The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1863-01-10
Cotton-G rowing in Kansas.
EMPoRIA. Jan. 6. 1858.

EMPoRIA, ian. 6, 1858.
EDITOR News: With your permission,
wish % say something, in The News, t,
arouse, if possible, the farmers Of S,ulherd
Kansas to their best interests in farming
Aud in attempting to do ibis, l will 6rst
state few facts as lc what has been done
i Lyon county. and then suggest what
would consider the best plan to be adopted
by our farmers-hereaf.e to be called cot
ton planters
That cotton Can be raised in Kansas, no
one doubts; but to get people to believe II
can be raised with good or even ordinary
success, Is the only difficulty now remain
/ ing-and could ibis be removed, our farm
ers would soon realize profits far beyond
anything we could now make them believe.
But all We are lsboring for, just now. is To
get the farmers to give il Iiial. which in
most cases would b. but partial success.
with beginners. YeI, if they only ai-e halt
a crop. on the frs tiial, it will pay a larger
profit than the largest crop of wheat or corn
that possibly be raised here or any
! where else-giving. at he same time n
practical knowledge OF the ara, Which can
never be 50 correctly gained from theory.
and which knowledge viii enable the planter
ever Ter to raise i. with The greatest sue
cess.
| have bpru.rnformel by persons in rhis
vicinity whose word is s'ucly reliable
that they have raised cotton. on ordinary
ground, at The rate of $40 pounds to the
acre, and in one instance it reached as high
as sixteen hundred. Bat this, you must
recol-ct, was done by persons having a
thorough acquaintance with the business.
and who had raised cotton in The South
A small piece which planted last year
would compare favorqbly with the best fields
of upland, in North Carolina or Tennessee
Beginners in the business would not be like
" to succeed so well; yet l would urge
tbem, by all means, to try it, SO that their
experience in first effort may lead them
to fna! success. l will furnish the editor
of The News with the names of several
persons who Lave raised cotton at the above
'ares in L. on county, that any one having
doubts as to the correctness Of the stale
ment may call at The News q flee and sat
sfy bins IF.
A. the figures as given above. let the
farmer consider what would be his real
profit from ten acres of ground, which one
1 81. i. 4
which three additional hands FOR FIVE or six
weeks will pick Children, from, ten to If
teen years old. make as good hands as any
pic king one hundred pounds per day.
Fifteen hundred lb-. in seed is a good as five
hundred lbs. ginned; 500 lbs. at 80 cG~.
per 10, is equal 70 $50. Ten acres. at.
that rate. would be $3.50 D7ducting $50
Tor the regular hand, and 500 for idl-
Cioual hands in picking. and $50 for haul
ing it TO the river. there is still left $500
The cost of ginning will not be more than
every tenth pound-perhaps not so large a
proportion.
Now, allowing that we can raise half the
above figures. ii will pay better at 81 cents
per pound than any crop we can possibly
raise.
Everything in the world that hioders our
farmers from liking the business. is that
they are no accustomed to it. But the |
cotton planters OF the South have as great a
iistasre lor raising grain, as any men can
have for cotton growing
| would suggest. as an initiatory step in
this business. that the farmers OF this couu-
y bold meeting Immediately, to devise
plan for getting seed and gin; and enter
uto an organization, or least discuss
The merits or demerHs of The business.
As to the way in which the ground
should be prePsred--time and manner Of
nude Of cultivating. picking,
storing, ginning. and bsI:ng-rhere IS time
enough yet to speak upon it, and 10 due
inc will contribute to The News some
Information on these points
A PLANTER
In the Masonic l. ,dge at AlexAn.Iria Is
preserved the knife that the mother of Wash