St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-08-18

farming country to back it. The land
consists of rolling prairie, fertile ridges
interspersed with little creeks and rich
bottom-lands extending mile upon
mile to the horizon like the ocean.
Upon the highest points semi-circles
of rank grass and weeds are to be seen,
places where the butfalOes protected
their young from wolves for one night
before the advent of the pioneer. AT
this time there was no tree to be seen
except upon the river banks. Now
small forests containing five or ten
acres exist on every hand, which have
been planted by the settlers under the
fostering care of the government. The
elm and ash flourish very well, but the
cottonwood grows most luxuriantly
and is the tree most generally set.
Little twigs no longer than pipestem
six years ago now measure from SIX to
eight inches in diameter.
This is fine year for the settlers.
The farmers cOuntenances are wreath
ed in smiles. In Vermont one hears
among the agriculturists of butter and
that continually here it is all crops
grain, how much it will ego to the
acre" Wheat, rye, oats, barley, and
flax scarcely ever looked better.
Onions and potatoes look well but few
farmers are raising them. The acreage
of corn is large since there was great
crop last year. 1t is very late here as
well as all along the road from Canada,
but the fine weather for more than two
weeks past is rapidly changing the
aspect, and the wise ones boldly assert
that Dakota will get some corn. OF
course Il great crop cannot be expected.
HAVING.
Haying is of little account. The
prairie grass is excellent for cattle and
horses, and but little tame hay is to be
for his stock he selects the best piece
he can find, usually on the bottom
land, as the grass is more abundant,
and cuts what he wishes, totally re-
gardless of who owns the land. | can
look out upon thousands of tons of
good hay that will never be cut. When
| used to read in Cooper's "Prairie" of
those enormous herds of buffalOes, the
question naturally arose, "Where could
pasturage he found for so many ?" But
seeing the endless abundance of these
prairies | can easily believe that the
great novelist told no lie-in regard to
the buffalo.
HARVEST.
But the harvest which is Just com
mencing here is the grand season OF
the year. 1t is an interesting sight to
New Englander to see the self-bind-
ers take care of these immense grain
fields. Two strong horses can draw a
machine, three make Il very good team
but the friend with whom am stopping
+ b. T. Way of Peacham, one of the mos
successful farmers, drives five. This
makes Il team so strong that if he wishes
to take span after the days work t,
go shooting prairie chickens with, n'
one would think of charging him will
cruelty to animals. Time would fai
me to speak of the different kinds o
machinery used by the farmers in rails
! ing their enormous crops. 1t wOult
seem utterly impossible for them t,
manage their affairs without it, and
r New England farmers would adop
S some of the western methods, be
3. lieve they might secure far larger crop
+ with very much less work.
4 WHO THE PEOPLE ARE.
D The population of this region, lik
j., all western places, is made up of vari
e Gus nationalities, but of the foreigner
| the Swedes, Norwegians and Dane
t predominate.
HOW THE PEOPLE LIVE.
In the vicinity of the villages ther
q are people of means who live in mic
t houses, but back on the prairie til
$ dwellings are small, costing from tw
t to five hundred dollars. Barns are nc
: worthy of the name. A rude skeletO
V of joists covered with straw is fire
= quently all there is. Most of the sci
n when they came here, and the hig
:. rate of interest together with til
s scarcity of lumber have thus far hiI
e dered the farmers from putting u
e suitable stables. Proper shelter fC
g stock and tools is the great need {
this section of country.
s FINANCE.
y There is no longer any governmer
IS land here. Whoever gets quartz
e section must buy it. One hundred an
J.; sixty acres will cost from five hundre
d to one thousand dollars. The laws
IS the territory are calculated to be e,
t. tremely favorable to the settler
II Nearly everything is exempt from a
d, tachment. 1t works badly for tt
is honest man. Capitalists are distrus
l. full and rates of interest ruinous. I'll
is legal rate is twelve per cent. Farme
4 of slender means must hire lit
70 money to tide them over until they sc
70 their crops. They are obliged to p;
al a bonus of twentyfour per cent al
h then the legal rates besides, makiI
n the interest nearly thirty-siX per eel
$, Hence one can readily see the cause
De loss of stock and waste of machiner
er These highpriced machines must
ee exposed to the weather both SUNNI
- and Uintar Xat notwitbStandino =.