Page:Kansas A Cyclopedia of State History vol 1.djvu/44

 1860 to 1870 is shown by the following statistics compiled by the ninth United States census. It shows 1,971,003 acres of improved land, 635,419 acres of woodland and 3,050,457 acres of unimproved land. The valuation of farms was $90,327,040; of farming implements and machinery, $4,053,312; the total value of all farm productions, including betterments and additions to stock $27,630,651. There were 117,786 horses; 11,786 mules and asses; 12,344 milch cows; 20,774 working oxen; 229,753 other cattle; 109,088 sheep; 206,587 swine. There were produced on the farms 1,314,522 bushels of spring wheat; 1,076,676 bushels of winter wheat; 17,025,525 bushels of corn; 85,207 bushels of rye; 4,097,925 bushels of oats; 98,405 of barley; 27,826 of buckwheat; 33,241 pounds of tobacco; 7 bales of cotton; 335,005 pounds of wool; 13,109 bushels of peas and beans; 2,342,988 bushels of Irish potatoes; 49,533 bushels of sweet potatoes; 5,022,758 pounds of butter; 226,607 pounds of cheese; 490,289 tons of hay; 334 bushels of clover seed; 8,023 bushels of grass seed; 396 pounds of hops; 35 tons of hemp; 1,040 pounds of flax; 1,553 bushels of flaxseed; 938 pounds of maple sugar; 449,409 gallons of sorghum molasses; 212 gallons of maple molasses; 2,208 pounds of beeswax; 110,827 pounds of honey.

In the early '70s the population grew more rapidly than the crops, thus keeping the country poor; the legislature of 1872 found it necessary to appropriate $3,000 for the relief of settlers in the western part of the state. In March of the same year the Kansas State Agricultural Society went out of existence and the Kansas State Board of agriculture was organized. (See Agriculture, State Board of.)

The state made every effort to develop her fertile acres, but success came slowly, as new catastrophes were constantly happening to retard progress and to depress hope. In July and August, 1874, Kansas received a devastating visitation from the grasshopper or locust. A great swarm of these insects passed over the state devouring nearly every green thing. They came so suddenly the people were panic stricken. In the western counties, where immigration during the previous two years had been very heavy, and the chief dependence of the settlers was corn, potatoes and garden vegetables, the calamity fell with terrible force. Starvation or emigration seemed inevitable unless aid should be furnished. The state board of agriculture set about collecting correct data relating to the effects of the prevailing drouth, and devastation of crops by locusts and cinch bugs, and Gov. Osborn issued a proclamation convening legislature on the 15th day of September. (See Osborn's Administration.)

The grasshopper raid retarded immigration and discouraged the people of the state but did not destroy hope and faith, for in 1876 all forces rallied to redeem the reputation of Kansas. The State Board of Centennial Managers in a communication to the legislature said, “Kansas needs all the advantages of a successful display. Remote from the money centers, the crash of the ‘panic’ came, sweeping away our values, checking our immigration, and leaving us our land and our