ll at once state that the influence
of this on vegetation must be very great, and accordingly spring crops
grow with such rapidity that corn is fit to be cut by the 1st of
September. From December to March, as above, the atmosphere is hazy,
cloudy, and frosty, though the thermometer never sinks so low as in
the south of Michigan by ten or twelve degrees (8 or 10 degrees below
zero, being the lowest yet known), and a winter thaw is unknown here.
Hence we never have mud in winter, and but little at any season.

"With the very defective cultivation hitherto used here, yield of
crops are as follows:--Potatoes, free of rot, 150 to 300 bushels to
the acre; oats 25 to 60; corn 25 to 50; wheat (spring) the largest yet
raised 27 bushels. Wheat raised here is much more plump than in
southern Michigan, and there is no instance of its being smothered or
injured by snow, because the snow never thaws and alternately freezes
into a hard crust, or ice, so as to exclude the air from the wheat, as
in other places.

"We confidently predict that this will become the most prolific wheat
region in the west; rust and insects are unknown. All experience goes
to prove that this will be a great fruit country. The Indian apple and
peach trees, although few in number bear well every year; and as to
wild blackberries and raspberries, both as to size and flavor, there
is absolutely no end. They serve all the inhabitants and millions of
pigeons for several months."

United States census, 1850, shows products of States.

Average per acre of
Wheat. Oats Corn. Potatoes.
Michigan 10 Bushels 26 32 140
Illinois 11 " 29 33 105
Indiana 12 " 20 33 100
Iowa 14 " 36 32 100

Average per acre of
Wheat. Oats Corn. Potatoes.
Ohio 12 " 21 36
Wisconsin 14 " 35 30
Pennsylvania 15 " 20
New York 12 " 25 27

CLIMATE.--Council Bluffs is in latitude 41-1/2 deg., Dubuque 42-3/4 deg.,
Green Bay 43-1/2 deg., and Mackinaw City about 46 deg.. By reference to the
following tables of temperature, it will be seen that these points are
about on the same isothermal line, practically removing, by these
tables, the prejudices generally existing against the climate of
northern Michigan--see Blodgett's Climatology and Ar