FARMING IN AMERICA.

Patea Mail, 10 February 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)

FARMING IN AMERICA.

(from the Glasgow Herald's special CORRESPONDENT.

GLEANINGS BY THE WAY ON A TRIP PROM MINNESOTA TO KENTUCKY. Leaving the Red River Valley of the North the traveller is soon whirled over the intervening 200 odd miles southeast to St. Paul, the capital of Minnesota, The road through the upper reaches of the Red River Valley is mostly over prairie, which gradually merges into timber lands, very sparsely settled. Reaching St. Cloud, on the Mississippi, and all the way from this point to St. Paul, the country shows signs of being settled for a considerable length of time. Both soil and crop seem to be poor. The small towns on the banks of the river are principally supported by large lumber mills, mostly driven by water-power derived from the creeks which flow into the river. These creeks also float down the timber from the interior to supply the saws. The timber is lodged in booms until required, and then dragged up an inclined plane from the water to the saw bench by machinery. All kinds of lumber are supplied from these mills for building houses, and other farm buildings aud fences out in the North-West. Lumber can be got very cheap on the spot, but the local freight on it is very high, so high indeed that the distance does not need to be very long when the cost of freight amounts to more than the price of the lumber. St. Paul is a busy, thriving city, and the great mercantile centre for supplying the North-West. It is rapidly growing into a well-built wealthy, and populous centre. It numbers about 50,000 inhabitants at present, and is rapidly increasing. There are some streets'of substantially built brick blocks, and the building of more of these is at present employing quite a little army of workmen. In opposition to this wholesale emporium of the North-West, and only 10 miles distant, is the thriving and more populous town of Minneapolis, a place justly famed for its flour and lumber mills. Besides these this town also contains a considerable number of other manufacturing interests, and in point of wealth and importance is usually reckoned to be almost equal, if not superior, to St. Paul. Minneapolis owes its wealth aud prosperity to the splendid water-power given by the Falls of St. Anthony on the Mississippi River, situated in the middle of the city, from which is derived nearly all the motive power for its mills and factories. St. Paul and Minneapolis are rapidly extending towards each other, and in a few years these two towns, if they continue growing, will be joined together, and will have for a connecting link the famous Falls of Minehaha (Laughing Waters.) These towns undoubtedly form the most important centre in the North-West, and have ample railway communication, together with the river traffic to New Orleans, to receive the benefit of very keenly cut rates of freight, which is a very important point in this immense Western country. There are some very rich agricultural districts in the neighbourhood of these cities, most of which have been reclaimed from timber, considerable portions of which form very rich cropping soils, but not so rich as the Red River Valley, their soil containing a larger proportion of sand, being, however, sheltered by the surrounding timber, and better suited for stock. I left St. Paul by the Sioux City road, which runs south the Minnesota River bottom lands to Kasota, in Central Minnesota. At this place I learned that Mr. Finlay Dunn had just passed through to Southern Minnesota, along with some of the directors of a recent-ly-formed Loudon colonisation company. I have seriously studied the question of the emigration of British farmers to North-Western lowa and Southern Minnesota. There are a great many companies, both English and Scotch, who hold lands on tihs neutral belt between the corn and wheat growing districts, these lauds in not a few instances having been hold until lately by private speculators who for years were unable to sell them, till the present depression in British agriculture caused the formation of a class of companies, a few of whom have invested in these lauds and also in the cullings of railroad lands in these districts which were left by earlier settlers. These lands, be it thoroughly understood by the British agricultur ist, were selected by these companies not because they were the most suitable for them to settle on, but simply because they could be got cheapest aud afforded the best means for making a big profit for the company. These companies are making gigantic efforts to settle up these districts by emigration from Great Britain. I do not say that the emigrants will not improve their condition in this district, which can neither grow wheat nor corn with any certainty; but I do say that either north, south, or west of this district they will with the same attention and capital do better, aud have a better choice of soil and location, at as cheap or cheaper rates. If they go west, they will grow wheat better and corn equally as well; if the go north, they get into the wheat and small grain district proper ; if they go south they get into the corn country proper; and a little further south into the winter wheat and corn country combined. More money can be made north aud west with a similar climate, and more money can be made south

