The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1869-07-02
KANSAS-AGRfCULTURAL RE.
SOURCES.

!
olOgist of Kansas, said in his report that
If he was required to pick out the best
| tract of land in the United States, he
would make the center at Wyandotte
and run circle through Eastern Kansas
and Western Missouri, with radius of
one hundred miles. Bayard Taylor, the
great traveller, said that the largest eX-
tent of good tillable land he knew of in
! the world, was west of the Missouri in
( Kansas and Nebraska, while A. ID.
| Richardson pronounced Kansas the
| loveliest country he ever set his eyes on.
With these natural advantages is Kan
sas a good agricultural State? Has the
past proved her SO; or is she really a
! part of the Great American Desert, good
/ for grazing and nothing else? We are
not among the crOakers-we know that
| country must be tanned by cultivation,
| before it can be like an old State; that
time must be given for trees to grow,
sod to be broken, tame grasses to be
cultivated and fruit to be planted before
a country can cease to be savage. Kan
sas has its dra W baeks-so have most new
countries. We have had several dry
seasons and one failure of crops; we
/ have had grasshopers and other pests,
/ but these are not peculiar to Kansas. e.
| Wood Davis, in recent article to the
! Lawrence Journal, gave the observation
and experience of Il number of years in
reference to Kansas showed conclu-
| sively from unmistakable data, that dur
ing the spring, summer and fall months
Kansas has all average amount OF rain,
as much as most of the more Eastern
/ States, and that only during the winter
! Is there usually dearth of moisture.
! Our own experience since 1862 would
corrobOrate this, except that towards the
end of summer long drOughtS are not
unusual but these droughts are seldom
| injurious to anything save the corn, and
their effect even with this crop can be
much lessened by careful cultivation
and planting as early as the crop will
be likely to grow. Our soil is good
enough, deep enough, vegetation grows
/ with the greatest vigor, The seasons are
/ becoming more and more uniform, and
! for the raising of the small grains and
sorghum, there is no question that Kan
Sas is uneXcelled. Corn and potatoes
are more doubtful crops, but these
usually do well, and to be certain that
! there be no failures, our farmers have
only to plant and SOW enough other
! crops, and not depend too much on corn.
a citizen of our county said to us i'll ref
erence to our last years crop, ''corn was
4 failure, but in wheat we were above
/ the average i'll Ohio, and the crop OF
{ =
/ year was one of our very worst, not
only i'll reference to corn but TO wheat
also, and our crop of this cereal was
above the average of Ohio. Lately re-
ports have been made by the Commits
sioner of Agriculture in reference to the
pI oduction Of crops, and the figures
show that in the small grains Kansas
| eXcels almost all the other States, and
in corn is buta little behind. The Com
missioner can have no reason to make
his report flatter Kansas, yet it is ell
tircly favorable to her agricultural re-
/ sources.
But under the head of agricultural re-
sources, we have another crop i'll which
| Kansas is uneXcelled: we mean grass
In the Older States the cash value of this
crop is above corn even. and a failure il
hay is worse than failure in other re-
spects. Yet here grass grows spOntanc-
ously. Millions Oh millions Of acres o.
the best pasture land in the world lie OF
every side, and we have heard of per.
sons who feel poor wishing for stock tC
eat up the grass that annually goes tC
waste. AS a stock country there can bC
none better than this. The actual eX
pehsc of raising stock on these prairie:
is almost nothing; hay can be cut OIL
the smooth bottom land with but little
trouble, and cattle are always n casl
article. In considering the agriculture
resources of the county the raising o
crops and cattle are to be considered to-
gether, for most small farmers desire tC
unite them; hence a country which i:
rair for crops and splendid for stock il
better than one good for crops but pool
for stock, and we believe that Kansas il
both good for crops and unexcelled fol
:. stock which makes it very desirable
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