AUG 25 
S36 
strongly a habit of milk to cool slowly, that it 
will not be lower than 45 degrees if set in ice- 
water at 32 degrees for 12 hours. You will 
observe from the above that the water in my 
creamer was 38 degrees when I put the milk 
in. and when I skimmed it, after having 
been set only 10 hours, it was just Uie 
same, and the milk was 40 degrees. Now I 
may be one of the cooks that spoil the broth; 
if I do so, I shall be sorry. The Rural family' 
is a large one, and it takes a good many cooks 
to supply its table. While I’ve done but little of 
the cooking, I’ve eaten from the old Rural 
table for 30 years; while I've found some 
things hard to digest, as a whole the food has 
been substantial, and while we have been 
abundantly supplied with delicacies, we have 
had an abundance of solid, life-giving food. 
Schoharie Co., N. Y. S. Lehman. 
frtvm <To}ncs. 
THE STORY OF A PIONEER. 
G. R. LEMANS, OF IOWA. 
Wearied of a sedentary employment, and 
somewhat worn out by the never-ceasing toil 
and close confinement of office work, my mind 
turned longingly to the freedom of country 
life and the pure and invigoration air of the 
fields. My soul seemed to bound with ecstasy 
at thoughts of the green grass, the waving 
grain, and the gloom and grandeur of the 
forest. Nature, to me, was always at the best. 
The sunshine was ever pouring from the heav- 
ens, a gentle zephyr fanned my cheek, and my 
arm; and limbs never wearied as I, in imagi¬ 
nation, guided the cunning plow, or wielded 
with ease the woodman’s axe or the merciless 
scythe, Oh! how I envied the independent 
farmer when he made his visit to town with 
his load of produce, the hearty ring of his 
voice, the iron grasp of his band, andhismau- 
l y> careless bearing. His lot had been 
cast in pleasant places, while I had been 
doomed to enervating and exacting drudgery. 
An advanced civilization had warped my na- 
tuie and weakened my body. My voice seemed 
to me unnatural and held in check by lack of 
living power, and my utterance was weak and 
indistinct. The crowded streets, noisome al¬ 
leys and backyards, and the never-ceasing din 
ot human life in a large city, became hateful 
to me. With such morbid ideas and feelings, 
irrepressible and over-powering, is it a wonder 
that I joined the great army of land-seekers 
moving west, determined to overcome all ob¬ 
stacles and make a home for myself and fam¬ 
ily on the wide-spreading prairie? 
Cn-cumstaneed gs 1 was, with little means, 
and less knowledge of the task, this was no 
slight undertaking. It was comparatively 
easy for the established farmer to start from 
his Eastern home with his covered wagon, and 
move to his destination slowly yet surely, tak- 
ing along his family, household requisites, and 
even a part of his five stock. With such ac¬ 
cessories, he was at home anywhere on the 
grass-laden bosom of the extended plains, and 
after choosing his location, had the where¬ 
withal to commence making a peimanent 
home. I was differently situated. 
There is not a more helpless creature on the 
face of the earth than a man set down on the 
lone prairie, with nothing to aid him in his 
warfare with Nature. He is hardly better 
situated than a mariner on the wide ocean in 
a cockle-shell of a boat without oar, sail or 
rudder. But with horses and wagon, and a 
well-laden purse, the hardy pioneer drives in 
his stake, erects his home, and is a conqueror. 
As I viewed the prairie for the first time 
from the window of a railroad car, it had not 
an inviting aspect, and as we steamed to the 
frontier of civilization, it had still less. It had 
a bare and bleak appearance, and the patches 
of burnt-over ground looked the picture of 
desolation. The creeks and rivers, fringed 
with a sparse growth of trees at intervals re¬ 
lieved the view. 
There was plenty of stir and bustle in the 
land-office town. Prairie schooners, as the 
white covered wagons of the emigrants are 
called, were numerous in vacant lots and the 
outskirts. With a few pioneer friends I made 
my way to the government land office. A ty¬ 
pical Irishman, who seemed to be the clerk or 
official on duty, answered our questions. The 
land in the section of country where my 
friends and I wished to locate was all taken up 
—indeed, as the official told us, there was no 
government land in the neighborhood but 
what was claimed by some one. I afterwards 
found out this was false. In fact, this man 
had no official connection with the office. He 
was a claim agent, and dealer in bogus claims, 
and an elastic conscience enabled him to adopt 
questionable methods of making a living. 
