BEET SUGAR CULTURE.

     In 1889, a prize was offered to the farmer who would raise the most corn to the acre in the State. Nine competitors raised over 100 bushels, the prize winner raising 188.
     The product of the State for 1891, was: --

     Seven years ago there was not a cow or hog killed in the State for other than domestic purposes.
     Now she has the third packing center in the United States, South Omaha, and the number of cattle marketed for packing and shipping in 1891 was follows:

     In 1880 Nebraska stood among the states of the Union in quantity of production as follows:

     Silk culture has proven profitable in the southern part of this State.
     During the last ten years much attention has been given to creameries, of which there are now 76 in operation.
     The deposits in State, national and savings

banks is (July, 1892,) $53,511,000, or $53.00 per capita.
     The product of Nebraska's 22 canning factories in 1891, was valued at $15,000.000.
     Four-fifths of the farmers of the state are within twelve miles of a railroad.

AS AN EDUCATIONAL STATE.

     Under a wise and beneficent provision of congress, Nebraska has been endowed with a vast area of land to be devoted to a perpetual school fund. The following table shows the amount of land set apart for school purposes:

     The annual revenue from these lands is $342,341. Besides this there is a permanent school fund of over $3,000,000 invested in state, county, and school bonds. No portion of these funds, or the interest derived therefrom, can ever be diverted into any other channel. They must remain forever as a permanent school fund.

PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILDREN.

SECURITY IN INVESTMENT.

     An eastern investor or a non-resident would not wisely loan money for a length of time on other than real estate security, hence we will speak of security for time real estate loans.
     One who lends only in the east; however broad his knowledge there, has only local knowledge of security, it is a fact that is not and cannot be disputed by anyone posted, that this section of country, in point of security alone, far surpasses the east. The reasons are manifest. East, the supply of money exceeds the demand, while in the west the demand for capital is very strong, the supply meagre, the distance to the money centres great, the profits to be derived from the capital large and valuations correspondingly low. It is, therefore necessary that the highest security be offered. The amounts placed are very low averaging, perhaps from five dollars to seven dollars per acre when the crop for a single year will more than liquidate the loan. Indeed, as shown by certificates in this issue it is not an uncommon occurrence for the purchaser to derive from the first crop planted a sum sufficient to repay him all he paid for the land. Not a single loan taken honestly in this section, with the exercise of the most ordinary judgment in value can result in loss. There are dishonest men everywhere, but there are also plenty of honest men. Corporations never die, too, so arrangements can readily be made with honest and responsible parties, by which loans can be made with absolute security and without danger of vexation, delay or cost in case of the death of an individual. These loans should be made upon the facts and not upon the guaranty of others, for the guaranty may be defective at last, and the more the guaranty is used the poorer it is, but the property, if taken as indicated above, will be absolute. While money in this country, for a short time on personal security, brings ten per cent, these real estate loans including commissions to those negotiating them, do not cost the borrower more than about from seven to eight per cent. The lender of the money can thus get undoubted security and from six to seven per cent, interest promptly paid semi-annually in New York exchange. This interest and the principal at maturity is met, as a rule, on the very day it is due.
     A usual form of loaning is upon first mortgage and coupon bond. The lender should have an abstract of title, a certificate of the value of the land and the papers in proper form. The abstract must start from the United States, the source of all our titles The State has been surveyed by government officers, and is, geographically divided into sections of 640 acres each. All land is abstracted by a description of the section or part, and not in the name of the purchaser by marks that time effaces, which in the East renders titles uncertain in both character and the amount of land embraced therein. Here, too, deeds and mortgages, whether for purchase. money or otherwise, are not alien until filed. Thus an abstract carefully made (and the abstracter should be one who files a bond as security for the accuracy of his work), should show a title that is reliable on its face and may be depended upon for both the title itself and the freedom of the land from encumbrances of mortgage, judgment taxes, etc. Owing to our record law and to the policy of survey, they are much more certain of statement than those of Eastern States.
     The certificate of the value of the land has been made the instrument for practicing fraud in innumerable instances. Such a statement is only worthy of credit when made by a trustworthy man, and the lender should be especially particular in selecting the maker of the certificate.
     The mortgage, properly taken, is governed by the same laws as rule in such cases in the east and the courts are equally to be depended upon. The acknowledgment should be taken under the form required in this State. It binds the property, whether waiving exemptions or not, but the courts hold that the stay of execution cannot be waived. A stay of nine months will be given on a foreclosure by the defendant's request. The stay and time necessarily required to obtain judgment, will, in case advantage is taken of the delays of the law, consume a year. and allowance for this should be made in taking the loan. These mortgages are generally taken for from three to five years, the latter being the most common and desirable; but the mortgage provides for the maturity of the whole amount due at the option of the mortgagee, in case of default made in the payment of interest as it falls due. Accompanying the mortgage is a bond for the principal with coupon notes for the interest. They should be made payable in New York exchange. As they mature the holder cuts off

