The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1870-01-11

ka, who, under similar limitations,
could find il in his soul TO omit to
-araaabaps the capital" And es-
peclally every farmer who can, by the
most rigid hnRneieriDg, raise enough
surplus capitah to buy the poorest,
LATEST yearlinq. ITO those who own
hundreds and thousands Of the best
quality of cattle. aifect@the stock
raiser.
This is easily susceptible Of explain
alton. For example: In Indiana
stock raising is profitable, where it
must be fed generally all the year
with corr at from forty to seventy hve
cents per bushel, hay at from twelve
TO sixteen dollars per ton. and other
feed in proportion. Ia Kansas 1t u
only fed about four months In the
year with corn at twenty and thirty
cents, and hay al about two dollars
and a half per ton.
Here cattle not intended for the
Winter or very early Spring market
ere "roughed through" That Is,
they are fed fodder, hay and straw
during the months Of December, jan
uary, February and March. after
which they are herded upon me
prairie grass, which gets them ready
for market from June until frost. A
yearling calf. barely able to stand
upon its legs, is never worth less than
eight dollars in this part Of the State,
and every years growth, until the
fourth one, almost and often quite
doubles its value. At present good
beeves are worth four and four and
q half cents per pound on foot.
AS far as the cost of raising Is con-
cerned, pretty much the anne facts
apply to horses, mules and sheep.
Hogs are scarce, and owing to the
scarcity of timber, are much more
difficult to raise, but they are very
profitable.
( have not read the statute upon
the subject, but have learned from
my neighbors that nurses and mules
are required to be kept up after the
1st Of November, or are subject to be
taken up as stray upon abont the
same system as In Indiana. Each
township has its own regulation IN
regard to cattle. But the general
rule is that they are net allowed to
" be out o'nights during any part
of the year. Hogs are not allowed
to run at large any where in the State.
These restrictions are due to the
scarcity Of timber and the necessarily
feeble character of the fences. And,
Just here, as [ have about exhausted
myself upon the subject of stock
raising" | may as we'll say a few words
descriptive of the general run " of
Kansas farms. OF course, generally
speaking, everything, especially in
the rural districts" is very much
upon the primitive plan, though
there are occasional exceptions. The
houses, [ believe [ might safely say,
in most eases are simply sIung up,
in a great hurry. with little regard to
; either comfort or elegance. Usually,
{ where a nan goes on to a new piece
Of land, q small frame house, built
: with plank on end, is hurried up, and
t then horse-sheds built. The latter
| are bnilt of forks and poles and coy
cred with hay Or straw and, indeed,
this kind of stables are in use upon
the old as we'll as upon the new
farms. And, IN many instances,
/ farmers who are really wealthy, aud
: own large herds Of horses and cattle,
have no sign Of stables or barns other
than sheds of this character, aud live
il the rudest houses.
After the house and stables are
! thus built, o few acres of prairie are
! broken, and no other improvement
made, whatever. until the following
Winter or Spring, when the whole
thing is inclosed with = wire. or in q
few instances, rail fence. The first
year after prairie is broken nothing is
raised but sod corr, which only
needs to be planted. Sometimes,
however, and | believe often, very
fair crops are grown in this way. A
! wire fence is made by planting posts
from eight to eighteen feet apart, and
then tightly stretching from three to
FIVE wires either through them or
fastened upon them with staples. |
believe a lawful wire fence" IS
!. made Of posts six feet in length,
: eighteen inches in tho earth, eight
, feet apart, With four wires fastened
, upon the posts with staples. There
! arc various other kinds Of fences, as
a school-boy would say, 8 too numer-
, Gus to mention" some of stones,
! poles, rails, and, in a few cases, plank,
I but more than three plank are never
used, and generally only two.
To break up prairie it requires
O prairie p!oW and a team of at least
three horses or mules, CT two yoke OF
oxen. a days work for a horse team
is two acres. Breaking prairie Is to
a great extent a district business, and
the price is four dollars per acre.
@ The price OF land ia this county varies
> from ten to fifty dollars per acre,
usually, except where it lies in the
. immediate vicinity of Topeka, and
there is very little that can be had at
the former price.
There has been SO much said about
hansss fruit since the premium was
? awarded this State at the genealogical
0 show, at Philadelphia, If any man yet
remains unfamiliar with this subject,
a he ought always remain so.
While | am IN this prosy strain,
however, L must speak of the weather,
During the Spring and Summer it is
absolutely pleasant beyond descrip
D ton. This Winter, SO far, there have
) been only a few very bad days. A
t " considerable snow fell a few days
before Christmas, and laid on Nthe
ground about two weeks before it
5 entirely disappeared. The north aud
west winds, which sometimes abs9-
r lutely blow awful" are about the
worst features of the weather. But
so far, this Winter, aRd that Is the
limit Of my experience, there have
not been more than q half dozen
/ days, at most, when men could not do
6 their ordinary outdoor work com
fortably enough.
: The Southern fever" is just now
and has been raging very generally
for some months in this part of the
State, aGd 7 presume the emigration
: from this and other counties to the
Sonthern norton Of the STATE Is %