Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 May 1859 — Farmer's Department. [ARTICLE]

Farmer's Department.

CONDUCTED BY AN AGRICULTURIST.

JASPER county. Extent— It ill Roads —l Viter — Mineral—TAme Font—Clay for brick—Sw sac — Soil — Timber. J isper county, as at present organized and bounded, embraces t rritorv equal t > twen- ■ tv-six and one-halt tow nships, i f thirty-six miles each; being more th in fve hundred and fifty thousand!' acres. Near the can er of the 1 county, but westward of it, is a lake, coverj ing eight to ten thousand acres, th" remain- ; in ™ fve hundred and forty thousand acres is \ arable land, and with proper cultivation will ; produce anything adapted to this latitu le i less than halt the entire county is covered ; | with timber. Of the many varieties, th j 0.. k, in its m•• ny species, predominates. The other halt ot the county is prairie, covere : annually w ith a vigorous growth ofluxurian grasses. It is proposed to" divide tiiis countv, an 11 steps h .ve been taken to that effect, by a ; 1 ne running from north to south. so as to; j cut off two tiers of whole townships, and a tier ot fractional townships, from the west j side, including about eleven townships in all. j of an area ot ne irly four hundred miles, in-| eluding the l.ik ; leaving t • Jasper 1 fi teen j and one-h ll townships,of' about Jive hundred ; and fifty miles, or three 'inndred an 1 ri ty-six ! thousand acres, all tillable lands, which are, worth for farms', at the present time, Irom three to twelve dollars per acre, while cultivated. sell from eighteen to twenty dollar.- : uri acre.

A railroad runs within one an! a h i miles of the eastern line of the coun'y,along its whole boundary, from north to south. Another road has been loc-.ted across the southern border of the county, from east to west, which is now graded and will e put in running cornlit im, _the coming year. A third railroad his been located across the county, from east t > west, n >ar the center, wlicli is parti <l:y graded, running bv the county seat. Two large rivers, the K ink ikee on the north, and the Iroquois through the center, together with nu nerous sm tiler stream-, form outlets to the surplus water of the county, while .nnunierahie springs, in every p ut, furnish an in ailing supply of wa'er in llio dryesl seasons, bodi for stock and culinary purposes. Many of t iiose springs form pools near where they emerge from the surface, on the hillsides and valleys, which are familiarly called ‘ due c-lioi.es,” filled with fish, and when drained, make’ small limped rills, II nving throughout the year. From the loose, porous nature of the soil around many oT these springs, tlieir value is not always appreciated until the land ileneed for pasture, or a drought causes stocit.u frequent them for drink in the summer. Wells sunk from five to thirty Met, have stru. k living veins of but h hard and so t water, web'll How with inexti mstable plenty many of the n never drying up since they were opened, showing that the fountains ri-e in different strata, an I that the crop

flings are near the surface. Near th.* K nk.kee, on the.north side o the couti'y. a ledge of stone comes up within one or two led ol tin* surface for main miles. Further south, as the stone strata dip, a superincumhe-.t !> *.J of iron ore, covering many hundred acres, and passing to Si veral townships, has bci n discovered, ami thousai ds of tons t rovvn ifp by ditchers on the State lands. Mid.vsiV between the K<n kakee and Irnquds, are strong im'ica’i ns of an extensive coal-field, the copper-ci lore decompositi n of the coal ashes uni the ne trulium, giving name to Copper 15 attorn, a creek w,.ich Haws into the Iroquois. Similar indications, demonstrating ilie presence of coal or peat, m iv be seen a few miles south o R *nsselajr. Toe limestone crops out at the lulls of the Iroquois river at Rensselaer, and near this town on Lie south an 1 west. Four miles south-east of Rensse.cer is a sandstone str.tiun, rising to the surface. Marls, debris, shales of water-lone, boulders containing fossil shells, graywacks, strata of yellow and blue clays are met with ih oughout the county. Yellow inicai sand, resembling gold dust, has been disc .vered in strata on the west tod-* ol the count)-, but fl >at* oil quicksilv. r. Fossil plants and shells, and specimens of coral, are found de ached in the soil and beds of stre ms. which is a slighj indication of tli * nature of the land, and flie abundant presence ol decomposing animal remains accounts, ill some measure, for the exuberant fertility of the soil. The surface o: J.,spur couti'y is much diversified. Broad unnulating prairies, terminating in everglades, forms a st. iking feature, and, at first. v ; ew, favorably impresses the stranger. From the black loam o the prairies, so tortile in corn, oats, b rley, buckwheat and the grasses, tin* glades rise gradually into rolling bills, two to three hundred leet high, above the bed of the rivers, composed ol s only loam and clays, rich in wh .t, corn, grasses, gardens fruit-trees, sugar-canes on! other vegitables. No part o' the county is so low or tl ■t. but that with proper draining, it will produce the tame grasses in the wetest years; nor is any part so steep ns to he inaccessible to the plow, or so high as to sutler from drought in ordinary seasons. The timber in Jasper is not always situa

tod so as to be convenient to small farms, hut hard tie her is plenty for ordinary purposes, and from the rapidity in which the young growth comes on, where the large timber is cut off, it. is highly probable there .vill be more timber in the county fi tv yeare hence, than at present. The price of good lumber is dear, nd dwelling- commands tlieir full value. Rents are high, but firewood is cheap, because little or none is burnt or wasted in the clearings, although, in the eastern puit o, the c< unty, the tree* on some farms are girdled and allowed to fall down by peaceinel and rot on the premises. The first impression upon a stranger arriving here in tb • supm t, is th it p tsturage and grazing are the natural features of the county. Many have, and are now trying this business. But wln-rever the plow ente s the surface, or a ditcla is cut, the adaptation of the soil to the growth of anything common to this latitude, is not less appar--itit- Many are engaged in this. Directed by this intimation, I propose to make inquiries into the experience and success ol those w h > have followed one or the other of these pursuits.