Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-09-03
MILES OF. WHEAT.
Seventy Five Thousand Acres In
One Farm. 4 u -s
How They Grow Grain in Dakota--Farming
on Grand Scaie-How the Nine
Hundred Farm
I.. . Employees
ARE WORKED, LODGED AND FED.

cd is luC 6duiCt NdigAA SA4Ay - ------~-
details, so that an account Of one will give
a general idea of them all. The most ia
nous of them all is the Dalrymple farm. 1t
is, perhaps, the most perfect example IN the
Northwest Of farming reduced to an exact
science. This farm is situated west of Fargo
in the heart of what was formerly called
ssThe Great American Desert" since msre
fayorabiy known as the great Dakota wheat
belt. Itextends along the Northern Pacific
Railroad for many miles. The lands at flrSt
comprised in it were purchased
FROM the railroad company at about
Forty Cents an Acre,
and the first purchases have been gradually
added TO- at prices ranging from that Inquire
up to five dollars per acre, until now there
are more than rs, 900 acres, or nearly l2O
square miles, all under the one manage
ment Mr.. Dalrymple, after whom the
farm was named, was resident OF Penn
sylvania and was supposed to be deep IN
wheat" there and in Minnesota before com.
ing here. He was selected on account OF
such experience by the then owners OF the
farm to come out and make the expert
ment in Dakota of raising wheat on large
scale, under an arrangement with them
that when the net profits of the enterprise
had reimbursed the cost OF the land and all
moneyes paid out in its development he
should become half owner of this and their
other large farms, Q result long since at
tanned, Ground was broken in 1874 and,
against many predictions OF failure, the
farm was an assured success from the hrst
and is growing more profitable each year.
Farming on n Big Scale.
The reader, if he would understand the
wheat question here, must discard all
previous notions Of farming in the East,
for not only the natural conditions, such
as soil, climate and the seasons, but all the
methods of cultivation pursued, are radi'
cally different. The area of cultivation,
implements used and the results obtained
Everything which enters into the prob.
lem-are on a scale so vast that no previous
experience will aid them in the least The
sole result sought for is to produce bush
ell of wheat at the lowest possible cost, and
in doing this experience has shown that
the amount of manual labor must be re.
duced 10 the minimum, and therefore all
the old-tme methods OF blowing, sowing.
reaping and threshing have been super
seeded by the introduction in all those de-
partments of the latest improvements In
iabor-saving machinery. Bearing these
things in mind, wheat-grow wing in Dakota
is of the simplest possible description. The
soil on this farm is a rich black muck, or
loan
From Three to Six Feet Deep,
with a clay subsoil, containing inexhausti-
bic Quantities of lime and other wheat nu-
tritiyes. The surface of the ground is
broad prairie, devoid of stone and timber,
and presenting no obstacles to the free use
of machinery. The first blowing of the raw
prairie, called breaking" is done with
sulky plows during May and June. This
pillow has a 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
average days breaking" is about eighteen
miles. Mr.. Dalrymple has his working
force so arranged that he breaks up five
thousand acres a year. By the first OF July
the first "breaking" has become rotten, and
the workmen go back to it and 60 over the
whole five thousand acres again in rotation
with second blowing, called "backset.
ting" This ground then lies iallow until
the succeeding May, when the backset fur
rows are narrowed down and the ''seeder"
put to work. This is simply all ingenious
machine for broadcast sowing, which dis
tributes bushel and twenty qusrts of seed
per acre over ten acres day. A seconi
narrowing completes the labor OF putting
in the crop.
Sowing the Wheat.
The wheat sown is OF the variety called
fife, which comes to perfection in this lati-
tude, making hard, round berry, which
grades in the market as mo. l hard and
always commands a higher price than other
Western wheat. For many reasons the
crop natures rapidly; one of the principal
ones is. doubtless, that from the looseness
of the soil the winter frosts go very deep.
The spring sowing is done as soon as the
surface is sufficiently thawed, so that for
many weeks afterward the moisture lower
down is coming to the surface, laden with
lime and other wheat nourishment and
keeps the roots of the young and tender
wheat damp and cool, and it shoots up with
surprising rapidity. The climate also has
much to do with ii. The days are long
and exe mpt from those facilitating heats
so depressing to all forms Of animal and
vegetable life while the nights are cool.
While the inhabitants of less favored sec.
tons are sweltcring in heat that murders
sleep, the bonanza farmer complacently
piles on More Wooden Blankets
and sleeps the sleep of the just. Mr.. Dali
rymple has out this year $1,000 acres Ga
wheat and Us he adds 1000 acres year,
the whole 10000 acres will soon be under
cultivation. OF course such an enterprise
requires multitude Of men, horses, mules
and machinery. Something over 100 mules
and horses are kept on the farm, and dur
irg harvest and threshing as many as 900
men find employment there. Without the
most complete system and order all would
be confusion worse COMPOUNDED" The
land is cut up into divisions of 5000 acres,
with q general superintendent over each,
who has under him division foreman and
gang foreman. The divisions are also furth.
er Sub-divided as convenience requires.
Each division has its boarding houses,
barns, tool rooms, etc. but the. supplies are
all kept in one store, from which they are
drawn upon by requisition, as in the army.
The finances are conducted upon q system
of vouchers and the men are paid whenever
they demand it. In every department the
most complete system prevails. There can
be no Sinking or crookedness without in
slant detection. Every man in the estab-
lishment has his place and must fill it
faithfully or leave.
Miles OF Yellow wheat.
The harvest begins this year about August
80, and just now the wheat IS taking on
that yellow golden tint so pleasing TO the
husbandman. wish the SURPRISING beauty
of the scene at Dalrymple farm now could
be adequately described. Overhead bright
sun, your face famed by a cool breeze,
while in every direction as far as the eye
can travel you see nothing but miles and
miles of yellow wheat gently swayed by
the light winds and giving forth their
peculiar soothing sounds, which l am in
clined to name Dakotas native poetry. The
harvest season is always the period of
greatest activity on Dalrymple farm and it
usually lasts some fifteen days. Near two
hundred automatic self-binders are used
and every two machines are followed by an
expert on horseback, who repairs breaks
and keeps them, in, running order. The
bundles of grain are collected into piles OF
about hundred bushels each, but are /.
Neither Stacked nor Shocked, 3
az threshing i'm Immediately follows the har-
vest. Over thirty straw-burning steam
threshers are put at work as soon as the
cutting is completed. They each have q
capacity of 100 bushels per day, and the
grain is taken direct from them to the rail-
road and loaded In cars for the Eastern
market Everywhere steam and horse
power are utilized to the utmost, and every
part of this vast enterprise ID 50 nicely adj
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