The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-12-04

grass. previously cut bnOIb Wy wy
ino machine, is rotted. The stubDles are
left about the same length as they are IN
England: but since the straw ID burned
it would save expense, both in reaping
and threshing, to leave longer stubpie
and burn this and any weeds among IL
before the ploWs went to work. In one
field we came upon nine double sulKy
plows; the ground being bard owing 10
the dry weather, four mules were aIioGteu
to each. The driver mounts comIOrtaOly'
as on a moving machine, guiding his four
finland with reins. Instead OF coulter,
these plows, made by John Deer, LII,
and costing 800 have cutting wheel
The working parts are of steel, the shares
are sharpened every third or fourth day.
Each of the plows turns turroW 10
inches wide by inches deep. In an
other field a dozen mule teams are slmi-
larlv EMPLOYED. Two and half acres
are at present turned over by each team
daily, but when the ground is soft fully
three acres can be overturned. The
teams walk 16 to 20 miles daily, turn out
at 9. are in the stable and fed for an hour
at noon, and have four or five hours
work in the afternoon. The fields are
conveniently laid out in fields OF lou
acres, Some are fenced with oak posts
with two strands of barbed steel wire,
which keep back horses and cattle, but
not sheep and pigs, and has the dlsad-
vantage of lacerating any animal coming
forcibly in contact with it. To prevent
idlv walking several miles to work, the
teams going and coming invariably ploW
along the intervening fields, the twelve
teams each time they go out or return
contributing q broad strip of nearly 81
feet of plowing.
The breaking up of the level prairie is
neither tedious nor costly. No stones OF
tree roots cause breakage or delay. With
the single hand plows and a pair Of
horses, or three abreast If the ground is
very hard, stout furrow. usually meas
uring II by 4 inches. is turned. An acre
and a half is easily overturned in the
Nav or June day of ten hours. Mr..
Dalrymple estimates that the breaking
up, allowing for the wear and tear 'oi
plow and sharpening of the steel shares
which should last two seasons, costs him
fully 50 so. The stubbe and cross plow'
ing are computed to cost ST. 70. Even in
this newly settled country small farmers
and others can be hired to do the plow-
ing, furnishing man and pair OF good
horses at a cost of twelve shillings daily,
and doing regularly their one and hall
acres in workmanlike manner.
Mr.. DaIrymple and Mr. Dutton, one oi
his intelligent and able divisional super
intendents, both prefer mules to horses
on account of their hardness, endurance
eduable temperament and freedom from
disease, With about an equal proper
ton of mules and horses, they have in
four wears used up 16 horses, but all the
mules are yet serviCeabIe, except one
which was accidentally injured. The
mules are bought mostly at st. Louis, at
five or ak years old; they are l69 to IL
hands, weigh 1000 to 1900 lbs, are well
broken, steady workers, good tempered
and quiet, and cost on an average Sl4O
while the transit of 900 miles home puts
about $40 more on their price. Mules
and horses do not differ much in value,
and are managed and fed alike. They
are housed in good, lofty stables, accom-
modating about fifty, standing in pairs
in niue feet stalls. Racks and managers
are used as at home. They are tied by
halters or head stalls. The light harness
used indifferently for plOw and wagon.
costs 1923 for each animal, and is expect
ed to last ten years. The feeding, care
fully attended to by the stable boss, CON
sists of twelve quarts daily, of mixed
home grown oats and barley, and fifteen
to twenty pounds of prairie hay. Dur
ing the winter the amount of corn is, of
course, reduced, and this five months
rest and some days lighter labor between
seasons, account for the good looks and
condition of the terms and their stand
ing satisfactorily at busy times eleven
hours work daily.
Toward the end of March the working
staff are again got together, The lum-
bering is finished mp, and men are ready
for farm work. A few of the hands of
former seasons return. The gang fore
man, selected for Intelligence aud promt-
ness, is appointed, The whole of the
land intended for crops has been plowed
in autumn; the newly broken, as indica-
ted, has had second furrow, which
keeps down weeds and insures more GER.
tainty of results. So soon as the frost
has left the first six inches of soil, which
is generally by April 1st, the sowing of
wheat commences. Scotch Fife, good,
hard, thin skinned red variety is used.
The seed is selected for the newly broken
up land; if cookie or other weeds are
observable, they are carefully winnowed
out. No dressing or picking is adopted.
During autumn or winter in lS bushel
lots, the seed for each acre is bagged up.
Whenever the weather permits, seeding
commences. The seed is distributed by
broadcast machines, one hundred being
at work daily for three weeks. Two
hundred sets of harroWs complete the
operation, two or three turns being re-
quired and Mr.. Dalrymple ilcosely says
that he orders it Ito be we'll done, aud
then give one turn more" Four har.
rows, united by chains, work in set,
cover twenty feet, and are drawn by four
mules. In each harrow are seventy-two
round teeth, the set costs $l4 to SIS I'M
mediately after the wheat seeding, the
oats and barley grown for horse proven
der are put ia.
No horse or hand hoeing, no wedding,
or any further expenses are incurred un-
til harvest. Seasonable showers usually
occur during June and July; heavy dews
restore part of the moisture removed by
the warm noontide. For four years the
seasons have been propitious. The
drought last July, occasioned, however
considerable apprehension. Prayers fol
rain were offered in the churches, while
English farmers were imploring good
weather. Another week Of scorchiue
drought would have shriveled up the
soft, milky ears, but the much -longed fol
rain came seasonsbly. Drought is prob
ably thechief cause of uncertainty in the
American wheat yield. Hail storms and
tornadoes, abounding further South, are
unknown here. No wire worm, weevil
or fly interfere wish Mr. Dalrymple's