Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 May 1885 — Fertility of Dakota Soil. [ARTICLE]

Fertility of Dakota Soil.

“You have a very rich soil here,” remarked a tenderfoot to a Dakota farmer. “Rich! well, I should say so. Two years ago a young man from the East came on here. He carried a snakewood cane. He stuck, it in the ground and left it here.” “I suppose,” remarked the tenderfoot, with a smile, “you mean to tell me it sprouted.” “Sprouted! Well, I should say it did, and blossomed too. Why, last year I killed ten bushels of blacksnakes on that pateh of ground, and each one was varnished and had a hammered silver head.” —Ne w York Graphic.