Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-11-26

to Kansas to tai ake what he hears cum
qFan0 s1lis, and vet | cannot say, after
a rather limited view of the State, that
what's currently said Of it is much ex-
aggeFated. The truth is Kansas is Just
beginning to be appreciated, and her
resources are fully splendid enough
to account for If not to justi-
fy an enthusiasm bordering on infat-
uation. The rapidity with which she
has progressed In wealth and popula-
tiou since the war is scarcely equaled
by any other State, and bears sufficient
testimony to the remarkable value of
her advantages and attractions. In
1860 the population was 107 ,206; now
it is not less than three hundred and
Is estimated as high as four hundred.
thousand. Within seven years the
total value of live stock has advanced
from three to over forty million dol
lars. The valuation of real estate in
Shawnee county as shown by the State
records, increased last year 544 per
cent and in eight other leading eOun-
ties it made an average increase of over
. per cent.
This rapid development has been
fastened By the early construction of
sas has, in this respect, commenced at
a point which few of the other States
were able to reach in halfa gcentuaTy.
In the older sections of tie Union,
towns and cities have waited long for
the coming locomotive, but here the
locomotive goes in advance of the
coming towns and cities. A fever Of
railway enterprise peryades the State,
II 10 n TrTTt o
network of projected lines. The most
important now in course of eoBstrue-
tiOn is the Gulf road from Kansas
City, which will shortly be completed
to Fort Scott, and within a few months
to the southern boundary of the State.
The Topeka aDd AtehesOn section of
the Ateheson and Santa Fe road, is now
under contract. A section ofthis road
from Topeka to Burlingame, is now
finished, and will soon be extended to
Emporia. A Galveston road, as tits call
ed, is finished southwark from Law
renee as far as Garnett, and will ulti-
mately unite with the Fort Scott road
at some point in South eastern KaBS
sas. These roads have been literally
subsidized by grants of land and a
strong effort will be made to obtain
from Congress further subsidies for
new roads during the coming session.
In this way the railroads have already
obtained possession of large proper
ton of the finest lands IN the State
and are mostly selling them at
from 3 to So per acre, one-hfth of the
purchase price cash in hand, one fifth
with interest in two years, and one
fifth, each subsequent year until all Is
paid. The railways which have been
thus subsidized and constructed have
conferred great advantages upon the
State, but will grow into monopolies
which must be-combated after a while
by private enterprise and capital.
Hitherto Kansas has been chiefly
objected to on account of apprehended
drouth, but this seems to be no longer
feared. For the year ending July,
1868, the rain fall was as follows,
measured in inches: July (1867), 6.86;
August. los; September, l 43; Octo-
Der, 0.79; November, / "a; December,
044; January, 0.58; February, 0.33;
March, 4.37; April, 3.58; May, 399;
June, 3.79; being an average for the
year of 232. The rainfall of Ohio for
the same period was as follows: July,
2.S3; August, LIS; September, 0 70;
October. 281; November. 2.59; Decem-
Der, 420; January, 3.45; February, l.
OF; March, SAB; April, 3.18; May, s.
54; June, 81; or an average Of 3.34
for the twelve months. 1t will be seen
taking this showing as an example that
we have more rain IL Ohio, but that
its distribution is different The
winters of Kansas are much drier than
ours, while 10 the months Of May,
June, July and August, when crops
are growing, Kansas, taking the above
showing as a standard, has a trife
more rain than Ohio-K. 1860; o. 15.-
50. This seems to dispose of the ques-
tion Of drouth, an evil to which all
States are occasionally subject
As a fruit State Kansas has already
won most enviable honors. At the ex
hibition Of the Pathological Congress
held at Philadelphia in September
last, she was awarded the gold medal
of the Pennsylvania State Horticul-
turaI Society for . A collection of fruits
unsurpassed for size. beauty, and fla
VOr." Fruit trees grow rapidly in the
warm soil and generous climate, and
without losing their favor apples,
peaches and pears grow to mammoth
proportions. A gentleman in Leaven-
worth told me he had a pear tree which
had produced a second crop of very
good pears in the course of one fruit
bearing season.
In the production of the cereals the
soil ofnO State surpasses that of Kansas
except in the growth of wheat where
in she is excelled by California only.
The custom is, in planting the first
crop of corn, to simply turn over the
raw prairie sod to the depth of two or
three inches, then drop the grain into
an indentation made with an axor 9th
er sharp instrument. No farther at
tention is given to the crop until it is
ripe for husking when the yield from
this sort of husbaudry not uufrequent-
ly averages go or 20 bushels per acre.
The second crop requires one or two
plowiDgs to keep down the weeds but
no other additional attention.
But the chief attraction of the State
is the climate. Iowa, Minnesota, and
other prairie States have equally fer
tile lands, an In some respects per
haps have superior advantages. But
none have so genial, gentle and at the
same time dry and exhilarating an at
mosphere. There are sudden changes,
however, and the Spring months are
sometimes very disagreeable. But this
is fully compensated for by the pro-
longed Autumns, including the delight
full Indian Summer. and by the mild
ness of the winter. The locality of the
State halfway up the slope of the Rocky
Mountains, gives it the advantage of a
higher stratum of atmosphere, while
it's southern latitude preserves a mild
l.. Eas
In more respects than one the
people of Kansas are wisely liberal.
in the school of adversely and
made to feel the barbarism of slavery,
it is not surprising that the vast major
ity of them are earnest and true friends
of freedom. Their faith. grounded on
the sublime doctrine of equal rights
for all carries them beyond more than
one of the narrow prejudices with
which older States are hide-bound.
And while some of the finished COM
munities insanely sneer at new corners
as carpet baggers." Kansas, in the
language of the Leavenworth Bulletin
with open arms cries out to them,