Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-14
EATS A HOG A YEAR.

prices in the market.
Nearly all of the Southern statesmen own
farms and Senator Pugh, of Alabama, once
told me that he could make 13 per cent right
along out of farming in the South. He has
his work all done by negroes. General Joe
Wheeler is said to be worth about a million
dollars. He came out of the war poor and
he has made all his money out of farming.
He has large estate in Alabama and he
runs it on business principles.
DIDN'T KNOW HIS OWN WHEAT.
The biggest farmer in the United States is
Leland Stanford. He gave somewhere be-
tween 30, 600 and $4,000 acres 70 the uni
versity which he is now building, and not
long ago when riding in the train with
Senator Allison, through the Northern part
OF the State, the cars passed through large
tract of wheat. This vast plain of wheat
stretched as far as the eye could see on
both sides of the road for miles, and Senator
Allison asked Stanford what he thought OF
il. Stanford replied, SIT is very fine field
of wheat and wonder whose it is?''
"It is yours" said tine conductor who was
standing near Stanford.
Indeed p replied the millionaire, II did
not know it. 1 knew 1 had some wheat in
this part of the State, but 1 did not think
we had come to it as vet"
Senator Stanford engages in all kind of
farming and he makes his farming paw.
His vineyards produce the choicest of Cali
fornia wines and he has great warehouses
stored with California brandy. He will not
sell his brandy at the present low prices and
he has sold none for six years. He can af-
ford to keep it and he believes it will pay q
good interest on the amount of money in
vested by the increase in value with age.
HIS OWN CUSTOM HOUSE.
He makes about !, 900, 900 gallons of wine
every year, and one of his vineyards con-
tains 1000 acres. This is, think, the
largest vineyard in the world. The vine
yards are so large that the United States
has a custom house connected with it in
order to collect the duties properly. As a
fruit grower Senator Stanford has some of
the finest fruit farms in California. He had
for long time a great deal of trouble in
getting the fruit picked. He used China
men finally as the white men would 60 off
on sprees.
He then adopted plan which he has
now, which is most humanitarian and
profitable. He gives all the boys of the
public schools of San Francisco, who will
take advantage o. his offer, a chance to
come out and pick fruit on his farm. He
takes 1000 Of these boys every year, takes
them to his farm and keeps them there a
month, paying them 81 day for their
labor. He has an immense barracks built
IN which they sleep. and he sees that they
are we'll fed and well cared for His SUPER
intendents have them divided into gangs,
and they are carefully watched over as to
morals.
HOW he PAYS THEM.
No money is paid until the end of their
job, when each boy carries home with him
$50. He also takes about peck of English
walnuts, and the Senator has bags made of
fixed size which he fills and gives one to
each boy upon his departure. As to pay
me mt, when he first brought the boys out on
the farm be began to pay them their wages
as they earned them. He found, however,
that lot of pool sellers and gamblers sur
rounded the farm and got the boys money
away from them by inducing them to bet on
wheels of fortune. baseball and policy
games. He stopped this by not paying un-
til the end of the month, and he now pays
at the close of the engagement.
The Senator employs Chinese cooks upon
the iarm, and these cooks do all the cook
ing for the boys. Sometimes Senator Stan
ford goes out to see the boys, and he always
eats dinner with them. At such times the
Chinese cooks prepare a special feast for
him. He circumvents them, however by
sitting down somewhere else along the tabl;
and eating with the bows. He says
johnnie, pass me those pickles." or Sam,
what do you think of that meat? Let me
have little piece OF that bread, > or some
thing of that kind, and all the while the
feast at the other end of the table goes un-
tasted.
HE MAKES MONEY.
Everyone has heard of Senator Stanford's
great farm at Palo Alto, which contains his
country residence, the great University and
some of his best ranches. In this farm,
which, by the way, has all been given to the
U University, he has some land which is worth
LOCO an acre, and he has a patch of 40
acres in grapes, which has produced as high
as 81 200 year, and which has never pro-
duced less than $500 a year since they
have been planted. On one of his tracts Of
fruit land there is little piece of ten acres
for which man paws him 50, 500 year for |
the privilege of picking the fruit.
He makes equally as well out of his cat |
tie. He has all kinds of fine breeds. Jer-
seys, Holsteins and others. He was very
much delighted this past year to get the |
highest prize for butter making and for |
which consisted of a $50 gold
piece. He got it at the California State |
Fair. In this case the COW was brought to |
the Fair and lett there for a week, its milk |
ings being registered every day and the milk |
being churned into butter. HIS COWS took |
the premium both for the production and as |
to the quality of their milk, and the pro-
iuction of butter. I am told one of his |
COWS gave the cream in one week which pro- |
iuced "a pounds of butter.
HEARST AND HIS HORSE.
see Senator Hearst has a horse which |
has at last been successful. He is as proud
Is turkey gobbler in a new flock, and |
Ttruts around blowing about his fine horses
The fact is, Hearst knows very little about
lorses, and he does not know even the names
If his own stock. In most cases he merely
WINS the racing privilege, that is, he buys
# Senator Stanford the right to run mis-
lorses for a certain season, and they are en-
cred under Hearst's name, though they
eally belong to Stanford.
Not long ago a race was run IN the East
It which it was reported one of Senator
dearst's horses had won. Hearst knew
little of the horse that won, but he strutted
bout the Senate talking OF his fine horse,
which knew him BY name. It afterward
urned out that the horse belonged to some
lie was among his stock or moi. Hearst has
jockey whom he pays $4,000 year, and
when asked the other dav what this bows
lame was he said that he could not remem-
YER. This sounds funny to poor man, but
Hearst is many times q millionaire. He
las so much property it is no wonder he
oes not keep better track of it all.
FRANK g. CARPENTER