Paul, or St. Anthony, or
Minneapolis, instead of upon that remote highway towards the North
Pole; but this was not a whit more novel than to hear the pianoforte,
and played, too, with both taste and skill. While another 'lion' of
those parts that met our view was a topsail schooner lying in the
river at the lower fort, which made occasional trips into Great Lake
Winnepeg of the North, a hundred miles below.
"I took occasion during my visit to inquire what success the farmers
met with in securing good crops, and the profits of farmers generally.
As to wheat, I learned that the yield of the spring variety was quite
equal in quantity and quality to the crop of that grain on any more
southern farms; that in raising barley they could almost surpass the
world; and the cereals generally, and all the esculent roots, were
easily raised. Indian corn was not planted as a field crop, though it
was grown in their gardens. In a word, the capacity of their land to
produce almost everything plentifully and well, was established; but
for all this, farming did not afford much profit.
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