IOWA.

The bulk of the public lands in Iowa, still subject to sale and homestead entry, are located in what is known as the Sioux City land district, embracing the counties of Sioux, Lyon, Osceola, O'Brien, Cherokee, Ida, Sac, Buena Vista, Clay, Dickenson, Woodbury, Plymouth, and the western parts of Emmet, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, and Calhoun. In most of these, public lands are to be had, amounting, in the aggregate, to over 1,500,000 acres. This section of the State is supplied abundantly with running streams, many of which furnish admirable water powers. In several of the counties named there are beautiful lakes, varying in size and depth-Spirit Lake, in Dickenson County, being the largest. Springs are common, and in their absence pure water may be obtained at almost any point by sinking wells ten to twenty feet in depth. The surface is undulating prairie, generally well drained. Hon. A. R. Fulton, a member of the legislature of Iowa, who recently made a personal inspection of the lands of this district, says the upland prairies are more rolling than the valleys, and have in some places the appearance of waves or billows of the sea, especially in the summer season, when their green covering of grass is touched by the gentle winds that pass over them. The soil is somewhat different from that in the valleys, but is rich, and well adapted to the raising of wheat. The valley land is nearly all above high-water mark, and, although apparently nearly level, is dry, and susceptible of easy cultivation. The soil is a deep loam, with an admixture of sand, which has the effect of making it retentive of moisture, while it seldom remains for any length of time so wet as to prevent farming operations. The Missouri River bottom is from ten to twenty miles wide; the valleys of the Big Sioux, Little Sioux, Floyd River, and their several tributaries, vary from half to two miles in width. The bottom lands are especially adapted to corn and vegetables, while wheat, oats, and rye will flourish alike on both the upland and bottom prairies. Timber is found in greater or less abundance on the margins of streams. The climate of this portion of Iowa is conceded to be healthful; the atmosphere, while it is somewhat severe in winter, with high winds, being clear, pure, and dry.

The rapid development of the railroad system in the State, crossing over the public lands, is opening up increasingly large tracts to settlement. In no other State are lands being taken up more rapidly. The Iowa Falls and Sioux City railroad, whose route traverses from east to west valuable portions of the public area within the Sioux City and Fort Dodge districts, will be completed, it is believed, before the beginning of the year 1871. The St. Paul and Pacific railroad, to which a munificent grant of lands was given by Congress, is now in process of construction, and will connect, when completed, the northwestern counties of Iowa with the lumber regions of Minnesota.

KANSAS.

Over forty-two and a half million acres of land are subject to sale and entry in this young and growing State. The general surface is prairie, with a soil from two to three feet in depth, resting on a fortifying sub-soil. There are no mountain ranges or lakes and but few swamps in the State. Water-courses are abundant, most of the streams having a gentle current, and flowing over rocky or gravelly beds, with high banks. The Neosho River Valley is considered the garden spot of Kansas. The southern portion of the State, including the Osage purchase, is well

adapted to grazing. The climate is temperate and healthful, and espe cially favorable to stock-raising. In the southern part of the State the temperature is so mild that little provision for the wintering of cattle is necessary. All kinds of grain and vegetables common to its latitude are grown successfully. Fruit-growing has not been tested to any consid erable extent, but nurserymen express the belief that fruit will do well. The climate is peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of the grape. Excellent wine from the Kansas grape has been manufactured. The various kinds of small berries grow in great profusion.

The population of Kansas, which in 1860 was 107,206, is now estimated at over 440,000, and the State is filling up with great rapidity. In the year 1867 nearly 2,900,000 acres were surveyed in the Cherokee neutral and Osage reservations, situated near the southern boundary of Kansas. As Indian reserves, these lands had been kept out of the market, and are reported as among the most desirable in the State. They are now open for homestead entry. It is estimated that there are nearly ten million acres of alluvial lands in the State undisposed of.

NEBRASKA.

The surface is gently rolling, gradually rising toward the west, and is almost entirely free from low marshes. The river valleys are rich and productive; vast prairies extend in all directions, with a diversity of soil, from the best alluvial and good upland to the gravelly ridges and barren sand-hills. There is no scarcity of water. Timber is somewhat scarce in localities, but numerous groves of cottonwood, oak, walnut, &c., grow along the rivers. The climate is mild, and the summers are of a high temperature. Stock is easily subsisted and provided for on the prairies, where a rich native grass grows in great abundance. The State is traversed from east to west by that great national highway the Union Pacific railroad. There are yet of public lands undisposed of in the State 41,624,000 acres. The fertile lands in the valleys of the Republican, Nebraska, and Platte are being taken up rapidly by actual settlers.

COLORADO.

