Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-12-04

proceeds systematically and harmoniously
No rows occur; brawlinR and fighting arc Ok.
tremely rare, but when they do oocur it unfor-
tunstely i. usually on Sunday. Dismissal fol
insubordiaatiou is scarcely known Men in
jured Or sick from causes beyond their own
control are nursed and have medical attend
ance grstuitously. Extra msn II harvest and
during threshing- only receive pay for the
hours they work. So soon q frost prevents
plcwing, the whole of tho men on the farms
are dismissed, with the exception Of the divis-
ioual manager and about ton mon, who each
look after about forty mules o. horses, feed and
water them, and turn them into yard for
quarter of an hours exercise night and morn.
ing. Hard as such wholesale dismissal would
be in Great Britain. it isnothArdship here,
for these men readily find lumber-work in the
forests. 1t is obviously m enormous boon
thus to get rid of men whom tho farmer can
not employ during the I've winter months.
Many an English farmer would gladly prao-
tice this retrenchment and send most of his
staff to other vocations during the short days
and bad weather Of -mid-winter. Twenty
thousand acres are already under cultivation !;
5000 acres are broken up annually. The un-
cultivated portions are chiefly used in growing
prairie hay and grazing the mileh COWS. Four
hundred mules or horses are & present daily
engaged plougbing the ssubSies, or back set
ting or cross cutting the land broken up from
prairie during the early summer months. The
sod of ages is already disintegrated the prai-
rie grass, previously cut short by the moving
machine, il rotted. The stubbles are left of
about the same length as they are in England;
but since the straw is burnt it would save ex-
pense, both in reaping and threshing, to leave
a longer stubble and burn this and any weeds
among it before the plows went to work. In
one field we came upon nine double sulky
plows; the ground being hard, owing to q
months dry weather, four mules are allotted
to each. The driver mounts comfortably, rs
ON = reaping machine, guiding his four-in-
hand with reins. Instead Of coulter. these
plows, made by John Deer, Illinois, and cost
ing $50, have cutting wheel. The working
parts are of steel; the shares are sharpened
every third or fourth day. Each of the two
plows turns furrow l5in. wide by sin. deep.
In another field dozen mule teams are SINH
larly employed. Two and a half acres are at
present turned over by each team daily but
when the ground is softer fully three acres are
overturned. The teams walk II to 20 miles
daily, turn out at 6, are in the stable and fed
for an hour at noon, and have four to five
hours work in the afternoon, The fields are
conveniently laid out in squares of 100 acres
Some are fenced with oak posts and two
strands Of barbed steel wire, which keeps
back cattle and horses, but not sheep and pigs,
and has the disadvantage of lscerating any
animal coming forcihly in contact with it. To
To prevent idly walking several miles to work.
the teams going and returning invariably
plow along the intervening fields, the twelve
teams each time they 80 out or return con-
tributing q broad strip of nearly thirty feet
Of plowing. The breakingA up of the level
prairie is neither tedious nor costly. No
stones or tree roots cause breaka4e or delay.
With the single hand plo~s and . pair of
horses, or three abreast if the ground is very
hard, stout furrow, usually r.: measuring
twelve inches by four inches, istdrned. An
acre and half is easily overturned in the
May or June day Of ten Hours. Mr.. Dalrym-
pie estimates that the breaking up, allowing
for wear and tear of plow and sharpening Of
the steel shares, which should last two sea.
sons, costs him fully 81 So The stubble and
cross-plowing are computed to cost 81 rs.
Even in this newly settled country small
farmers ana others can be hired to do the
plowing, furnishing man and pair of
good horses at the cost of twelve shillings
daily, and doing regularly their one and q
half acre in workmanlike manner. Mr..
Dalrymple: and, N Dutton, one of his INTEL
ligent and able divisional superintendents,
both prefer mules to horses on account of
their hardness, endurance, equable tempera-
ment, and freedom from disease. With about
an equal proportion of mules and horses, they
have in four years used up is horses, but The
whole Of tho mules are yet serviceable, ex-
cepting one, which was accidentally injured.
The mules are bought chiefly at St. Louis, at
Eve or six years old; they are 163 to II
hands, weigh 1,l00 lbs. to 1900 lbs.. are
we'll broken, steady workers, good tempered
and quiet, and cost on an average $l4o (2s9),
while the transit of l 900 mules from st. Louis
home, puts about $40 (4Os.) more on their
price. Mules and horses do not differ much
in value, and are managed and fed alike.
They are rehoused il good lofty stables, accom-
modating about fifty, standing in pairsjn
nine-feet stalls. Racks and managers are used
as at home. They are tied by halters or
head-stalls. The light harness, used indider-
emily for plow and wagon. costs $23 for each
animal, and Is expected TO last for ten years.
The feeding, carefully attended to by the
stable ''boss,'' consists of twelve quarts daily
of mixed home. grown oats and barley and
fifteen or twenty pounds ofprairie hay. Dur
ing winter tho amount Of corn is, of cogzse,j
reduced; and this five months rest and some
days lighter labor between seasons accounts
for the good looks and condition of the
teams and their standing satisfactorily At busy
times eleven hours work daily. Towards the
end Of March the working staff are again got
together. The numbering is finished up, and
men are ready for farm work. A few of the
hands of former seasons return. The gang
foremen, selected for intelligence and prompti-
tude, arc appointed. Tho whole Of the Land
intended for crop has been ploughed in
autumn; the newly broken, as indicated, has
had = second turrow, which keeps down weeds
and insures more certainty of result. So soon
rs the frost has left the first six inches Of SOIL
which is generally BY April I, the seeding Of
the wheat commences. Scotch Fife71; good,
hard, thiD-skinned red variety, is'used. The
seed is selected for the newly broken up land /;
if any cookie or other weeds are observable,
they are carefully winnowedout. No dressing
or picking is adopted. During autumn or
winter, in II bushel lots, the seed for each
acre is 5sgged up: Whenever ths weather
permits seeding commences. The seed is dis
tributed by broadcast machines, one hundred
being at work daily for three weeks Two
hundred sets of harrows complete the opera
tion, two or three turns being required, and
Mr.. Dalrympls jocosely states that he orders it
Ito be we'll done, and then give ono turn
more" Four harrow', united by chains, work
in cot, cover twenty teet, and arc drawn by
four mules. In each harrow are seventy two
round teeth; the set costs tl4 or S15. Imms-
diately after tho wheat seeding, the oats and