Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-12-05
Farm and Household.


a Great wheat Farm.
The special correspondent of the London
Times, who is accompanying the British ag-
ricultural commission in their tour of inquiry
through this country, communicates to the
journal which he represents an interesting
description of IN immense wheat farm which
he has visited at Casselton in Dakota Terri
tory, in the valley of the Red river. The
farm comprises "a, 600 acres, and is held by
Mr.. Oliver Dalrymple. Four years ago the
farm was part of the far-reachng prairie
wilderness, without any evidences of human
life Now, twenty thousand acres are al
ready under cultivation, and five thousand
acres of new ground are broken up annually.
The soil is dark friable, alluvial varying
from - to 20 inches in depth, free from
stones, and resting upon an argillaceous clay
rich in vegetable remains. The estate is par
titioned into divisions of 5000 acres, each un-
der the management of divisional superin-
tendent, who has under him two foremen,
one of whom on horseback accompanies his
II or 20 teams to work, and watches and re-
ports as to the efficiency of the men and the
machinery. Each division has two or more
sets of buildings, with comfortable quarters
for the men, connected with the principal
homestead of each farm. Three hot meals a
day are provided, but no spirits of any kind
are given out or sold at the farm stores The
rate of wages varies with the season. With
board during the spring $1S month (1Ss.
week. is given during the harvest wages ad-
vance to 1925 day during the thrashing
season the rate is reduced to 50 during the
autumn months the pay is S25. No piece
work is adopted, but so thorough is the su-
perintendence that full work is obtained from
both man and beast. During harvest and
thrashing, which is done out of the field, as
many Us 600 men are frequently employed.
As soon as frost comes, and the work of the
farm is over for the season, all of the men on
the farms are dismissed, with the exception
of the divisional manager and about ten men
who take care of the mules and horses This
wholesale dismissal, while it accomplishes an
immense saving for the farmer, is no hard
ship for the men, who are able to find plenty
of lumber work in the forests. Toward the
end of March the working staff are got to-
gethcr. The whole of the land intended for
crops has been plowed the autumn previous,
and the newly-broken has had second fur
row By the first of April the seeding of the
wheat commences, Scotch fife, red variety,
being the kind used. One hundred broadcast
machines are kept at work daily for three
weeks, and two hundred sets of harrows COM
pete the operation. No dressing or picking
is adopted, and no horse or hand hoeing, no
wedding or any further expenses are incurred
until harvest. The harvesting is thus de-
scribed:
Harvest begins about Aug /, usually amid
fine, settled California weather. About 800
extra men are engaged. One hundred and
fifteen automatic self-binding harvesters are
busily at work 100 of these are Walter
Woods the remainder M'Cormicks. Both
are reported to do their work admirably; no
objection is found to the wire binding. The
grain is shocked, and cutting is overtaken in
~ days. No time or outlay is expended in
stacking. The 81 steam thrashing machines
made by the Buffalo Company, and costing
5000 with thrasher, winnower and straw ele.
vator in one, are placed at convenient points
throughout the fields. Ten wagons, each
with pair of horses or mules, bring up the
shocks and carry off the thrashed grain in
three bushel bags, an average distance of two
miles to the railway cars gang of % men
keep wagons and thrashing machines steadi-
ly going and deliver at the station 1000 bush
els of wheat daily Each day the thrasher
and engine, which is partially self-propelling
md costs $500. 80 moved o 10 60 shorten
haulage of the sheaves. Every busy day 80
railway cars, each containing 400 bushels,
are loaded, and stand ready for dispatch,
usually to Duluth, 254 miles distant, on the
western corner of Lake Superior"
The crop this year is about the same as
last, and averages about 20 bushels to the
mere The following are the figures as to the
cost of production Land valued at $l2 per
acre, interest thereon at 6 per cent, 72c !;
taxes and rates, 10c. buildings, machinery
and teams, valued at so, interest at 10 per
cent lOc. blowing, SO; seed S1.50; har-
vesting and thrashing, 49, total, S8.42. Es-
timated on this basis, each bushel of wheat
costs about ~ cents. 1t sells readily at the
railway station at Casselton for Is to so cents,
thus yielding very handsome profit. AS to
the very important question whether these
crops and profits can be counted on year af-
ter year, the correspondent remarks:
No symptoms of deterioration are yet ap-
parent The land is clean; neither twitch,
thistles, nor docks appear. The chief weeds
are wild cotton, barn grass, sonel with a
yellow flower, and the Michaelmas daisies
The manure made from the stables lies about
in heaps, which it is not yet thought worth
while to apply. Excepting the small guam
tlty of straw used for littering the animals,
the whole produce of the 20, 900 acres is
burnt. The spots on which these heaps burn
show no obvious difference from the rest of
the field, indicating that the unassisted soil
still contains phosphates and potash sufficient
to grow full crops. How long the continuous
corn-growing can be proftably continued is
somewhat difficult to foretell On similarly
good land in various parts of the country
fields are pointed out from which, without
any restorative treatment, twenty consecu-
tive crops of wheat have been reaped, and
neither quantity nor quality as yet under
goes obvious diminution. Mr.. Dalrymple is,
however, too prudent farmer to draw too
long or deeply on the resources of his land.
By blowing year by year an inch deeper he
brings up fresh plant food; by growing, at
intervals probably of four years, as he pur-
poses doing, a crop of clover, rolling it down
and blowing it in, he intends cheaply to
maintain fertility. By these means and by
selection and change of seed, as well as by
an occasional crop of oats or barley, Mr.. Dial
rymple's superior management will doubtless
secure continuance of good crops for many
years.
Winter ManurIng.
As we have stated on former occasions tht