 2,500,000 pounds. It is mingled with copper and zinc ores.
        The iron region of Lake Superior presents within the limits of this 
State abundant deposits of great richness. Magnetic iron, plumbago and the 
non-metallic earths abound. Copper deposits have also been developed, but as yet 
have only been worked to a limited extent. Beautiful marbles, susceptible of 
elaborate working, exist.
        The mineral productions are rapidly opening a very inviting field for 
capital and industry, promising an immense addition to the resources of this 
energetic young State.
        MISCELLANEOUS.—Its railroad interests are assuming magnificent 
proportions.
        In 1866 there were completed and in full operation 1,731 miles, 
representing a capital of $14,099,400.
        A canal is proposed, to connect the waters of the Mississippi with the 
lakes, through the medium of Rock River and Lakes Horicon and Winnebago, which 
is to have the full capacity of the New York and Erie Canal, with another route 
by way of Fox and Wisconsin rivers, these canal routes having been surveyed by 
competent engineers, and pronounced entirely practicable.
        Madison, the capital of the State, is handsomely located on an isthmus 
between Lakes Mendota and Monona, its situation being the most picturesque and 
beautiful of any of our western capitals. The city is well built, contains the 
State buildings, the State University, newspaper establishments, banks, 
churches, iron founderies, a woolen factory, and steam mills.
        Its population in 1865 was 10,000. The charming scenery around, 
salubrious atmosphere, business advantages, and educational interests will cause 
it to be a large and flourishing city.
        Milwaukee, at the mouth of the Milwaukee River, and seventy-five miles, 
by lake coast, above Chicago, is a fine, thriving city, and a prominent railroad 
center in the Northwest. Milwaukee's commercial and manufacturing importance are 
annually increasing with extraordinary rapidity. It is especially celebrated for 
the manufacture of a superior article called Milwaukee brick, which is largely 
exported to different parts of the Union.
        It is the greatest primary wheat market in the world. In 1862 the 
receipts of wheat, and of flour reduced to wheat, were nearly 18,000,000 of 
bushels.
        The other cereals were shipped in less quantities, but showing 
astonishing aggregates. The elevators and warehouses of Milwaukee have a 
capacity to store about 5,000,000 bushels of grain. The tonnage owned at this 
port in 1863 was 31,780. Lines of steamers cross the lake and communicate with 
the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad.
        The extensive water-power of Milwaukee River affords splendid facilities 
for manufacturing, and is in process of rapid development.
        There are in the city, churches of superior architecture, and public 
schools embracing a large number of departments, the Milwaukee Female College, 
and several academies affording facilities for the higher elements of education.
        The city contains banks, daily and weekly newspapers, orphan asylums, 
and hospitals; its population in 1867 having reached 75,000, with steady rate of 
increase.
        Among the prominent towns of the State are Beloit, on Rock River, 
Columbus, Dodgeville, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Portage, Prairie du Chien, 
Janesville, and La Crosse.
        The finances of Wisconsin are in fine condition, the government 
economically administered, the burden of State taxation exceedingly light.
        The educational interests, amply endowed and prosecuted with energy and 
intelligence, must result in important benefits to the rising generation.
        The following, relative to the price of unimproved lands in Wisconsin, 
&c., was collated by J. R. DODGE, Esq., statistician of the Department of 
Agriculture at Washington, and published in April of the present year, in the 
monthly report of that Department:―
 
        INCREASE IN THE VALUE OF LAND SINCE 1860.—On the basis of the county 
returns received from Wisconsin, the average increase of the value of farm lands 
in the State since 1860, may be estimated at from 45 to 50 per cent., but one 
county reporting "no advance" since that date. Sauk County, the great hop 
district, shows the largest increase, our reporter stating that lands averaging 
$6 per acre in 1860, are now held at $35 per acre, an advance of nearly 500 per 
cent. Calumet, on the eastern border of Winnebago Lake, reports an increase of 
150 per cent; Chippewa and Marathon, in the northern part of the State, La 
Crosse, in the western, and Green Lake in the central part, 100 per cent; 
Pierce, Trempeleau, 60 per cent; Clark, Buffalo, Jackson, Washington, Brown, 
Outagamie, 50 per cent; Ozaukee, 40 per cent; Vernon, Lafayette, Rock, Walworth, 
Fond du Lac, 30 to 35 per cent; Monroe, Richland, Crawford, Green, Racine, 
Portage, Columbia, and Marquette, 20 to 25 per cent; Kenosha, 15 per cent; 
Winnebago, 10 per cent, and St. Croix, 5 per cent; Douglas alone reporting "no 
change."
