The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1867-03-01

in his LsaveuworTh garden. Ten miles
south of Lawrence Mr.. Barnes has so
acres in nursery and % il. vineyard.
Most Of the vines were planted in 1860
With him the Concord grape is the best.
His annual crop ranges from six to ten
tons and he has produced bushel of
grapes from one vine. Mr.. Fiederling,
seven miles north of Topeka. raises
grapes 10 three years from the slip. On
his land the CataWaba fourishes best.
After much experience in Germany he is
satisfied that the entire soil of Kansas
VIII produce grapes abundandy. - .,ss--
LAST week grapes brought from st.
Louis by express were selling in Topeka
at 80 cents per pound. The home pro-
duct does not yet equal. the demand.
This year one vineyard has paid its pro.
Prietor 81 900 per acre, and another Sl,-
goo. One day. Kansas will abound in
vineyards, like Italy, France and Germ !
any. - lssUsa aseo =.is1 ea
ABPLEs.--Ini1857 Bourbon county
farmer started an orchards! = This year
ne raises 900 bushels of apples. At
BGacketPs nursery, near Lawrence, the
apple is growing in abundance from trees
set out 10 1861. But Kansas is too far
south for this essentially northern fruit
10 have the pungent favor of Nav Eng
land, Michigan and Oregon.
I The heavy winds always blowing upon
the prairie are sometimes severe upon
orchards, but they are easily broken by
setting out groves of black walnut and
maple. Singularly enough, these winds
do not make the branches more spread.
ing, but more compact than in other
States. At the Kansas State Fair this
fall, forty FIVE varieties OF apples were
exhibited.
CHERRIES AND PEAcHEs.-Bolh yield
well and mature very early. These and
grapes will be the leading fruits of Kan
sas. This year one orchard In Lyon
county produces thousand bushels o +
peaches on the northern border some
peach orchards have winter killed. 10
warm days the sap starts and the bud
swells. Then the return of cold weather
destroys the trees. b-
OTHER FRUITs.-Though plums grow
wild along every creek, they do not thrive
under cultivation. Neither do pears
promise well. Strawberries. gooseber-
ries, currants and blackbsrries thrive ev
erywhere. On the whole, as fruit State,
think Kansas will have no equal in the
Union, except California B.
Flowers AND VINEs.-The rich prai-
Iies are natural gardens. For miles and
miles the landscape is blue or yellow or
white with flowers, rather than green
with grass and the woods beside the
streams abound in clustering vines. There
are already some fine gardens. In Man
haitian, Prof. Nudge showed me a china
tbs running all oyer his dwelling. In
LeaYenwOrtb, Major Sleeper, Surveyor
General of Kansas and Nebraska, has
made his premises beautiful contrast to
the usual dreariness of Government off
ces, by planting the most beautiful garden
in Kansas. There, dahlias and other late
flowers, are growing luxuriantly. His
exquisite trailing cypress, with it's fine
needle leaves just touched by frost, hes
run fifty feet upon its frame this season.
Another vine, with dark, glossy, heart
shaped leaves, and delicate white flowers,
which his gardener calls the Madeina
plant, goes trailing everywhere. 1t has
roots like the tomato, and must be kept
in doors during the winter. The cypress
also winter kills, and in spring starts
again from the seed. It's crimson, star
shaped blossoms are very delicate and it
is the most beautiful of all our vines.
The clematis lives through the winter.
In Major S!eeper's garden, day before
T.. yesterday, saw a castor bean, which
was planted on the 1st of June. Now,
its main stalk is six feet high, and larger
than my arm, and its off shoots are count
less. The gardner asserts that Its aggre
gate growth during these three months
exceed 800 feet in length. A plant SO
rich, soft delicate, seems out of place so
far from the tropics.
MARKETs.-The demand for our armies
and the great plains migration, has made
all produce high and farmers rich. With
the exception of cattle, which 90 east
ward, think the best markets will al
ways be to the West, supplying Colorado
and other mining States. The Kansas
farmer is more likely to obtain higher
price for his produce than the farmer Of
Western New York or Ohio.
According to biologists, this region
was once salt ocean, and they find il
its soil relics of marine life. Aiterward
with Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Mis-.
souri, and parts of Kentucky,eit constitu
ted vast fresh water lake. This formed
the praiFies, which remain to day sub
slautialfy as the lake waves wore and
washed them. Trees sprang up only in
the wet valleys and along the streams
where the annual fires are kept down
Kansas has no mountain scenery, but is
made up of gentle swells of deep, green
prairie, relieved by dark strips of tim Der
along the streams, and dreamy, trans.
parent hills sleeping on the horizon. HeI
skies are of wonderful blue and clearness
For years, the memory of her beauty has
haunted me. Now, returning after
long absence, I find Kansas fairer thar
ever; mottled with the .syelIow harvest,
OF the riPened year." The sun never
shcne upon loyslier region. Nowhere
else Is Nature SO kind. Has she Dor
rowed from those western people some
thing of their own generosity and enthu
slasm? To build road, the settler has
nothing to do bn: drive over the prairie
wherever he wants to 60. The grea
parallel route from Atchison westward
runs almost in a straight line for l0C
miles, and Ike other Kansas thoroug
fa-sa I. ,In., -