Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-01-02

The NoRTHwEsTFRN bonanza FAHNs.-A
writer who spent some time Inst summer in
visiting some of the bonanza farms" of the
northwestern States gives the result of his
observations in the current number of the At
lantic Monthly. One Of the farms visited
contained 10000 acres, of which there were
under cultivation 1900 acres, including H.
So acres in wheat. 1t was expected that the
yield of wheat would be at least % bushels
to the acre, and flat some parts would pro-
duce moro than 80 bushels to the acre The
number of men employed on the farm varied
in different parts of the year. During bar-
vest it was 80. In Kansas. Minnesota and
Dakota there are many farms ranging III size
from 1000 to 90, 600 acres. They are owned
and operated by wealthy capitalists, who use
the most improved machinery, and employ
day laborers at low rates of wages The
writer gives figures showing that when wheat
is worth 20 cents bushel on the farm, it
may be grown at good profit for less than
40 cents n bushel. The profit realized is
usually from 40 to 80 cents a bushel, which
is between s. aud IS per acre cultivated, and
sometimes as high as h5 per cent. of the cap
itai invested The result is that those who
have gone into wheat growing ON a large
scale are making colossal fortunes by virtue
of their capital, improved machinery, and
cheap labor, while small farmers, depending
mainly on their own labor, without the ad-
yantages Of capital or improved machinery,
ARE not making a comfortable subsistence,
but are running behind, and must go I'M
der" It is hopeless for them to contend
against the powerful combination Of capital
machinery, and cheap labor. direct effect
of the operations Of the extensive land own
ers is to prevent the country from being peo-
pied, and built up with towns, churches,
school-hOuses, &c, except what is necessary
to provide for the scanty wants of the farm
labortrs and the stock. Not dollar of the
vast amount realized from the products of
the soil is returned to the land from which it
is taken. On one farm of !, 800 cultivated
acres there was not one permanent family
where there should have been at least one to
every fifty acres of land or LOG families
These would have given ut least population
of 500, with about 100 dwellings, besides
barns, other buildings, improvements. &c.
These facts are vitality significant and they
become more suggestive when it is consider
ed that the system referred to is yet in its in
fancy, and gives signs of extensive growth.
The number Of farms in the Northwestern
States having 1000 acres and upward was, as
reported by the federal census, about GOO in
1850, and about 1900 in 1870. During this
decade the number doubled 1t is stated that
the increase during the last decade in the
number Of these extensive farms has been
alarming, and that the increase is likely to be
still more rapid in the future. The develop
ment of this large farm system which is spe-
cially marked in Kansas, Minnesota, and Da-
kota, Is by no means confined to the North
west. The same feature is seen in a striking
degree in Texas. California also is noted for
its extensive farms, some of them containing
tens of thousands of acres.