        PRICE OF UNIMPROVED LAND.—The value of the wild or unimproved land in 
the State is variously returned from the several counties, running from 75 cents 
up to $50 per acre. In Sauk County the average is fixed at $4.50 per acre; 
mostly broken, stony, and barren, covered with stunted jack oaks, but capable of 
growing light crops of hops, corn, wheat, potatoes, &c., and in choice 
selections, some of the hardy fruits. Columbia, $8 per acre; but little in the 
county, quality fair; mostly openings, sandy, with clay subsoil. Marquette, 
$2.50; chiefly good for pasture. Green Lake, $10; mostly timberland and marsh. 
Portage, $2 to $10; embracing all grades, from rich alluvial bottom to high 
mountain range. Outagamie, $15; soil, mostly black loam, with a substratum of 
stiff red clay, capable of producing all farm crops usually raised in that 
latitude. Calumet, $20 to $25; forest, hilly; soil very fertile. Door, $3; 
limestone land.  Brown, $1.25 to $50; two general qualities—red clay and black 
muck; the former retentive of manure, but inclined to bake; the latter, when 
well-drained, very productive for ten years without manure. Fond du Lac, $10 to 
$50, according to capacity for natural hay, or burden of timber. Washington, 
$30; all timber, good soil. Ozaukee, $50; timber. Racine, $16; about 30 per cent 
timber, 10 per cent prairie, and 60 per cent marsh; the latter containing large 
quantities of peat. Green, $15; prairie, second-rate quality. Lafayette, $10 to 
$20; the former for barrens, oak openings, or brash lands; much injured by 
drought, and soil soon exhausted. Crawford, $5; rough and broken, good for 
grazing, wheat, oats, potatoes, &c. Richland, $3.50; rich, black muck, founded 
on clay and hard-pan; deep soil, timber land. Vernon, $3; soil very rich. 
Monroe, $3; bluff land, good soil, well timbered; valley land, sandy soil; oak 
and pine timber. Jackson, $2 to $10; on the east side of Black River the soil is 
sand, sand-loam, and extensive pine, tamarack, and cranberry swamps; on the west 
side, mostly oak land and openings, and small prairies and valleys. Trempeleau, 
$7; suited to grazing, wheat and corn. Buffalo, $4. Pierce, prairie and oak 
openings in good locations, $8; hard wood timber, $4; pine, $10. St. Croix, $7; 
mostly prairie; three-fourths first quality soil; one-twentieth timber. Clark, 
$3 to $5; hard wood timber; soil good for all small grains. Marathon, $4 for 
prairie; $10 to $20 for pine land. Chippewa, light prairie, $3; heavy soil $5 to 
$8; timber, hard wood, $3; pine, $5; the county about equally divided between 
prairie and timber. Douglas, $1.25; within limits of land-grant railroads, 
$2.50; Wisconsin State lands, 75 cents to $1.25. A number of counties report no 
lands under this head, except those included in farms, and not in the market as 
wild lands.
        TIMBER.—Wisconsin possesses abundant timber resources, and an immense 
lumbering business is carried on in many of the northern and western counties, 
the pineries of Marathon, Chippewa, Clark, Wood, St. Croix, and other counties, 
furnishing many millions of feet of logs and lumber annually. Our Clark 
correspondent claims that 100,000,000 feet of pine timber is cut each year in 
that county alone; in Monroe, 30,000,000 feet is annually cut into lumber by 
about twenty mills. Hard wood timber also abounds in all parts of the State, and 
there are few counties without sufficient wood for local uses. The lumbering 
business is a source of great profit to those engaged in it, and in Brown 
County, parties boast of cutting enough white pine logs from eighty acres to net 
$1,200 to $1,500.
        MINERALS, &c.—Of minerals, copper is found in Douglas, Chippewa, 
Richland, Lafayette, Outagamie, and other counties; iron in Chippewa, Jackson, 
Richland, Fond du Lac, Sauk, &c.; limestone in Richland, Rock, Fond du Lac, 
Brown; lead and zinc, in Grant, Iowa, and Lafayette; marl and peat, in Walworth, 
Racine, and several other localities.  Marble in Richland, and granite in Fond 
du Lac. In Douglas there are two veins of copper, as far as known, running 
through the county, evidently the same description of rock as is found in the 
upper peninsula of Michigan. There are two mines in operation near Superior. In 
Outagamie, not much has been done in developing the minerals, but some few 
specimens of pure copper, weighing from one to five pounds, have been found. Our 
Lafayette correspondent writes:―
        "Our county is rich in minerals. Lead, copper and zinc abound.  The 
great lead mines of the State are principally within this county, and their 
development is constant and highly remunerative in most instances. Many 
individuals engaged in the development of our mineral resources have realized as 
high as $100,000 in a season."
