The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-07-20
L,BELLlNo THE CLIMATE.
A Good Thunder Man Who Wants
Sense or Honesty.

| Good Thunder Man Who wants
Sense or Honesty.
1.-THE Golden Northwest is all right
or those who like it, but fail to see the
Certain II is that by close
conomv, hard work and lots of discom-
ort person can exist in Minnesota.
,ut the life is one of hardship at best and
climate that will kill the devil. Here
n the finest county in the state, wheat
.oes about is bushels To the acre, and
he farmer receives the magnificent sum
# 60 cents per bushel. The mercury
,oes as low as $50 in winter and al high
Is ll0e in summer. Asthma and rheum-
ltism travel the highway arm in arm
md make happy (P) the travellers they
meet. The only fruit grown is the wild
plum and there has been none of that
for the past three years. We have had
hard frosts almost every night so Tar
his spring, and no leaves yet appear on
he forlorn jack oak that try 10 make a
growth in this land of zero.
clam hoping for crop, but fearful tits
, vain hope, as seed sown on the 10th
Jay of April is just coming up, and the
continued cold weather renders it
doubtful whether crop will mature.
My business is strawberries AMI onions,
and hope to transfer myself and bust
ness to Florida this coming fall. Can
you give me any information as to onion
growing i'm Florida on Hammock land IN
the vicinity of Marion county? ~ lam
quite quantity of onion sets,
Red Wethersfeld, yellow Denvers,
White Globe and Portugal, which in
tend taking south with me TO set there.
What will the result be? What varieties
of strawberries do you set IN Florida,
and what is the general crop and price?
Here the Cumberland and Crescent
Seeding are the main. (2) Can onions
be grown from the black seed in Florida
on Hammock land without excessive
manuring? What amount of fertilizers
do YOU use on an acre of onion seed!
(3) If onions can be grown from sets
profitably can make arrangements to
have nv sets grown here in Minnesots
at small cost as compared with seeds
mems prices? Will Red Wethersfie!d
Globe and Denvers sell well in youl
markets with the Bermuda onions
az There are several families in this To-
cality, who, like myself, are anxious &c
go south, and like myself must wait 1
crop. No disgrace to be poor bu
awful inconvenIent, etc"
w. +. MICELE,
Good Thunder, Blue Earth Co., MINI
MAY 3lst, 1888.
The above communication recently
appeared in the Florida Farmer ant
Frmt Grower, and as shown by the sigma
ture was written by w. +. Mickle, 1
young attorney at Good Thunder. In
asmuch rs Mr.. Mickle has managed {,
exist in Minnesota for several years des
pite his so-called hardships, it would
seem that the "devir' has not vet heel
killed by the climate. Satan must sure
" possess 4 man who will send abroaC
such rank, untrue statements as are EN-
bodied in the above letter. In the frs
place the writer never saw the mercur,
as low as $50 in this section and it j
rare indeed when it gets down to 30
below zero. There are but few days il
winter when il gets down TO 200 even
In the second place he nor any other in
divi 1ual ever saw the mercury mari
ITO dogs. in the summer unless, indeed
the thermometer might be placed on
tin roof and receive the full power of tn,
sun in its face. Rarely indeed does
get warmer than so degs. Ali men VIII,
know anything about this climate an,
are honest in their convictions ADM
that Minnesota summers cannot be ex
celled, if indeed equaled, on this cont
nent, while the winters are much NOR
endurable than in Iowa or Northern
Illinois. Congressman Lind of this dis
trict even goes so far as to state that h
suffered from cold in Washington las
winter more than he ever did in Mime
sofa, from the fact that the damp atmos
phere at the National capital was more
penetrating to his system than the cold
dry atmosphere of Minnesota.
Mr.. MIckle asserts that which is no
true to any appreciable extent wheI
he says that asthma and rheumatism
travel the highway arm in arm" Tina
there are cases of asthma and rheuma
tism to be found here, no one will deny
but the same ailments will be found il
every cline and in all countries and il
most largely in excess of Minnesota.
Among the most glaring misstate
ments in the whole category of filse
hoods con attained in the above letter il
the assertion that the only fruit grown
here sis the wild plum" The truth il
We raise some as fine apples as are
grown anywhere, and grapes that ever
Golden California cannot excel. Straw
berries, raspberres, and all kinds o.
small fruit, including "onions," are cul.
tivated here with profit. Anything that
can be grown in northern climate car
be protitably grown IN Minnesota and
Mr.. Mickie's statement to the contrary
is one of the most unmItigated false.
hoods ever penned.
By all means Mickle should go south
and raise 'onions." The people OF
Blue Earth county, after reading his
TRADE, have no possible use for him MOI
his onion bed, and the sooner they both
depart the better will the community be
pleased. Such an article as Mickle il
credited with indicting is little less than
treason, and the people of Good
Thunder would be entirely justified il,
raising purse to help him out of the
county. He does not want to go whit
worse than the people want him to.