Year: 1868

can spend an hour more pleasantly than to
send you little gossip about matters in
Kansas.


We have lust had a somewhat singular
winter. March and April somehow or other
cot misplaced The month Of March was as
warm as summer, and 81 indeed the lat
ter part of February. The thermometer
ranged between 20 and so degrees. great
deal Of the time, and there were two or three
davs when it stood above 90 in the shade.
7 never saw such downright hot weather in
March 1t looked funny to see cattle trying
10 get into a shade when the trees
had no leaves to shade them But we have
had weather enough in April when cattle
found the sunshine quite the reverse
Of disagreeable. Elm and soft maple
trees began to look green in March and so
did some of the other varieties. Peach
trees blOssomed three weeks earlier than
they did last year and blossomed remarkably
full If ono twentieth Of them have sur
vived the later freezes there will be all the
trees can bear up, and may look for
generous supply of this luscious fruit again
this season. People began their springs
work about the middle of February, and as
there has been but little rain, the most Of the
farmers here have got their work along in
fine season But those who planted corn a
month ago expecting to see it knee high by
this time are disappointed Their corn
hasn't come up yet and the indications ares
unpleasantly strong that it won't come up
for some time to come. We had our pleasant
April weather in March. and now we must
expect our boisterous March weather in
April But am not at all disposed to find
fault with our winter. The ground was
frozen only about SIX weeks, and the coldest
weather we had was four degrees below zero.
II is true we have had long succession of cold
windy DAYS in April. and the expecta tions of
early vegetation which March gave US have
not been realized But during most Of the
cold weather of April the ground and at
mosphere was so dry that the frost seemed
- 10 but little harm. The needful rains
have commenced to fall, and without doubt
few days will bring about a marvellous
change in the Vegetable world.


Our prospects for wheat, especially winter
wheat which is our usual dependence, are
not very brilliant. The earlier sown winter
wheat was all destroyed. Our old friends,
the grasshoppers. did the mischief. We
supposed last summer that we had bid them
q final adieu but we were mistaken. we
had banishcd all fears of them and farmers
generally made large calculations about put
ting in wheat Luckily, before much seed
was sown, we heard rumors of their approach
and all waited with anxiety the result Of
their coming The first rumor located them
about 300 miles out on the Pacific railroad,
then they were at Emporia, about IS miles
up the Neosho from here. then at Burlington
about 20 miles up the river, and for some
curious reason their progress was delayed
when within that distance for several days.
During this interval some farmers, en-
couraged by this delay, sowed their wheat
and Of course lost it. There was not one
tenth the number, when they did come, that
we had the year before, and it is thought if
the season had been good the wheat would
have grown faster than the grasshoppers
could eat it. stinging cold snap the day





radations, and wheat that was sOwn since
then looks very we'll The warm dry weather
of February and March has given oppor-
tunity for sowing spring wheat sufficiently
early to ensure fair prospect OF success,
and this opportunity has been extensively i'm
proved Fields of it are looking green and
beautiful now


Emigration still continues to come in.
Our prairies are rapidly being fenced up
into farms, and new dwellings are dotting the
prairie all around Us. A young fellow, lately
from the army, whom the rebels tried to
starve at Andcrsonville, came here last fall
and bought quarter section adjoining mine
1t open prairie, bare of improvement
Now he has a frame house on it, forty acres
fenced, and has rented a large cornteld and
planted it. | expect some fine morning 10
look over there and see a new barn, wood
-hed and all the modern improvements in
fine running order. He is a long-legged
fellow and full of . goa-head.' =


There is not much Government land to be
had in this immediate vicinity, but down on
the Neutral Lands and Usage Treaty in the
southeast corner of the state there is plenty
Of land that can be bought for the cheap Gov
ernment rates. | have no doubt but that is
delightful country, though | have never
seen it 1t is curious what different views
men have Of it that have been there One
man will have claim there that Will suit
him exactly. He woudn' t look at a thousand
dollars for it, and perhaps not two thousand
He is perfectly delighted with it and consid-
ers himself on the road t. fortune. Another
will be thoroughly disgusted with everything
connected with that part of the world. lie
finds miserable state Of society, or rather
no society at all, the land hard to subdue
while. worst of all, the ague has shook the
energy all out of him lie thinks of g the
Neutral = about as Gen Sheridan did ot
Texas If he owned farm there, and one
IN the internal regions. he would rent out
this farm and go to that other place to live.
\ deserter of that country stopped over
night with us short time since and gave a
long history of his misfortunes. 1 was con-
siderably interested in him, and presume
some of the readers of the FREEMAN would
like TO hear his story, although there was
nothing 50 very remarkable about it only it
shows one phase of Western life will try
and tell it as briefly as I can.


He was a Pennsylvania. In the first
place he came TO Illinois and bought a