and west with a better climate in winter and no warmer in summer. I would earnestly caution the British farmer to trust no colonisation company. See the district for himself before settling, and see more than one district. Almost anywhere in the Western States the farmer emigrant, with a little capital and due attention to the mode of cropping to suit soil and climate, will better his condition. Without this, and by locating in a district unsuitable for the style of farming which he proposes to follow, he will assuredly make as big a failure here as he can do at home. The route from Kasota to Chicago, a distance of 433 miles, I described in a previous communication. Suffice it to say that twenty hours after leaving Kasota I arrived in Chicago, the great metropolis of the west. During the few days I lingered there I had a look at the Board of Trade. Found wheat booming, on account of the bad harvest weather then prevalent in Great Britain. Spent a day in the stock-yards, and had a look at the thousands of Texan steers being sent in daily for sale. Saw one lot of 300 head ot fair Texans sold at 11s per lOOlba. live weight. This class made as high as Ids, and well-bred home sorts, fit for exportation, brought as much as 24s to 26s per loOlbs. live weight. These latter were very scarce, and exportation does not at present pay, owing to the high price here, although freights both by rail and steamer are exceptionally low. There was a large supply of fat hogs, splendid sorts, and in fine condition ; the number in for the day being a little over 15,000. There was a very poor selection of sheep, both in number and quality. The stud of horses were pretty fair for number, but poor for quality as compared with British horses. This remark applies to both harness aud work horses. Bidding adieu to Chicago for a time I started for Louisville, Kentucky, by the Kankakee route, 320 miles. Starting in the evening, the first rays of the sun found the train approaching the business centre of Indianapolis; with its smoke-begrimed habitations and teeming population of 75,000. The district from there all the way south to New Albany, on the Ohio River, at the southern boundary of the State of Indiana, has all been originally reclaimed from timber, is held mostly in small farms, and devoted to the growth of small grains and corn. The soil seems to have been subjected to a long period of severe drought, which has injured the corn to some extent. Farmers were busily engaged shocking this crop, which did not appear to be a very bulky one. Farmers’ bouses were either log or frame —very few being built of stone or brick. New Albany is a place of some importance, has several steam-power manufactories, and contains a population of 16,000. Louisville, on the other side of the Ohio River, is reached by a very light, airy-looking iron bridge, extending to five or six hundred yards in length. This is the second largest city on the Ohio River, being only eclipsed by Cincinnati, which is double its size. Louisville is built close on to the river bank, at this point about 50 feet above the water. Has in many parts well paved streets, substantial business blocks, and a general air of successful business enterprise which I hardly expected to find in this tobacco and whiskey centre. It is connected with the outside world by several lines of railway, both north and south, and has navigation on the river to Cincinnati on the east and Cairo on the west. Last census it contained a population of 123,000, Judging from those I saw on the streets, a large proportion seemed to be negroes and mulattoes. Travelling south over the 1500 miles between Manitoba and Kentucky one cannot help noticing the gradual change in the general appearance and manners of the people at the various points passing down. In Winnipeg one sees the stalwart Englishman or Scotchman still wearing the ruddy, healthy coloured hue on his features which he imported from his island home. There also, and the most numerous class of all, are the broad, muscular forms and bronzed features of the Canadiauized Briton and a sprinkling ol the French Canadian with his round, chubby face and perpetual grin, and by no means the smallest class, and very noticeable by their broad, tawny faces, peculiarly shaped check bones, aud thick necks are the Indian half-breeds, aud last are the local Indian tribes themselves, who have settled down to farming in the district, with an occasional camp of wandering Sioux. Down in St. Paul and Minneapolis one sees a mixture of all the nationalities of the Northern Continent of Europe, with the healthy fresh faces only to be seen in a northern temperate latitude. These places contain more of the dash ot the American than tbe slow going tone of the Canadian cities. In Chicago, the great cosmopolitan city of the West, one sees people of every nation, ot every shade of colour, from the pale, sickly looking white of the South, to his bronzed, ruddy-featured looking brother of the North-West. The nigger, in all his various shades of black and brown, and natives of almost every country in the known world find their habitation in Chicago. Perhaps the most numerous of any class are our fun and whiskey loving, disconted, and mischief-brewing Irishman. His restless spirit keeps the American authorities on the alert. Poor Pat ! “ Shure, be is niver out of throuble.” In Louisville one sees the pale-faced,

