The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1874-12-04

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AefI the ears OF corn hanging npol
The stalks. Further west ward, th
ears being in a milky state, were al
so destro. ed. leaving the bare stalk
lstaneing in the fields like so man,
walking canes stuck in the ground
In western and in central Kansas
the grasshoppers came early enough
tn find the corn in 8 tenderer state
and they destroyed not only blad,
sud iassel and incipient ear, but at
even the stalks down to within /;
/ foot or two of the ground, leaving {
Geld not of bare canes, but of bar,
pegs.
4 EXTENT OF DAMAGE.
4 / sought with some care to ascer
tain the damage actually caused by
the grssshoppers, and I came il
contact with aid received direct in.
formation from hundreds of farm.
ers residing in the counties of Ly.
on, Chase, Marion, Harvey, Sedg.
1 wick, Reno and Barton. AS the re.
suit of iheir statements, / think the
following may be relied upon as &
toierably accurate summary of what
i Res destroyed and what was saved
/ In those counties:
Corn-was almost total failure,
Lin general. When planted very
early, however, q partial crop was
secured, and in few special in
stances, in most OF these counties,
fair average crops-forty.fiVe to six
ty bushels per acre. (This is the
| yield according to measure; by
weight it would be less. l learn at
! our paeking-houses that the hogs
this season have no lsrd-a fact re.
shiting from the inferior quality as
well as the small quality of corn
raised this year in the west.)
Winter wheat-was not affected
by grasshoppers. The crop was
considered fair, ranging from fifteen
to thirty-five bushels per acre.
Spring wheat-Was raised in con.
siderable quantities, and yielded all
the way from six to twenty-five
bushels per acre.
Oats-were somewhat injured by
the grasshoppers, in some OF these
counties, but the crop generally
is pronounced gOod-twenty-five
bushels to the acre.
Rye-Was sown only in limited
quantities. 1t gave everywhere q
liberal return, averaging twenty
bushels to the acre, and some fields
yielding fifty bushels.
q learned from Mr.. s. T. Kelsey,
of the state board of agriculture,
that the difference in the yield of
the various crops is not owing to
difference In soil or advantageous
location, but almost eetirely to the
difference between good and bad
tilIage.)
Fruit-was not very badly dam
aged by the grasshoppers. The
small fruits, strawberries, blacEber-
ries, ETC., yielded well wherever
grown, and were out of the way of
the destroying army. The leaves of
the apple trees were taken, but the
apple left untouched. Peach trees
lost their leaves, and the fruit did
not altogether escape. The crop
was q large one, but not up to the
expectation. A farmer in Sedg-
wick, who sold two hundred BUSH
els of peaches, told me he would
have had three or four hundred but
for the grasshoppers.) Pears yield
ed a partial crop. Grapes were
abundant, suffering comparatively
slight injury.
Vegetables-of the early sort pro-
struggle over the late vegetables,
but the grasshoppers got most of
them. (SOme people did succeed
in saving their gardens by persist
ent use OF fire and smoke, and
whips; but Mr.. Barnard, of Chase
county, who had a field of two
thousand cabbages, tried all these
means without saving single cab
bage.) There was q fair crop of
late sweet potatoes, whose vines
grew again after the grasshoppers
left also of late beets and turnips.
Grass-a crop of prime import
ance, though often overlooked
was but slightly injured. Pastur.
age was fair through the season,
and the hay harvest is unprecedent-
ly large, some farmers putting up
from fifty to one hundred tons.
A prominent clergyman of Law
renee sums up the matter as to east
ern Kansas thus: Gin this eastern
portion l really believe there will
be more realized from the soil this
wear than last, and I doubt il, on
the whole, it will be SO bad a year"
Several farmers in the middle cOun-
ties said TO me almost the same
thing. ave have lost our corn
CROP" said they, "yet we shall get
through this winter better than we
did last winter" Many people said !:
"You visit Kansas at very unfa-
vorable time" But l could not al
together agree with them. The
beautiful fields of wheat, scattered
from the eastern border all along to
the western settlements, could not
have looked more promising, and,
| as / learned, were never half so eX-
| tensive; at no former time could
| have seen such innumerable ricks OF
hay in all the land the trees, which
| in some instances had been robbed
of their foliage, had put forth fresh
leaves and showed no signs of DESC
lation; large herds of cattle were
seen fattening upon the rich and
unlimited pasturage of the prairie
the Indian summer OF the past
month was the very perfection Of
pleasant weather: and the people
whom met were cheerful, content.
cd, full OF hope and energy, and
able and willing to bear their OWL
burdens.
INDIVIDUAL CASES.
The grasshopper plague, hOwey
er, after all is said that can be salt
in mitigation and in correction o
exaggerated reports, did fall with al
most crushing weight upon some
individ uals, and was TO them 8 yer!
great calamity. The old settler
and those who had been in Kausa
two or three seasons, and had pu
in wheat as we'll as corn, will ge
through well enough; but the emf
grants of q year ago who came II
quest of homestead claims, will
barely enough to carry then
through one season, and others VIII
ventuIed everything upon the on
crop of corn, lose all they depends
upon for their winters store. Il
: the new settlements of westerl
Kansas there were q number of sue
r cases. A large proportion of then
: have left the country, vending thei
) way back in their emigrant wagon
to the older states, and to all inqui
/ ries IS to their destination, givin
: the one answer: 'tGoing back {
wife's folks" Many ofthem inten
7. to find employment during the win