The Sentinel. [volume] (Trenton, N.J.) 1880-1882, 1882-09-16

ton. They devote their energies
chiefly to wheat, year after year, rely
ing on the fertility of the soil of the
valley lands, without apparently hav-
ing any thought of the necessity for a
rotation of crops. We found teams
waiting for US at the station, and the
whole party rode for upward of five
miles through fields of wheat and oats,
all belonging to this one farm. The
oats were nearly ready for cutting and
the wheat was coming along nicely.
The managers of the different places
we passed informed me that the crops
never looked better in the history of
the farm. There were occasional
spots where the wheat looked rather
thin, but as whole / should be in
clined to believe that more satisfactory
crops were never seen in this country.
They claimed here an average of thir-
ty-fve bushels of wheat to the acre,
and sixty bushels of oats.
/ cannot help thin king that these
bonanza farms. as they are called.
are far from being conducive to the
general prosperity of the country.
Fifty square miles of farming land is
too much to place in the hands of any
one man syndicate of men. Within
the limits of Cass county are four
farms with combined extent of So, 900
acres. These proprietors are almost all
nOn-residents. They hire their assist
ance as it is needed, the Dalrymples
employing from $50 to 500 men. These
nonresident landlords do but little to
improve the country. They take
money out of it to spend in the East,
and only leave in the Territory what
they pay out for wages. The people
seem to appreciate this fact, and some
of them even talk of q heavy tax on
nonresident cultivators. / was told
that the Northern Pacific has begun to
discourage these large investments,
and now places its land in small lots
in the hands of actual settlers. The
large bonanza" farmers in Cass coun
ty have been successful chiefly because
they have absorbed all the money
usually spent in permanent improve
ments, and have conducted their en-
terprises on the cheapest possible plan.
The view of the valley from the
railroad is beautiful one. jamestown
lies above the river, nestled on q
slightly rising shelf. Throughout the
course of the river are green meadows,
broad fields, gardens and pastures of
native hay. Jamestown is the model
city of Dakota. 1t is in the centre of
beautiful country, which has inn
pressed me wonderfully. The river is
not much of stream, but the town is
charming, active and growing. 1t is
14OO feet above the sea, AMI possesses,
apparently, delightful climate. The
faces of the surrounding hills are COW
cred with powders, from which the
people have succeeded in cutting stone
OF first-class quality. The river valley
varies from one to two miles in width
and in many places it is fringed with
elm, oak and alder. The surface soil
varies from twelve to fourteen inches
in the valley and from sixteen to
twenty-four inches on the uplands.
Toward evening we arrived at the
Steele Farm, $50 miles from Fargo.
There was a surprise here in the shape
of swarthy, handsome young man,
who proved to be the proprietor of
the farm. Mr.. Steele stated that last
year his wheat had varied from six to
twenty-five bushels to the acre, aver
aging about thirteen bush els. In 1880
he had succeeded in raising thirty-six
bushels of wheat and seventy bushels
If oats to the acre. In the latter crop
he believed that he had lost much in
harvesting, the fans separating much
of the grain which had been cut little
too late. This year he claims that his
wheat will average thirty-eight
bushels and the oats 100 bushels to the
acre.