The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-02-01
Prosperous Farmers on Htgh-Priced
Lands.

Prosperous Farmers on Htgh-Priced
Lands.
The following matter is aletter written
to the Kansas Farmer by Edwin Sny'
der, Jefferson County, Post Office,
Oskaloosa). 1t contains many good
thoughts, and they are well expressed.
Mr.. Snyder says: II have lately been
where farm lands are worth 800 per
! acre. 1t has put me TO thinking when
will farm lands in Kansas be worth that
much? Not, | imagine until Kansas
farmers do better than they are now do
Ing: net Gutrl they learn to keep their
implements under shelter when not in
use, and when in use are more iudicioUs
and careful Of them; not while they
keep inferior stock for breeding pur-
poses, because they are cheaper than
high grades or thnr0nghhreds. y III!
not be until We have more home MANI
features and COnseQuentEv,an adequate
market for the many perlsha0le and
bulky articles which, by their natures,
| are precluded from transportation to
| distant markets. We may depend upon
it, our lands will never be enhanced in
value during q free trade era, should
such an era unfortunately be iuaugu-
| rated.
Let us note some Of the conditions of
farming where land is valuable. There
are not many large farms; the rule is
| small farms and thorough tillage. and
grass, grass, grass. Every wheat field
is seeded to timothy with the wheat in
the fall, and clover soweG on IN the
spring. All along the fences, aud under
the fences, and away out into the road,
clear up to the wagon track, and all
along the brooks, right down TO the wa
ter's edge, is heavy blue grass sod. 1t is
perennial; it has grown right there since
the forests we're cleared away, and it
will continue to while the sun shines
and rain falls. No giant unsightly weeds
hiding the adjacent fields. Not q foot of
waste land anywhere. improvements
are OF 8 substantial nature, made to last.
I found one Of my friends living in a
house that had been built seventy-tive
the windows had 7x9 glass, and other
parts were equally antiQuated; but it
had been kept well painted and in re-
pair. and was apparently as sound and
comfortable rs ever il was. The barn had
been built ffty-five years, had Just been
newly sided ard rooted, and was appar-
emily good for another half century.
81 visited a venerable man of IS years,
who had a neighborhood reputation a
IN economist. | noticed an antiquated
single buggy standing under a she'd, it
had large wooden axles: the seat was
made of IA inch lumber; of course it
was 6lumsy, compared to our modern
buggy. But said the old man. i have
run that buggy forty-six years, and still
drive it TO town in fine weather. This
he says, pointing to an old-style covered
buggy, Il cali mr. new buggy. / have
had it twenty-five years
''The waste and destruction of farm
implements by the average Western
farJaer is a very serious drawback, but
there is something still worse. / allude
TO the almost wantoa waste Of the nat
ural fertility Of our soil. Unquestion-
ably our soil is ricn. It will stand much
abuse and over cropping; but there is a
limit to its fertility. a limit to the years
IL may continuously run to corn or other
exhaustive crop; and very many Kan
sas farmers are fast approaching that
limit. But asks one what am / to
do with the rest of the solicit
it lay idle? | answer by no means.
Seed il to grass and pasture it. limo
thy and clover do well here in Eastern
Kansas, whatever croakers may say. |
seHed q piece of timothy and clover in
the spring Of 1873, and have cut a good
crop Of hay from it every season except
that Of 1876, when the grasshoppers
kept it down until ii did not have time
30 make a crop. / have never failed
but once in seeding TO grass. In a future
article / viii give the farmer my exper-
fence IN this. Successes and failures
are alike instructive. The buoy which
marks tue t~reacherous shoal is a
useful To the mariner as the lighthouse
which guides him safely into the har-
Dor.
lin conclusion, I wish to commend to
my brother western farmers the thrift,
economy. and foresight of prosperous
farmers ON higher-priced lands. We
have a superior soil and a more salubri-
GUS climate, and it sour own FAULT if in
time our land is no more valuable"
MMM M-A-~ tWN