Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/145

134 i 134 i. RUSSIAN "mist." The Russian-Germans of the western countifis of Kansas inaugurated a new fuel which they call "mist". During the winter when stock consisting of horses and cattle are fed in a corrall,the feed is allowed to pile up under their feet, the Russian farmer will haul wheat straw, cornstalks, weeds or hay into the lot and throw water upon it, all the while the animals remain thereon, and the more droppings the better the mist. This procedure is continued during the winter months. Then after the stock is let out on the spring pasture, it is allowed to settle so as to become a solid mass like a silo; then in 'the summer a spade wUI be taken to cut the stuff up into bricks which are hacked up to dry, as in the case with the buffalo chips afore mentioned, when it is ready for fuel. It is much stronger (not in aromati- zation, but in heat-giving qualities), than coal or wood. It is in common use, as many racks of it were seen in the spring of 1907. Is there any wonder that the prairies of Kansas are so productive, when it is understood that the buffalo roamed over the prairies for hundreds of years, fertilizing the soil for ages preparatory to putting in the crops? But before leaviug the buffalo it will be weU to speak of their bones left on the prairies. Years ago, the western homesteader was able to exist when his crop failed, by gathering up bones, horns, and hoofs of this native of the plains, and thousands of car loads were transported out of the state. Some jconception of the immense Jiumbers of them obuldbe had if the prairies were once seen, for to this day the soil is full of buffalo holes which