KANSAS 



KAULFUSSIA 



855" 



31 nice that they would gather fruit therefrom. Since 

 t) i, rapid progress in tree-planting has been made. 



pple trees do not bear heavy crops every year, but 

 tl -e has not been a total failure any year since the 

 ti s commenced bearing, some forty years ago. Peaches 

 kr in some parts of the state every year, the south 

 h ing few failures. Pears succeed throughout the 

 s - e, although some varieties blight in some localities. 



1206. Climatological regions of Kansas. 



Fms and cherries are successful throughout the state, 

 ilhe curculio is destroyed. Grapes bear heavy crops 

 arly every year. Strawberries yield good crops. 

 B pberries and blackberries also do well. 

 : Market-gardening is profitably carried on around 

 Bisas City, Leavenworth, Atchison, Lawrence, To- 

 p a, Ft. Scott, Wichita, and many other towns. Sweet 

 p itoes are at home here and are grown in large quan- 



!8. They are on the market from early in Septem- 

 b to March and sometimes in May. Irish potatoes are 

 n a sure crop on the uplands, but immense quantities 

 a grown on the bottom-lands. Hundreds of car-loads 

 a grown and shipped from the Kansas river bottom, 

 b'.veen Topeka and Kansas City, every year. 



he uplands are rolling prairies, with a deep, alluvial 

 g>, with enough clay and sand intermixed to rn^ke it 

 a deal soil for fruit-growing. The subsoil is red clay, 

 w i some sand. This is underlaid with limestone from 



to forty feet below the surface. This limestone is 

 f of seams or cracks which afford a good subdrainage, 

 s that little of the land needs artificial drainage. 

 T'se lands, as above described, embrace a very large 

 pientage of the entire state. The bottom-lands are 

 we, ranging from one to ten miles in width. These 

 b x>m-lands are composed largely of sand, with enough 

 h ms intermixed to make them very productive. 

 I;y support some of the finest orchards. 



ansas City is the lowest point in the state, and is 

 a ut 750 feet above the sea level. It gradually gets 

 h tier west, until it is over 4,000 feet on the western 

 b ler. The rainfall is of the usual amount on the east- 

 e border, but gradually decreases as the western 

 b ndary is approached. P RED WELLHOUSE. 



ansas is, to the eye, practically level. There are no 

 n intains within its boundaries, yet the eastern third 

 ii -oiling. Some parts are rough, while the west is 

 p jtically level, yet the state runs steadily up-hill from 

 ii eastern border, which is 750 feet above sea level, to 

 t! western limit, which is 4,500 feet above sea level. 



1 s naturally gives a varying climate. It is like 

 j il.ing a mountain 3,750 feet high, and passing 

 tough the varying atmospheric changes as one goes 

 u/ard, from a moist, easy-growing climate to a clear, 

 v dy, dry elevation 3,750 feet higher. 



11 the eastern third of the state (1, Fig. 1206) the 

 a le and pear are at home, and when well grown 

 a: excellent. New varieties originating in the state 

 oin the west are taking the place of eastern and im- 

 pted varieties. Orchards and gardens are scattered 

 over the eastern half, and are very successful. The 

 cimercial horticulturist finds his early market in 

 )raska, Colorado and Iowa; his later market in the 

 <?es and towns of Kansas, and a still later market in 

 1:as, when the heat of summer has paralyzed Texan 

 p ducts. Oklahoma and the Indian Territory have for 

 5 rs been good markets for the southern part of 

 t isas. Many orchardists in the middle west sell every 



apple, good, bad or indifferent, for cash to wagoners 

 who come from the south and west annually in large 

 numbers to carry away the orchard products. Toward the 

 west, cherries, plums and peaches seem more at home. 

 The two former are very prolific, and a success in the 

 central part (2). Peach pits are planted in rows through- 

 out the west for wind-breaks, and such trees bear con- 

 siderable fruit, some of it very fine. Along the Arkan- 

 sas river, where the roots of trees penetrate to water, 

 all fruits do finely, and on irrigated lands back from the 

 bottom-lands, horticulture prospers in all departments. 

