The first inquiry of the intelligent pioneer regarding any particular locality will be, "What are its climate and soil?" and we are aware that upon climatic conditions, as composition of soil, depends not only the producing capacity of a country, but the character and prosperity of its inhabitants.  But the former will be considered further on.

The soil is generally a drift deposit, covered with a black sandy loam and vegetable mold, from two to four feet deep, but, in the valleys, partakes more of an alluvial character, and is frequently ten feet thick, with a gravely subsoil.  Formed largely from the decay of the vegetation which has flourished on these prairies for unnumbered years, the soil is exceedingly rich and is easily cultivated.

We would not have it inferred that there is sufficient sand to, in the least, impair its fertility, but, in fact, there is just enough to give it warmth and mellowness.  We quote from the report of Dr. C.A. White, State Geologist, vol. 2, p. 204, where, in treating of our soil, he says:

"This  fortunate admixture of soil materials give a warmth and mellowness to the soil which is so favorable to the growth of crops, that they are usually matured, even in the northern part of this region, as early as they are upon the more clayey soils of the southern part of the State, although the latter are two hundred miles further southward.  Such a soil has also the additional advantage of becoming sufficiently dry to cultivate sooner after the frosts of early spring have ceased, or the rain showers of summer have ended, than those do which contain a greater proportion of clay."

Besides these excellencies in our soil in the important one of its remarkable capacity for enduring severe drought.  This is to be attributed not only to the looseness and depth of the soil, but to the nature of the sub-soil which underlies it.  This is a clayed loam from sixty to two hundred feet thick, and is very porous, allowing the moisture to work up through it from an indefinite depth.  Thus, during the great drought of 1870, which extended throughout the whole West, while in Kansas there was an almost total failure of crops and pasturage, and large numbers were leaving the State, in Lyon County what farms were then under cultivation produced abundantly, and the county was clothed in luxurious verdure.

Whatever inducements Lyon County may offer to the manufacturer, the merchant, or those engaged in the various pursuits of life, the essential fact remains that in our soil there lies a sure foundation for future wealth and greatness.  Here alone is there not only the source of abundant material wealth, but the capitalist, foreseeing what the future is to bring forth when the hundreds of thousands of our unplowed acres are brought under cultivation, will not hesitate to invest his treasure in the various enterprises necessary to our growth and prosperity.  And the husbandman has reason for his faith in a soil which never fails to reward him generously for the labor bestowed in its cultivation.  But we shall speak of some of the staple productions of our agriculture, beginning with

WHEAT

We doubt if anywhere since being transported from its native plains in Central Asia, has this great cereal found a more congenial soil and climate than in Northwestern Iowa and Lyon County.  The great essentials to successful wheat-growing, a rare atmosphere with a soil rich in lime materials, here exists in the most favorable conditions.  The variety principally grown is that known as spring wheat, which is sown as soon as frost disappears in spring, and is harvested in July.  Its growth is heavy, the straw strong and berry plump.  During the four years of its cultivation in Lyon County, it has never been affected by any disease whatever.  With regard to yield, good judges place the average of the whole crop in the county, the present season, at from twenty-five to forty bushels per acre.  These estimates will appear like exaggerations in many portions of the East, but we believe they will not vary much from the actual yield.  It is true that the present year is unusually favorable, but the crop has never fallen below twenty-two bushels, and it is safe, to calculate the average yield at twenty bushels per acre, or over.

The land is broken in May and June, and the next spring is ready for sowing without being plowed.  Sowing, reaping, raking and threshing are all done by machinery, there being no hills, stumps, rocks, or other impediments to its use.

It may be objected that the long transportation which it must bear will seriously reduce the profits of its growth, but we believe that its easier production, certain and greater yield than in the East, much more than overbalance the greater cost of its transportation.  Beside the increasing demand for breadstuffs in the mining countries to the West, we have a choice between the Chicago and Duluth wheat markets.  Adding to these advantages the fact that it always finds ready market and sells for cash, it is believed that the growing of wheat in Lyon County is one of the most favorable opportunities now presenting itself to the agriculturalist.  Some idea of the importance which it will assume in the future may be gathered from the fact that if one-fourth of the tillable land in Lyon County was sown to wheat, yielding fifteen bushels per acre, low estimates, a single crop would amount to 1,380,000 bushels.

  CORN

There is an impression prevailing to a considerable extent that this cereal cannot be raised with success in Northwestern Iowa, owing to coldness of the climate.  This opinion has no foundation, as will be shown in our article on climate.  Actual experience and statistics show that the mean summer heat of this region of the Missouri slope is equal to that required for the successful growth of corn.  With a congenial climate and a warm soil, rich in nitrogen, it is one of our most certain and valuable productions.  Mr. L.F. Knight has cultivated corn on his farm at the forks of Rock River since 1869, and has never failed to secure a good crop, and it has never been cutoff by drought, frost or slight, yielding, in some years, as high as eighty bushels of shelled corn to the acre.

With good management, the yield is from fifty to eighty bushels per acre.  This crop, as well as all others, is raised with less than half the labor usually required on the worn-out soils, or among the stumps and stones, with which the Eastern farmer has to contend.  A man and a boy can tend forty acres, besides devoting a portion of their time to other crops, the hoe hardly ever being used.  This, with a yield of from forty to sixty bushels to the acre, would give all the way from 1,600 to 2,400 bushels of grain, which will give some idea of our facilities for stock and pork raising.  If one-fourth of the area of Lyon County was planted to corn, producing forty bushels to the acre, the yield of one crop would be 3,680,000 bushels.

OTHER GRAINS

Oats flourish remarkably, the yield having, in several instances, been as high as ninety bushels per acre, but from forty to sixty bushels is the common yield.  Barley, rye and buckwheat have, as yet, received but little attention, but, where cultivated have equaled the highest expectations, and will, no doubt, become favorite productions.

SORGHUM

Our warm, rich soil is well adapted to the growth of sorghum and imphee, and our dry and sunny autumns are most favorable to its ripening and manufacture.  The citizens of Lyon County have already given considerable attention to the cultivation of these plants, with excellent success, and their growth will no doubt become a permanent branch of our agriculture.

POTATOES

This esculent, without which the table of the king or the peasant is incomplete, here flourishes in its highest perfection.  It is nothing uncommon, with careful cultivation, especially on our alluvial bottom lands, to raise as high as three hundred bushels per acre.  They are of superior size and flavor, and the crop is becoming one of great importance.

OTHER PLANTS

This region seems peculiarly adapted, especially the alluvial soil of the valleys of the streams, to the raising of melons, squashes, tomatoes, beans, peas, cabbage, turnips, beets, and all the bulbous and salad plants.  If the exact weight and measurement of cabbage, turnips, onions, etc., grown in Lyon County the present season, were given, not one in ten in many portions of the country would believe it to be true.  In short, it may be said that nowhere is the soil more easily cultivated, or more certain to yield an ample reward for the labor bestowed upon it, than in Northwest Iowa and Lyon County.