Middletown transcript., 1880-02-28
HARVESTING ON A LARGE DAKOTA
FARM.

Ride over these fertile fields of Da-
kota, and behold the working of this
latest triumph of American genius.
You are in a sea of wheat. On the
farms managed by Oliver Dalrymple
are $4,000 acres in one field. There
are other farmers who cultivate from
100 to 5000 acres. The railroad train
rolls through an ocean of grain.
Pleasant the music of the rippling
waves as the west wind sweeps over
the expanse. We encounter a squad.
ron of war chariots, not such as once
swept over the Delta of the Nile in
pursuit Of an army of fugitive Israel
ties, not such as the warriors of Rome
were wont to drive, with glittering
knives projecting from the axles to
NOV swath through the ranks of an
enemy, to drench the ground with
blood, to cut down the human race, as
If men were noxious weeds, but chari-
OTIS of peace, doing the work of human
hands for the sustenance of men.
There are twenty-five of them in this
one brigade of the grand army of 115,
under the marshalship of this Dakota
farmer. A superintendent upon su.
perb morse, like brigadier directing
his forces, rides along the line. accom-
panied BY his staff Of two on horse
back. They are fully armed and
equipped, not with swords, but the
implements of peace-wrenches, ham
mers, chisels. They are surgeons in
waiting, with nuts and screws, or
whatever may be needed.
This brigade of horse artillery
sweeps by in echelon-in close order,
reaper following reaper. There is a
sound of wheels. The grain disap-
pears in an instant, then reappers
iron arms clasp it, hold it a moment
in their embrace, wind it with wire,
then toss it disdainfully at your feet.
You hear in the rattling of the wheels
the mechanism saying to itself, "See
how easy | can do it p
An army of ''shockers' follow the
reapers, setting up the bundles to
ripen before threshing The reaping
must ordinarily all be done in fifteen
days, else the grain becomes too ripe.
The first fields harvested, therefore,
are cut before the ripening is complete.
Each reaper averages about fifteen
acres per day. and is druwn by three
horses or mules.
The reaping ended, threshing be-
gins. Again memory goes back to
early years, to the pounding out of
the grain upon the threshing.foor
with the 1ail-the slow, tedious work
of the winter days. Poets no more
will rehearse the music of the fail.
The picture for February in the old
Farmers Almanac is obsolete. Sep
tember is the month for threshing, the
thresher doing its 900 or 700 bushels
per day, driven by steam-engine of
sixteen horse power. Remorseless that
sharp-toothed devourer, swallowing It's
food as fast as two men can cut the
wire bands, requiring six teams 10
supply its demands ! And what a
cataract of grain pours from its spout,
faster than two men can bag it!
The latest triumph of invention in
this direction is straw-burning en-
CINE, utilizing the stalks of the grain
for fuel.
The cost of raising wheat per bushel
is from thirty-five to forty cents; the
average yield, from twenty to twenty
i've bushels per acre. The nearness
If these lands to Lake Superior, and
he rates established by the railroad
fifteen cents per bushel from any
point between Bismarck and Duluth
give the Dakota farmers a wide
margin of profit.
Since the first furrow was turned in
he Red River Valley, in 1870, there
las been no failure of crops from
lrought, excessive rains, blight, mil
lew, rust or other influence Of clima-
ology. The chinch-bug has not made
is appearance; the grasshoppersa alone
ave troubled the farmers, but they
AVE disappeared, and the fields are
milling with bounty With good
ilth, the farmer may count upon a
let return of from eight to ten dollars
'er acre per annum. The employ
nent Of capital has accomplished a
,enefcent end, by &, monstrating that
he region, instead of being incapable
+ settlement, is one Of the fairest Sec
ions of the continent. Nor is it a
Vonder that the land-ofices are be-
leged by emigrants making entries,
r that the surveyors find the lands
squahed" upon before they can sur
ey them that hotels are crowded;
hat on every hand there is activity.
During the months of May, June, and
uly, 1879, the sales of government
md were nearly 100000 acres, and
ne entries for the year will probably .
100000, taken in home
cad, pre-emption, and tree claims.
here are other millions of acres, as
lir and fertile, yet to be occupied
. g COFFIN, in Harper's Magazine
r March.