The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1874-09-26
CORRESPONDENCE.
FROM .HERSEY.

FROM .HERSEY :.
HERsEY, Sep. "a, 1874.
ED. ADVANCE: Hersey has been
jogging along very Quietly the past
month. There has been nothing of in
terest to relate or I would have written
you. We have had no deaths nor s'mi-
nor arrivals" and there has not been
one bushel of farm produce brought to
this market, which looks very nu III as
though my report in July that our
crops would be total failure was cor
rect. although it has been many times
contradicted. Some have reported a
half crop. On what basis they placed
their estimate is more than I know. If
they consider from four to six bushels
of wheat and 10 to Is bushels of corn
per acre crop they may he correct
The wheat is all harvested and from
what thresl'ing has been done, I con-
clude that this town will yield from two
to three bushels to the acre, which will
not begin to pay for harvesting and
threshing. Many peices have been
Shreshed that did not yield the seed.-
I harvested four acres of corn and
brought it all home in one hand, find
ing only one ear Of corn that had set
in the whole piece. The hoppers had
stripped all of the leaves and silks.
The weather the past two weeks has
been very unfavorable for all kinds Of
business, especially for what most of
the farmers are doing, threshing and
making hay. Good hay will be scarce
article before next Spring. Winter
will find large amount of land not
ploughed in consequence of this bad
weather.
The people are practicing the most
rigid economy, burning hay for fuel
and living on potatoes, and what few
vegetables the hoppers left, such as
squas!es and pumpkins. Meat is out
of the bill of fare, except for those who
can use the gun and shoot chickens and
ducks. In this way a large majority
Of our people will be able to live
through the Winter and are bearing
their trials much more cheerfully than
could be expected, nearly running their
horse teams trying to prepare their
land for Il crop next year without the
necessary grain to feed them. But
there are some families who will he
compelled to ask aid from friends OF
the generous public to prevent starva
ton and extreme suffering from the
Wintry blast.
Theirs has been one successful bust
ness transaction near Hersey. An in.
dividual obtained documents and rec
cancellations from county officials, went
to St. Paul and appealed to the gener.
ous-hearted citizens for aid, which re.
suited in the shipment to Hersey by ex.
press of over $500 in cash, one iew
$500 sewing machine, one wash
ing machine and wringer, and
should judge merchandise to the
amount of two or three hundred dol
lars. If that plan should be generally
adopted I think the merchants and met.
ropolitan hotels would be crowded
with guests, and that the really needy
in the grasshopper district would suf
fer i'll consequence, for although the
citizens Of St. Paul and the wealthy
portions of Minnesota are yer,
generous hearted class of people there
must be some limit to their pile, as well
as disposition to give.
Nevertheless: we all think there is z
glorious future for Mobiles county, AND
we are determined to turn over the
last sod to sustain ourselves until the
golden harvest appears, which we think
will be the coming year, taking into
consideration that we have had our Gus
tomary two years scourge and that the
hoppers did not deposit their eggs with
us nor leave any signs which would lead
us to believe that they intend to visit
us again. MORE ANON,