Rensselaer Union, Volume 2, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 September 1870 — Letter from Mr. R. B. James. [ARTICLE]

Letter from Mr. R. B. James.

CLIMATE OK KANSAS. The climate of Kansas, like the climnte of all other sections, is va- 1 liable amino two seasons are precisely alike. On tbe whole it is in some respects similar to southern Virginia or Tennessee; but being nearer the (lull* of Mexico, anil unprotected on the southern side by nigh mountain ranges, the State is open to the access of tropical winds and is more equable, being warmer i in winter and cooler in summer ! than the same latitude east of the ! Mississippi river. It frequently I happens that cattle and horses can ! live by grazing on the open prairies 1 during winter without shelter; but j some winters cattle have died in i large number* while exposed to sci veru cold storms ot rain and sleet. It stands stock-raisers in hand, therefore, to sec that shelter and feed are regularly provided to guard against such casualties. Last winter plowing was interrupted only thirty-five days. Some years winter last* double that time. It seldom freezes in exposed places more than three inches in depth. Ice ; put ii)i from streams here is comi parativelv worthless, being thin and merely congealed without being thoroughly f rozen. Corn piant- , ed this last season in February was j ripe the first of August and is a j heavy crop. Sorghum seed that ! scatters in the fields where it grew invariably lives over and starts up the next year, like buckwheat or rye, and becomes a pest to successive crop*. Potatoes left in the ground where they have been cul- ! tivated are sure to spring up, and if cultivated again do h* well as if planted in the spring. Underground cellars never freeze. Spring opens in February'. Feachtrees and other early fruit trees and shrubs bloom in March. Last spring a late storm of snow fell alter the young fruit was formed and most of tbe peaches were chilled and destroyed by the cold. Some peach trees, however, are full and apples and cherries, where there are orchards, arc plenty. The weather of spring continues cool until July. The progress to snminer is gradual and slow. The growth of vegetation is much luoro gradual than in the abrupt and sharply marked seasons of the Northwestern and Eastern States. It is seldom that any snow falls in Kansas after the first of March and sometimes not after the middle of January. Cold winds often spring up suddenly and blow for two or three days together, generally from the northward but sometime's from the southwest. In the winter, from December to March, they arc so chilly and cuttiug, that woolen fabrics of fine material and close texture seem to afford no protection them. One is surprised that such keen penetrating winds should make so little impression upon tho thermometer. It is not uncommon that peoplo clothed in woolens atidfurs shiver in the cold of these winds while the trees and grass are green and growing and the mercury is far above the freezing point. These winds blow at intervals more or less at all times ot tho year. In later spring, summer and early autumn, they temper the heat of an almost vertical sur,. During summer, when the sun would%tlierwisc EUereh and burn vegetation, they arc bracing, delicious mid grateful. The heat of the hottest days in summer begins j to fall by three o’clock in the afternoon. Cooled by these breezes the air is balmy and refreshing, and at night persons asleep need’coverlets. In the fall there are no frosts before October—some years no frosts to kill vines, tomatoes or corn before December. Farmers with their coats off are often seen plowing in January, and indeed in every winter month. By these practical illustrations I can perhaps convey to a stranger a better idea ot the climate of Kansas than by reference to the degrees of heat and cold of particular seasons. In a word, to sum up, spring and fall on the average occupy seven months of the year, summer three and winter only two. >

WE1.1.8 i.ND WATER. Dry and wet are so closely connected with climate that I speak of thefh here, but reserve notes on the rivers of Kansas for another letter. In the northern and eastern parts of the State springs are numerous over the whole country. In the southwest they are confined to gulches and river courses. Water in great plenty can be obtained by siifking wells from twenty to forty sept. In some places water is soft, iif others of the same neighborhood it is impregnated with alkali or pyrites. The alkaline is sweetish and acrid, that is, it tastes like salerafus water and is weak or strong according,to the amount it contains. Water impregnated with pyrites tastes bitter like copperas, but in some proportions is neither disagreeable nor unwholesome. In this neighborhood a well nine feet deep, on the brow of a hill, averages six feet of water and does not run lower in the dryest time; one on lower table land dug twenty feet without signs of- water struck a vein that rises and runs over; one ten and one-half feet deep at the foot of a hill, reached water in four feet crossing . other veins to the bottom which flowed too strong for digging further, filled and runs over 1 at the top; others from seven to thirty feet, might.supply water for herds of cattle. They are inexhaustible.

