Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1882-09-28
WALHALLh SOUTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY SEPTEMBER
Miles of Wheat.

Miles OF Wheat.
AN IMMENSE FARM IN DAKOTA WHICH
COMPRISES $4,000 AoREs-FARMINa
ON a BIG soALE-How THE 900
EMPLOYEES ARE LODGED
AND FED.
FARGO, August 1O.-"fhe land OF the
Dakotas" has nothing moro marvellous to
show the stranger than tie great wheat
farms which thickly stud tho Red River
Valley. The system upon which al! these
farms are conducted is much the same,
varying only in minor details, SO that an
account Of ono will give general idea of
them oil. The most famous OF them all Is
the Dalrymple furm. 1t is ,pcrhops the
most perfect example in the Northwest of
farming reduced to on exact science. This
farm is situated West Of Fargo, 10 the
heart of what was formerly called The
Great American Desert" since more favor
ably known as the great Dakota wheut belt.
1t extends along the Northern Pacific Rail
road for many miles. The lands at first
comprised iu it we're purchased FROM the
railroad company at about 40 cents an acre
and the first purchases have been gradually
added to, ut prices ranging from that figure
up to five dollars per acrc, until now there
are more than IS, 900 acres, or nearly 120
square miles, al uudcr ono management.
MIR. DaIrymple, after whom tho farm was
named, was resident Of Pennsylvania aud
was supposed to be "deep in wheat" there
and iu Minnesota before coming here. Ho
was selected on account of suoh experience
by the then owners of the farm to come out
aud make the experiment in Dakota of
raising wheat on u large scale, under an
Arrangement with them that when the net
profits of the enterprise had reimbursed the
cost of the land and oil moneys paid
out 10 its development he should become
half owner Of this and their other large
farms, a result long since attained. Ground
was broken in 1874 and, against many
predictions of failure, the farm was an as
sured success from the fret and is growing
more profitable each year.
FARMING ON A BIG sCALE.
The reader, if he would understand the
wheat question here, must discard ali pre-
vious notions of farming in the East for
not only natural conditions, such az SOIL
of cultivation pursued, arc radically differ
ent. The area of cultivation, tho imple-
ments used and tho results Obtained
everything which enters into tho problem
are on scale 20 vast that no previous ex
perienoc will aid them in the least. The
sole result sought for is to produce bushcl
of wheat ut tho lowest possible cost, aud
in doing this experience has shown that tho
amount OF manual labor must bo reduced
to tho minimum, and, therefore, all tho old
time methods of blowing, sowing, respiug
and ttrcshing have been superseded by
tho introduction 10 all those departments Of
tho latest improvements in labor saving
machinery. Bearing these things in mind,
wheat growing in Dakota is of tho simplest
possible cription.
The soil on this farm is rich black
muck, or loan, from three to six feet deep,
with clay subsoil, containing incxhausti-
BILE nutrtives of lime and other wheat
nutritives. The surface of tho ground
is broad prairie, devoid of stone and timber,
and presenting no obstaclcs to the free use
of machinery. The first ploughing of the
raw prairie, called "breaking," Is done with
suIky plows during May and June. This
plow hae share about fourteen inches wide
and the depth of the furrow usually three
to four inches, is regulated from his seat by
the driver by means Of lever. An aver
ago days "breakng" is about eighteen
miles. Dir. Dalrymple has his working
force 80 arranged that he breaks up five
acres year. BY the first of July the fret
"breakiDg" has become rotten end the
workmen 60 back to it and go over the
whole fi:e thousand acres again in rotation
with second ploughing called "backset-
ting" This ground then lies fallow until
the succeeding May, when tho backsct
burrows are narrowed down aud the seedcr
put to work. This is simply an ingenious
machine for broadcast sowing, which dis.
tributes bushel and twenty quarts Of seed
per acro over ten aores day. A sccotId
narrowing completes the labor of putting in
the crop.
SOWING THE WHEAT.
The wheat sown is of tho variety called
Scotch fife, which comes to perfection 10
this latitude, making hard, round berry,
which grades in tho market us "No. ] hard"
aud always commands higher price than
other Western wheat. For many reasons
tho crop natures rapidly; one of the prn-
oiple ones is, doubtless, that from tho
looscness of the soil tho winter frosts 60
very deep. The spring sowing is don" as
soon os the surface is sufficiently thawed,
80 that for so many weeks afterward the
moisture lower down is coming to tho sur.
face, laden with lime end other wheat
nourishment, and keeps the roots of the
young and tender wheat damp and cool,
and it ehoots up with surprising rapidity.
Tho climate also has much to do with it.