each and sends it for collection to the party negotiating the loan with him, and receives his draft in payment of same. Thus an excellent loan is made and collected with less trouble than would he found at home, and with no expense.
     The rate of interest in Nebraska on claims drawing interest, but when no rate is stipulated is 7 per cent The law, however, will enforce an agreement to pay 10 per cent. A contract for greater interest is usurious and the penalty is the forfeiture of the entire interest. The exemptions are large, being a homestead worth not more than $2,000 in realty or $500 in personalty (sic) besides certain specific articles. But as they may be waived in the mortgage, they do not effect real estate loans. They are also waived in a chattel mortgage where they are given as security. These exemptions are given to married and not to single men.
     There has been some concern among eastern investors owing to the strength of the Farmers' Alliance in this State. It is strong and likely to remain so for some years. There were also some quite dishonest measures proposed. But the farmers are a class of our citizens who own property themselves, and, as such, are interested equally with all others in the passage of good laws and the measures mentioned above in our last legislature, when the Alliance outnumbered both the other parties two to one, had no prospect of passage at any time. No other class of people coming suddenly into political power would have used it more discreetly and no anxiety on this score is entertained by the business citizens of the State. The rate of interest will, no doubt, be lowered in years to come and it should be, but it will be done in recognition of the great law of supply and demand.
      It most be borne in mind that in Nebraska real estate values show a constant and steady appreciation at the rate of 10 to 20 per cent. per annum, so that even should no payment be made on the principal of a loan, the security is constantly becoming better. In the eastern states land values are fixed or in some instances are depreciating. It therefore follows that the west to-day offers better inducements to investors in first mortgage loans than can be found in the east.

WHO SHOULD COME TO NEBRASKA.

     Many times we hear the question asked, "Who should come to Nebraska?" One mode of answering the question would be to designate who should not come and extend an invitation to all the rest. The lazy and indigent should not come. The man who claims that the world owes him a living should not come unless he is possessed of sufficient energy to rustle around and collect the debt. The man who thinks the West is in need of statesmen and office seekers would find this a dull market. The man who has neither capital, brains or muscle which he is willing to invest for a good purpose, might as well remain east. He who expects to come here and pick up suckers will find a scarcity of that peculiar breed of fish here. The bible says, the wise men come from the east, and it is proven in Nebraska. There is no place here for narrow-minded, one idea people. The western procession moves too fast for drones and slow pokes. They had better continue to trot in a slower class. The citizens of Nebraska and its cities can manage the State and municipal politics. No professional ward politicians are needed. Nebraska is not overdone in any line of business or profession. The tradesman, the farmer, the artisan, and the capitalist will find an open field here. It is this class of people who should come, and, like the invitation to sinners at a revival meeting, come now.

"To the West! To the West!
    To the land of the free,
Where the mighty Missouri
   Rolls down to the sea;
Where a man is a man,
   If he's willing to toil,
And the humblest may gather
   The fruits of the soil."

PHYSICAL AND NATURAL FEATURES.

BY PROF. SAMUEL AUGHEY.

TOPOGRAPHY AND GENERAL CHARACTER OF NEBRASKA.

     Nebraska occupies a position near the center of the Republic. The parallel of forty degrees is its southern, and the Missouri River its eastern and northern boundary, until the forty-third parallel is reached. Until the west line of the State, on the meridian of 105° west of Greenwich. is reached, this parallel constitutes the northern boundary. The west line continues on this meridian down to latitude forty-one degrees. Below this point, a line a few miles west of the 102° meridian constitutes the western boundary of the State. This notch takes out of the State 7,300 square miles. Were it not for this offset, the State would approximate the shape of a parallelogram. The southern line of the State, reaching the Missouri, brings the most easterly point to the meridian of ninety-five degrees and twenty-five minutes. The extreme width of the State from north to south is 208.5 miles, and its length from east to west is within a fraction of 413 miles. In area the State approximated closely to 75,995 square miles previous to 1882. In that year its northern boundary was straightened by act of congress, which added approximately 900 square miles to its territory, giving a present area of 76,840 square miles, or 49,212,000 acres. It is almost twice the size of Ohio, and 14,259 square miles larger than all New England combined. It contains 21,900 square miles more than Iowa. England

and Wales combined have a less area by 16,800 square miles. In extent of territory Nebraska is an empire, arid yet, as we shall hereafter see, few States have really so little waste land. It lies in the line of the great States of the Union, and is receiving their overflow of population.

