Insufficient acres were cultivated to supply the demand for food and have a surplus for capital. The whole of Kansas was in a state of speculative fermentation, stimulated by an abundance of eastern money seeking investment in farm loans and city property. It was so easy to borrow money on a homestead, that it is said three-fourths of the farms were mortgaged. The boom days came to a close in 1887, with a crop failure previously mentioned, and Kansas, not yet self-supporting, was left with an accumulation of farm mortgages that depressed her for many years. But the farm mortgages have nearly all been redeemed, and as the prairies have been turned to gardens and the sand hills have been covered with verdure, so have the dugout and sod house given way to residences of the most complete type. Where years ago the farmer and his wife were glad to have water anywhere in the neighborhood today they have it pumped by windmill or power into all parts of the house. The chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks no longer frequent the door yards, for the farmer of today has a lawn ornamented with shrubs and trees as perfect as that of his city brother, and the fowls have their own houses, and runways especially adapted to their needs. The horses, cattle, sheep and other stock are no longer dependent upon the blue sky for shelter, for the most modern stables are constructed for their protection. The farmer and his son do not have to arise at break of day to get in the crop, because with good teams, plows, reapers, mowing machines, and other up to date appliances, the farm work does not take so much time as formerly. Nor does the farmer's wife wait until Saturday to ride to town behind the weary plow horses, because her automobile is always at the door. The early settler has lived to realize his vision. Kansas as an agricultural state is all he hoped and more.
Agriculture, State Board of.—On Feb. 19, 1872, Gov. Harvey approved “an act for the encouragement of agriculture,” section 1 of which provided that “The present officers and executive committee of the Kansas State Agricultural Society shall be and are hereby constituted the State Board of Agriculture, who shall continue to hold office during the terms for which they have been respectively elected, to-wit: The president, vice-president, secretary, and one-half or five of the executive committee, until the second Wednesday of Jan., 1873, and five of the executive committee until the second Wednesday of Jan., 1874; Provided, said society alter or amend their constitution in such manner as not to conflict with the provisions of this act. The governor and secretary of state shall be ex officio members of the State Board of Agriculture.”
The act also provided that every county or district agricultural society, then in existence or afterward organized under the laws of the state, that had held a fair in the current year, should be entitled to send a delegate, with proper credentials, to the annual meetings of the state board, and such delegates should be members ex officio for the time being. It was further provided that beginning with 1873, and thereafter,
