Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-05-16

3 million people have made thsir homes. =
& sad that all the desirable public lands q
Dakota, open 70 settlers. and not too remoss
from the railroads, have been quite general,
taken MP, but of course plenty of land can o
had st very low rates, say from four to ten
dollars IN acre, according 70 the distances
from markets.
The settlers who have come to Dakosa
are mainly from New England and the oth'
er Northern States, although many Svedes
and Norwesians have come across the
water to take up land and found homes IL
free America, and they make good citizens
20 their neighbors say. The people are IN
dustrious, temperate and lav-abiding, and the
towns which have grown up on these prsifles
are not less peaceful than those of our own
New England.
Lack Of money In the possession OF those
Who come here makes great economy neces-
sary in the way of houses and barns and other
out buildings. 90 that generally such struc-
lures are of the simplest and cheapest kind.
The better class of houses are Of wood, cheap
~ coustructed. and containing but one Or two
rooms ON the around door. The poorest set
Tiers are not able to afford more than sod
house, the walls being built entirely OF sod.
hut fitted with roof and window frames OF
wood. The barns are poorer than the houses,
many of them being of sod. and for greater
warmth In winter, are covered 90 deeply with
wheat straw that they would pass for great
straw stacks were it not for the doors which
Of course have. to remain uncovered. This
same general lack of ready money, - 10 a.
vays the case In q new country, makes the
rate of interest high, 90 that for long terms 1t
pavs ten per cent to the l0aner and, for .
short time, two to four per cent. and even
higher, month 10 demanded, and good GO
curisy furnished.
Machinery does nearly all the work OF the
farmer. The blowing Is done with the sulky
plow, upon which boy can ride, and easily
operate IL. The sowing of the seed 10 done
by the patent seeder drawn by two horses.
The harvesting and binding is done by one
machine drawn by three horses and operated
by one man; one harvester going over from
ten to fifteen acres per day, according to the
energy put into the work. After the harvest
is thoroughly dried, it is stacked and the
threshing process is commenced The thresh-
ers are run BY steam or horse power. If by
horses. some twelve horses are attached to q
sweep to furnish the power, while thirteen or
fourteen men do the other necessary labor
The days product amounts to 1900 bushels
Of oats, 800 of wheat, and from 300 to 400 OF
fax, according to the particular grain worked
upon. The grain is then taken to the nearest
market, where immediate sale can always be
made at the prevailing price. Most of the
farmers are obliged to dispose of their crop at
once, as they need the money, but those who
can afford to do so hold over for better prices
If thought advisable.
The average yield per acre Of grain is as
follows: wheat 20 bushels, oats 40 to 80
bushels, fax 10 to 10 bushels, barley 25 to 40
bushels. All garden stuff flourishes here the
same as in the East. potatoes yielding 300
bushels to the acre and turnips from 500 to
been going on and it 10 said the result is sue
cessful as to small fruits. Although the
principal crop is wheat, farmers are finding
that mixed farming and stock raising pay
best for the reason that if the wheat crop
fails they do not suffer total loss.
All the blowing is done in the fall, when
here is more time than in the spring, and
also for the reason that the frost will aid in
pulverzing the soil. The narrowing is done
in the spring. The breaking up of the virgin
,od is done in the spring, the turf being
turned over to the depth of two inches. The
next year the pillow is made to run little
deeper, and so on for plumber of years. The
turning pillow is from IL to l6 inches wide,
to whether two, three or four horses
are used. The point of the pillow is long and
thin. and kept as sharp as knife, being fire.
Iuently filed when in use. Wheat is sown in
March, and sometimes in February latter that
barley and last of all flax, which can be
,own as late az the middle of June.
In this section of Dakota fax is considered
the best crop on the new soil for the first
) ear, for the reason that, besides rotting the
soil better than any other crop, it pays the
best. it selling at one dollar per bushel. and
giving profit of from four to eight dollars
an acre. or did last wear.
So great is the quantity and so nutritious
and fattening the quality of the wild grasses
of Dakota that oxen require little or no grain,
and stock grows fat in winter when freely
fed With hay from the natural meadows,
which cut two tons to the acre and often three
and four So plentiful are these grasses that
in some places men contract to cut, cure and
stack hay at from 81 so to 50 90 per ton,
and make money even at these low prices.
Myriads of tons are destroyed by the prairie
fires every fall and spring, no one having
either time to cut the grass or to utilize a
tenth part of this vast acreage, With excel
lent pasturage, and hay and grain so mex
pensive, it can be seen that the cost of rails
ing stock must be small.
But although the land is so fine, and so
productive in Dakota,it must not be imagined
that speedy riches will reward the settler.
The expense of farming implements and stock