Litchfield enquirer., 1880-01-29

mess Tn FafgO, or US nelghOOrnOO0. It was
 Dr. A, or Lawyer B, or some merchant, or l trader, or speculator, who owned this or that I field. There, as elsewhere, everybody had
 turned wheat grower, or farmer of some kind. 1 Two miles east of Castleton, and eighteen
 west of Fargo, is the station of Dalrymple and the site of the Cass, Cheney, and Alton | farms, forming one compact body of land up. ! on the two sides of the road, six miles in | length north and south, and four miles in | width east and west; this being one wheat field for the six miles north and south, and
 three miles upon the road, except few small l fields of oats and barley. . The Cess farm, owned by Charles w. Cess, of New York city, has 6327 acres are in
 wheat, and $50 acres in oatsand barley newly
 broken ground for next years seeding, 32O l acres. The Cheney farm, of 5000, acres | owned by Benjamin P. Cheney, Boston, Mas | sachusetts, has 3480 acres in wheat and 32O ! acres in oats and barley. No new land broken
 The Alton farm, of 4000 acres, the exclusive property of MT. Dalrympe, has about 2000 acres in grain q have not the exact fgures), and 1900 acres of newly broken land.
 The Cess and Cheney farms will employ,
 during harvest and thrashing, 235 men ]; the Alton farm in the same ratio, or about fifty five men. During the winter season each farm
 will require two or three men to take care of the stock and look after the machinery and buildings,-say seven men. Where no new land is broken, not more than ten men are needed on either farm between seed time and harvest, say twenty five men for the three farms. During seed time the three farms en- ploy about 125 men.
 The four farms, beng under one manage ment and conducted on the some principle, re- quire the same number of men, animals, and tools for every hundred acres under cultivation, and are under substantially the same rate of expense; So that the report for the Grandin farm will closely indicate the working force and methods of the others The accounts of each farm are kept altogether separate and dis | tnct. Everywhere was observed the same evidence of good husbandry. substantial and
 well-kept buildings and improvements, tools and stock, as on the Grandin farm. In cone of the fields were weeds to be seen. There are no field fencings The face of the country
 is one broad, unbroken field. except for an oc- caslonal station of the large farms or small farm buildings
 Most persons in reading of fields described by hundreds and thousands of acres can form but little idea of their actual or comparative | extent. To assist to better understanding of the size of these fields and farms, will state that Manhattan Island, the site of the city of New York, has ap area of about twenty two square miles or IA 900 acres The fields of grain of three farms lying together, near Cas- tleton, contain an area of 10,477 acres, or about three fourths of the area of the city of New York. The Grandin farm of 10000 acres has space enough for three cities like New York The whole farm property of the Grandins would furnish sites for five such cities Whatever else may be said of these operations, they certainly are not wanting in grandeur.
 It was claimed that yield of wheat on these three farms would not be less than twenty two bushels to the acre. Some portions of the fields on the Alton farm were the finest that had ever seen.
 A careful estimate of the cost of wheat growing on the four farms under Mir. Dalrym- ple's management would show cost materi- ally less than that given by Mir. Kendall on the Thompson and Kendall farm, which was $3.- 24 per acre, the land, stock, and tools being furnished. But on the Thomson and Kendall basis of $3A per acre of cost, with twenty bushels per acre of yield, at seventy cents per bushel there would be cost of little more than sixteen cents bushel, and profit on the crop of wheat on the four farrns-of $157, ,763. or for the Grandin farm alone of $52, 239. The total value of the whole amount of wheat at seventy cents would be $2O5 26S, or for the Grandin farm, $67,979. But the proprietors confidently eypect to realize not less than ninety cents bushel for their wheat, on ac- count of it's superiority and the facilities they can command for transportation and storage They, also, have special railroad rates"
 Between Fargo and Bismark, distance of 194 miles, are many farms of the size of thou sands of acres, that are already under partial cultivation, or are being prepared for lmmed- ate cultivation under similar conditions
 Among those farthest west may be mentioned one at the eighth siding, eighty-three miles from Fargo, the farm of Adams and Russell.
 with'7O0 acres in grain at the thirteenth sid ing, 143 miles west, the Troy farm, owned by Van Deusen, of Troy, New York, with 14O0 | acres now broken for next year; at the four. l teenth siding, 151 miles vest the farm owned by Steele, of Milwaukee. of 5120 acres, with 750 acres in grain and 1900 acres of new lapd broken ; and at the seventeenth siding. 181 miles west, the Clark farm, owned by capital ists in Philadelphia. who are said to hold vast tracts on both sides of the road, with 500 acres in grain and 1000 of new land broken. These farms saw from the cars, and learned that for miles upon either side of the road similar farms and work were to be seen. %
 The small farmers and their shanties in that region were not numerous; but so far as could learn, their condition was not relatively better nor worse than in other sections In Minnesota, as in Dakota and Kansas, a large portion of the residents of the towns, especially on the lines of the railroad, with the officers, conductors engineers, and other em- ployees of the road, were generally adventur CTS in agriculture holding and cultivating by contract, shares, or otherwise, such lands as they could obtain and work.
 1 found that in most places, from Brainard, Minnesota, to Bismark, Dakota, in all the great region where wheat is grown so abund- antly and cheaply, firstclass four, such as was made from the quality of grain there grown. was selling at about $7 barrel. l did not observe any Touring millsupon the lines of the roads,
 particularly noticed the conspicuous ab- sence of women and children on the large farms. In no case was the permanent resi- dence of a family to be found upon them, nor anything that could be called home, with possible exception in the case of Mir. Kendall, on the Thompson and Kendall farm. The idea of home does not pertain to them; they are simply business adventurers.
 Naturally, this will save all expense of schools or churches in their neighborhood, and the school master and clergyman will there have perpetual holiday. But 1 was pleased to see that Sunday service was heIu on the Grandin farm, conducted by the book keeper.
 Throughout my tour it was noticed that there was great abundance of unemployed labor. The morning left the Grandin farm there were at one time thirteen men at the of flee door soliciting work, a portion only ob tanning it, the others tranping onwards in further search. On one of the farms inquir- ed of one man what pay he was reciving. He said, eight dollars; but he was promised more during harvest. 1 then asked him where he expected to get work after the harvest was over He said he did not expect to be able to find any before the next springs work con- menced
 To weigh we'll the economic effects of the developments here considered. it must be re- membered that they are yet in their infancy that they are mainly the growth of the last half of the present decade and we must make some effort to estimate the probable future de- velopment of the same forces and effects un- der the present rate of accelerstion. All par ties engag-d in these operations concurred in the statement that great numbers of capitalists who are already large holders of agricultural