, 1876-09-23
The &ra-shopper Country.


ASH GREER, ROCK Co, MINI.
September Is, 1876.
Dear Brother:--I received your most
welcome letter more than n week ago,
hut have neglected to answer 1t, having
been So busy.
People here are all we'll Almost every
one has thrashed wheat ging from to
10 bushels per acre Grain never pam
ned ont so poor before. Ben. F. had
but % bushels Of wheat on 90 acres OF
Ind; Eric - had so, and John s.
30 bushels on their farms. How is that
for high have not thrasIed yet, but
will not have more than one half us much
as you had last year, and | have double
your acreage Wheat is G5@70 cts. per
bushcl, and no oats or corn and hut lit
tie barley; so you see that the prospect
for cash in this quarter is poor.
was surprised to hear that you were
W, Il and sound again. I
done my own stacking this year, and
although we have had some fearful riR2s
and rains the stacks are in good cOndi-
tion. The 'hoppers came down at Cher
okce very thick, but it was two weeks
later than they came here and did not
do MS much damage. There are great
many new thrNshing machines here this
year and consequently they have gone
through what the 'hopprrs left in II hur-
r,, and now, in September, thrashing is
almost done; II thing never heard Of
before here in all the grusshopper yeals
we have had.
S. has the blues he has about so
acres of land in cultivation and had but
81 bushels of wheat, 10 Of oats, and 80
OF barley, and A. F. had 30 bushels
Of wheat; what do you think of that :
There is no work to be had, so You can
thank your stars that you are not in
Rock Co. this year. They say three
times and out" but that is not SO; for (as
suppose it needless to remind you) this
is the fourth year the festive hopper has
swung around"
Potatoes are IS cts, per bushel now !;
what will they be by spring1 But l sup
pose we have got to fight it out.
Hoping to hear from you soon, I am
Your atfectionate brother,
4. A. Brown.
The above letter to Mr.. w. f. Brown
of this place, was not intended for pub
lication, but as it contains items ot inter.
est to some of our subscribers, we publish
it, suppressing only personal matter.
1t is matter Of wonder to many that
any one will live in country so subject
to droughts, hail.storms, and the ravages
Of grasshoppers as southwestern Mime.
sofa. The truth is, there are great
many there that would leave but cannot
get the means to do so. All they have
is there, and they can realize"but little
from the sale of either real estate or per-
sonal property. There are numerous
And-sharks" there that are interested in
large tracts Of land, and are using every
means to keep what settlers they have
and to obtain more and care little how
many are ruined, only that they make a
few dollars The local press, too, is ex.
erting its influence in the same direction; {;
for in speaking of the ravages of the
grasshoppers IN the county in which this
letter was written, says, " they have done
but little damage, except to gardens and
fruit trees" The real state of affairs we
find to be very different from that state
ment. Many of the newspapers in that
section are bitterly opposed to any emf
grafton to this Coast, aud snatch greedily
at any report that would have tendency
to keep people away from here, call our
settlers "dGluded cmigrants," and even
stoop so low as to publish letters from
here that have been rehashed and re-
written so that they would convey an
impression entirely different from that
intended by the writer, They will not
publish favorable account OF this COun-