Page:Kansas A Cyclopedia of State History vol 1.djvu/45

 debts. The devastation of the locust was an accidental and passing shadow. Our wealth of soil and climate has been reasserted in abundant harvests, but the depression still rests like a blight on the price of real estate. Immigration has halted and investments have measurably ceased.” The legislature of 1876 evidently felt the same way about the state because it appropriated $25,000 for the Kansas building and display in Philadelphia. (See Expositions.)

The statistics for 1880, as given by the State Board of agricultural, show 8,868,884.79 acres of land in cultivation, divided as follows: winter wheat, 2,215,937 acres, with a product of 23,507,223 bushels, valued at $19,566,034.67; spring wheat, 228,497 acres, 1,772,661 bushels, $1,414,633.90; rye, 54,748 acres, 676,507 bushels, $270,602.80; corn, 3,554,396 acres, 101,421,718 bushels, $24,926,079.07; barley, 17,121 acres, 287,057 bushels, $143,528.50; oats, 477,827 acres, 11,483,796 bushels, $2,918,689.17; buckwheat, 2,671.41 acres, 43,455 bushels, $39,110; Irish potatoes, 66,233 acres, 4,919,227 bushels, $3,279,501.85; sweet potatoes, 4,021 acres, 391,196.55 bushels, $391,196.55; sorghum, 32,945.09 acres, 3,787,535 gallons, $1,704,390.98; castor beans, 50,437.61 acres, 558,974.28 bushels, $558,974.28; cotton, 838.34 acres, 142,517.80 pounds, $12,826.67; hemp, 597.22 acres, 635,872 pounds, $38,152.32; tobacco, 607.21 acres, 449,335.40 pounds, $44,933.54; broom corn, 25,507.64 acres, 17,279,664.50 pounds, $604,788.27; rice corn, 27,138.40 acres, 493,915 bushels, $125,353.12; pearl millet, 8,031.40 acres, 26,784 tons, $115,527; millet and hungarian, 268,485 acres, 602,300.31 tons, $2,542,565.95; timothy meadow, 49,201.46 acres, 79,634.16 tons, $447,411.20; clover meadow, 16,637.61 acres, 26,796.16 tons, $151,764.05; clover, blue grass and prairie pasture, 959,456.91 acres; prairie meadow, 679,744 acres, 798,707 tons, $2,570,290.85.

The counties having the most acres cultivated were Sedgwick, McPherson, Dickinson, Miami, Marshall and Sumner, all of which had more than 210,000, while Ford, Barbour and Hodgeman of the organized counties had the least number of acres in cultivation.

A strong feature in the dissemination of agricultural knowledge is the county agricultural society. In the general statutes of 1868, 1872 and 1873 provision is made for the incorporation of these county clubs for the encouragement of agriculture. The important relation existing between them and the State Board of Agriculture is shown in section 2 of chapter 9 of the session laws of 1873, which declares “that every county or district agricultural society, composed of one or more counties, whether now organized or hereafter to be organized under the laws of the state of Kansas, shall be entitled to send the president of such society, or other delegate therefrom, duly authorized in writing, to the annual meeting of the State Board of Agriculture, to be held on the second Wednesday of January of each year, and who shall for the time being be ex-officio member of the state Board of Agriculture; provided, that the secretary of each district or county society, or such other person as may be designated by the society, shall make a monthly