In his report of July, 1868, to the General Land Office, the surveyor general of Colorado says that Territory has some of the finest pastoral and agricultural lands in the world, and fine food for cattle. Already large herds of cattle and horses are raised on its rich mountain and valley pastures, and in a few years stock-raising will be of immense value to the country. The lands susceptible of irrigation produce wheat finely, the product reaching forty to sixty bushels per acre. The valleys, or distinctly agricultural regions of Colorado, embrace 30,000,000 acres, one-sixth of which admits of cultivation, the remainder being admirably adapted to purposes of herding. On account of the scarcity of rains, irrigation is necessary, and lands are selected with reference to the ease with which irrigation may be accomplished, farmers uniting in constructing irrigating canals at comparatively small cost. On these lands, formerly considered valueless, wheat has yielded eighty bushels to the acre, oats a hundred bushels, corn over a hundred and fifty bushels in the ear, potatoes five hundred bushels, while abbages have been grown weighing thirty pounds, and turnips weighing fifteen pounds. Onions are a very successful crop. Plums, cherries, grapes, raspberries, and other small fruits grow profusely in a wild state. Some of the parks, or basins, protected on all sides by mountains, afford

an excellent soil and salubrious climate. San Luis Park, with an area of eighteen thousand square miles, is watered by thirty-five streams, and contains a population of twenty-five thousand, principally engaged in agriculture and stock-raising. Timber is scanty on the plains, but may be obtained in the mountains in the greatest abundance. Inexhaustible beds of coal have been found, and the Territory furnishes alum, salt, gypsum, soda, lime, lead, copper, antimony, zinc, silver, and gold.

DAKOTA.

The eastern portion of Dakota is well adapted to agricultural pursuits and wool-growing, affording a large area of natural meadow land and pastures well watered. Much arable land is found also in the north western part of the Territory. Settlers are locating along the Red River of the North, and in the valley of the Missouri River between Fort Randall and Fort Sully. The surface is generally elevated and well watered by large rivers and their affluents. The excellent land of this Territory and its valuable mineral resources give promise of rapid settlement. Nearly 91,000,000 acres are subject to pre-emption and homestead entry.

NEW MEXICO.

The lands in New Mexico susceptible of cultivation are confined exclu sively to the valleys of streams. The Rio Grande, the Gila, and the Colorado afford facilities for a system of extensive and efficacious irrigation. "Properly so called," says Surveyor General Clark, "there are neither barren nor desert lands to any great extent in New Mexico. The Territory is properly divided between valleys, which can be irrigated by the streams flowing through them, mesas or table lands, (under which designation I would class all the lands not mountain or irrigable valleys,) and mountains." He estimates the arable lands of the Santa Fé district at 1,000,000 acres; the term arable being used as synonymous with irrigable, as no lands can be cultivated with any certainty of raising a crop without irrigation. There is a considerable rain-fall during the months of July and August, but so little during April, May, and June that, without irrigation, crops will ordinarily perish.

It is further stated by the surveyor general that the amount of irrigable lands is only limited by the amount of water in the streams; even the Rio Grande might all be used in the irrigation of the lands in its valley. The water supplied by irrigation not only affords the necessary moisture for the growth of vegetation, but also enriches the soil by depositing the sedimentary matter held in solution, and thus lands which have been under cultivation for more than two hundred years still produce excellent crops without ever having been manured or fertilized by other means.

The table lands and mountain sides produce the most nutritious grasses which afford excellent grazing throughout the entire year. No flies or mosquitoes annoy the herds, and disease among sheep and cattle is comparatively unknown. Peaches, apples, apricots, grapes, and, in the more southern portions of the Territory, quinces, pomegranates, and figs, grow abundantly.

ARIZONA.

The soil of Arizona and its general surface are not dissimilar in general characteristics to those of New Mexico, of which political divi

sion it at one time was a part. The acreage susceptible of irrigation is estimated at 5,000,000; the grazing lands at 55,000,000. The residue, 12,906,304 acres, is covered by water, or consists of plains not irrigable, and mountains. Evidences of a very old civilization exist in New Mexico and Arizona, among them ruins of cities and temples, and appliances for cultivating the soil. Traces of irrigating canals are discernible in many sections. Cattle, sheep, and horses may be pastured on plain and mountain during the whole year. The country is well adapted to the culture of wine and silk.

The survey of the Territory has been undertaken by the government. However, parties who may have settled in good faith upon the unoccupied lands will, when the lines of the public surveys are extended over their claims, be protected in their pre-emption or homestead rights.

CALIFORNIA.

