The Kansas herald of freedom., 1859-11-26
Making a Prairie Fam.

Few men, unaequainted with the facts
in the case, can imagine and appreciate
the advantages which a prairie country
possesses over a timbered country. We
presume, at the outset, that all our read
ers are familiar with and aware Of the
labor necessary TO the improvement and
cultivation of timbered farm, and we
propose now in this connection to consid-
er the labor and means required in the
breaking up, and getting into the ground
of the first crop of grain upon prairie.
Let it be understood that there is no
''grubbing" or "lpgging' to be done, and
the means laid out in bush-hooks, extra
axes, grub-hoes, log-chains, &C., are here
to be invested in team suitable for plow-
ing up summer-fallow in the east; al
though this can easily be dispensed with
by hiring the breaking dons by those
who follow it as business, and for which
we usually pay three dollars per acre.
On the contrary, if the emigrant so de-
sires it, he can unite with one or two of
his neighbors in procuring team, there
by greatly lessening the expense, as the
team is useless after sufficient amount
of land is once broken. His prairie is
ready for corn as soon as the plow has fin
ished its work, and the planting is done
by puncturing the sod with an axe, drop
ping in the kernels of cora, and covering
it with the foot. The crop thus planted
will, without hoeing or cultivating, gen.
orally yield as much per acre as the most
productive lands of New England, richly
repaying the laborer, and often fully COM
pensating him for the breaking, planting,
fencing and harvesting. Or if he desired
to plant other crops, he must then break
up his land two or three months previous
to seedtime, harrow down as on other
lands and plant his seed, thus building up
in a comparatively short space of time, a
farm and home, outrivalling the best
and most desirable lands in the East.
| We estimate in round terms the expense
of planting the first crop of 160 acres to
corn, as follows
Breaking, $3.50 90
Planting, 1901 90
Fencing, 320 90
or six dollars per acre, being less expen-
sive than the clearing and preparing for the
plough the same amount of ordinary tim
bered land. Another advantage to be
considered is that when prairie land has
been once cropped, the labor of reducing
/ to cultivation is ended-there are no
stumps to pull, no grubs to dig, no stones
to gather, in short, once plowing has con-
verteG a prairie into a farm. Another
advantage is that good hay can be found
on the prairie, requiring no expense in
procuring but the ordinary labor of cut
ting and securing. We venture, then, the
assertion that a poor man can make a
much better-a much more valuable farm
in prairie country, and in one fourth oi
the time, and with one-third the toll, than
he Can in heavily timbered country
Nor is the comparative ease of cultivation
the only advantage of prairie over tim
bered land. Those who have visited
prairie States, and particularly Kansas
will bear us witness that the prairies o
the West-the Far West-are the mos
productive lands on the whole Continent
With all these advantages, and many
more too numerous to mention, we Otter
wonder why young men will waste theil
strength, time and health in telling trees
pulling stumps and hauling off stones il
portions of the East.-I5peka Tribune.