 The bluffs along the Missouri river, in the northeastern 

 part of the state, seem peculiarly adapted to the apple, 

 and it is grown there in immense quantities. Here are 

 some of the greatest apple orchards of the world. The 

 total number of apple trees in the state is 11,005,607 : 

 pears, 398,975; peaches, 5,734,337; plums, 919,527; 

 cherries, 1,666,456. The acreage of vineyards is 6,543; 

 of nurseries, 2,803 ; blackberries, 3,253 ; raspberries, 

 1,504; strawberries, 1,864 (1900). 



Strawberries do well anywhere in the state. Some 

 prominent varieties originated here. Raspberries a-re 

 of easy culture. The "Kansas " originated in Lawrence, 

 and has become the mainstay among blackcaps over 

 a wide range. Blackberries are indigenous, and 

 cultivated varieties mainly do well, though some of 

 them rust badly. Raisin grapes are grown in the south 

 by winter covering. Prunes and figs will also grow 

 there. Vegetables of all kinds do well and are of fine 

 quality, the tomato being especially at home. Early pota- 

 toes of the Kaw valley are widely known, and millions 

 of bushels are exported yearly. Fertilizers are little 

 used, and the stable manure of the cities is largely 

 dumped on the commons. Only gardeners seem to value 

 it. Melons are of easy growth, and of the finest quality. 

 Sugar-beets have been tried at various points, but on 

 analysis do not often come up to the required standard 

 of saccharine qualities. Indian corn is the great staple, 

 and all the sugar and popping varieties come to the 

 finest maturity in quality. The lack of water in western 

 Kansas (3) is the greatest drawback to agriculture there. 

 WILLIAM H. BARNES. 



KARATAS (Brazilian name). Bromeliacece. Bentham 

 & Hooker refer about 10 West Indian and Brazilian 

 bromeliads to this genus, but Mez, the latest monog- 

 rapher (DC. Monogr. Phaner. 9), refers the species to 

 other genera. Baker retains it. As understood by 

 Bentham & Hooker, Karatas differs from Bromelia 

 chiefly in its dense, capitate flower-clusters, which are 

 sessile in the axils of the upper leaves. The species are 

 cult, the same as Bromelia, Billbergia, and the like. 

 They are little known in this country. Apparently the 

 only common one is K. spectabilis, Ant. ( Nidularium 

 spectdbile, Moore. Regelia spectabilis, Linden. Are- 

 gelia spectabilis, Mez). It is a stemless, tufted peren- 

 nial, with broadly strap-shaped, spine-edged Ivs., which 

 are green above, gray-banded beneath and red-tipped 

 at the end: fls. numerous, sunk amongst the Ivs., the 

 corolla with bluish lobes. Braz. B.M. 6024. L. H. B. 



KARRI. Eucalyptus di- 

 vers icolor. 



KAULFtf SSIA (G.F.Kaul- 

 fuss, professor of natural 

 history at Halle ) . Comp6s - 

 itce. A small, branchy, hardy 

 annual, 6-12 in. high, with 

 blue or red aster-like fls., 

 on long stems : plant pubes- 

 cent or hispid: Ivs. oblong- 

 spatulate or oblong-lanceo- 

 late, entire or remotely den- 

 ticulate : heads many-fld., 

 radiate, the ray fls. pistillate, 

 the disk-fls. perfect: akene 

 obovate and compressed, 

 those of the disk with plumose pappus : involucre 

 scales in two rows. K, amelloides, Nees (Figs. 1207-8), 

 is an excellent annual, of easy culture in any garden 

 soil. Var. atroviolacea, Hort., has dark violet fls. Var, 

 kermeslna, Hort., has violet-red fls. Sow seeds where 



1207. Charieis heterophylla, 

 Natural size. 



