San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-01-03
HOPE FOR KANSAS.
Farmers Can Now Grow Rich Ra

Farmers Can Now Grow Rich Rails
ing Kaffir, an African Cereal.
Wheat and corn may not be grown
after this in Kansas" says the Rev.
John d. Woods, of Evanston, The
Kansas farmer will turn his atten-
ton to the raising of African kaffir,
and on that he will feed his family
and his cattle and through it he will
accumulate wealth and again enjoy
prosperity"
The rain-maker and the visionary
irrigatiOnistS have had their day in
Kansas, according to Mr.. Woods, who
has just returned to Evanston after
a three-year soiourn in the Sunffower
state, says the Chicago Inter Ocean.
The Kansas farmer will no longer
pray for rain, the less of it the better.
The hot winds will no longer burn
his crops, but they will thrive on it.
Neither sand, nor alkali. nor grasshop-
per, nor chinch bugs will again be all
powerful factors in the annual COM
putation ard everybody will grow
kaffir and eat kaffir and buy and sell
kaffir, and Kansas will boom as she
never did before.
The dryest spot of land in the whole
state grows the biggest crop of kattir,
and the rich bottom land will grow
haffir. too.
Kaffir is cereal of Africa which
grows in the hottest and dryest places.
1t will grow almost any place where
it is hot. and Kansas yields abun-
antly.
"A few years ago Jerry Simpson
shipped a quantity of the seed 10 his
constituents and they planted it and
fed il to their cattle. Two years ago
we experimental on making -four out
of it, with a hope that the product
might be used to advantage in making
bread. but we did not have the best
of success. The mills could not grind
it enough, so it was not altogether
good to eat. Somehow the old burr
process of grinding failed and many
thought our scheme of feeding hun
CRY Kansas was failure. The pro
duct was good for the cattle, and
when the farmer could raise nothing
else he raised kaftir.
Last year we experimental more.
Nearly every mill in western and
southern Kansas was tried, but with
poor success, for the flour was inva-
riably too coarse to be pleasant to eat,
although the flavor was unsurpassed.
We did not despair, and two months
ago, l came to Chicago, bringing with
me 5000 pounds of kaffir. For days
| consulted with the leading millers
of the city in regard to the grinding
of grain, and many of them tried new
ways of solving the problem. AT last
we discovered a way and the kaffir
-four can now be made as we'll as any
other -four The old burr process was
abandoned and immense rollers used
instead.
LESS than a week ago the first sue
cessful kaffir mill was equipped at
Marquette, Kan, and it is doing a
wonderful business. The -four is al
most white as snow. 1t is superior
in flavor to any other flour, and food
specialists pronounce it more nutri-
trious than the flour made from wheat.
Kansas people are elated. and see the
dawning of a new era. Within a few
months / hope to arrange my plans
so as to be able to erect a large mill
in Chicago and thus encourage still
more the raising of the grain, which
to my mind, is going to be one of the
chief articles of food within few
years.
Mr.. Woods has provided his home
with articles of food made from the
best ground kaffir. The bread is not
only wholesome and palatable. but in
appearance very closely resembles
ordinary wheat bread. Pancakes Of
kaffir flour taste about as would those
of wheat mixed with some graham
flour. Mrs. Wood has taken Il deep
| interest in her husbands efforts to
develop the use of this cereal and has
used it in varied WAYS of cooking,
Mrs. Wood says she has made sue
cessfully from kaffr -four almost ev-
prything possible to be made from
vvbaof ar graham -four