The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1879-09-26
ENGLISH FARMERS.
Talk With Party who are Going to Set
tie In Texas. Il

A&AS@-A@ASsSS
A Talk With Party who are Going to Set
tie In Texas.
From the New York Times, Sept. l0.l
Close upon the heels of the British
C Commissioners who have been sent to
inquire into the condition of the agri-
cultural classes in this country, and to
if possible, in our agricultural
methods some remedy for the depressed
of agriculture in England,
comes large party of English farmers,
men who have for years been struggling
against fate and ill-fortune, and who
have at last determined to fully and fair
ly test the experiment of. farming in
America. This party came from Liver
pool on the National Line steamer Hell
vetia, which arrived in the Lower Bay
on Saturday night, and was brought to
an anchorage near the cOmpany's wharf
on Sunday. The steamer will not come
to her dock for day or two, and the
farmers will remain on board until
Thursday, awaiting transfer to one of
the Mallory steamers, to be taken to
Galveston, Texas. A reporter of the
Times went on board the Helvetia on
Monday, and had long conversation
with individuals who came from two
widely separated localities in England,
and had an opportunity to see
that the men of the party were
strong and weather-beaten, and I'M
questionably familiar with hard work.
Only half dozen of them come from
London or its neighborhood, while
about 20 of them hail from the vicinity
of Durham. They came in the steerage
of the vessel, choosing to travel cheaply
and use the funds with which they are
provided in buying utensils, material,
stock, and other necessaries, with which
to gain fOOthOld in their new homes.
Conversation with these men, who have
been for years acquainted with all the
difficulties that tenant-farmers have
been compelled to encounter, made it
plain that they had decided to abandon
their English homes only because they
had found that they were fighting a
losing battle with circumstances which
they were powerless to overcome. They
have no extravagant expectations of
success, but say they are resolved to
give the new land a thorough trial, and
to do all that can be done by industri-
Gus, careful application, to achieve in
dependence, if they do not accumulate
wealth. They are by no means likely
to become dependent upon charity, for
each farmer is supplied with means be-
yOnd the amount he has spent in ac-
Guiring land, and with enough ready
money to keep him comfortably until
he can realize something from his own
efforts.
Robert Applegarth, one of the party,
replied to . number of questions with
entire candor and willingness, desiring,
as he said, to have news of the move
ments of the party communicated to
friends ut home through public medi-
UNI. He is tall, slightly bent man,
with good features, somewhat brOnzed,
sparse beard growing on his cheeks,
and full, brown mustache and whisker
covering his mouth and chin. He was
roughly clad, and when addressed was
playing draughts in the Storage with
one of his companions.
Elbow was it that you came to en-
bark for American said the reporter.
"Well, sir, you see the gist OF it is
this: The best land of England is now,
and it has been for years, held by the
gentry. Such land as they can do with
out, that they do not wish to preserve for
hunting purposes or for their own farms,
thew rent to tenants. These tenants are
generally men whose fathers and grand
fathers have rented and cultivated the
same lands. With them, the task has
been one of constant effort to make bad
lands productive. The contest has been
so labOriOus that men are living, and in
this party, who know that the tenants
are no better off now than they were 40
wears ago. Some of them are poorer.
1t has always been my belief that to
spend money and labor on bad land that
was not naturally productive at the first
must end in loss. At Durham, from
which and many of my friends in this
party have cOme-and they are nearly
all from the North of England-we have
been thinking of emigration for years.
Still, we hesitated to break up our
homes, hoping that in time our land
lords would reduce their rents, that the
crops would improve, or that other cir
cumstances would make the outlook
brighter. We have found in recent
years that while we could raise good
crops of straw we could not produce
large kernels of grain, and that in spite
of all our efforts our grain was smaller
and our labor was gradually becoming
less remunerative. For some time back
we have considered this situation in
meetings of farmers, and, looking about
for land in which the conditions APP
peared to be most favorable, we struck
upon Texas"
NAre you satisfied that the country to
which you are going has such land as
You will be able to work upon prOfita-
bly?"
"Oh, yes" with a hearty dialect
drawl. "One of our company has been
there and knows the country well enough.
When we were convinced that it was
useless to continue our unequal fight with
landlords and poor lands at home, we
bought plots Of Col. Kingsbury, an
American in England, and the owner of
Texas lands. Some of us bought so
acres, others 100, and some have taken
a quarter section, paying from ESQ to
ESQ for the plots. In some instances
these plots have four-roOm cabins On