The Kansas herald of freedom. [volume] (Wakarusa, Kan. Territory) 1854-1860, 1859-07-09
Dat of His Element

Dat Of His Element
Greeley, in his summing up on Kan
sas," makes some blunders. lie found a
great deficiency of barns and shelter for
cattle, so different from the condition of
Eastern farms. He remarks:
And it is sad to note that hardly half
the settlers make any sort of provision for
winterins their cattle, even by cutting a
stack of prairie hay, when every good
days work will put up tun of it. If be
has corn-feld, the squatter's cattle are
welcome to pick at that all winter; if he
has none, they must 60 into the bottoms
and browse through as best they can. OF
course his calves are miserable affairs his
cows unit to make butter from till the
best Of the season is over; his oxen,
should he have pair, must be recruiting
from their winters famine just when he
most urgently needs their work. And
this exposing cattle all winter to these
fierce prairie winds, is alike inhuman and
wasteful. / asked settler the other day
how he could do it. II had no time to
make shelter for them" "But had you
no Sundays ?-did you not have these at
your disposal Pr 10, yes! l don't work
Sundays" "Well, you should have
worked every one OF them, rather than
let your cattle shiver in the cold blasts all
winter-it would have been a work of
humanity and mercy to cut and haul logs,
get up cattle-stall and cover it with prai-
RE hay, which I will warrant to be more
religious than anything you did on those
days" But the squatter was Of differ.
ent opinion.
He forgot to add that the settler an
swered him that three times his shelter for
his wife and little ones had been des-
troyed by the Border Rufians, and his
first duty was to provide for them. And
as cattle, previous to the extremely cold
winters of few years past, had been COM
Portable rowing at large, it had not been
thought necessary to shelter them. But
Greeley could see nothing except through
the vision of an Eastern man. He would
have went to work moderately, but reso.
lutely, at least fourteen hours of each sec
ular day until l had made myself com.
Portable, with fence around at least
eighty acres, quarter of this partitioned
of for my working cattle, decent, warm
shelter to cover them in cold or stormy
weather, tolerable habitation for my
family, at least forty acres in crop, and .
young orchard growing" This, he thinks
would be the work of five years, when h,
commences with next to nothing. A
penniless farmer, who lives on the prairi,
five or ten miles from timber, will hardl,
be able to go to the expense of fencing il
pasture for working cattle, while tn,
unbroken prairie opens up such an extern
of free pasture.
But Horace turns from the duties Of tn,
poor man to the prospective wealth of
man of means who may come to Kansas
For the farmer who comes in with lib
eral means, the task is, of course, mucl
easier. Let us suppose one to be wortl
$4,000 the day he lands on the Kansa
shore of the Missouri, and see how quick
ly he can make farm and a home. II,
arrives, We will say, in August, when b,
can see Just what the country produces
whether in state Of nature or under cul
tivation. He buys quarter section (Which
is land enough for any MANI in choic,
locality, including thirty or forty acres o
timbered river or creek bottom, say 70
$40 per acre, charges $1,000 of the 81 ,6Ol
thus called for to the account of the Pro
slavery Democracy for defeating the Ere,
Land bill, and sets to work, with two COCO
hired men. He buys five yoke of 0xeI
for breaking team, span of good Wagon
horses, a COW in fresh milk, and tire,
heifers which will be COWS next spring
puts up cabin that will Just do, and il
ready 10 commence breaking by the Is
OF September. As his men break, he fol
lows with the horses, sowing and harrow
ing IN wheat so long as that will answer
but does not stop breaking till the grounG
is frozen"
Horace Greelsy's idea of sowing ant
narrowing in wheat on just-turned soc
is novel, to say the least but it seem,
counter to the experience of Western
farmers. June is held by them to be tn,
best month for breaking, when wheat il
intended to be sown in the fall, thus Civ.
ing the heat and rains of summer time t.
decompose the tough 6bres of the sod
But the late sowing is Objectionable, be.
cause late-sown fall wheat is far NOR,
likely to be injured by wet or rust thar
early sown. He overlooks the fact thai
a good share of September and the aid o.
several hands, must be devoted to the task
of cutting prairie hay, on which to winter
the stock. This must be done at the
very time when he would have the horse,
and men engaged in sowing wheat.
Breaking till the ground is frozen -
would carry it on till December on an ave.
rage, when the fierce prairie winds de.
Ioand shelter for the cattle. But in the
desire to put in an extra breadth of crops
the settler has made no provision for his
stock. Instead of working Sundays to
provide for the comfort of his cattle, he
passes on to the task of building a new
house.
Now he begins to cut and draw tim
Der for filter habitation to which to well
como his family in the spring. Having
done this, he gets good mechanics to finish
it, while he and his men 90 to work at
fencing by cutting sawlogs for light, mar
row boards, if there be sawmill conven-
lent if not, then by cutting for and spli:-
ting rails. So soon as the dryest land will
answer for il, he begins to put in spring
wheat, then oats, then corn. and putting
up fence whenever the soil is too wet for
blowing; let him not forget to have few
acres seasonably set in fruit-trees, some Of
them dwasfs, for early bearing. Thus his
money viii not have been exhausted by