4 
KANSAS. 
SOIL. 
The soil for richness can be surpassed in no country. It is of 
a black color, with a sub-soil of clay and limestone basis. Vege¬ 
tation is most luxuriant. The soil and climate are most admira¬ 
bly adapted to the raising of grains of every known variety. The 
growth of melons, cantelopes, tomatoes, squashes, — in fact, vegeta¬ 
bles of all kinds, — is wonderful. Western Missouri bears most 
excellent fruit of all kinds, apples of the best varieties, peaches, 
plums, grapes, etc. The soil and climate in Kansas being similar, 
a very few years will see the perfection of the same fruits through¬ 
out the country. 
Wild fruits are abundant. Pawpaws, a fruit resembling some¬ 
what a banana, are very sweet and luscious, in the estimation of 
some, while others think them quite unpalatable. The mandrake, or 
custard-apple, is a pleasant fruit, ripe in August, of the size 
and appearance of an egg-plum, medicinal also in its nature. The 
wild pi urn, cherry and mulberry, grow in many places. The plum 
is very good of itself, and, as a tree to graft upon, valuable. 
Gooseberries, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries, grow 
spontaneously. With a very little pains, the settlers in Kansas 
can soon surround themselves with all the fruits which require 
several years in New England to cultivate to any degree of per¬ 
fection. Meat here, especially beef, is much nicer than beef 
fattened elsewhere. It is owing, probably, to the rapidity with 
which it fattens in this country. Beef of a year old in many 
instances is unequalled. Yenison, prairie chickens, wild turkeys, 
rabbits, and squirrels, furnish dainties for the most fastidious 
epicure. 
CLIMATE. 
The climate is exceedingly lovely. With a clear, dry atmos¬ 
phere, and gentle, health-giving breezes, it cannot be otherwise. 
The peculiar clearness of the atmosphere cannot be imagined by 
a non-resident. For miles here a person can clearly distinguish 
objects, which, at the same distance in any other part of this coun¬ 
try, he could not see at all. The summers are long, and winters 
short. 