It is estimated that there are not less than 89,000,000 acres of land in California suited to some kind of husbandry. Of this amount over 40,000,000 are tillable, and the remainder adapted to stock-raising, fruitgrowing, &c. The southern portion of the State is more particularly devoted to horticulture. It is said that no better soil and climate are afforded in any country for the cultivation of the grape than in this part of California. The yield exceeds that of the most celebrated European vineyards. Three hundred varieties have been introduced. The acreage in vines is about 45,000, with an average of nine hundred vines to the acre. The vintage of 1867 was estimated at over 4,000,000 gallons of wine and about the same quantity of brandy. One thousand pounds of grapes to the acre is the minimum yield, while as high as 20,000 pounds have been produced. The orange, lemon, fig, lime, olive, apricot, nectarine, pine-apple, pomegranate, and other tropical and sub-tropical fruits grow in great abundance. Fruit trees grow more rapidly and produce larger varieties than in almost any other part of the world. The pear thrives in all parts of the State. In the markets of San Francisco strawberries are sold every month in the year.

The cereals, potatoes, tobacco, sorghum, and in some localities cotton. and the sugar cane, are successfully and very profitably grown. Sixty bushels of wheat to the acre is not an unusual yield. The cultivation of the mulberry tree and the rearing of silk-worms promise to become an important source of wealth in the State. The worms seem to be exempt from the diseases which for twenty years have prevailed in many of the cocooneries of Europe, threatening the destruction of the native species. The California silk-worm eggs are in great request among European breeders. The State has undertaken to foster this important branch of industry by offering liberal premiums for the planting of mulberry trees and the production of cocoons. Silk factories are being

erected in the State.

Stock and sheep-raising is a leading branch of husbandry. The mild winters and perpetual pastures enable stock to graze throughout the year. In the year 1867 there were 2,000,000 sheep in the State, yielding a wool product of 9,000,000 pounds.

California has an abundance and great variety of timber. The red wood, found only here and in the southern part of Oregon, is a valued commercial wood. It grows in dense forests, which are estimated to cover in the aggregate 10,000 square miles. The trees frequently reach a height of two hundred and seventy feet and a diameter of eighteen to twenty feet.

Good public lands in ample quantity are subject to purchase and homestead entry in almost any quarter of the State.

OREGON.

A large portion of the Willamette Valley is well adapted to agriculture. This beautiful and highly fertile valley, lying upon both sides of the river of its name, contains an area of 2,000,000 acres. The botton lands produce an almost unbroken line of forests, varying from one-eighth to half a mile in width, consisting of fir, oak, maple, cottonwood, and alder. The prairie lands possess a deep, rich soil. All the productions common to the field, garden, and orchard of temperate regions are here successfully grown.

The majority of the valleys afford rich and easily cultivable lands, among which may be named the Umpqua and the Rogue's River on the west of the Cascade range. The rich agricultural valleys of northern and eastern Oregon are attracting the attention of settlers. By many the climate east of the Cascade Mountains is preferred to that of the Willamette Valley. This portion of the State is as yet sparsely settled, notwithstanding its conceded advantages as an agricultural and pastoral region.

Northern Oregon, east of the Cascades, includes the attractive valleys of the Umatilla, John Day, Falls, Deschutes, and Crooked Rivers. What is known as East Oregon, east of the Blue Mountains, includes the valleys of the Grande Ronde, Powder River, Harney's Lake, Alvord, Owyhee, &c. Good farming and grazing lands, abundant timber and water may be found in these valleys. Settlements in several of them are just beginning to be made. The producing interests of the State are greatly on the increase.

WASHINGTON TERRITORY.

A large portion of the Territory is mountainous, but there are vast prairies and good grazing lands adapted to herding on a large scale. The Territory is divided into two sections by the Cascade Mountains, known as Eastern and Western Washington. In the former, a region embracing an area of 40,000 square miles, agriculture cannot be followed with success, except at rare intervals, on account of the scanty rain-fall and the difficulties in the way of irrigation. To use the language of the surveyor general of the Territory: "Notwithstanding present appearances and obvious difficulties, it is impossible for any one who has trav eled over this vast and magnificent region, rich in soil and possessed of a most salubrious climate, to believe that the greater portion of it was destined to remain forever uninhabited, a vast and unreclaimable wilderness in the midst of population, wealth, civilization, and material progress." Exception must be made, however, in favor of the Walla-Walla district, where stock raising and the culture of wheat have been carried on with great success.

West of the Cascade Mountains there are immense tracts of arable lands inviting settlement. The valleys of the Chehalis and the Willopah contain the best lands of this section of the Territory, and are rapidly being filled up by a thrifty population. The valley of Puget Sound, with an area of 12,000 square miles, affords rich farming lands along the numerous water courses. Quoting again from the surveyor general: "Western Washington points to commerce, manufactures, and mines as the main sources of her present prosperity and future greatness; while