NEOSHO VALLEY — SEASONS IN KANSAS. one-fourth bushels to the acre. Judge Bailey, of the Supreme Court of Kansas, who gave me these facts, attributes the extreme produc- tiveness of that valley to the washings of the immense deposits of gypsum existing on the head-waters of that stream. Judge Bailey, in speaking of stock, told me that heifers in the south- ern counties of Kansas almost invariably produce calves at the age of two years, and frequently at a less age. He mentioned one case of his own personal knowledge, where the age of the mother was less than a year and a half. This precocity must greatly facilitate the rearing of cattle in that country. The town of Humboldt, in Allen county, has a population of over fifteen hundred. It has four church edifices and good schools. It was burned by the rebels in 1862. Emperio is another flourishing town in the Neosho valley, south of Topeka. There are many others. To show how that country is settling up, it is only necessary to state the fact, which I find in a statement before me, made by official authority, that during the first fifteen days of June, 1867, there were located in the land office at Humboldt 49,320 acres of land. In these letters I have said more about Kansas than I at first in- tended, and I have done so because the more I saw of it, and con- sidered it, and the more I mingled with its truly intelligent and generous people, the more I was pleased with it. Perhaps equal to Illinois in fertility, it is far more beautiful and salubrious. In no part that I have seen is the idea of monotony even suggested. But it has its drawbacks. Wood is scarce, and its short winters —confined to January, February and part of March —are often sharp and severe, with high winds. Water is abundant and good, whether in streams, or springs, or wells. I drank none in that State that was not sweet and wholesome. There is rain enough. From Leavenworth to Fort Harker I talked with the people about this, and the unvarying testi- mony was, that there had been no lack of rain since 1860, which was a very dry year. And, contrary as it may seem to the common im- pression, the drought of that year was less severe at Salina and Fort Harker than in the more eastern portions of the State. The seasons in Kansas are peculiar. The winters are dry. In the latter part of March the rainy season begins, and continues into June. After that there is but little rain oe following spring. The rain falls in heavy showers. I witnessed some such as I never saw in the Eastern States.