St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-24
nethods the proportion of such men
will soon be lessened,
A BONANZA FARM.
The Buildings as seen by a COrre-
spOndent of the Cincinnati Com
merciaI

The Buildings as seen by q COrre-
spondent of the Cincinnati Com
merciaI.
just how many acres are required to
entitle farm to this suggestive appel
latiOn is, perhaps. not well defined. but
it is used in contradistinction to the
''small farm" We will assume that
1,500 acres in wheat will draw down the
distinction, although many of them con-
tain from 5000 to 5000 and some 10000
acres, and few from 10000 to $4,000
acres, and we will proceed to give a
description of its makeup and of it's
buildings. 1t will be located within
reasonable distance of railroad station.
seldom further than four miles, because
hauling wheat is expensive, especially
at the time of threshing. There is con-
siderable uniformity in the type of the
buildings seen, in the Red river valley,
on the large farms, and they are of a
| substantial character. Seen at dis
tance-and the Dakota prairie is place
of magnificent distance" APP
pear like small village.
FIRST there is the dwelling house of
the proprietor or superintendent, usually
a cOmmOdiOus and often handsome and
well-furnished residence. Then comes
the cOOk-house, the building where the
farm hands are boarded and roOmed,
the sleeping apartment being on the
second floor. More generally this latter
consists of one large room. with home
made bedsteadS or hunks ranged around
the wall, furnished with straw ticks and
holsters and WOODEN blankets. Nocouch
OF down or snow-white linen for the
hardy tiller of the wheat fields. Neither
does he seem to care for them, but he
Will kick" on the grub for slight
provocatlon. He cares more for what
he eats than for where he sleeps. The
cooking is sometimes done by men
cooks and sometimes by women.
The next most important building,
anu the largest on the farm, is the barn
or stable. twO-story building, with a
"lean-tO" on each side, made to accom-
modate all the way from so to 100 horses
and mules, with grain and hay in pro-
portion. A large yard, surrounded by a
tight board fence eight feet high, is
connected with the barr. and furnishes
place for exercise of the stock and for
out door feeding from straw stacks in
pleasant weather, protected from the
heavy drifts of snow and the cold biz
yards of winter. The cattle barn, with
Its yards. is large or small according to
the cattle to be taken care of. for they
must all be sheltered in winter. The
hog house and yards are usually large
and well arranged structures. The cat
tie and hogs are chiefly for home con-
sumption.
A machinery hall comes next: made
large enough to cover all the farm ma
chinery, including the engine and
thresher, the binders being run in with
out beiag taken down.
A horse power elevator or large gran
airy is usual appendage to wheat
farm, some Of them. however. having
their elevators at the railroad station for
convenience of loading from them di-
rectly into cars. The capacity of this
building is from 10000 bushels down.
Every well-regulated farm also has a
bla cksmith shop, where, during tine
busy seasons, the farm blacksmith does
all the repairing. Also root house,
which. to be OF much value, must be
able to Withstand 60 deg below zero, a
milk house and, perhaps, all Ice house
and a slaughter house.
A noticeable feature Of all these
buildings is their color-all, except the
dwellings first mentioned, being red.
because oil and Venetian red make a
CT cap ready paint that any intelligent
farm hand can apply.
TIC HlOSI Indispensable OF farm ar
engagements is the water system With
out plenty of good water, easily accessi-
bic, all the rest is at fault. With hun
dred head or stock to water three times
daily, its importance can be readily
seen. A wind mill, with its graceful
outline and picturesque effect, often
towers beside the barn. and utilities the
prairie winds in pumping from drilled
well.
But within the last two or three years
artesian wells have largely taken the
place of the windmill, and the water is
carried in pipes, by the natural force of
the well, to all parts of the buildings,
saving much labor and expense. These
wells vary in depth from 100 to 500 feet.
There are no fences around the fields,
except the pastures where the stock is
kept.
If the farm is too large to be worked
from one set of buildings, one or more
divisions are made, and on each single
building erected TO be used as com
bned barn, cOok-house and sleeping
place during the time of working the
division.
Such is a typical group of buildings,
the groups dotting the he'd River valley
over, where the No. l hard" spring
wheat is raised for the millions.
E. N. W.