Tolerated and patronized by the government 
officials, whose ends he no doubt served—and 
if rumor spoke true, divided with them his 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
spoils—he had free mn of the office, was well 
acquainted with the country, and knew all 
alxmt “ claims.” He furnished ns with a list 
of those where we wanted to settle, which he 
assured us could be “jumped.” With a few 
others I started on foot to inspect the laud of 
promise. A number of settlers had already 
built du ellings and w ere busy making im- 
pr: vements, and we had no difficulty in find¬ 
ing th - boundaries of the sections. On the 
quarter-section I selected there was no im¬ 
provement whatever, and having returned to 
our obliging friend tbe immaculate Irishman, 
and paid him fifty dollars for his interest in 
the land, the necessary papers were signed, 
the office fees paid, and I became a “home¬ 
steader.” As I heard no more of the original 
claimant, 1 was well satisfied it was a bogus 
entry. 
My next task was to hire a teamster to take 
out a quantity of lumber .to “our land.” A 
few acres were “broke.” With a spade the 
tough and matted sod turned over and laid flat, 
by the plow, was cut iu suitable lengths for 
handling, and laid up into four walls for our 
first dwelling. The lumber was used for the 
roof and a door. This humble mansion w as a 
trifle better than the home of a friend with 
whom I spent a rainy night on the prairie. 
He had raised his sod walls about two feet high, 
slanting towards the top. The roof was a 
wide board surmounted at one end by the im¬ 
mense horns of an elk. These were both use¬ 
ful and ornamental, as they served as a guide 
to the lonely wayfarer over the then almost 
trackless prairie. We managed to worm our" 
selves at full length into this gopher hole of a 
habitation, and though a trifle crowded, slept, 
soundly on tie dry hay placed therein. 
My first attempts at farming were not a 
success. I had heard that various crops did 
well on the newly-broken prairie. With or 
axe 1 made cuts iu the turned-over sod at 
suitable distances, and planted therein white 
beans. The same with potatoes and corn. A 
stamp of the foot covered them. It was a 
dry season and we had about one small pod to 
each hill of beans. On harvesting our pota¬ 
toes we found a flattened specimen of that 
favorite esculent here and there under the 
hard and dry sod. Where the gophers had 
raised mounds of loose soil a few potatoes 
planted therein grew splendidly. Our sod 
corn was a little better, but very poor. Onions 
brought a high price in those days, and I had 
understood did well on the sod. I would sow 
onion seed, and why not have a big patch and 
make a good thing? I therefore bought two 
pounds of Red Wethersfield onion seed—or 
what was sold to me as such. But this prairie 
soil was so different from what I had been use^ 
to cultivate in the East it was an enigma to 
me. What a hard, ungracious and forbidding 
aspect it presented. However was I to get 
earth from that matted, leathery substance to 
cover the seed. I scattered a portion and 
trieel the rake on it, hut gave it up as a bad 
job, I did not grow any onions in that patch. 
I had better luck, however, near the slough, 
where the soil was rich and mellow, and where 
the tall artichoke and other weeds had made 
their home and the roots of grass were absent. 
In this spot my onions grew thickly and luxu¬ 
riantly. My eyes were gradually opened to 
the truth, however, that no bulbs formed, and 
that my onions were not onions, but only a 
sort of perennial scallions. Tbe seed I had 
purchased at four dollars a pound was n fraud. 
In our second year, on this sort of soil, we 
made an elaborate garden, sending to a re¬ 
spectable seedsman in the East for seed. Our 
plants stai-ted beautifully, but seemed to dis¬ 
appear as if by magic as soon as they made 
any kind of a show. Evidently some kind of 
an insect was our enemy, and on investigation 
we discovered it to be a young and wingless, 
but nimble grasshopper. 
I need nob further recount our mistakes and 
misfortunes in this direction. In some years 
we had good crops of corn and gi-ain of all 
kinds. And we found vegetables did well 
when unmolested by insects. When the sod 
rotted and the soil became mellow, we found 
it easy to work. Gradually we got accustomed 
to the ways of working a prairie farm, The 
first two or three years 1 was not a successful 
farmer, but the grand ah- of the prairie set¬ 
tled my nerves and strengthened my frame. 
What appetites we had in those days I But 
“square meals” were scarce, and the simplest 
food graced our table. 
When I viewed the vast, expanse of grass in 
the luxuriant month of June, I became im¬ 
pressed with the truth that here was the natu¬ 
ral home of countless herds of cattle. The 
laud was gently rolling and spring creeks 
were numerous. Here was certainly the spot 
for dairy farming on amagnilicontscale. Here 
was a beautiful crop ready furnished by na¬ 
ture for the scythe and for pasturage without 
expense for seed or the labor of man’s hands. 
