360 JEFFERSON COUNTY, KANSAS. 



on an average from fifteen to thirty bushels per acre, and corn 

 from twenty-five to eighty bushels per acre. The bottom 

 lands are best adapted to wheat, although good crops are some- 

 times raised on the prairies. The farmers in this vicinity raise 

 mostly hogs and cattle. Some raise nothing but corn and 

 haul it away to the nearest market, but such farmers scarcely 

 make a living. 



FARMS. 



Plenty of farms can be found here for sale. The great 

 drawback of this country is the money-lender and his exorbi- 

 tant per cent. This Delaware reserve was opened for settle- 

 ment about fifteen years ago. Land purchased of the railroad 

 company cost from three to six dollars per acre, on time. Men 

 of small means were doing very well, and were building, clear- 

 ing and fencing, each year adding a few more acres to their 

 farms, when the drouth and grasshoppers in 1874 and 1875 

 came. A little money was borrowed to help them pull through, 

 but the times got worse, crops were poor, and the little money 

 borrowed soon became a great deal. The mortgage was fore- 

 closed, the place taken for a few hundred dollars, and the 

 owner started for other lands, poorer than when he came here. 

 The result of this is, that most of the farms are owned by 

 speculators. Renters live on them, and no improvements are 

 made. They are offered for sale, and can be bought cheap ; 

 therefore there are very few good buildings on any of them. 



STOCK. 



We are trying to improve our common cattle by crossing 

 with the thorough-bred Short-Horn bulls. There is plenty of 

 range yet for cattle on the prairies, but the bottom lands 

 are most all fenced up. Our choice of hogs is the Berkshire 

 and also the Poland China. 



SHEEP. 



I concluded three years ago, that I would try raising a few 

 sheep. I bought seven. I took good care of them the first Winter, 