     SURFACE OF THE STATE--The surface of the State is exceedingly varied. There are, indeed, no elevations that can be dignified with the name of mountains, but in the northern and western part of the State there are lofty hills of very varied character. Generally the ascent is gentle, though occasionally it is precipitous. Unlike the ridges of the East, which are so generally the result of elevations and subsidences of the earth's crust, modified by subsequent aqueous agencies, the hills and rolling lands of Nebraska are mostly caused by erosion. In the East, the body of the hills is mainly made up of massive rocks; here it is partly composed of loosely compacted drift materials, but mainly of loess. In fact, Nebraska emerged so recently geologically from the waters of the Loess age that it still exhibits, as a whole, many of the phenomena of a recently drained lake bed. The gently rolling lands of three-fourths of the State appear very much like the suddenly petrified waves and billows of the ocean. Sometimes extensive stretches of surface are met with that appear to be level, but closer observation shows even these to be gently undulating. From these last-mentioned forms to the few isolated sections of limited extent, broken by canons with precipitous sides. the transition is gradual. Every shade of form and surface connects the two varieties of relief.

BOTTOM LANDS.

     These are the special modifying features of the landscape of the State. In crossing the State at right angles to the direction of the streams, the bottom lands are met with every few miles. They are huge, generally shallow troughs, in breadth proportionate, commonly, to the size of the streams They range in width from a quarter of a mile on the smaller streams to twenty-three miles on the Platte and the Missouri. They are frequently terraced, and the terraces, like broad steps, gradually lead to the bordering bluffs, which in turn are very varied in height and form.
     A good example of this character are the slopes on the bottoms between Crete and Beatrice, and Ashland and Lincoln. The bottoms, with their bordering line or bluffs, wind and vary in every direction, as much as the serpentine movements of the streams themselves. The innumerable tributaries that creep quietly and unexpectedly into the main bottoms complicate still further these forms of landscape. The traveler with poetry and art in his composition is often tempted to ascend a bluff adjoining a valley, which, lying at his feet, enables him to trace it as far as the eye can reach. The upland plain on the other side whose inequalities are wave-like, gives a sharply outlined background (sic) to the picture of the valley. He is at a loss to which to assign the palm of greatest beauty. The effect is intensified when upland and valley are dotted with homesteads and cultivated grounds. The quiet beauty that comes from human industry then blends with the sublimity of nature.
      The dominant geometrical form observed in the forms of the surface is the curve. The observer never gets outside of the curves.

     ELEVATION OF NEBRASKA.--The greater part of Nebraska is a plateau. It is estimated that time eastern half of the state has an average elevation of 1,700 feet: the western half, of 3,525 feet. Along the south line of the state, the elevation of the eastern half averages 1,200 feet; the western half, 2.672 feet. Along the north line of the state, the eastern half, beginning at Ponca, is 1,353 feet above the sea level. These data, obtained principally by reduction of railroad surveys, give an average elevation of 2,312 feet for the whole state. This is a much smaller elevation than formerly given for the state, but is more accurate, because based on levelings along three lines east and west, and the same number north and south.
     West from Omaha the ascent is at the rate of five and a half feet to the mile for 100 miles. The second hundred miles increases the ascent to seven feet: the third hundred, seven and a half feet; and the fourth hundred to ten and a half to the mile. The ascent on the last fifty miles at the west end of the state is eighteen feet to the mile These figures are simply approximations to exactness. A similar gradual ascent characterizes the south and north line of the state. The southeastern corner, where the elevation is 878 feet, is the lowest part of the state. Comparing this point with Omaha, where the elevation is 1,002 feet, we have a difference of 124 feet, or an ascent of only one and a fourth feet to the mile. The fall going northward to Dakota City is even less than this. In Western Nebraska. the difference in elevation between the Platte River and the Republican Valley on the south side of the state is approximately 352 feet. Going northward from the Platte River on the west line, the elevation increases until Scott's Bluffs is reached, whose elevation is 6,051 feet, the highest point in the state. From here there is a gradual descent to the valley of the Niobrara toward the north line. These elevations along the north line of the state I took with a barometer. As the elevation at Pine Bluffs, on the extreme western line of the state, is 5,061 feet. the ascent from this point northward is 635 feet, against a corresponding difference of less than 200 feet on the east line of the state. Take the state, therefore, as a whole, and it will be seen that it slopes mainly toward the east. and in a minor degree toward the south. As would be expected from such relief forms, the great majority of the tributaries of the main streams, except those of the Niobrara, flow toward the southeast.

     TEMPERATURE.--There has been much misapprehension about the temperature of Nebraska. Sometimes it has been represented as possessing a semi-arctic climate: and again, that its summers are of a torrid character.

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