St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-07-02
GRANARY OF THE WORLD.
So the Agricultural Editors Who
Visited the Hard Wheat Belt
Called If

Visited the Hard Wheat Belt
Called 1t.
The Eastern editors who lately took
the tour through the wheat regions to
the north and west. express themselves
as greatly surprised at the extent and
fertility of the country. The editor of
the Chicago Prairie Farmer says:
''The writer has just returned from q
trip Of over 1000 miles in company with
United States Commissioner of y gricult-
ure, Hon. \. j.: Coleman, and others,
through the newly opened regions lying
in Northern Minnesota, Northern Da-
kota and Montana, as far west as the
Milk river valley, Fort Assiniboine,
etc, including portion of Manitoba :;
that is. the region lying between our
northern boundary and the Northern
Pacific railway and the upper Missouri
on the south. Though we had seen
some of this country, we confess to be-
ing amazed at what is now revealed.
AvAST AREA.
From our standpoint at Devils Lake,
we have looked abroad over region
covering about 10000 square miles, or
5000, 900 acres, or half as large again as
the Empire state of New York-a grain
producing region unsurpassed. ii any
where near equaled, in the world. The
soil is mainlya deep, black mold, easily
titled, and as rich as garden, undertake
with clayed loan, which holds and sup
plies by capillary action an abundance
OF moisture, but without surplus.
The surface is treeleSS, graSS-cov-
cred prairie which. where not already
occupied, needs only to be once broken
and briefly rotted, after which it is very
easily titled. 1t would seem to be mex
hauStible in fertility. During this trip
we saw many fields within thirty miles
of Fargo and CaStleton, thousands of
acres in extent, covered with luXuriantlv
growing wheat, right where eight years
ago we described the third and fourth
crops on the same ground, and we learn
that it has been i'll wheat ever since;
making dozen good crops in as many
years.
THE CLIMATE.
This is to many the one great objec-
ton to settlement in these Northern re-
giOnS. For short season in the year
the cold is more intense. according to
the thermometer. than in the latitude of
Chicago; but from diligent inquiry
OIL this point we are forced to conclude
that actual suffering from cold is less
than in damper regions many hundreds
Of miles southwark. 1t the writer was
forced tc chose a residence in Northern
Minnesota or Dakota, or in New Or
leans, he would select the former. One
does not feel temperature of 40 deg
below zero in the dry atmosphere of
these Northern regions so much as he
does freeZing-point temperature 30
deg. above zero in such damp regions as
those along the Gulf of Mexico and else
where.
WHY CROPS NJ TJTpE
twas formerly mystery to the writer,
and to many other people, how wheat,
oats, potatoes and many other crops
attain full maturity in the very short
summers in these Northern regions,
and for many hundreds of miles nearer
the north pole. But the explanation is
easy when we understand that the
chemical rays of the sun. which accom-
pany the light rays, are the chief agents
in separating the carbon and other
growth-supplying elements of plants
taken through the leaves.