The invader of this free territory had only to 
bring on his cattle, and fortune was within 
his grasp. But a drove of cattle could not be 
aised in a day, and the poor homesteader had 
not the wherewithal to buy. And many who 
had the means preferred to waste their sub¬ 
stance and valuable time in destroying the 
grass and sod, brought on expensive imple¬ 
ments, paid high prices for seed and labor, 
and when their crop w as grown found that a 
market was far off and it cost high to get 
their produce there. Those who placed then- 
sole dependence on growing wheat for a dis¬ 
tant market eventually discovered to their 
cost that when their crops failed from auy 
cause they were either entirely ruined or no 
better fixed than those w ho commenced with 
no means whatever. 
Let us suppose our finely-equipped farmer 
who had sold his cleared farm in Wisconsin, 
Michigan or Ohio at a high price, arriving on 
the prairie in April or May. He at once com¬ 
mences to “break sod,” and, according to his 
help, breaks from fifty to one hundred and 
fifty acres the first season. He has one cow, 
say, for milk. All he grows the first season is 
a little sod corn. He pays high for grain for 
his horses, and if hay is scarce, high for that, 
too. The second year he purchases seed, but 
it is August or September before he realizes 
anything whatever—sixteen months of labor 
and w-aiting. With the stockman it is differ¬ 
ent. He brings on, say, a dozen or twenty 
cow-s in Spring. From these cows, with the 
free grass all around, he makes a good living 
from the start. He has time to put up his 
buildings and likewise to break ten or fifteen 
acres for next year’s crop; and all the ma¬ 
chinery he needs is a good mower. If he has 
also a few good brood mares he can raise 
horses profitably. 
Early in my career on the prairie I man¬ 
aged to procure a couple of good cows, one of 
them with a calf by her side. That cow- was a 
prize for a poor man. Her calves were al¬ 
ways heifers. From those two cows and a 
few others w hich I was afterwards able to 
purchase, my stock now numbers nearly one 
hundred, and I have sold quite a number of 
fat steers and a few cows. I found, likewise, 
that pigs were profitable to raise. The first 
year I bought two young pigs at a dollar 
apiece, which I fed on mill feed at but little 
cost. From this small beginning my annual sales 
have amounted to hundreds of dollars. In 
my third year on the farm I was in possession 
of two yoke of work oxen. These I traded off 
fora span of good mares, harness aud wagon" 
The owner had started in grain growing, lteen 
v-orsted by the grasshoppers, threw up his 
claim in disgust and was hot for getting back 
East. The oxen were easier for him to keep 
or to turn into cash at that time. 
Undoubtedly the pioneer on the Western 
prairies has been sadly set back by the ruinous 
invasions of the grasshopper or locust, and 
thousands have succumbed to this misfortune 
and have had to wend their way back East in 
despair. But those who had stock to fall hack 
on, aud were careful managers, were euabled 
to stick to their claims, and have done well in 
the long run. The grasshoppers were not con¬ 
tent with one or two visits, by any means. 
Sometimes they came more than once in a 
year. I well remember their first visit. The 
prospect was fail- for bountiful crops of all 
kinds. The corn was forming in ear. Potatoes 
w ere in bloom. Beans were podded. Cabbage 
was making a goodly show' and onions promised 
handsomely. The clouds of insects came from 
the northwest^—they settled in swarms on every 
green thing. The corn stalks and potato tops 
were black with them, and they would not be 
driven from the garden. Onion tops seemed 
to be their special liking. In two days every, 
thing w r as stripped naked to the stalk. Along 
the ruined rows of beans, as the hoppers settled 
thickly on the ground in the evening, they 
shone like burnished silver in the setting sun. 
Some attempts were made to disperse them by 
starting smoke from straw fires, but it was not 
of the slightest avail. They came to stay 
until a fail- w ind was ready' to take them fur. 
ther south, and they had satisfied their appe¬ 
tites. Auother year they came just before the 
small grain was ready to cut. They attacked 
the oats and w heat, and with apparently devil, 
ish malignity, cut off the heads of grain, w hich 
dropped wasted to the ground. When they 
went away- it w r as near evening. The wind 
had changed suddenly to the northeast, and 
came on briskly with a shower of rain. A 
strange sound was heard, and it soon amounted 
to what seemed a rushing whirlwind. The 
grasshoppers had risen in clouds—every w'bere 
they were rising and adding to the commotion 
in the air. As the sun settled in the west, large 
hanging clouds of a gray tint were seen passing 
away with the wind, These were formed by 
millions on millions of this wonderful insect 
in its exodus towards the simuy South. The 
same scone was witnessed at the same time 
over an extensive section of country. But, 
indeed, a volume might be written of the 
grasshopper, its deeds of daring aud voraciou s 
appetite—its power of wing and destructive 
attributes. From the time when it is a frisky 
i and numerous infant without wings, to its 
attainment of full development for aerial flight 
it is an interesting study to the naturalist, but 
a fearful pest to the agriculturist. 
