The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-08-21
ALand of Wheat.


The Pacific express on the Canadian
railroad went west one day last week in
four sections with 800 harvest hand.
on ooard, all bound for the grain fields
of Manitoba. A slight tinge of yellow
is stealing over the sea of waving
green, and in fortnight thousands OF
reapers will make music the livelong
day as they are urged through the al
most illimitable fields.
We have great blessings on this side
OF our favored continent, and can cheer
fully yield the palm in grain culture to
the great belt midway between our
coasts which for ages was fitted by the
slow process of nature to give bread to
the world. From the bosom of those
plains, some level as floor, as in Man
itoba, some undulating, as in Mime
sofa. we are drawing the Eourishment
the ages have accumulated.
Over the plains of Manitoba once roll
ed the waters OF an inland sea. The
southern edge Of the great ice sheet in
the glacial epoch prevented the escape
OF nOrth-flowing streams. and they form
ed a mighty lake. Boulders from the
Rocky Mountains, or from the eastern
Laurentian hills, are now seen here and
there, where they were dropped by the
floating ice cakes, many hundred miles
''oTn th"ir place Of origin. Then came
the r., os ia OF the &C. :hn disappearance
of the lake rich in creGLceOus AMI nitro
genous elements, and, in course of time,
ros. a mighty forest, as great aud as
dense, it is believed as those which now
cover the Pacific slopes OF the coast
mountains.
1t is almost inconceivable to those
who travel for days over the treeless
plains between Winnipeg and the
Rocky Mountains that here the giants
OF the forest once reared their lofty
heads, shielding with their dense foil
ige the earth that is now exposed to
the full blaze of the summer sun. To
day the air of northern Washington
and southern British Columbia is thick
with the smoke of burning forests, and,
an all probability, fire was a most i'm
pOrtant element in destroying the tim
Der that once covered the plains north
OF our western states.
The lake deposits, the forest growths,
were among the elements that helped
produce the almost inexhaustible wheat
bearing soil OF Manitoba; and to-day her
farmers are happy in the prospect of the
greatest harvest they ever reaped. It
is beIieved that the wheat of Manitoba
will average forty bushels to the acre.
Many farmers say 1t will average forty
five bushels. Men who have seen many
seasons of Minnesota wheat raising said
in Manitoba last week that they had
never looked upon such wheat fields be-
fore. Those great fields stretching for
scores OF miles around Brsrdon, Portage
la Prairie, and Deloraine are worth
crossing the continent to see. The wav-
ing expanse Of dark green verdure, is
most pleasing to the eye. The stalks
stand as thick as they can grow, are un-
usually high, and the ears are proper
tionaiely long and well filled with the
plumDest OF grain. Our own wheat
growers will be glad that their Mani
blessings OF this bounteous year.
We can show these western farmers
many things worth seeing; but If they
had time to visit US now they would
smile at our patches of stunted grain,
just as tourists fresh from the plains OF
Manitoba and Minnesota do as they gaze
upon the oats and wheat of Ontario and
Vermont. But many eastern farm hands
will share the blessings the west Is
bringing. One labor agency in Winni-
peg has had demands for 1890 harvest
hands at wages of from $50 to $40
month and board. Haying, harvesting
and threshing will afford about three
employment, and hundreds of
Ontario labOrers are taking advantage
of low harvest excursion rates, and are
going west to see the great country and
tOil in its fields for season.-New
York Sun.