The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1885-07-23
OUR WESTERN LETTER.
Graham, Nodaway Co., Mo,

! am well, and hope you are. l
would give a nickel if you could
call in and spend an hour with me
this morning, and take q view of
the panorama presented. have
not language to convey to your
minds picture of the surround
ings.
Imagine the hills and mountains
surrounding you to be leveled down
for a distance of thirty miles In
every direction, melting in the dim
horizon, with not mountain in
sight, and this space dotted with
white farm houses and red-painted
barns, cleaning in the sunlight as
far as the eye can reach; with or
chards, groves, timothy and clover
pastures, with hundreds Of fat
Durham cattle grazing upon them,
or Illuminating in the shade; with
Poland China hogs too numerous
to mention, of all sizes from the pig
to the porker weighing four or five
hundred pounds, feeding on the
grass, basking in the sunshine, or
wallowing in the mire.
Wherever you turn your eyes
you see the mower, drawn by two
fat, sleek horses, with sunburnt
boy perched upon the machine,
cutting Gown the rich grass that
will make from two to three tons of
hay per acre, and which grows
everywhere here. In another part
of the field with the horse-rake,
and another sun-burnt boy perched
upon it, raking it into wind-rows,
men and boys following with forks,
piling it into hay cocks or loading
it on the large wagons, hurrying to
the large barns and lifted by ma
chinery to the loft. They will give
any man one-half for cutting and
putting -un the other hslf, and
acres 81 II viii never be cut at Vii.
My nephew will commence cutting
down a thirty acre meadow on
Monday, on shares, which will
make two or three tons of timothy
and clover hay to the acre.
: Spring wheat and rye are fine
) though not great deal sown
} They don't sow much fall wheat
: here; the high winds blow this
loose easily from around the roots
in the dry spring weather and kill
1t. Oats grow finely, but not 6
great deal sown; apples do well
mOstO the peach trees were killed
] by the cold last winter; gooseber
> ries grow wild; hazelnuts in grea
3 abundance; all kinds of gardel
! vegetables grow finely, with bu
! little labor.
The health of this country cam
be surpassed. BY digging we'll
twenty or thirty feet deep they &c
good, clear, cold water anywher
on the prairie. The soil Is as blacl
as where q coal.pit has been burn
;. in that country, and 1 haven't seel
:. = foot Of poor land since 1 reaches
: Kansas on my way here. The sol
varies from two TO six feet deep.
Where timber grows in the coun
try, It is small and stunted, OWN
to the looseness and richness of tn
7 soil, roots having q tendency
grow straight down when they NEE
with no Instructions to prevent i
!. Trees never blow up by the root
~ here. It is said there is One-thir
+ as much stem of the tree below tn
. surface as above it.
What shall I say of corn, for cor
:. is the crop of this country. I SUI
= pose 1 feel like the profane ma
T. did who was hauling u load {
II pumpkins to market. When h
:; reached the top OF long, steep hill
> the hind-gate of his wagon cam
q. of, and his pumpkins went rollin
.. back down the hill. His boy bein
astonished at his silence said, "Da,
s. why don't you cuss?" He said, q
s. can't begin to do the subject jus
G. ice" and turned away sorrowfully
"a Corn to the right Of you, corn
g the left of you, corn to the front
81 you, volleys and thunders. HUI
n dreds and hundreds Of acres Il
Is hundreds Of square miles, of q dee
green, and standing very thick
the rows, which are three fe,
C apart. One boy with two hors'
can easily tend forty acres. The
neither hoe nor thin II, but plo,
plow with a cultivator drawn
two horses, plowings row with 70,