The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1879-11-07

this test Of age and development here
contradicts itself; often the household
gods are attractiyely enshrined In ad-
vance Of the first Of the blowing.
These people, you will readily per-
ccive, are none Of your Flooding, thick
witfcd kind. . sucked in creed out
worm" They are a new race, with "A
new philosophy. Enter one Of their
homes, and you viii find a parlor with
three-ply carpet on the floor, lace cur
tains AT the windows, pictures on the
walls, shelf Of books. and. not unlike
~, piano In the corner. And
they will talk 10 you-thc farmer
and his wife-about Emerson
and Huxley, Deronda- and ..That
Lass o. I,owrie's;r about the Centen-
NAL Exhibition, especially the part
which Kansas played in IL; about the
new school-house, the coming election,
the last evenings sunset. Then il YOU
stay TO tea Gas You will be pressed To
dol. you will discover that the latest
tricks Of cookery are here also, aud some
more pictures, and pots II house-plants,
and possibly a coy glitter Of silverware.
But for the big vase Of wild flowers i'm
the centerof the table daisies. larkspurs
and vcrbcnas and the wide. ambiguous
vista Of untcnanted prairie from the west
window, you might easily convince YOUR
self you were in New England. III fact.
this very family may be from New Eng
land- since New England invented Kan
ssls, and has sent her thousands Of citi-
zens; but, more likely. they are from
some State no farther East than Ohio;
the chance that they are 10 the manner
born i only one "a five. II matters lit
tie. Wherever they came from. they
are kansans now: and 10 be Kansan
j. - have an identity at once distinct
and conspicuous.
But 70 return TO the sod. The seeding
follows hard upon the blowing goes
along with IL, may and Frequently
You will see plows. harrows, wheat
drills and corn-planters all at work to-
gether on single farm, where "a hours
before there was only 2 green, unfrod-
den waste. The sod-crop being often
the settlers main and only reliance for
the first year, and requiring but little
care, the ruling idea i 10 get a. much
planted a. possible OF course. large
results are not reasonably 10 be expect
ell from this initial process; but ordi-
narily the yield i good. better than You
would guess. and in some instances
quite astonishing With timely seeding
and favorable season. il j. NOT uncom-
mon for sod-whcat in Kansas To make Is
bushels 10 the acre (aboye the average
annual yield Of the older States. and
sod-corn often reaches 40 bushels per
acre passed field after field Of sOd-corn
in the Arkansas Valley the last autumn,
which l am sure would exceed that
and considerable proportion II il, they
told me. had been planted A. late a. the
fourth week in May There are cases,
not numerous, 10 be sure, but none the
less authentic, where these ncw-fashioncd
farmers haze actually paid for their
farms with the proceeds Of their first
crop Of wheat or corn. not to speak If
the three dollars per acre which the
mere first blowing adds 20 the perma-
nent value "a the land. Then, after this
sod-crop l. harvested. winter wheat may
be put in these same tields--a-illed ~
between the corn-rows, IL You wish: or
il may be left until spring again. and
planted in corn, and then will come the
richest crop that the soil i capable of
producing.
Corr j. king in Kansas, so far n space
i concerned. They plant il BY square
miles, one might fairly infer, the fields
are 20 incredibly far-reaching; and, II
il did not grow very much ~ IT, own ac-
cord, il could not grow Mt all. n the
sheer abundance Of il forbids any thing
like thorough cultivation. They aim 70
plow il twice, though sometimes once
has 10 suffice, aud where il has been
sod-planted il j. left untouched till II
ripens: and vet il thrivcs in way that
makes folly Of all rule and precedent:
the stalks attain a size and height which
give them resemblance to young for
ests ~ hickory. and the men with plows
look lost among them: and, a. for the
ultimate yield in ears and bushels, i il
not proclaimed everywhere in those
graphic and seductive land advertise
ments which tell how Kansas was 10
years ago the twenty-fourth State IN the
production ~ corn, and i now surpassed
BY only three II all the $50 The small
cost and labor Of tilling l. doubtless the
chief melting cause ~ this extensive re-
te0us il may BE-, offers but slender profit
unless fed 10 live stock hut suspect IL
Is crop that also has special favor with
frontier peOple--perhaps without their
exactly realizing the prefcrencc--be-
cause II the resolutc, imperious, army
with-banners method II has Of possess
ing and holding the country. For corn
j. By nature aggressive and determined.
The smaller grains feel their way fimid-
Nv in primitive soil, and the aboriginal
verdure disputes every inch of progress
with them. But where this autocrat of
the cereals takes root il scorns rivalry.
and is sway j. complete and enduring
And SO these leagues upon leagues ~