Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-08-20
FARMING IN THE NORTHWEST.


KINGS MOUNTAINS S. c., Aug. II, 1874.
Editor of the Enquirer PLEASE publish
the following letter from DR.. Ralston, of
Iowa. / asked him for this letter, descrip-
tive of farming in Iowa, with view to pub
fishing it in the ENQUIRER. made state
ments to my friends, in letters from that
State, while there in May and June, and
when returned home, l found a sort of in
creduluy that induced me to ask this conir-
nation from DR.. Ralston, notifying him of
my intention.
may state that we on the Atlantic belt
are totally ignorant of the prodigous resources
of the great Northwest. A Mr.. Duncan, Of
North Illinois, stated to me that his son
worked forty acres of corn, which yielded
forty bushels to the acre; he raised three
hundred bushels of oats and about one hun
dred bushels of wheat doing all the work
himself, except the necessary assistance re-
quired for harvesting.
The soil is rich prairie, and when the crop
is we'll put in, the trouble is half over. was
surprised at the rapid growth after sunshine
fairly commences in the spring But there
are troubles, too, in that fertile region. Amid
all the advantages of fine soil and improved
agricultural implements, l found wealthy
farmers coming South, having grown tired of
the long, cold winters. The people Of the
Northwest require huge stores of provisions
to carry them through the almost artic win
ters of the rigorous climate. A notable fea'
ture of the winter season there is the almost
entire absence of rain, and the quantities Of
snow flying in the air much of the time-es-
pecially during mid-winter.
When was with DR.. Ralston, he one day,
for the amusement of myself and travelling
companion, put on bis snow costume, for win
ter travel, and I confess he resembled greatly
Laplander or Esquimaux. The great Mis-
sissippi freezes from shore to shore at LIE
Claire, four hundred miles above St. Louis,
and becomes safe and pleasant highway for
travel, up and down its course. with sleighs.
Iowa is far in advance of South Carolina
in educational facilities. As we drove through
Scott county, on beautiful summer day in
June, was in ecstaces all the while, ranging
my eye over the countless objects of interest
that spread out like picture Of beauty-a
panorama of prosperity-and among the most
interesting objects presented, were the school
houses, painted white and elegantly fitted up
for the comfort of the children. This looks
like civilization. Say what you will about
training the youthful mind to think, and
storing it with treasures Of knowledge, yet
half the education is omitted and the better
half, too-if you have not instilled sentiments
of selfrcspect and refined taste, and love
for the beautiful as well as the good and the
useful. How Gun you succeed in those deslr-
able accomplishments, if you never let your
child see anything but hut which a savage
might have built? Look at our South Caro-
lima schoo-houses all over York county mud
daubed cabins, often with wooden chimneys
and puucheon floors Is it not blushing
shame-an everlasting reproach-upon our
Southern chivalry and boasted refinement {?
In Iowa, not yet fifty years settled by the
whites, taste and refinement are everywhere
seen, and the people would deride the back
woods civilization of State a hundred years
old, and yet tancying itself at the head of the
IJniou L. +. B.
LIZ CLAIRE, Iowa, July II, 1874.
* X X And Won have seen the far-famed