Litchfield enquirer., 1880-01-29

provements, machinery, tools, and stock, and also of twenty-five per cent. for wear and tear Of tools, machinery, and stock, to be $a 69 6, not including seed. Allowing $1 for the seed will make the cost of one acre of wheat, yielding twenty bushels, laid down in Chicago and paying an ordinary interest, or profit, of ten per cent on the entire invest nlent, $9. 70, or forty eight cents bushel
 With wheat at eighty five cents bushel in Chicago this would give an additional profit of thirty seven cents bushel, or $7. 40 per acre over and above the ten per cent. of ord- nary profit included in the $9. 70 of cost. At this rate, the extraordinary profit of $7. 40 per acre on the 1000 acres of wheat on that farm, on the entire investment, would be $11, $40. ! But given the entire outfit of farm, stock, and tools, and putting the cost for wages and board for all work, except threshing, at $20 a a illunth. with threshing at $2 per day, the cost of blowing per acre was thirty one cents j; of sowing, three cents harvesting, sixty five cents and threshing, s1.25; total, $2 24 per acre. Adding seed at $1 per acre would give the total cost of wheat growing at $3..24 per acre. or little less than twenty-one cents per busia.,son sixteen bushels to the acre, which is thas general average for the State. Valung tbe wheat at seventy cents per bushel on the farm would give a profit of forty -nine cents per bushel, or $7. 84 per acre, or $12, ,544 for the 1900 acres of wheat. By either calcuia- tion it is seen that Commissioner DraKe's esti- mate of fifty-five per cent. profit per annum is largely within the figure, as the appreciation in the value of the land would much more than repay the expenditures for improvement upon it. With twenty bushels to the acre the profit would be $17,2l6, and with twelve bushels to the acre, the amount expected this year, the profit would be $S, 256. The total value of 1900 acres of wheat, at seventy cents per bushel and sixteen bushels to the acre. is $17,92e.
 These being the results of actual operations, Commissioner Drake's enthusiasm appears to be fully justified.
 From Windom to Sioux Falls, ninety-two miles, was through country of remarkable beauty with the land rolling in long and gen. tie swells, covered with fine grasses, and dot ted in wide distances with the Improvements and shanties of the small farmers. Occasion ally were seen the broad fields and large !m- provements and shanties of the agricultural adventures, with numbers of small towns up- on the line of the road. On my return stop- ped at Luverne, 211 miles from St. Paul, and made my way to the bluff to the north, which proved to he about three miles distant. From the edge of the bluff was presented a magni6- cent stretch of beautiful country, which, from my point of view, appeared to be without swell or pillow of any kind, except upon the opposite side of the valley, where there was a gentle rise to an apparently interminable plain. In this vast stretch the sparsity of the population was very noticeable. About five miles tothe southeast were distinctly seen the farm buildings of the Rock County. farm, one of iay objective points.
 The next morning drove to the farm of the Rock County Farming Company. The company is incorporated, the owners being Messrs. Thompson, Blakely, .and Warner, we'll known capitalists of St. Paul. was re- ceived by the superintendent, who drove me over the place, and gave such information as was deslred. The farm contains 21, 900 acrcs of which 4625 are now under cultivation, with large amount of land newly broken, that will be seeded for next years crop. Of this amonnt, 2251 acres are ln wheat; 312 acres in barley {; $50 acres Tn oats; 3l2 acres in flax ; and 200 in corn. There are ninety six horses and mules twenty-siX harvesters three straw burning steam threshers; and other farming implements, of the total value of $15,0 On the place are two stations, about two miles apart. e.sch having one house and two large barns, with other necessary buildings for the care of tools, stock, etc. The house at station one is of wood. two stories high, double, painted white, lathed and plastered containing the office of the superintendent and boarding accommodation for large number of men. At station two, the house is smaller, of one and half stories, painted brown, without lath or plaster, and fitted up specially for boarding house for the farm hands. The farm is inn mediately on the line of the railroad, and has two railroad station houses TT e number of men employed is, for the month of March, twenty; April and May, fifty six; June to July 20th, forty July 20th to August 20th, one hundred and fifteen; Angus, 20th to Nov ember 10th, seventy November 18th to the end of February. twelve. The average wages are SSl8 per month. 4=
 In going over the farm I had an excellent opportunity to observe the difference between good and bad cultivating. In some of the fields portion of the wheat looked well, and would in all probability yield eighteen to twenty-two bushels to the acre. whilst the other portion was short, sthin, choked with weeds, and would not yield more than ten bushels. One part had been we'll plowed, narrowed, and seeded, showing wheat without weeds, of better growth and good stand. There can be no doubt that much of the partial as well as total failure that I observed might have been very much lessened, if not aitogeth- CT averted, by better cultivation. Here, as in other places, the corn, oats, and barley gave better promise than the wheat, though some of the fields of wheat had very good appear ance. In number of places there were gangs of dozen or more blows engaged in breaking new ground for next year. Each blow was of the sulky pattern, with disk coulter, drawn by three mules or horses, the driver occupying a seat between the wheels. One of the blows was of new pattern, being without land side, and cutting sixteen-inch- wide furrow, four and a-half inches deep, which it turned beautifully.
 On this farm, and at other points ofi this road, grasshoppers were doing some damage. Earlier in the season the superintendent had made raid upon them, and he showed me some black heaps which he said contained fifty.six bushels of that insect plague, and which he had caught in tar machine from the side of one quarter section.
 Everywhere fruit growing appeared to be altogether neglected, and vegetable gardens and poultry were scarce.
 was informed that the large farmers on the road obtained special rates" for their trans portation, and that these rates were fifty per cent. below the rates charged to the small farmers; and that their farming implements and machinery were obtained at thirty three and one third per cent. discount from publish ed prices.
 The buildings of some of the small farmers who have been located here for four or five years, or more, had acomfortable appearance; but the new settlers were generally without a sign of comfort. So tar as could learn, in conversation with them and upon inquiry, there was the same distress that I had found iu Kansas and other places. In speaking of this matter with the superintendent of the Rock County farm. he told me of an incident in his farm business that illustrated their pow
 ~s- Al of his men who were at work at distance too far from either station to be boarded there, he made application to one of the small farmers in the neighborhood. Yes, he would be glad to do it; but before he took them he must get some wood, as he had none and he had not more than enough flour for one day, and he had no groceries, and the store keeper would not give him credit. The superintendent then applied to another farmer, who had wood and flour enough to last for few days, but neither coffee, tea, sugar, lard, nor other groceries, and the grocer would not credit him. The sll-