New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-28
LIFE IN WESTERN KANSAS.

sUEFP-CULTURE AND OTHER INTERESTS
IrRoM AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRtbuNhI
VICTORIA. Kan. May 5.-The first requisite LOT
profitable farming, strong and easily worKeu SOIL
is well supplied by this country. Rongh quarr'es
of limestone art scattered about the neghborhood
of the larger creeks and here and there OH tne
prairic tie edge of Gdraw" shows a gravelly SOIL
where only the tough red wire-grass grows; but the
great body of tho land is a smooth deposit OF strong
clay loan from TWO to three feet in depth Below
ths is subsoil of more solid clay. dry and baru OF
Indefinite depth and varying in color and texture
Fxcept in times Of long drouth the soil is easily
worked The first breaking of the sod. elsewhere
straininr toll for four strong horses. is here Hght
work for two If turned in May or June to depth
of two and half inches. the sod will quickly rot
and can be back-set in August with the Surfing
plough and be ready for the September sowing OF
wheat. Thus the newcomer may harvest his lrst
crop within year and month from his hrst days
work on his new land and the yield from the first
sowing Is often equal to that older tillage. The
ploughing of the second year, which should cut an
inch or two deeper than the breaking, furnishes
soft seed-bed well pulverized by the harrow
Each successive poughing adds to the depth OF the
tillage and relnforces its strength.
But the Kansas settler is taught by many dsap-
pointments that the best of soils can do nothing
alone. He may put in his seed in the most
thorough fashion, drilling it deep in the we'll
ploughed strong loan. His conscience approves the
we-done work; for result he Tust wait on the
incalculable caprice of the peIversely coquetting
weather. The one prediction that the uncertain
seasons allow is that at time in the year there
will be n troublesome drOuth. If this comes
through the winter and early spring and is very
long and unbrokcn. the wheat, as was the case in
1850 may die unhcaded. If it comes with the hot
winds of May and June as in 1881, the most prom
isng crop will be shrunk into insignfcance by
the too rapid ripenng of the untitled heads.
Should the season be favorable from September to
July, the moderate supply OF rain and snow distrlb-
uted with some equality through the different
months a heavy harvest will enrich the happy
farmer and give him to stand the loss OF his
corn crop. which summer drouth may destroy, and
he will cheerfuly buy his years potatoes from Mis-
souri, or Iowa. The torpid town will stir again
with new life. as the sprightly eleyator-man be-
nefccntly dsburses the lowest possible price for the
heavy loads that pass his scales in an unbroken
procession. Money is plenty old debts are paid
and the storekeepers shine with satisfaction.
POOR PLACE FOR POOR MEN.
There is perbaps no country where the enterprise
of the farmer is so largely game of chance as it is
i'm Western Kansas. The average of succession of
years will show n gain for a prudent manager. and
if he have capital enough TO carry him through the
bad years he has nothing to fear. BIT for the poor
homesteader who must put all his savings into one
years venture, the risk is much too great lie will
be far wiser TO stop IN Eastern Kansas even though
he have to take a smaller farm For then each year
will bring some return. and his garden will not fail
TO provide his family with a large part OF their
need On the plains if the summer is dry, he must
buy all his vegetables at The store at eXtIaVagant
prices. If his scanty capital would allow him
few head of cattle he would have a resource in case
of the failure of the wheat This is the main
security of the large But the poor mau has
hardly the means to buy a family COW. HIS very
poverty compcls him to stake everything on the
speculative wheat crop, where only the rich can
afford to venture His few dollars and his labor are
put INTO the only opening that they can Gill If his
first crop chance to succeed, he has start that Will
enable him to insure himself for the future lie can
start "A small herd of cattle and repeat his wheat
venture with~couidence, knowing that one year
failure need not ruin linn.
Bnt if the first crop FAIL and of this the chance is
sadly great. his case is hopeless. Without means OF
living through another year. unable TO buy seed for
another venture, and too dishcartcned to try 1t
| again. the haggard hOmeseaGer abandons his
claim with its well and shanty and shed. and ours
ing the country for its false promises takes the hot
|
beside him looking ont dclectedly from the I'M
happy confusion Of homcsick furniture Ashamed
TO return with their failure to their Eastern home,
they turn perhaps to the West. to try the chances
of high wages and hard living III the Gunnison
country.
This extreme uncertainty of yearly results joined
az il il with fair average Of gain, calls fer farmers
with some capital. who, independent Of temporary
fluctuations are advanced or retarded only by the
net outcome of longer periods They have also this
further advantage. that Ivy putting part of their
money into cattle, they may have IN insurance
against the failure of wheat, and. what Is more I'M
portant. profitable occupation ior days which the
man whose only interest is in the wheat field must
lose in ldlencSS.
CLIMATIC CHANGES.
There are reasonable hopes that the climate will
improve with the cultivation of the prairie. The
planting of timber claims is one of the remedies
from which great results are expected. by non
residents Those who are familiar with the look of
patient but hopeless suffering which marks an Ellis
County tree plantation have los faith in this
Doubtless forests would help t. bring rains: but
without tho rains how shall tie country get forests
The better trust is in the increased area OF cult
waited land. The tough sod, tramped for unnum
bered centuries by grazing buffalo and yearly baked
by burning suns covered with close mat of short
curly grass is an effective water shed. Tie few
bnt violent rains swiftly OIL the uneven land,
! and the draws" carry away unused the greatest
part of the long needed blessing. The Saline mill
dams are washed away by the flood, and the wide
lords of She Smoky barred for IA day or two !;
but the soil catches only a small fraction of the
Sudden dcluge 4 few hot days exhaust the store
of vapor making moisture, and the air above the
prairie is dry ever 1t is in tins layer of dry
air. covering the whole country that the hopeful
see the obstacle to frequent rains Their theory IS
thnt by seyering the electrical connection between