From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for June 15, 1914:

• “The city commissioners are considering the proposition of oiling one or more blocks in North Lawrence as a test of what may be expected from oiled streets. Other towns have used crude oil to an advantage as a method of preparing good roads at a small expense. The proposition has never been tried here and the commissioners are considering giving it a test by oiling two or three blocks. Commissioner Holyfield said this afternoon that he considered the plan feasible. The way this is done in California where nearly all the roads are oiled, said Mr. Holyfield, is to oil the road then plow it up, oil again and plow again, till the top six inches of the soil is thoroughly permeated with oil. Giving it a good coating on top at last makes a smooth surface that will shed water, prevent dust and make a good roadway. The cost of such a process has not yet been determined but it is thought that it will not be very great.”
• “With favorable weather, this week will see the Kansas wheat harvest on in full swing. The event for which the farmers have been waiting is at last at hand and indications point to the harvesting of the biggest wheat crop in the history of the state. Continued rain throughout this week will mean a great loss to the farmer. The rain last night will probably keep them out of the field for a day or two, but the weather man promises fair weather for the last of the week and when this comes the farmers will be at work early and late. A week ago saw the binders and headers start in a few of the fields along the southern border of the state. During the week the hot sun rapidly ripened the wheat in the more northern counties, and the vanguard of binders and headers followed the ripe wheat. But last week’s cutting was only a starter, except in the extreme southern counties. Lawrence autoists who were in the country yesterday report that practically every farmer has started to cut his wheat. In most cases only a few rounds have been cut. A few fields have been cut and shocked…. The wheat around Lawrence is in good shape for cutting…. The wheat has ripened very fast this year. Faster the farmers say than they have ever seen it…. Today will see the harvest begin in earnest. Last week the farmers were busy getting their machinery in order and recruiting their crews of harvest hands. This morning, at about 4 a.m. where it did not rain, the harvesting crews began to invade the golden fields, and by tonight the Sunflower state’s greatest wheat harvest will be a reality…. While the farmers have been busy hiring men, getting new machinery and repairing old, their better halves have not been idle. The harvest is a strenuous season for the farmers’ wives in the wheat belts. Harvesting bumper wheat crops is strenuous work, and the men who do it must have a lot to eat. And that the harvest crews can spend every possible minute in the fields the farmers’ wives must have the long tables piled high with victuals promptly when the crews come in from the fields. Between meals there is a huge pile of dishes to wash and another big meal to cook, and a farm kitchen in June is no summer resort.”
• “The enormous extent of the Kansas wheat acreage was brought home in a forcible way yesterday to three Lawrence men who made the trip from Hays City in Ellis county in an auto. L. J. Meade, Carl Rarick and Francis Jaedicke went out to Hays City Saturday night on the Union Pacific and met the R. C. Jackman car and with John Robinson and Sam Jackman of Minneapolis, Kansas, drove back to Lawrence a distance of 300 miles, arriving home at 10 p.m. last night. There has been no misrepresentation as to the Kansas wheat, say these men, as it is practically one continuous wheat field from Hays for 200 miles. In Ellis county in which Hays is located it is estimated at 20 bushels per acre. Harvest is just starting and is about two weeks earlier than usual in that part of the state. The Union Pacific claims to have over 3000 box cars on side tracks in Kansas to haul the wheat out quietly.”