Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1888-08-24

the west. ALL the cultivated country
along the way was
in harvest. and | arriv-
ed in Colorado on the midst of har-
vest. This gave me an excellent op-
portunity for comparison. Knowing
much about the harvest at home, l
l could see just how our grass and
grain compared with the grass that
was being cut, and the grain that
was ripening, in different parts of the
West. Hooked most closely at wheat
saw in the wonderful Mississippi
valley, for you know it is thought
that is the great garden of the coun-'
try. And many there who know
something of Western Penna., think
that Butler county is one of the most
sterile regions in the whole country.
But when ! had looked at fields of
timothy and clover and oats, and re-
membered that I had seen just as
good at home, | rejoiced over the fact
that 1 was born in Butler county,
and felt proud of what the farmers
there can do.
l can truly say that I saw no bet
ter timothy or clover in Illinois, and
Iowa, than / saw at home. | believe
have heard about heads of western
timothy being half as long as mans
arm, or something else like that; but
people tell wonderful things about
the West, and you
would have to hunt q long time to
find timothy better any way than
some Butler county farmers
cut this year. And when one comes
from the east, and meets farmer in
Illinois or Iowa, who, boasting OF his
beautiful timothy, and turning to you
with little laugh that isn't pretty
at all, asks "did you ever see anything
like that | have in Pennsylvania Z"
and you reply, "yes sir, they are cut
ting just as good timothy as that in
Butler County," he looks at
you in astonishment and as much as
says,"I don't believe it."
1 had great difficulty in convincing
western farmers that we in Penn'a.
did cut good clover and good timothy.
And when l spoke to then of 40 and
so bushels of oats to the acre, are
said that leo bushels of corn per acre
were no extraordinary crop, they
said "if we didn't know who you are
we wouldn't believe you. eve new
er imagined that such crops could be
raised in that poor old country.
"Why, (and with a laugh) isn't it
said that formerly crows had to carry
their dinners when flew across that
country" maybe, I wasn't there
then, but now they stop to feast" L
replied You see. | knew that far
mer in Butler county had taken 16O
bushels of corn off an acre, and that
other farmers often had more than
100 bushels per acre; and knowing
that, / was able to speak right out for
our glorious old county, aud to make
my auditors think that maybe, after
ALL farmers could get along about as
easily there as in the West. So it
seemed then, so it seems now. l
think farmer makes mistake who
sells good farm in Butler county
and comes West to better his lot.
Ten acres of good corn there is worth
more than twenty acres of good corn
in Iowa, and so with oats, and hay.
Think of selling double bushel of
corn for twenty cents, or bushel of
oats for fifteen cents. or ton OF hay
delivered. baled. at the depot. for four
dollars or four aud half. And yet
that's just what farmers in Iowa were
eager to do last year. Verify Butler
county farmers need not be ashamed
of anything when they travel through
the West better stock than is seen
there is not seen in the West. | am
glad / am from Butler county, and |
hope / may live long to glory in
what the grand old county has done
and can do.
But it is good thing for the peo-
of the East to travel West 1t gives
them better idea than anything else
can, of the greatness and grandeur of
their country America is full of sur
prises to the eastern people, especial
ly to those who think that the great
ness of the country is in the East.
How such are astonished at the i'm
mense distances they must travel to
see even half of their country. How
they are surprised at the vast stretch
es Of richest prairie, the wonderful
expanse OF plain, and mighty stupen
dous mountains whose tops are miles
in the sky above the hills of the East.
Yes, it is good thing for eastern
people to become acquainted with
this country by travelling over it
When they do so, they are very apt
to lose all their desire to be English,
you know" or TO insist that the Ger
mans fatherland is comparable to
America
AS we travel Oh, end on, and on,
through weary nights and interesting
days. we begin to realize. that there is
truth in the saying that there is more
Of the country west than east Of the
Mississippi; but we know that there
are two and half times as much west.
when our journey has taken weeks
and we have gone to the farthest
point west aud from the north TO the
south. Intelligent eastern people are
slow to acknowledge that the
country must eventually be greatest
in the west. Why, it is possible to
put and sustain the population of the
whole country in one single western
state. Another western state, and
its adjoining territory, are longer than
all the New England and middle
states, with Ohio and Indiana, and
can support more people The west
is full OF surprises to travellers from
the east.
The sod house s surprise; the he.
roism of the frontier people is sur
Prise, the fertility of what our fathers
knew as the Great American Desert
ia q surprise. and the surprises con