The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1878-03-23
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The Great Limestone
Belt Of Kansas.
The Attractive Region of
the West.
BY Major n. inman.

The "Great Central Plains" are a geo.
| graphical feature of the State of Kansas.
| Covered with remarkably nutritious vege.
| tation, for centuries they were an immense
pasturage for countless herds of buffalo, an
! telope and other Illuminating animals whose
! habitat was the far-stretching green praries
| that to-day forms one of the most beautiful
agricultural portions of the Mississippi
Valley. Less than ten years ago this region
was believed, by the mass of the people in
the East, to be an improbable desert, butt
is now the acknowledged garden of the Con-
tinent. This truly magnificent country can
claim the most luxuriant soil of all the
Great West" and climate that approaches
perfection at least. DR.. b. E. Fryer, one Of
the most eminentsurgeons in the Army, and
who was stationed for years at Fort Harker,
four miles from the Town of Ellsworth, de-
clared this to be the "most perfect climate in
the world" The whole country is traversed
by a series of constant streams sweet and
wholesome springs and springfield pools.
Delicious water is also always obtained in
wells, by digging, at easily inaccessible depths.
1t is already conceded that the United States
is rapidly becoming the granary of the world,
particularly in the production of wheat
Kansas, an Empire itself, is taking the lead
| in the cultIre OF this cereal, and in O short
time will be acknowledged queen of all the
States in the production of this great staple
The State, especially her peculiarly wonder
full fertile central area, comprised in what is
known as the "limestone belt" under
the test of only few years, has proved to
the world the immense average its soil is
capable of. Each year increases the limit Of
the wheat belt, as the front err is pushed to-
ward the mountains, within which are found
the greatest possibilities, agrcultnrally.
1t is remarkable fact that nearly all the
lands of the Kansas Pacific Railway are in
Guided in the limestone region under CON
sideration, and that south of this limit
it ceases altogether, and the country
presents another geological formation,
the soil of which is very sandy, and
which, though at present, from fuHness Of it,
Uery prjmittUeneSS is capable of producing
good crops in seasons OF abundant rainfall,
lacks the inherent qualities of self-fertilza-
ton, and must rapidly deteriordte. In this
particular the Smoky Hill Valley is i'm
mensely superior to the arenacous lands OF
the region south. which is drained by the
Arkansas and tributary streams. l. is well
known by every farmer that lime, i'll some OF
its combinations, constitutes the essential
ingredient in all the more valuable grains
and grasses. Its presence in the sill is con-
sequently to be considered as condition OF
fertility. 1t also acts as Il constitutional
ameliorant, OF much power, and, when mixed
with or underlying tough or viscid clay, it
| renders them friable and consequently more
susceptible to the action of atmospheric
forces. Soil in which there is due admx-
ture of calcareous matter, is not. so liable to
be injured or rendered plastic by an excess
of moisture while under crop. The quality
of the wheat raised in this great Limestone
belt" is conceded, in all markets, to be the
finest grain known. 1t produces the familiar
brands of so-called Southern -four, for which
st. Louis is justly celebrated. This is easily
accounted for, from the fact that the soil in
which the wheat is grown possesses due
| a. ,,vf,, Oh o1o,r ;ab
tendency to make the hull of the grain much
thinner, and the farina itself in much greater
quantity, and in richer quality, than in grain
grown on the lands which exhibit de-
ficiency of this earth. All our millers will
testify to the peculiar dour-making proper
ties of our wheat, in this essential, surpass-
| ing that raised in other sections, and it is at
tributed entirely to the fact-which the anal
ysis of the soil confrms--that this so-called
rhinestone belt " possesses all the requisites
of the best wheat land in the world. Sand,
it is well known, is injurious when it enters
too largely into the composition of cult
waited soils in other words, it is useless be-
You'd certain proportion. That the lime
stone belt" or "wonderful wheat region of
Central Kansas" as it is sometimes called,
has the amount of slick or silica---the basis
of sand--fxed in the proper proportion, is
evident, from the fact that it requires pecu-
liar conditions to "lodge" the grain in the
field, even after the most terrific showers.
Considering the question of the relative fer
tility, particularly in its connection with
wheat culture, present richness of soil and
endurance must enter as essential elements
of success, and the capacity of the settler
tilization of the land, an ingredient not to
be overlooked. The latter quality lime
stone region alone can possess, as only a
limited knowledge of agricultural chemistry
clearly demonstrates. Viewing the subject
of wheat culture then in all its aSpects so