I have referred in the above to the curious 
way business at the land offices is sometimes 
conducted. The simple emigrant from the 
East soon discovers that these district land 
offices are surrounded by a net-work of claim 
agents, lawyers, aud speculators with whom 
the Government officials are, generally, iu 
collusion. Excessive and illegal fees are 
charged, and by the traffic in bogus and sol¬ 
diers’ claims, fortunes have been made aud 
valuable lands obtained at little cost. In plain 
evasion, if not by positive infraction of the 
Land Laws. A great deal is now being said 
about “ Civil Service Reform.” So far as my' 
experience goes with Government Depart¬ 
ments, I have gained the impression that they 
are festered with corruption, that heads of De¬ 
partments have little knowledge and less 
control of minor details, and that only' by 
strenuous exertions the complaints of the pub¬ 
lic are paid any attention to. As Congress 
itself is iu many cases run by* the lobby, so the 
Government Departments are bulldozed by 
intriguing railroad magnates and attorneys 
in connection with the inferior officers of the 
Government. 
]1 alum list. 
GOPHERS IN WISCONSIN. 
In Rural of July 14, is an article by A. W. 
L., and comments by the Editor. A.W. L. does 
not describe the pocket gophers of these parts, 
as the animal known by that name live iu tbe 
highest, driest sandy land, and they' are one of 
the worst pests we have. They only burrow 
about 12 to 18 inches below the surface and I 
have sometimes plowed them out. aud I only 
plow six inches deep, hut they throw up their 
mounds so thick at. times that I have counted 
15 or 20 new ones thrown up in one complete 
line in about five or six days. As they almost 
invariably throw up mounds at or very near 
sunrise, noon and sunset, if one goes to their 
haunts at these times he can shoot them as 
they come up with dirt, but one has to be very 
cautious, as at the least glimpse they will go 
back and not show their heads again at that 
time. As to the benefit of them, I do not know 
what it can be, as they only work in light land. 
1 never saw auy in low land that needed drain¬ 
ing or subsoiling, but it is always in the very 
lightest laud that they work the woi-st. The 
damage they do is in throwing up mounds in 
meadows and grain fields, and then if one 
should pile corn on the grouud they will bur¬ 
row into it aud one of them will destroy at 
bushel ina very'short time, and they will some" 
times where corn is shocked burrow into it, 
destroying the entire shock; they are most de¬ 
structive, however, in our grain shocks as we 
almost always set grain iu what we call bound 
shocks and cap them, aud there is no year but 
what they destroy more or less of it, generally 
more. Striped gophers are not so plentiful or 
se damaging to crops, as we can shoot or catch 
them quite easily; but as to their disappearing 
before the plow it is only because they are 
killed; for they multiply fast, as they' 
have four at a litter. We also have what 
we call a gray gopher. This does not look a 
great deal uulike the Western gray squirrel, 
having a shorter tail and shorter and smalle 
ears; but it is about the same size. The dam 
age both of these kinds do is in digging up 
grain just after plautiug or sowyig. 
A. W, L. would have a hard time to make 
any fanner in tills State think as he does, as 
we have what we call gopher hunts in which, 
men and boys take part, choose sides and at a 
certain day count up the tails BO as to see 
which side pays for the dinner or supper. The 
tails range in value as follows: pocket gopher, 
five cents; gray gopher, three cents; and 
striped gopher, one cent. I have, known 
men to pay as high as 15 cents to boys for 
catching pocket gophers, and, although 1 have 
been iu this country 20 years, 1 do not see but 
that the pests are j list as thick as they' ever 
were here, and, for my part, I wish A. W. L. 
had all 1 have on my- farm of 040 acres, and I 
presume that there are hundreds of them, for 
I have no eartldy use for thorn and my best 
whish is that he had all of mine to help his to 
eat Morning Glories. f. m. s. 
Dunnville, Wis. 
Gophers. 
The article on gophers iu a late Rural 1 
read with interest, as what to do with them is 
a burnlug question out here. By gopher I 
mean the striped prairie squirrel. The Rural 
says it disappears before the plow, but such a 
consummation is devoutly to be wished for; 
for, as far as my experience goes, the reverse 
is the case. Not only are they more plentiful 
where the land has been broken, but my stable 