dark-bearded white, and niggers and mulattoes of every shade —the general tone of everyday life being quite different from what is seen in any of these other cities I have named. The negro element of happy-go-lucky and very irregular mode of working would apply very aptly to the general style of conducting business generally. There seems to be a want 6f that earnestness, combined with energy and dash, which is the attribute of the thorough-going Chicagoan. It seems, however, to be a thriving, busy city, despite its fitful mode of life.

I felt jaded and tired with constant rail travelling, and by way of a change made up my mind to take a run down the river with a Henderson Packet to Stephensport, a distance of 100 miles by the river, and from thence strike inward through Kentucky towards Tennessee. Getting on board the packet boat, sailing under the euphonious name of J. P. ‘ Drouillard, I left Louisville at sundown on my trip down the river. At first for a few miles our course lay through the canal which is formed at this point, to, avoid rapids on the river. A full moon rose on the scene, which was almost beautiful beyond descripticn. To me it was really pleasant and refreshing, being tired and jaded with travelling the previous night and stewed all day in a burning suu with a register of 100 degrees in the shade. The cool, refreshing breeze got. up by the motion of the boat through the water was pleasant indeed. The river, several hundred yards in width, glistened like a band of silver in the clear light of the moon, with dark shadows thrown athwart the stream at some of the turns by the densely wooded banks and the quietness of all the surroundings, disturbed only by the beat of the paddle or the bark ot a watch-dog, seemed to indicate the very essence of rest and contentment. So much so that I had fallen sound asleep in my chair on deck admiring the scene. About one o’clock in the morning I was wakened by a shouting and yelling, which turned out to be a camp meeting on shore which we were then passing. There were several camp fires and any number of lamps hung from trees, and the darkies by the score running about gesticulating and shouting, looking in the ruddy glare of the fires and lights like as many demons let loose. They were all ages and sexes, and they seemed to be having a good time, as the Americans say. A bend of the river hid them from our sight, and having had enough moon-gazing for a night I retired, only to find the same beautiful winding stream when I awoke, with low banks densely wooded. The stream varying from 200 to 600 yards wide, the water was very low, and we had a little difficulty in getting over some of the bars which made us behind time. We called at small landing places every few miles, which was managed by a barge moored to the shore at those places, and a loaded barge which was attached to the bow of our boat. It was a stern wheel boat, and soundings were required at the turns of the river to keep the boat in the channel.

The boat grounded once or twice, and had to back off. The water was so low that she took about double her usual time to get over the 100 miles, but, although slow, it was a very pleasant change from being whirled through the country at twenty miles an hour in a dusty, hot railroad car. The twistings and turnings of the river enclosed by its shelving wooded banks at last brought us to Stephensport, where we left the boat, after spending a whole day and night aboard, one of the most enjoyable in regard to weather and comfort I have spent in America. Some proverb says, “ Pleasures are seldom unalloyed ours also had their alloy in the shape of bad food, badly cooked, and the water taken from the river with the sewage of half a million people going into it above the point where we were having our water supply. The long-continued drought had brought down many cattle and hundreds of hogs to drink and bathe in the river. Knowing the one circumstance and seeing the other it was very pleasant to see the cook swing his pail overboard for a fresh supply of water. These trifling shortcomings, however, went a short way towards spoiling our otherwise delightful trip. A scramble up a steep rocky bank for 100 feet or so to the top of the bluff landed us breathless and hungry into honest John Bennett’s house of public entertainment at Stephensport.