The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-01-07
TIE NEosHo VALLEY.
Facts For Immigrants.


The Southern Branch Railroad Com
pany have lately issued a carefully pre-
pared circular. containing much infor-
nation shout this portion of Kansas
from which we take liberty of making
the following extracts:
The lands now offered for sale BY
this Company are situated mainly with
| in twenty mile> on each side of the road.
extending one hundred and seventy
miles along the NeOSho Valley, the
Richest, finest. and most Inviting valley
Tor settlement in the West. The lands
are admirably adapted To fruit aud vine
culture, stock raising aud dairy business.
They consist Of III h bott oms, level, I'M
dulating and rolling prairie, usually con-
venient tOswood and stone, spring, creek
or river wat-r. Situated between the
parallels OF 81 and 80 degrees north lat
/ itude. The temperature is generally mild
and equabie, requiring little hay Tor the
| wintering of stock.
Interspersed among cultivated tracts
and lying III large bodies together, they
present inducements to families, ueigh-
borhood settlements and large colonies,
possessed by no other lands in the State.
While the lands of similar corporations
have been cUIied by the two hundred
thousand settlers Of the last two years,
| these have been Tfgidiy reserved intact.
and now are open to the actual hard
working settler-the bone aud sinew of
the nation.
| Most of the State rests upon clay
stIb-soil with black alluvidl mould
above. Along the streams and rivers
this mould is from to feet deep, and
ION the uplands or prairies, from to 3
feet. lis richness a generation cannot
exhaust.
Corn land planted continuously ever
since the opening of the territory, some
Is years, retains its productiveuess APP
parently undiminished.
AGRICULTURE.
| Oue-third of the labor required at the
East in the culture of farms will insure
here double the amount of crops. FIRE.
| Quentiy the first crop of sod corn will
pay the expense OF b eaking. This crop
| is grown without labor, save that of {:
J boy who drops the corn into every third
.furrow. The yield in favorable seasons
is 30 bushels to the acre. One year rot>
the sod and the second year will pro
duce from 40 10 20 bushels to the acre
of corn, 20 10 40 of wheat, so to 20 OF
oats. and 100 to 300 of potatoes, and
other crops i'll proportion.
The high rolling prairie is the finest
wheat land in the world. and when
plowed deeply stands q drouth, and
produces corn nearly as well as the best
of our bottom lands. For orchards,
grape culture and small fruits in gener-
al, it is far superior and is least affected
by frosts. On the sides of the bluIl~
and in the toughest lands the grape win"
reVels in luxurious pro!usion. In fact,
| we have but little waste land among the
farms of the Neosho Valley simply
heaithtul economical variety of soil.
r. BUILDING MATERIAL AND FENCING.
| The varieties of timber are cotton
wood. blackberry, locust. oak. hickory
and black walnut, situated mostly on
the large rivers and creeks and hid away
| in ravines, unobservant to The common
traveller. The prairie fires alone / a:c
kept the timber from spreading ont upon
the rolling upland indefinitely. Lett
10 themselves the trees are of rapid
growth, aud today we have more tim
Der i'll the State than ten years ago. The
system of hedging will be the most ct
feciual fire breaks, and at the same time
furnish the cheapest and most durable
fence that can | c made. The Usage Or
ange is the article used. This. with the
ground prcpaI ed, can be set ou' by murS-
cry Imen and warranted for thirIy-five
cents per rod, and in four years will
preliminary TO the Usage Orange, is
wire. Four wires attached tn posts set
out a tiistadre of twelve feet apart. with
stays half way between, all fastened by
staples, will, ii properly strained. make
u good fence-ihe material costing some
seveniy-fvc cents period. Within con-
venient distance OF Almost every quar-
ter section, are the finest quarries OF
iimesI one, furnishing the best material
for house, barn, fences, &c.
Farming III New York, Ohio, Michi-
gan, &C.. required lifetime of severesf
foil, 10 clear off and subdue a field of
fair dimensions from the trees, SO ms to
render the farm in tie same condition
as our Kansas land now is without n
single blow. Large quantities of pine
lumber are imported by way of Leav-
enw ortl. and as soon as our road reaches
the pineries of the Indian Territory aud
Texas, it will be brought up the valley
OF the Neosho.
At Lawrence pine lumber sells AT from
S35 90 to SIS 90 per thousand. shingles.
81 so to Sc 80 per thousand. Native
lumber about two-thirds as much.
STOCK RAISING.
The rich nativ grasses of the prair-
les and bottoms, with the large area OF
unoccupicd lands in connection with
The dry, mild, and open winters, present
unequaled advantages for The raising of
cattle, sheep and horses. Many do not
feed their cattle at all during the win
ter, but still the good farmer will put mp
stacks OF hay, and during The few cold
| wet spells, and in case OF a casual SNOW
storm, iced them. Using machinery.
hay can be put up 1T 81 per ton. a. {.
Stewart, a Kansas pioneer OF ten years
experience, inform us that BY purchas-
ing warnings at so per head, he can
| with an outlay of 81 per head aud that
with native stock from natural increase,
with proper care, he can double the val
ue OF stock every three years.
One of our intelligent correspondents,
a Kentuckian, who intends 10 settle OH
our lands, in letter just received, says:
Il examined Labette and NeoshO cOun-
ties last winter, and consider the re-
gion of your Land Grants to be the
very center of the live stock trade in
this part of the continent. 1t is re-
gion better adapted TO the growth o
live stock, and the making of butter and
cheese, than any other in the same laii
tude. Its limestone soil in time will he
the best blue grass lands in the world"
Cows are worth from S25 to $40. Ok
ell per yoke, from $50 t0 S125. Horses
from $50 10 $50. Pigs, eight week.
old, from 50 10 50 each.
| DAIR1ISGs
In such a country, with ranges for
stock unrestricted. and pasiurage limit
less, the prod ucfion of butter and cheese
must be profitable. Butter is worth
tie year round from % TO so cents per
pound. Regular manufactures for
cltee Sc are bring established with sue
cess; the cheese weigh all the way from
80 to 125 pounds each. AS yet in this
line comparatively little has been done.
The-abundence OF pure cold water, the
frequency of springs. and the facilities
for cool cellars every where exist. and
the cheapmess with which cattle can be
raised and fed, leaves this branch of Ia
Dor without any draw backs. and in-ures
handsome returns and liberal profits To
all who may engage in the dair! ing
business.
FRUIT GROWING
Is one the speciGtties, az demonstrated
I by the Gold Medal awarded to The
State of Kansa. by the Pennsylvania
State Horticultural Society for "a COL
LECTION OF FRUITS UNSURPASSED FOR
SIZE. BEAUTY AND FLAVOR, and as ex-
hfbiied at the National Pom oiogical
r nj \.