The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1879-10-16

As the facts In relation TO this new cereal
are new, curious and interesting, they are
here given in detail. Mr.. HOLSTER bought, a
couple of years ago, ranch of some l,sOO
acres, three or four miles south of Kinsley,
on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Rail-
way. Kinsley is situated in the Valley of the
Arkansas, IN what Is called the "dry belt"
three hundred and sixteenmiles west ofKan-
Kansas City, and about the same distance
east OF Pueblo. Mr.. HOLSTERS son and SON
in-law occupy the place. Last year, a neigh
Dor of the Hollister ranch. raised some of the
rice corn, and his success induced Deacon
Hollister to recommend Its introduction on
his rancho. He had forty acres OF sod turned
over last Spring. and having procured sew
ersl quarts OF the seed, with an ordinary seed
planter, he deposited two or three grains a
foot or two apart in the sod. There had not
been q drop of rain for the previous eight
months, and 1t did not rain Tor five weeks
after the planting, yet the seed terminated,
The corn
CAME UP AND GREW FINELY,
After II got fairly started, the hot blasts came
up from the Piano Estacado (SCaked Plains,
burning up the grass and every green thing
in the gardens, scorching like the blasts from
a furnace, and yet II did not affect the new
CONNER from Egypt particle: Itgrew right
came on and. and the sturdy grain was
equally indifferent to that. IL grew right on,
aud ripened about the first of September.
yielding, Deacon Holiister thought, some
sixty bushels to the acre, weighing sixty
pounds to the bushel. The stalk for some
three feet from the ground Is about as large as
This in all the treeless regions east Of the
mountain is
MOST IMPORTANT FACT,
as an acre or two will furnish fuel for a family
woody substance issues a stalk, on the top of
which Iuft something like tina; oil sorghum
issues; this soon droops over, and the whole
bunch Il one mass of the grain: The kernel
Is about the SIZE of grain OF wheat, perhaps
a little smaller, and more nearly round. Each
one is tnclosed in a shuck or independent
The grain can M be ground inso an ex;
can be made; II can be boiled and eaten as
rice or cracked wheat, and In fact can be used
for any purpose for which our ordinary cere-
ais are employed. A neighbor OF Deacon Hol-
lister, who raised a small crop last year as.
sured him that II fattensd his pigs faster than
he had ever known common corn or any
other feed to do.
Now, the only thing about this story is that
IL seems
ALMOST TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
No estimate can begin to rate its value II all
that Deacon Hollisier claims for il should
prove true. From New Mexico to the British
line there are tens of thousands of square
miles too far away nom the mountains TO be
Issst-too for beyond the line OF reliable rain
fall to be used for any other purpose than
pasturaSe. And now comes this African
plant apparently adapted to furnish both
food and fael for all this vast country. II II
should ful1ll the promise thus far given It's
value to the country and to humanity must
be told In Thousands OF millions of dollars.
Nj. HOLSTER thinks the seed Was brought to
I his country from Southern Russia by the
Nennonifes; but beyond this he knows
nothing of Its history can ind NO account
Of IL In the Encyclopedias, unless IL be q
species Of millet TO the descriptions OF which
. seems 70 bear some resemblance. II seems
very strange indeed that no traveller or for
aagn CoA6al haa brought its value before the
public; Had noe 20 reliable . genflemm - |
knOW Deacon James H0ll11ter % be G1ven me
ne above 1AceA, should not have dared 70
nave given this account % the public.