The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-02-19
LErrER FROM KANSAS.
Good PrOSPscte for Wbsat--NO Rhin for Months
The Country InprOVIng.

Good PrOspscte for WbSat--NO RAln for Months
The Country Improving.
HAYS Cry, KAs., Feb. II, 1880
EDITOR DEMocRAT--I iDclose M. 0. for
50 for the Democrat. Your paperhas be-
come almost a necessity in our family
for home news. 3 this connection ]
wish to write few items for the benefit
Of those who wrote me, wishing to know
If it is as bad as reports say Of this part
OF Kansas.
The prospect for awheat crop is very
fair SO pronounced by our Oldest settlers
whom we consider our best judges The
acreagein wheat in this county, as is the
case in all ives ern counties in this State,
far exceeds that ofany previous year,and
an average yield next June will place
Kansasfar in advance as 4 wheat grow
ing State.
The questions frequently asked--Do
you get any rain, at all in winterP And
does not the wind blow you oTer, &c.P
While we read Of your almost incessant
rains, muddy, impossible roads, we
boast of not having seen rain for over
two or nearly three months, and don't
anticipate any before March or April.
But you are ready to say, don't your
wheat in the ground suffer for want Of
rain 2 The wheat in the ground is in
very good condition; from one to two
inches below the surface there exists, in
fact, an abundance Of moisture, sufficient
and will be until the spring rains. This
is an unusually dry climate during the
winter season, and l have seen no seri-
GUS results because of it's being 80.
During the summer months for two
seasons past we had plentiful rains, with
two exceptions only, The last season, in
May and June, it was very dry, and the
warm south winds damaged the wheat
to such an extent, that the average yield
in this county did not exceed from s to
10 bushels. The previous year. 1878 the
average in this county was 20 bu. per
acre; and then during last fall seeding,
in September and October, it was very
dry again, and perhaps half the wheat
sown, especially the late sowing, did not
even sprout until winter frosts set In.
The early sowing dried out some, and
the late sowing is in a very promising
condition. With a favorable season to
continue wa can expect a good yield.
Rain failed when most needed, in the
spring to fill, and in the fall to sprout the
wheat
The much talked of and much abused
Kansas winds sort Of terror to those
who never felt their chilling, penetrat.
ing blasts in winter time; or, Imight also
say, the gentle, Kansas zephyrs in July
or August. Ifmy word goes for anything
l will say we are all used to them except
our women, on wash-days. If you can
satisfy yourselves as to the fertility of
the soil, the suficienCy of rainfall, the
other questions-wind, homesickness,
society, &c, are minor. You will either
overcome or get accustomed to them.
We believe the soil to be of superior
quality, the rainfall sufficient, with OK.
ceptions, such as all countries are subject
to. With the exceptions in Western
Kansas, some suffering, as is now the
case in newer counties south and west of
us, when aid must come or starvation
follow. ....4 I'D. ,.a I
Farmers as class in this new country
have not years supply ahead. They
come here with barely sufficient means
wherewith to buy yoke of cattle or
plow; they then build a board shanty;
the poorer ones make a sod house or
drgout by turning over the prairie sod.
A failure -snd you can imagine their
condition.
But Ellis Co., has to considerable ex-
tent overcomet these privatiohs, by having
stored somewhat of reserve or surplus,
which the more fortunate freely and
with kind hands distribute to the unfor-
tunate, every year better prepared for
the succeeding one. In the towns you
see enterprise and a steady growth. On
the farms a better class of buildings.
Sod-houses and dugouts give place to
more imposing frame or stone buildings.
The prairie and the treeless plains of
a few years ago are now converted into
growing orchards and cultivated fields,
convincing argument that, notwithstand
ing the failures and defects, there is still
prosperity for those who are determined
and will win.
Those from Canton and Stark county
who saw Hays City one and two years
ago, to-day could see marked changes.
Many of the old shanties on Main street,
with their inhabitants, bedbugs includ-
ed, have disappeared, and in their stead
more substantial stone business houses
and busy merchants; better class of
dwelling houses; and glance at the sur
country shows farm houses
dotted mere and there, as far as the eye
can reach, that would do credit to an ol.
der country. In short the Hays city of
to-day is not the Hays city Of the past,
aud the same may be said of Ellis Coun-
ty,a Very respectfully,
H. D. SHAFFER.
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