The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1905-12-01
KANSAS WHEAT BELT
REGION IN WHICH ARE MANY
HOMES OF CULTURE.
The Only Real Work of the Year Is
During the Harvest Season
Farmers Generally Are
Students.

There are homes on the wheat
ranches where culture reigns Books,
pictures, music, pianos and newspa-
pers keep the inhabitants in touch
with the best things of life, says the
Kansas City Star. The onerous toll of
the wheat harvest is mostly imagn
airy. The only real work of the year is
the soil with riding pillow is not hard
as farm work goes. Planting the wheat
with a drill is easy. Waiting for ii
to grow is not such degrading labor.
Men who raise three crops of alfalfa
year work harder all summer than
do the wheat harvesters. The harvest
bands are softened, weakened products
CT enervating city life, and that is why
the work seems hard The harvest
season is a godsend to these men. The
lecreating toll soothes the nerves of
fermenting element the city breeds
and harbors.
The farmers of the wheat belt, on
the whole, seem to be about the hap
pest agriculturists to be found. The
rapid growth of the western counties
into the gigantic wheat-producing sec
tion that it now is has offered ample
opportunity for all the farmers OF
managing ability to build up moder
ate fortunes and acquire large tracts
OF land. These they have adorned
with splendid homes, orchards and
shade trees, and have stocked with
fine cattle and good breeds CT all do
nestle stock. The wheat belt is als)
1.-THE greatest grass land on the
earth" That is, native grass grows
there in profusion, and it makes the
best grazing of any grass crop. All
these things have enabled the progress
give farmers 10 surround themselves
with everything that goes to make
rural life delightful.
These wide-awake farmers are stu
dents of everything that comes into
their lives. At glance they can tell
which of two steers will gain pound
the quicker and on given ration, and
this same faculty makes them judges
OF human character as well. They
know what kind of men they are deai-
ing with and treat them accordingly.
Many a man who came to the harvest
like tramp. man used to a cul-
tured home, but fallen from grace and
down on his luck" has been singled
out by the farmer or his wife as one
fit for better things. Such a man is
treated as one of the family. His
story is learned if he wishes to tell it
When the harvest is over he is given
steady work. The bond that throws
people together of an equal plane OF
thought becomes established.
Cases of this kind can be related in
every household in the wheat belt.
Said one farmers wife-she traced her
ancestry to Ethan Allen and other
historic names of colonial days and
was herself a college graduate: Zone
of the most interesting things of the
harvest is studying the character OF
the men. Last year a young man
worked for us who, we readily saw,
was of good breeding and came from
a respectable home. His hand got
sore in the harvest and l dressed 1t
and doctored him the best | could. 1t
got worse. and one day | asked him
what was the matter with 1t. He said.
The blood does not circulate in it,
Then he rolled up his sleeve and
showed a scar that was frightful. He