Connecticut western news., 1878-08-29
A WONDERFUL HARVEST.
AN AREA OF 2,600 ACRES OF WHEAT AND
 FIFTEEN MACHINES AT WORK.

A letter to St. Paul paper describes Minnesota wheat farm as follows :- "We will go just over here to '17' and see the harvesters at york;" says Doc Warner; but we find that "just over here" means at least two miles away, and as we bowl along over the beautiful rolling prairie we learn that there are about 2,60O acres planted to wheat thi, year, besides a large acreage devoted to barley, oats and corn. Next year nearly 5000 acres of wheat will be grown, the land already being prepared for it. The soil is extremely rich, being heavy black loam for over two feet in depth, with an unexplored bed of clay beneath. It possesses the very best attributes for grain producing, and lays in such per feet manner that it is drained just enough to keep it in the right state. This splen- did soil, which is unexcelled in this State, extends not only through the whole of Rock county, but through the entire northern half of Lyon county, Iowa. Every section is gold mine and every roll of the prairie is mound of gold. f-
 But we are now on section seventeen, on which the harvesters are at work. It is high roll, and away on every side are seen the golden mounds thickly dotted with sheaves of wheat. Twelve hundred acres have already fallen be- fore the greedy sickles of the favorite harvesters, and we are just in time to see fifteen of these perfect machines atta ok another patch of grain. Here is @ splen- did sight. The intelligence of genius seems to have been given to these won- derful combinations of cogs and belts, and the highest grades of intelligence, the educated brains, are put into the hands of the lowest grade, the hand workers, in the shape of machine which seems to lack but the God-given soul to be human. ..."..
 It is three miles around this field, and one after another of the fifteen harvest CTS bring their keen sickles to bear upon the grain. When all are in line swath 100 feet in width is cut. On they go, working smoothly, without jar, the nicely bound sheaves falling lightly on the stubble. with heads erect. --' '
 We followed the procession around, anxious to witness the complete opera tion for this is not by any means 8 per feet field of wheat. Here the wind and rain have beaten down backward piece, and the stalks lie broken. and tangled. Straight on the machine walks, and every spear Is bound. but the bundle is not handsome. Now comes patch in which the trailing wild pea vine is twisted and twined around the grain. Up it comes, pea vines, wheat and all, and a tangled mass falls off the harvester, tightly bound. Now we reach part of the field where strong, rank weeds, en- couraged by the rain and sun, have reared their heads far above the wheat. This, we think, will try the machine sorely, for the thick fibrous trunks of the weeds are tough and the sap is gum my. But there is no such thing as fail ure, and it binds the worthless weeds as faithfully and easily as it does the valu- able wheat. .. -.
 Still round and round the fifteen giants walk doing their work faithfully, al- though guided by green men, who fiud little to do except to attend to the horses.