Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1871-07-13
Kansas Correspondence.
TOPEKA, July 2, 1871

TOPEKA, July 2, 1871.
Editor Republican:
/ receive your very valuable paper once
in great while, and often read commu-
nications from different parts of Northern
Indiana, which interest me somewhat ;
and | thought, perhaps. if you would al
low me the space in your column 5, that /
might write something of interest from
my home in the Far West" or on the
" Great American Desert"
left Bourbon, Marshall county, little
over two years ago, and did not know
when | started where | should stop; but
1 came to Topeka, the capital of Kansas,
about seventy miles west of Kansas CITY,
Missouri, and situated on beautiful plane
in the Kansas Valley, on the Kansas Pa
cific and the Atehison, Topeka and Santa
Fe Railroads, with as beautiful country
surrounding it as man need want to look
upon.
Everything looks prosperous. Kansas
never had better prospect for crops.
Corn looks better than | ever saw it at
this season of the year in any country.
Notwithstanding
DRoUTHY KANSAS.
there is plenty of everything growing.
We have had vegetables of all kinds for
the past four weeks. The wheat crop is
all harvested, and either threshed or
stacked-that is, the winter wheat. The
spring wheat is fast getting ready for the
harvest. A great many farmers have
their oats all harvested. and have nothing
to do but make their nay The wheat
has been damaged a little by the chinch
bug, but not enough, however, TO be of
any great damage. The recent
DRoUTH
has drowned out the bugs, and they have
left for Il more salubrious climate. We
have had rain once, twice, and sometimes
three times week, since the first of
April; and at the present time it is rain
ing in torrents, and has rained more or
less all day.
The prospect for a good yield of fruit
is fine; the trees are laden with
peaches. pears. plums. apples and cher
ries. Grapes are, to all appearances. more
abundant and of better quality than they
were last year. Grape culture is carried
on pretty extensively in some portions of
the State, bu; not to Il very great extent
in this county, (Shawnee); il is very
profitable and easy business, and they
will grow and do well on high ground
that is worthless for anything else.
The corn in this section looks well, and
a great deal of ii is "tasseled out" the
stocks being from six to eight feet high.
] have corn e. sweet corn y in my garden
almost seven feet high, which expect to
have roasting ears from in less than ten
days.
We have had some pretty hard storms
during the past month in this and also in
the southern portion of the State. Edo
RADIO. in Butler county. was almost totally
destroyed by a tornado, on the 18th of
last month. Houses were blown to at
oms and scattered over the prailies crops
were destroyed-cverything, in fact, so
unfortunate as to be in its track Many
of the inhabitants of the county suffered
greatly, some being left perfectly destitute
of everything-clothing, money, and pro-
visions. 1t came on in the night. and
some were driven out with nothing hut
their night clothing on, everything else
being blown away. Those who have Wis
ited Eldorado, say that it looks desolate
and deserted.
To-day has hecn very stormy, and the
lightning has done considerable damage
in the city, striking one dwelling and a
school-house, tearing them up somewhat !;
no person has been injured, as yet, how
ever
/ am going to take trip to the South
and West, and will write you if you think
my jottings will be of interest to your
readers, but for the present will close
my somewhat lengthy letter.
YO,1rs etc INpr,~r,U