New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1879-10-15
A BOY FARMER.

SAOlAAAHs 4,
A BOY FARMER.
How . Kansas Farmer discouraged
His Boy-Saccessful Result Of HIS
Three Kears' Experience ~ lndes
pendent Farming.
A CORRESPONDENT of the New York
Tribune, lost on the plains of Kansas,
came across live boy, who yielded to
the following interesting interview as
he politely guided him upon his Jour-
ney. The boy says:
We all came here two years ago last
spring, and father Immediately entered
claim under the Homestead law for
16O acres of land-and it's first-rate
land, too, can tell you; none better
anywhere about here. Well, father
said he wanted to encourage me in
being Industrious, but he went to work
very different from some men I know
in encouraging me. Now there is Mr..
A., who lives on the quarter.sect
adjoining ours, and he has two sons,
John and Henry. Johns . little older
than l, and Henry year younger.
Well, the way he encourages his boys
is by having them up at daylight in
the morning and keeping them on .
keen jump all day long. He hardly
allows them time to eat their meals.
Why. last summer they worked till
nine o'clock every evening, and didn't
find an hour all summer in which they
could 60 a-6shing, or even in swim
ming. Then to pay them the old man
gives them their board and bis own
worn-out clothes, with occasionally =
pair of boots or something Of the kind
thrown in. That is the way he teaches
them to be industrious. But fathers
plan is entirely different. He gave me
four acres Of land which he had
broken (this was two years ago last
spring. and was to do Just what
pleased with it, and he would furnish
me seed or means to obtain seed; all
that he required of me was that
should attend to the garden, do the
chores at the barn, and 60 to school in
the winter.
The first year I planted corn, and
from my four acres I raised 12O BUSH
els, which I sold for thirty cents 8
bushel.
The next spring father let me have
the use of his team, and I plowed my
four acres and planted one and half
acres in castor beans, one hall. acre
put out in strawberry plants, one acre
in sorghum, two rods in onions, and
the remainder of the acre in snnflow-
ers. Father laughed when told him
my plans, but he said it was my own
land, and I could do as liked with it.
I told him I wanted to experiment on
different crops, SO as to see which was
the most profitable. Well, my castor
beans were q good deal of trouble; 1
had to watch them so closely not to
lose them when they cracked open. It
was necessary to pick them Immediate
~ as fast as they ripened; but my lit
tie sister, seven years old, could at
tend to them about as well as l, and
she did this faithfully on my promis-
ing her $5 when I sold my crops in the
fall. I raised twenty-five bushels Of
beans off of my one and one-han acres,
which sold at $1.25 bushel; 50, aft
or paying my sister 95, realized for
them $22.50. Father had raised con-
siderable sorghum, and he had all Of
the arrangements for boiling, press
ing, etc. We worked together in pre-
pairing our sorghum, and I had from
my one acre two barrels Of good sor-
ghum molasses, which sold for thirty
five cents . gallon, thus making 922
from my sorghum crop. Ny sunfow-
ers. which were the laughing stock Of
50 many, brought me enough to pay
me for my trouble. had planted and
cultivated them very much Is il they
were corn. The flowers were SPLEEN
did, many Of them measuring three
feet six inches in circumference,
and the stalks being from ten
to twelve feet long and three
inches in diameter. planted them
principally for the stalks, which sold
over at the next town for fuel. I had
ten cords off Of that part bf an acre,
and I realized 415 from the sale Of
them. ] gave the seeds to father for
his poultry. He thinks they are better
than corn. Those who bought the
stalks say that they burn readily, and
make very hot IRE. Last spring !
planted nothing but sorghum and
onions, IS they had brought me the
most the year previous, and have