The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-09-05
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
NEWTON, Kansas, August 90, 1874

&NI"AoN5 AohSoS, 6huS uSe 49, iSsf'
Grasshoppers are the chief cause Of excite
ment here. They have devoured everything
green and tender in their path. and where
they come from and whittier they 60 is the
problem none seem able to solve. This
afternoon a cloud of the insects could be
seen apparently mile up in the air, by
looking as nearly at the sun as the eye
would bear, and by the aid of field glass,
they seemed like storm of flying snow
flakes, which literally filled the air. They
were driven before stiff south wind.
They make their appearance about Gran
ada, the terminus of the A, T. & Santa
Fee Railroad every Summer. This season
they first came from the East, over those
sterile plains of Kansas, and in the eastern
and middle part of the State, they came
suddenly down in cloud, one morning
from tho west. They have spread great
devastation among the new settlers of the
State this season, eating up their only
dependence, their corn crop, and numbers
are quitting the State in despair, having
staked their little all on the corn which
they expected to carry them through till
Spring or next Summer. There is a good
wheat crop in the State, and the grain is
pronounced of excellent quality. The
great calamity of this visitation Of grass
hoppers falls upon the new settlers who
have but limited means, and who are liable
to meet misfortune from many sources.
Persons with some resources, and who are
we'll established in the State, do not feel
the loss more than our Eastern farmers
often feel the effects of loss of crops by
dry weather or too much wet, and other
causes incident to farming.
This is a most excellent time to purchase
desirable land in the State with some i'm
provements on it. Many are anxious to
sell for what their improvements cost, and
leave, thoroughly disguised, as many per-
sons are prone to be, at the first wind of
adverse fortune.
Kansas is literally dry State, but from
the best information can gather, it is des-
tined to be great wheat State, especially
the middle portion, which is now fast set
Ting up. A little rain seems to GO great
way here in maturing crops. The great
enemy to Spring wheat-which is not fit to
plant here at all-is the chinck bug. 1t is
a very small insect that lies dormant under
any litter that accumulates, such as corn
stalks, stubble, ETC., and attacks the roots
of the Spring wheat, effecting the destruc-
ton of the grain in manner similar to
the Hessian fly. 1t extends its ravages
from the wheat to the young corn and
destroys or Injuries the latter to great
extent. So the grasshoppers and chinch
bug, together with the very dry season
which the State has suffered, have COM
bined to distress and dishearten many of
the new settlers, whose means we're very
limited, and who, feeling themselves totally
broken up, are anxious to sell their land
and return East. The misfortune with
many of this class is that being pre-emp-
tors they can give no title for the land, not
having resided on it sufficient length of
time to acquire fee simple deed from the
Government; and under such circumstances,
the party who takes the land off the hand
of the pre-emptor is obliged to possess it
five years before he can secure title from
the Government.
There is constant rush of emigrants
and land prospectors pouring into Kansas.
You will meet the agents for the railroad
lands in the cars after leaving Chicago,
with party of prospectors, whose ears
they continue to tickle with the golden
promises in the near future, their lands are
sure to realize; and as you proceed toward
Kansas City, Atchison and other points
entering the State, they increase in num-
bers and enthusiasm till they are distrib-
uted through the several locations where
they have pitched upon as their land of
promise.
The present is most suspicious time to
purchase both land and stock at very low
figures, and shrewd business man with a
few thousand dollars of cash in hand,
could make sure speculation here at pres
emit by buying of disappointed hundreds,
who, having but little, have lost apparently
all by the grasshoppers, chinch bug and
drought. There has been but one good
soaking rain this Summer, which fell early
in June. Such droughts frequently occur
in many parts of the East, but people in
old settled countries are better prepared
for such transient misfortunes. The man
of very small or no means at all, had bet
ter stay away. A farmer with enough
capital to live on two years, and sufficient
business talent, cannot fail to secure a
future independence by judicious manage
ment. This surplus should be independ-
emit of the necessary sum to purchase suf-
ficient stock and start housekeeping. If
he has this much capital and health, his
risk of failure is very small. Cows and
two year olds can be bought at Wachitu at
present for IS and $40 head. E. E. E.