In the first issue of "Barbour County Mail", May 23, 1878, the editor
  described the county:
     "The soil is lively, easily worked, yields abundantly every kind of
  agriculture raised anywhere in the state ...every foot of available land
  is highly productive."
     He categorized the county's 725,560 acres as 60% agricultural and 40%
  grazing lands, specifying 25% as bottomlands.
     Initially most land was homesteaded. In 1886 a farm east of Medicine
  Lodge was sold for $1.37 per acre. Today croplands sell from $450.00 to
  $1,000 per acre.
     In 1978 the county reported 485 farms; 2,000 acres are irrigated,
  172,270 acres harvesded produced field crops valued over $15,000,000.00
  and livestock and poultry over $20,000,000.00.
     In 1887 the earliest settlers, Lockwoods, Leonards and Mosely, broke
  70 acres and planted "sod corn", which was dropped in freshly-turned sod
  and without cultivation yielded over 50 bushel per acre. By 1878, from
  all over the county corn was hauled to Mr. Easley's stone-burr type grist
  mill and gournd into meal. In 1889, 43,288 acres avereaged 20 bushel per
  acre, selling for 2 1/2 cents per bushel. Cornshucking wages were two cents
  per bushel. Usually corn acreage has been between 500 and 4,000 acres. In
  1978, 400 acres averaged 126 bushel for grain, and 300 acres averaged 13
  ton silage.
     Cotton was the first cultivated crop, dating before 1875. By 1888 Medicine
  Lodge boasted a cotton gin. No cotton is recorded since 1899.
     By 1880, sugar cane and sugar beets were promising crops. The variety of
  cane had been imported from India. "A mammoth 3-story refining plant with a
  million gallon capacity cistern, was built in Medicine Lodge at a cost of
  $100,000.00 in 1887. It prospered a year, then declined. In 1889 the Best
  Brothers and two friends bought the mill. The plant reported processing 200
  tons of sugar bane and beets raised on nearby farms in 1890. An attraction
  at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair was the Barber County sugar cane and a
  miniture mill. In 1894 the mill was forced to close because the government
  removed the five cent subsidy from sugar. In 1898 sugar cane and beets were
  not marketed.
     In 1878 "Barbour County Mail" reported, "the wheat yield is 20 to 35
  bushel" and credited Reuben Lake with the largest field. The most popular
  wheat was Turkey (a hard wheat); it is the parent stock of many of today's
  varieties. In 1899 state statistics show 12,191 acres averaging 9 bushel per
  acre and sold for 54 cents. 1908 wheat brought 86 cents; 1918, $2.00; 1932,
  21 cents. In 1937 the price recovered to $1.00.
     Since 1968 wheat yield has exceeded 3,000,000 bushel annually. In 1978,
  7,000 acres of summer fallow averaged 32.5 bushel; 131,900 acres of continuous
  cropped land yielded 32 bushel. Wheat annually adds several million dollars
  to the economy. 
     George Eckert introduced Kaffir Corn in 1887; by 1895 it was a principal
  feed and grain crop. In 1899 the largest areage, 40,073 acres averaged 3 tons.
  Black Hull and Red Kaffir were early varieties.
     In 1899, 39 acres of milo (or Maize) averaged 3 tons per acre; heads were
  used for grain, stalks for stover. A 1920 report shows 272 acres averaged
  10.5 bushel for grain and 91 acres averaged 3 tons of hay. Milo we now call
  grain sorghum.
     Sorghum has been planted annually since 1875. An 1899 report showed 314
  acres produced 18,840 gallon of sirup and sugar and 16,597 acres planted for
  grain and forage. The highest grain yield was 50.4 bushel in 1977; the 
  highest silage, 13.1 tons in 1969; highest forage, 3.4 tons in 1962 and 1965.
     Fenced prairie grass in 1899 produced 3,368 tons from 70,000 acres; in
  1907 over 300,000 acres produced only 1,000 tons. Wild hay has been a constant
  product; its peak yield was 1.6 ton per acre in 1969.
     Pastureland acreage has fluctuated the past 40 years; its nadir was
  349,829 in 1941, and peak was 478,000 from 1960 to 1965. Government Conser-
  vaton Reserve programs in late 1950's and early 1960's contributed to crop-
  land being replanted to grass.
     In 1898, 841 acres were planted to alfalfa; the acreage in 1913 was 11,915,
  an all-time high. 1978 harves was 17,970 tons of hay and 48,000 pounds of
  seed, at $1.00 per pound.
     In 1877 "R.M. Woodard succeeded in raising a fine crop of oats." Since 
  then oats have been an annual crop. 1899 harvest averaged 14 bushel, selling 
  at 18 cents per bushel. The past ten years' acreages ranged from 180 to 1,050 
  acres; yields ranged from 32.6 bushel in 1971 to 45.1 in 1969.
     Rye was planted in mid-1880's. In 1899, 715 acres harvested an 11 bushel
  average yield. Yields have varied from 4 to 31 bushel. 1978 harvest was 21
  bushel per acre; 1,210 acres were harvested.