        Peat has been worked to considerable extent in several counties. In 
Racine efforts have been making the past season to utilize these peat beds for 
fuel, and with success, as in that locality wood is scarce and correspondingly 
high. About 500 tons of the former have been manufactured and sold at $5 per 
ton, wood selling at $7 per cord. There is an abundance of peat in the county.
        The agricultural resources of Wisconsin are too well known to require 
mention here, her rich and generous soil being suited to all the crops of the 
latitude, and yielding abundantly under the generally indifferent culture to 
which it has been subject.
        CROPS.—Wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, and hay, are the staple crops of 
Wisconsin, the first-named being the most extensively grown and by far the 
heaviest money crop, being made a specialty in a large majority of the counties, 
though it is not grown to the exclusion of other crops in any locality—as in all 
the Northern States, a variety of crops being cultivated. In La Crosse, Monroe, 
Richland, Racine, Sauk, and other counties, hops are becoming an important 
interest, and have thus far proved highly remunerative. The almost universal 
complaint in reference to the wheat crop is that the yield is gradually 
decreasing, and as generally attributable to indifferent culture and continuous 
cropping. Our Walworth correspondent writes:―
        "I know of but one marked and general peculiarity in the cultivation of 
crops in this county, and that is the general effort to cheat the soil into 
producing the greatest possible amount of crop for the least possible amount of 
labor. The exceptions to this rule are increasing in number, however, as the 
necessity becomes more apparent. The average yield per acre for the last decade 
may be safely set down at 14 bushels of wheat; oats, 35; corn, 35; rye, 20; 
buckwheat, 10; potatoes, 75 bushels. In 1860, wheat averaged over 30 bushels per 
acre in this county. The greatest amount of profit during the term named, has 
been from wheat, and from corn, oats, rye, and buckwheat in the order named. 
Beans and potatoes have not been cultivated to any great extent as a market 
crop, though for the last three years the latter crop has paid well, and its 
cultivation is increasing."
        In Fond du Lac, wheat and wool are the chief crops, our correspondent 
estimating the profit on the former at 50 per cent, and 35 per cent on the 
latter; while in Brown, wheat and hay rank first, the latter, in the spring of 
1867, bringing $25 to $35 per ton. Our Door reporter says:—
        "The most profitable crops are wheat, 25 bushels to the acre; oats, 40 
bushels; peas, 40 bushels; potatoes, 130 bushels." In Calumet, wheat and 
rape-seed. are grown as follows: "Winter wheat, 25 bushels per acre; spring 
wheat, 18 bushels per acre; rape-seed, 17 bushels per acre; the cost of sowing 
and harvesting the wheat being about the value of five bushels, and of the 
rape-seed, four bushels."
        In Outagamie "the largest yield of winter wheat on new ground is from 45 
to 50 bushels—average, 35 to 40; on old ground, 30 to 35 bushels; spring wheat, 
when well cultivated, 35 bushels; expenses of crop do not exceed $9 per acre, 
including seed."
        In Sauk, "hops are made a specialty, growing luxuriantly and yielding 
most abundantly, averaging three-fourths of a ton per acre, and selling at from 
50 to 60 cents per pound. This county alone, last season, received for the 
article of hops about $3,000,000—cost of raising, about 22 cents per pound." Our 
Monroe correspondent estimates the profits upon this crop to be 350 per cent on 
outlay of capital and labor. In Richland the profit is given at 150 per cent. 
Sauk is at present the great hop county, but the vines are being largely 
cultivated in other localities, and the great success which has attended 
experiments thus far must stimulate still greater attention to the crop, to 
which the region seems especially adapted.
        The wheat crop of 1866 reached 20,307,920 bushels, or an average of 14½ 
bushels per acre; corn, 9,414,583 bushels, average per acre, 28.3; oats, 
17,174,086 bushels, average 33.3; potatoes, 3,940,273 bushels, average, 91 
bushels; hay, 1,151,477 tons, average, 1.3 ton per acre.
        Comparatively little winter wheat has been grown in Wisconsin, but its 
success has been so repeatedly demonstrated in various parts of the State that 
the quantity raised is rapidly increasing.
        From Marathon our correspondent writes:—
        "The only reason why farmers do not raise more winter wheat is because 
they do not know how well our soil and climate are adapted to it."
        The usual time for sowing spring wheat is from the last week in March to 
the middle or latter part of April; and for winter, the first of September. 
Harvesting commences the first or second week in July with winter wheat, and 
extends to the middle of August with the spring grain. The general mode of 
culture for spring wheat is to plow in the fall, and early in the spring use the 
cultivator, then sow the wheat and harrow until the wheat is covered. A few 
farmers roll their wheat soon after sowing, but the custom is dying out as the 
land becomes older. Our correspondent says that the first, second, and sometimes 
the third crops on new ground are generally spring wheat; afterward, each 
alternate year following, oats or corn.