People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 November 1896 — MAKING CORN A KING. [ARTICLE]

MAKING CORN A KING.

TNf THIRD OF THE GREAT WESTERN MONARCHS. Out on tho Prairies They Have Been Busy Celebrating His Greatness Tragedies Connected With His Beign—This Year Damn Fortune Has Smiled. There hare been three kings in the West —King Wheat, King Cattle and now King Corn. Once the through passenger trains in crossing the prairies stopped that the travelers might gaze on the stretching fields of wheat that covered thousands of acres in a single body. Then there were excursions to celebrate the opening of new stockyards where the cattle by the herd were to be shipped to market. Now there is a new sovereign, and the plains people are having “corn carnivals” and making the yellow and white ears that are so plenty emblems of rulership proud to be oalled the vassals of King Corn. They sing pretty verses, which say: j The rolling prairie’s billowy swell, ' Breezy upland and timbered dell, Stately mansion and hut forlorn— All are hidden by walls of corn. They’re hid and held by these walls of corn, Whose banners toss in the breeze of morn. Out on the Kansas prairies a month ago they were busy celebrating his greatness. There was a day of rejoicing and a night of jollity. The people threw kernels at each other, and the girl with the red ear was kissed when caught. It awoke pleasant thoughts in the minds of the older ones to observe this latter cnstom—thoughts of the younger days in that halcyon world where everything seems beautiful and of good repute as they look baok at the joys of it all—— “back east.” Corn was then king in a way about this time of the year, and jthe husking bees were the delight of the countrysida No oarnival of these latter days can compare with that time for real delight, but the attempt to put the grain on its pedestal is oommendable. The western farmer has seen too many failures not to appreciate anything that is of promise and that is likely to give a permanent prosperity. Corn does this and is the one great solace of the settler. In the long rows that are so beautiful in the spring and so fruitful in autumn (if the hot winds do not blow), there is inspiration to keep him and his family happy through many a day and night Its possibilities as an implement of jollity have been a new discovery. The com carnival is one of the outshoots of the flower festivals of the Pacific coast that have turned the tide of amusement for the multitude from the old fashioned fairs to the more modern methods. It is Burprising what can be dona Corn was even drawn into politios the other day in one of these celebrations out on the plains. It was a two days’ affair. On (he first the white corn was the ruler and the decorations were all o t that variety. The people who entered the gates paid as a toll one ear of white oom eaoL This was silver’s day, and the speeches were of that stripe. The crowds yelled for the white metal, endeavoring to outdo all reoorda. The next day gold had its inning. Yellow was in the asoendency, and an ear of yellow com was the price of admission. The decorations and the speaking were of a nature to please the opponents of those who attended the day previous. It was a stern rivalry, and the ooun tryside for miles around was drawn upon to make the crowds as large as possible. Dreams of good times are always connected with the com crop on the plains. Wheat is so low and its price is so little changed in the course of the year that it is considered as a crop that will be of little speculative value to the settler. Bnt the com crop is all right for a splendid gain if it turns out well. It comes to maturity in a few weeks, comparatively, and the settler can plant it after the wheat is seen to be a failure or after the oats are blown out of the ground by the spring winds. He knows, too, that if the price is low he oan feed the grain to the oafetle and hogs, and so have another chance to reconp himself. Indeed, the most prosperous farmers nowadays are those who do not sell their com in the grain, but feed it and take it to market in the more condensed form of pork and beef. Said a western farmer to a visitor the other day, “We took thiß ooun try from the Indians too blamed soon!” Perhaps we did, but the rpdskina left a beneficent gift in the Ihaize that has been the foundation of so many a home through the passing years. As the Bettlsr looks back on the times when he was struggling to make the mortgage lessen he remembers that it was the com that gave him the most help. It was this that made the batter cakes on which the family lived in the dull days in the prairie oabin. He thinks of these things, aud if you talk With him you will find that he is still loyal to the grain as the best of them aIL But there are tragedies of the com as well. When the summer has come to its height and the July sun is making bavoo in the cities, there come into the newspaper offioes special dispatches that tell of the dreaded “hot winds” out on the plains. “Com is suffering,” they say, and the next night they add, “Corn is severely burned and will be only half a crop if the county does not have rain soon. ” That does not tell it all by any aneana In the settler’s family there are ‘ ixious eyes looking for the cloud that *s not cotna The days go by, and the elds are parched, the stalks bent to the north by the furnace heated breezes that come up out of the south. Then the leaves begin to twist and curl, and the ears that were ready to fill are seen to be dried. The com crop is hurt. It means that the profit is gone for the year’s work, and that it is a question if there will be enough for the neoessary feed. It does not take muoh to do it—a week will spoil the whole crop—yes, three days of the dreaded winds will make the fields valueless if they oome Id the tight or rather the wrong time. X§ It jjMmi when this happens, and the teOMV H oot to be blamed if he looks

forcible remarks that are more spirited than elegant. It is pretty hard luck, for corn culture la by no means an easy task. It is only possible to win by doing the work well, and that is by the route of early rising and long days of following the plow, harrow and oultivator. Bnt when there domes a oropl Then the farmer is happy. That is the case out on the plains this year, and that is why they are celebrating the kingship of the grain. When com is a success on the prairies, it is very much of a king. Along the lines of railway in northern Kansas and Nebraska there are yet the big cribs in which the speculators at the last crop time put up the grain for a rise. There were hundreds of thousands of bushels stored in long sheds, ready for market, and the piles had a great attraction for all who saw them. The trains passed between these sheds as between the lines of freight cars on the side tracks in city yards. But as to profit, there is little in these years of plenty. Corn sells out in the western counties of Kansas and Nebraska for 6 cents a bushel. That means small return for the days spent in the fields. Still, it is better than to be out altogether, and it makes certain the proper care of the cattle and horses of the settlers. Jewell county, in western Kansas, this year has corn enough to make a fence around the entire state of Kansas if it were piled in a long row. Over 9,000,000 bushels of it will be gathered. Corn has a foreign oousin that is coming to the front rapidly in the west— Kaffir corn. Over 100,000 acres will be garnered this yoar in Kansas—twice the acreage of last season. It grows where the old variety will not and is sure to make a crop if it has half a chance. It makes fine feed, aud the cattle are fattened on it as easily as on the Indian maize. It bids fair to help revolutionize the farming of the semiarid region. And it strengthens the power of the principal ruler—strength giving, prosperity bringing King Corn.—C. M. Harger in Chicago Times-Herald.