Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-12-12
Observations on D. divers Late Kan
sas Letter.

EDITOR HERALD: In last week s
HERALD yon generously Published D.
divers account of what may be
named, his paradise, Kansas and
thinking as l do that it may deceive
many persons, | venture to offer few
remarks thereon.
Mr.. O. would have his readers be-
lieve that the brush lands of this and
other counties Of Wisconsin are not
worth owning. This is a mere asser-
ton. These lands, In the hands OF
many persons hereabout are being
successfully cultivated and pastured.
! can prove this by my own practical
experience. To wait to grub this
kind of land is, in my opinion, a great
mistake. As to stony patches, ravines
and the like, there are but few of them
but what can easily be turned into
pastures, being generally near streams
of pure water.
That the lands of Kansas can be
fenced with barbed wire is true, but it
IS neither cheap nor everlasting. To
picket out horses--and COWS too.
though Mr.. 0. forgot to put that in
is one way. To turn them out, as is
generally done here, into we'll fenced
pastures, is another and far better
way. That Kansas is fine state with
large amount of good land in it, no
one denies, but it has lots of rough,
poor, wet and alkali lands--far worse
than any part of Wisconsin-also a
sad scarcity of timber. 1t must also
strike common observer that there
is something radically wrong in the
general state of affairs in Kansas, else
why is corn often burnt there for fuel
"a grain or crop that is good for
both human aud animal food I? | have
met with many persons who have
been there and returned to this part,
feeling very glad to get back here,
and denounced Kansas in unmeasured
terms. Yes, and saying too, "that
they never want to leave Grant County
again"
The general health of people here
is far better than in Kansas. Here
1 mean particularly around Lancaster
there are no malariai diseases, and
scarcely any where else in Grant Co.
or indeed, our whole state. Kansas
is not so favored. Part of it has eli.
mate almost semrtropical, and is pro-
life with diseases incident thereto. 1t
has too. nearly or quite every year,
the grasshoppers, the parching up
southwest wind, the jigger flies which
deposit a maggot as they sting, and
swarms of mosquitoes and common
flies.
At the present time, there is a good
deal being done to write up" Kansas.
Railroad companies, land agents, and
other interested parties, can well af-
ford TO do so to gain their ends, but
the farmer who leaves here for there,
or for any other part West, while he
has here fair prospects, is very likely
to do wrong. "The rolling stone
gathers no moss"
A better future is now before the
farmers of this vicinity. The "iron
horse" will, in a week or two, be in
our midst. This will not only cause
new branches of business and of hus-
bandry to be pursued, but will furnish
a market right here for all our pro-
ducts, and very few of us need look
for better part to live in.
d. .. crowned bis letter by stating
that "the scalasags and homesick
people stayed away from Kansas"
Why Mr.. Editor, heard our mutual
friend, d. 0. say in Lancaster, that
every man has to carry a revolver in
the part of Kansas where he had
bought land" Of course, / then
smiled to myself, and thought it for
tunate for this community that few
persons in it if any, need to carry that
deadly, and 1 may say, cowardly,
weapon. A FARMER of Lancaster.