The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-08-23 00:00:00

FARMING ON A LARGE SCALE.

A correspondent of The limas gives an account of a
vo) age up the Red River. He prefaces his letter with the
following interesting particulars concerning the Red River
Talley

"Two Red Rivers are numbered among the notable
streams of the North American Continent. One of
them rises in the Territory of New Mexico, flows
through the States of Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana,
and, joining the Mississippi, helps to swell the volume of
the mighty flood which the Father of Waters rolls into
the Gulf of Mexico. The other, which is known as the
Red River of the North, rises in Elbow Lake, in the
Btate of Minnesota. Its source is not far distant from
Lake Itaska, which is the fountain-head of the
Mississippi. Though that river's course is southward
and the course of the Mississippi is northward when
both streams first issue from their parent lakes, yet
they soon follow the direction which they keep till
their race is; run. The Red River, in its northerly pro-
gress, divides the Territory of Dakota from the State
of Minnesota ; it enters the Canadian province of Mani-
toba at Fort rembina ; it passes by the city of Winui-
peg, the capital of that province, and is there joined
by the Assineboine, flowing from the west; it enters
Lake Winnipeg, whence it issues under the name of
Nelson River; and, finally, it finds its level and a last
resting-place in the icy waters of Hudson's Bay. Com-
pared with the Mississippi, the Red River of the North
appears insignificant. Nevertheless, as its length
from Elbow Lake, in which it rises, to Lake Winnni-
peg, into which it flows, is 900 miles, it merits a place
among the great rivers of the world. The valley
through which it runs is still more remarkable than
the Red River itself. For a space which is 400 miles
In length by seventy in breadth, that valley is the
finest wheat-growing tract on the continent of North
America, if not on the habitable globe.
"Farming on a scale unparalleled except in Cali-
fornia is prosecuted in the Red River Valley. This
dates from the year 1875, when several capitalists
bought vast tracts of land there. Mr. B. P.
Cheney, of Boston, and Mr. Oliver Dalrymple, of
St. Paul, purchased 5,000 acres, of which 3,500
will be under cultivation this spring. Last year
they harvested 42,000 bushels of wheat, 6,000 of oats;
and 3,000 of barley. The machinery on this farm con-
sists of 40 ploughs, 16 seeders, 40 harrows. 16 har-
vesters, 3 steam thrashing machines, and 3 portable
steam-engines. As many as a hundred men are em-
ployed at the busiest season. Mr. Cass has a farm of
6,000 acres. Nearly the-whole will he sown with wheat
this year. Large though these farms are, yet they
seem small in comparison with that belonging to Mr.
William Dalrymple; it covers 30 square miles. The
quantity sown with wheat last year Was 20,900 acres;
the yield was 250,000 bushels. Seventy-five reaping
and binding machines were used to harvest the
crop, the work being done at the rate of 1,000 acres
a day. This farm is managed on the plan of a
factory. It is divided into sections of 2,000 acres,
over each of which an overseer is placed ; he carries
out the orders of Mr. Dalrymple just as a Brigadier.
General carries out the orders of the Commander-in-
Chief of an army. Comfortable dwellings are pro-
vided for the overseers, while there is a boarding-house
for the accommodation of the farm labourers. Each
section has its granary, stables, machine shop, and
engine-house. Indeed, the vast estate is really divided
into a number of separate farms, each being complete
in itself, and all being subject to a common head.
Four hundred and fifty lebouress and upwards of 300
horses and mules are employed on this farm; three
bookkeepers are required to register the accounts, and
two cashiers to receive and disburse the money.
Indeed, the whole arrangements are designed to assimi-
late the production of grain to the operatic as of a manu-
factory. The idyllic side of farming has no place here.
The farmer is a capitalist,and the farmlabourer is called
a " hand " and treated as one. Advocates of spade.
husbandry will see nothing to admire in this whole-
sale method of cultivating the soil, and they will
maintain that if this system should grow in favour,
the day must arrive when, in the United States as in
gertain European countries, there will be a permanent
and rigid separation between the tillers of the soil and
its owners. However, while land continues as plenti-
ful and easily acquired in the United States as it was
during the Middle Ages, when the existing large
estates were formed in Europe, the citizens of that
country will disregard gloomy forebodings and will
continue to lavish their admiration upon a successful
capitalist like Mr. Dalrymple. His farm is a common
topic of glorification among the citizens of the new
North-West, and of admiring envy among the dwellers
in less fertile parts of the land." . . .