The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1880-04-08

able to wander outside the Illinois
mudhole in which he is stuck fast. It is
very evident from his great ignorance
Of 1.-The north country" of which he
speaks rs follows:
THE NORTH COUNTRY.
1t strikes us u little singular that
people should want to go to North
ern Michigan or Wisconsin to chop 4
farm out OF the tilnber,-or to North
ern Minnesota, where trains and mails
are four weeks apart,-when there is
All abundance OF good land lying out
on the prairies Of central Illinois, that
only requires to be piowed to yield
abundant returns. There are very few
Inconvenience or drawbacks to take
away the pleasure from farming in
that section. The winters are short,
not over three months; cattle fire.
qucntly run at pasture all winter;
there is no necessity for working two
months, in the coolest Of weather,and
at the hardest work in the world, to
secure Il supply OF fuel and no need
OF going Without news from the out
side wotld tor weeks ut a time. Good
improved land can he bought in this
section for from $50 to $50 per acre.
-cheaper by FIR than the frozen land1
Of the North are ut s.. It cannot be
1ruJht;4!ly said that The Northl;.nd is
the best for wheat. 1t is no better
than Illinois or Iowa land for that
purpose. A few crops will render it
necessary to resort to mixed farming.
The best part Of many lives are spent
III clearing farms, the completion Of
which witnesses the land impover-
isheu or the soil washed away into
The yullies and creeks. The fertile
prairie never wears out,-a crop of
grass or clover putting new life into
it alid making it as fertile as ever.
Lille is too short to be spent in dig
yirg stunps or rolling stones in Or
der To clear 4 farm.
On reading the above article in
presence Of {, Judy who had resided
several years in Que Of the counties
adjoining the one in which this Chi
cago Tribune correspondent resides,
she~exclaimed: ''Very few inconven-
fences or drawbacks, indeed! I have
known the mud to be so deep that
farmers living a few miles from town
could not get there for their mail or
groceries for weeks at a time, burn
ing corn cobs for fuel, and have to
cat anything that they may happen
to have left in the house." She states
that for weeks at Il time every winter
the farmers OF that region,on account
OF bad roads, cannot market their
corn,--thcir principal crop,-;>nd very
often it requires two teams to haul
an empty wagon. It appears like &
wilhll mis~statement where the as
scr:ion is made that trains and mails
in Northern Minnesota are four weeks
apart. The facts are that there is
no station on the 5000 miles of rail-
road in Minnesota that does not have
~ daily mail, and no settlement in
the state that has fifty families but
that is connected with the mail service
and has Il mail at least once u week.
II can be truth;ully said that in this
so-c:;lled Northland, double the guam
ti!y and OF u superior quality Of
wheat is produced on our IS lands,
then is produced on the $50 and $50
]ands Of Central Illinois; that the
soil oi This region is no more washed
away i'll yullies and creeks than it is
in Illinois; and that our :'tertilc prai-
RE never wears out" amy more than
theirs. The statement that elf. is
too Short to he spent in digging
stu1nps or rolling stones in order to
clear up a tar'n," is applicable to the
New England States but not to EIin-
nesot:.. We think this agricultural
editor, who dwclls in long and la
bored articles Oh ditchins and drain
ing their mud holes, is getting some-
what jealous on the immigration from
his beautiful fats Of Illinois to this
Northland, and is DESTROYS, even at
the risk lie incurs in violating some