Agriculture Taught to the Indians. When Kansas was made an Indian country the National Government agreed in the treaties to supply the Indians with cattle, hogs, and farming implements, and to employ persons to teach them agriculture. In accordance with this agreement several government farms were established, and both the government farmers and the missionaries taught agriculture to the Indians. By the time Kansas was organized as a Territory, in 1854, there were a number of farms in the different reservations and at the missions, and the produce was such as to show that the soil of Kansas is remarkably fertile.
Agriculture During Territorial Days. Most of the early settlers of Kansas were farmers, but during Territorial days the political and governmental troubles made much progress in farming impossible. The terrible season of 1860 made a dreary closing for this period, and confirmed in the minds of many eastern people the old idea that Kansas was fit only for Indians, buffaloes, and prairie dogs.
Hand Planter.
Agriculture During the Civil War. The year following the drouth brought a good crop, but it also brought the beginning of the Civil War which absorbed the energies of the settlers for four years more. It was not until the close of the war, in 1865, that agriculture can be said to have had a real beginning in Kansas. But, in spite of the poverty and hardships of the war years, two things of especial significance were done that showed the interest of the pioneers in agriculture. During this period the Agricultural College at Manhattan was established, and the State Agricultural Society was formed. The object of the Society was “to promote the improvement of agriculture and its kindred arts throughout the State of Kansas.” Under its management a state fair was held at Leavenworth in 1863, and in that year the Legislature appropriated $1000 for the benefit of the Society. These events are worthy of note because they showed the enterprise of the people when their resources were small.
The “Old Mill” at Lawrence,
Erected in 1863. This was a gristmill, an octagon shaped, four-story structure, having a genuine Holland windmill for motive power. Additional buildings were erected for the manufacture of wagons and farming implements. The mill was abandoned many years ago, and in 1905 it burned.
Early Farming Implements. The farming implements of the pioneers were few and simple. Much of the machinery of to-day had not then been invented. Because of the cost of transportation, and the lack of money among the settlers, even the machinery of that day was scarce in Kansas. The all-important implement was the plow. The pioneer’s first crop was usually “sod corn.” The field was prepared with a breaking plow, which threw up the sod in parallel strips from two to five inches in thickness. Then the farmer, with an ax or a spade and a bag of seed corn, walked back and forth across the field, prying apart or gashing the sod at regular intervals and dropping into each opening three or four grains of corn. Then he waited for the crop. Once the land was broken, it was, in after years, prepared for the seed with the stirring plow and the harrow, and planting was done with a hand planter. Later the corn planter drawn by a team came into use. This machine required a driver, and another person to work the lever that dropped the corn. Then came the planter with the checkrower which, when attached to the planter, made only a driver necessary. During the last few years the lister has come into very general use.
