Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1875-08-14
LETTER FROM KANSAS.
HUTCHINSON, KANSAS,
Aug. 5th, rs.

/ 10 the Editors o. the Independent
Since your visit to the Arkansas
/ Valley, among the Editorial Ey-
cursionists, we have enjoyed a sea
son of uninterrupted prosperity
The entire valley has been visited
by frequent and copious rains, and,
although we have had a heavy
rainfall, vet the peculiar nature Of
our soil, being entirely free from
hard-pan or stiff, heavy clay, our
growing crops sustained no injury,
and for the same reason, the sur
| plus water has not ran off into the
streams and made of them devas-
/ tating torrents, but has slowly
sunk out of sight in the loose soil,
and is gradually drawn off in the
stream without resulting in dam
aging freshets.
The crops in the valley from au-
| thenticated reports all along the
line Of the A., T. & S. T. r.. r.. can
scarcely be over estimated. 1t is
safe to say that for the acreage
planted, no other similar extent of
country will show higher aver
age Of farm products. Wheat,rye
oats, barley. and fax have been
safely harvested. Wheat is yield
ing from 20 to 40 bushels per acre,
fair average FOR winter wheat be-
ing not less than 25 bushels. Spring
wheat (which should never be
sown in the Arkansas Valley
yields about Is bushels. Oats will
average about 40 bushels, and are
very heavy. Rye about the same
as wheat. Barley from Is to 80
bushels. Flax is yielding from s
to IL bushels of seed. Garden We
getables are very abundant, large
and perfect. Potatoes, the early
varieties, are being gathered, and
yield from 100 to 200 bushels per
acre. The late varieties promi se
heavy yield.
Corn, the great staple of the west,
and of which many thousand acres
are growing, is now so nearly
made that without another shower
of rain, the average yield (sod corn
included) will not be less than 40
bushels per acre. In the counties
of Marion, Mcpherson, Harvey,
Sodgwick, Reno, Rice, Barton,
Pawnee, and Edwards, not less
than 10000 acres of corn is now
growing, and will yield the enor-
nous amount of six millions of
bushels. The same counties will
produce, this year, not less than
Two and one-half million bushels
wheat and over three million BUSH
els of oats. This is a wonderful ev-
idence of the fertility of our soil,
and the ease with which it is re-
claimed from state of nature, and
made to yield to the demands OF
the farmer.
Only six years ago, and all this
vast country was a vast wilder
ness, and these rich fields of grain
were pasture-fields of the buffalo.
The immense growth Of the wild
grasses on our prairies, must not
be forgotten or overlooked, as this
is an element of material wealth.
The extent of these grass lands is
only measured by the quantity of
feed they produce. Both are al
most incalculable. Thousands of
cattle could be, and are, fatted
ready for market on this alone,
without cost to the owners. and is
a source of great profit to stock
raisers.
immigration is beginning, and
those who come to look, almost
universally get a piece of land in
the Arkansas Valley before going
back. The prospect is so fiatter-
ing that they do not care to with
stand the temptation of either pur-
chasing same of the cheap lands
offered by the A. t. & 8. F. r. r.