     Barley acreage increased consistently from 685 acres in 1899 to a 1943
  high of 27,100 acres. Yield has varied from 10 bushel in 1933 to 42.1 in 1978.
     Production peaked in 1973 at 4,886,000 bushel. Other crops produced in
  marketable yields for a few years only included: Indian Corn (1874-76); Millet
  (1875-1936); Hungarian (1879-1912); Sweet Potatoes (1879-1949); Irish Potatoes
  (1899-1956); Blue Grass (1900-26); Broom Corn (1901-40); Emmer "Speltz" (1912-
  20); Sudan Grass Seed (1912-64); Castor Beans (1914); Sweet Clover Seed (1915-
  72); Cowpeas (1915-54); Feterita (1917-32); Jerusalem Corn (1920-4); Soybeans
  (1924-54 and 1976-8); Timothy (1926-8); Popcorn (1931-56); Red Clover Seed
  (1939-75); Flax (1943-51); Lespedeza Seed (1949-56); Seed Bromegrass (1949-67);
  Peaches (1933-67); Pears (1939-55); Grapes (1899-1966); Honey and beeswax
  (1943-78). Wine manufacture and sales were tabulated from 1899 to 1904.
     Often dairy and poultry produce which the farmwife sold provided the
  family's necessities during unproductive farm years.
     Marketed milk ranged in annual value from $1,105.00 in 1899 to $137,179.00
  in 1927, with a high of over 29,000,000 pounds in 1939. Since then there has
  been a steady decline. Top butter sales were 137,564 pounds in 1912; presently
  they are nil.
     3,263 milk cows were reported in 1899; 10,529 in 1916; 1,100 in 1978. Other
  cattle always exceeded the milk cow census. In 1978 all cattle totaled 99,500.
     Perhaps the first poultry flock was William Roger's eight hens and a
  cockerel brought in 1875. Poultry and eggs sold in 1899 totaled $16,703.00.
  As many as 17,000 dozen eggs a day were shipped in 1901. A steady decline
  followed 1942's market of 136,820 chickens.
     Wild turkeys preceded the settlers; one turkey hunt netted seven wagon-
  loads. From 1947 to 1966 domestic turkeys ranged from 900 to 5,000.
     Swine of the early settlers were Duroc Jersey. For a century annual swine
  production has averaged from 4,000 to 7,000.
     Cattlemen resented the thousand sheep William Gilbert brought to Valley
  Township in 1884. 21,090 were marketed in 1939. Since 1948 annual markets
  have been 1,000 to 5,000.
     The first settlers turned sod with two yoke of oxen, a grey mare and a 
  Spanish mule. By 1914, most "power" for machinery was provided by 10,703 
  horses  and 3,321 mules. As power machinery arrived, the horse and mule census
  declined steadily; since 1958 they total less than 1,000. An implement 
  advertisement lured farmers, "It costs half as much for gas as horsefeed and
  doesn't eat when it doesn't work."
     Earliest farmers machinery consisted of a wagon and a plow. The first
  wheat header brought into the county was a Plano, made almost entirely of
  wood. Charles Duncan brought the first threshing machine, a hand-fed
  contraption powered by 12 horses or mules. The next thresher recorded was
  a Nichols & Shepard steam engine separator in 1888. A McCormick reaper 
  arrived in 1900. In 1884 Moses Wright's Woods Binder was one of the first
  twine binders ever made.
     A 1937 report lists 687 tractors and 430 combines. Before WWII combines
  were credited with cutting 35 acres per day; today's combine averags 100 
  acres per day. a 20-29 h.p. tractor in 1940 cost $1,130.oo and combines
  listed as $700.00. 1979's 125 h.p. tractor costs $32,000; combine prices
  average $70,000. Today's machinery boasts increased power, power steering,
  air-conditioned cabs and other refinements.
     Weather has been both ally and enemy, ever a capricious determinant in
  farm production. A few of Mother Nature's catastrophic excesses included:
  1883 prairie fires; 1884-5 extended blizzard; 1885 drouth broken by a five
  hour torrential rain and floods; 1885-6 two blizzards in a week followed 
  by 6 weeks' bitter cold; 1874 and 1912 grasshopper invasions; 1900 cinch
  bug infestation; cyclones of 1879, 1800, 1907 and 1927; 1927 hail of 7"
  circumference; drouths in 1874, 1883, 1899, and 1953-7. The ultimate in
  drouths was seven years of the "dirty thirties"; blinding dust storms 
  with unending winds stealing top soil; fields and gardens withering;
  populace harrassed by respiratory afflictions, financial and mental
  depression; dirt drifts covering fences and cattle wandering; pest 
  infestations. Only the hardy and self-sufficient eked out a meager 
  existence.
     Fortunately productive years far outnumbered the weather sieges and
  confirm the editor's 1878 Garden-of-Eden description: "It seems the
  Almighty in His great wisdom has so ordered the face of the county."
                  
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 9