The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1903-12-03

know that many of these farmers are
rich as riches are counted in rural
communities and that they are grow
ing richer Only this wheat develop
ment is very recent.
In the second Bryan campaign an
effort was made to teach these Demo-
cratic Russo-Americans an object les
son upon free silver For their wheat
checks the local bank paid them sill.
yer dollars They had grown accus.
toned to paper money, which they
knew was as good as gold. They pro
tested against carting home loads of
silver for their loads of wheat. Thus
they were converted from free sill
YER" though they persist in remain
ing Democrats.
The soil Of western Kansas that
yields from 10 to bushels OF wheat
to the acre lone bushel of wheat pay
ing the entire expense Of the acres
crop, is from three to fifteen feet
thick. Beneath is a stratum of sand
perhaps fifty feet thick, and beneath
that lies bed of clay. 1t is the layer
of sand that holds the hope of this
land for the future diversifcation of
agriculture as well as for n vast in
crease in the yield per acre of winter
wheat. For it is this sand that con-
tains the water, that will ere many
years be used for irrigation, with re-
suits that not even a land agent could
now venture to put into figures. In
these rolling prairies, a slight eleva-
tion of only a few feet will overlook
a wide acreage. Sink well, thirty,
forty or fifty feet, and you strike
abundant water A centrifugal pump,
belted to one of the traction engines
that every farm must have, will bring
the water to the surface. Dig a ditch,
with lateral little bitches running at
right angles over a neighboring plot
OF ground. and 10. miracle is
wrought. Where only wheat would
grow before, the land will now grow
almost anything from cabbages to
sugar beets, from turnips to straw
berries, from corn and alfalfa TO
peaches and apples. I saw such a
well and pump at this experiment sta
ton, yielding 2G0 gallons Of water per
minute.
Whence comes the water in the sub
soil sand? Presumably 1t seeps
through that stratum clear from the
Rockies. 1t is one of Natures Won
| ders. But this vast sand reservoir
also retains, when once the hard soil
| above is broken, the water that soaks
through from the spring rainfalls-
water that formerly ran off in surface
| drainage into the flooded creeks and
rivers. 7 nus art is to change the very
face and product of the old short
grass" country.
! Out in this land, the horse and bug
gy is the great means of transporta-
ton. The buggy is the vehicle of So
clal communication. 1t Is supplement-
| ed by the telephone, connected with
miles of barbed wire fence as a con-
venient and efficient conductor Of
electricity, and by the rural mail car
rier But the horse and the buggy
are the yachts of the land. The cargo
ships are the big grain wagons, that
come trekking over the prairies to the
elevators. erected at every railway
station. When | visited Hays City,
it was with a party of Washington
correspondents. 1t is an indication of
the traffic that whelms the transcon-
tinental railroads that drivers of grain
wagons shouted after the procession
of buggies carrying the visitors: Say,
you newspaper fellows, tell the folks
East to send us more cars" \ month
earlier the cry had been for labor to
gather the harvest.
It is a wonderful spectacle to be
hold the separation of the grain from
the stalk. The reaper cuts high, be
low the grain. Into great sacks, run
ming north and south, the fallen straw
is heaped. Between two of these
stacks the giant separator is placed
connected by a belt with the traction
engine. The wheat is fed into the
huge machine. The grain as it comes
out Is automatically weighed by the
half bushel. The prevalent south
wind whirls the clouds Of dust away
in the air. The residual straw falls
to the ground in a conical heap. After
the process these heaps OF straw are
burned. At present they are an alb
solute waste, although some traction
engines are fitted to burn straw. Bu
most of them use coal as fuel, The
danger of fire is very great. The ut
most precautions are taken. OFTEN
fire guard''-that is a strip OF fresf
! ,,IOwad grOuOd-oirdleS every Whea
stack. Every thing is intensely dry
for at threshing time no rain has fal
len for weeks or months. To ligh
a cigar is an indulgence in the grair
field as carefully guarded as the kind
ling of a lantern in a powder maya
Zine-E. C. Howland, in Mail and EX
press.
lmpugned Antiquity.