What was formerly known as one of the .Ozark mountain ranges crosses this county. These mountains here are simply ranges of high rolling prairie, naturally co\-

crcd with grasses and rank weeds. Tiles® lands arc now occupied by settlers and arc being fast broken by the plow for corn and wheat.-*— During heavy rains, when the surface loam is saturated, the clay subsoil turns surjilus water off with great facility. In ages past these rapidly accumulated waters have washed deep holes in their channels that in dry seasons fcerve as wells; the water standing in them is cool and pure throughout tho year. These natural wells constitute that feature of the"country so ! much admired by strangers and 1 praised by travellers, called “holes !in tho prairie.” These natural ! well* furnish stock water wherever I they occur and are the resort and camping ground for emigrants, being usually, but not’Always, skirted with grass and grateful shade.— i This water is wholesome and so i perfectly clear that fishes may be j seen to the depth ot ten and fifteen j feet. These wells give rise to many fanciful stories, and indeed are great curiosities, as they are a perpetual blessing. Writers assert that the annual | fall of rain in -Kansas averages 37 j inches, while in western New York j it is 42 inches and distributed over j the season about as follows: skit to hi:. Kansas. ; Spring 10 ini-ties. 12 iuo.hcs. | Bummer 12 v .12 4 ‘ | Autumn 13 “ 10 “ ; Winter 7 '• (rain and snow) 3 " But I think such statements need further verification, for in single showers, tubs from 8 to 12 inches in depth, exposed in open lots have been tilled to overflowing Showers approximating these, hut perhaps not equalling them in intensity and volume, have followed for successive days together. It is true these exceptions may not disprove scientific facts, but they lay the foundation for doubt as to whether these assumptions called facts are well established* However that may finally be settled this is true: Crops l.ave not failed in Kansas lrom drought in fifteen years past and have been injured by it but twice iu the time. From this cause wheat has never failed. In other words, wheat, where tho cultivation Lss given it any chance’, has Invariably yielded well. Corn is as sure a crop in Kansas as in any other State in the Union not favored by irrigation. Of course where land is irrigated and the time and quantity of watering depends entirely upon the will of the farmer no failure can liappen.

——— HEALTH. - There is not a Swamp or marsh in all Kansas and therefore no miasm can ho chargeable to this source. Still billiouß diseases are more or less common towards the close of summer, in the new settlements. The want of fruit and fresh vegetables, the breaking up of sod and the decomposition of vegetable substance* may possibly be the cause of it, hut physicians of extensive practice say that in no season lias there been half the sickness here, even among new comers there is in older settlements of the Middle States, tlieir practice being largely confined to the grdwth of families. Families from ague districts enjoy complete immunity here, not a member suffering since their arrival. On the whole, then, Kansas affords a mild and genial climate, short winters, long springs, modified summers, and pleasant autumns. It is well watered, naturally healthful and crops almost sure. In ray next I will write of its rivers, stockraising, Ac. Yours as ever, It. It. James. Mulberry Grove, August 28, 1870. The second Animal re-union of the surviving members of the 87th Indiana Volunteers, will be held at Rochester, Fulton county, Indiana, on Monday and Tuesday, the 19th and 20th days of the present month, (September). Ample preparations will be made in advance, by both citizens and soldiers, to make the meeting a pleasant one, and every member of the regiment is expected to participate. A programme containing complete arrangements will soon be published!. N. Gleason, Pres. Soc’y. E. Moli.oy, Rcc. Sec’y.

llon. Andrew L. Osborn, Judge of the Laporte Circuit Court, and one among the ablest jurists in the West, last week rendered a decision in a case tried before him at Laporte, involving the constitutionality'of the Indiana railroad tax laiw. Judge Osborn delivered an able and exhaustive Opinion, in which he held that the law was constitutional in all its provisions, and that the taxes-levied under it were collectable, ii payment was refused, by distress and sale of property, as in all other taxes levied by county boards of commieioners. —JYew Albany Ledyer. A