Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-09-01

grow as large here as they do in Ohio
If any difference, most of them grow
larger here than they do back in the
east. The settlers here in the western
part of both States, injure themselves
in two respects. First, by their prac-
tice of burning off the prairie grass ev-
cry year, as it prevents the soil from in
creasing in thickness; and then the two
elerents, fire and water, being adverse
to each other, it necessarily follows that
where there is so much fire as there is
here when burning the grass off, that
the presence of water need not be look
ed for. Hence the great cause of our
drouths here every year. Houses, both
in Nebraska and Kansas (western parts),
are generally built of sod, and rooted
with the same material, and have dirt
floors. A few houses have shingle roofs
and lumber floors. 1t takes am Ohioan
some time to learn to manage dirt
floor in order to keep from being over
stocked withdiiFt. 44obably your read
ers would like to know how it is done
80 here is t1e secret: They saturate
the ground thoroughly, once day, with
boiling water, and at the same time use
mop, and the floor will soon become
solid. r4
~ STORMS.
We don't have any more storms here
than you have in Ohio. But when cy-
clone gets formed here, it has no hills
nor forests to run against to break it of,
so it RACES till it gathers weight sutii-
cient to burst it. The damage done to
frame buildings here in the west, is ow-
ing to the fact that they are construct
ed out of light timber and put together
with but few mortises and lemons. If
we would build our houses of heavy
timber, they would stand as hard storms
as the buildings do in Ohio.
GRAIN.
In southwestern Nebraska and west
ern Kansas, grain natures more per-
fectly than it does along the Platte
valley. The outside appearance of the
grain would lead You to believe that it
was perfectly matured but get it ground,
and make bread or muSh either, and you
will find that it lacks considerable of
the sweetness that is inherent in grain
grown in Ohio. r4 sfrf-
CRICKETS AND GRAssHoPPERs
are plentier here in the west, than they
are in the east. You dare not lay down
your outer garments on the ground if
you do, in a short time, the black crick-
cts will ruin them, especially if it has
any wool in it, 0r-if the garment is
sweated. never saw the like for all
kinds of grasshOppers and all species of
crickets in the eastern states. The grass
hoppers that do the mischief in this
western country, are about the size of
those little striped ones in Ohio, but they
are of a gray appearance, and their
heads are red as also their wings, and
have stripes on their legs To look at
one of these little fellows, you would
not think he could do any damage to a
crop of wheat or eorn-but wait till you
see one tackle bunch of wheat or hill
of corn, and fill his stomach therefrom,
and you will at once be convinced as to
his capacity to do mischief, which is one
of the marvels of the world. Here in
the west we never have a still, clear,
cold day in the winter; when it is cold it
is windy.
BIRDS AND INSECTS.
So far as my observation has extend
ed, it leads me to believe that we have
all kinds of birds here that you have in
Ohio, except the blue snow-bird and the
little sparrow, but in their stead we have
other species of birds, among which i
will mention the yellow headed black
bird, and large hawk with black tips
to its wings. We have every variety of
insect that you have, and several spe-
cies that l never saw in Ohio. This
western country is boss place to raise
mosquitoes, and along the Platte valley
it is capital place to produce gnats;
house flies here by the ten-acre field full,
and as impudent as they well can be-
they won't let me sleep a wink in the
daytime.
DISEASES.
The same diseases are prevalent here
that you have back there. We have
nice way, here in the west, of whipping
the devil around the stump, in saying
that person has an attack Of the ma
larial fever, when he has the ague.
Well, Mr.. Editor, have many other
things would like to write, but your
patience is probably wearied beyond en-
durance already, so l will reserve few
jots for another time.
3 BELMONTER.
Dramatic Incident at Murder Trial.