New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-09-17
WHEAT.
MODERN FARMING IN THE WE'l'
"REMINISCENCES or TIE OLD MlNN'7'
WHEAT FIELDs-TnE HhRVEsrhHS

N' 1 IN I, something like that in golG-diS-
ging for the old placer MINER else why ,,;no Il
! farmers OF Minnesota, let US say 90 Oh 81" r,
:, Quantities year after year when 1t mas ioi 'al
,ue re,sons ceased to be "A paying crop vi
! como NJ Them do not and other grains arc 49,
/ ing in notably barley; but the Iaet re'""'''' 49,
the average Minnesota farmer every ~. ,.ro
acres Of wheat from which be can nave W.
hone for more than very email returns nv r n,,
rich. smooth gold-red grain seems to capuVa'e "','
| and no goos on sowing his rolling acres 70 ID anu
! seekinr To revive the States Heroic Age OF "ne
4 For wheat eroying IN Minnesota has d ia'''
though the State be young. IL once icu d" $50,
I as a wheat-producing State though l ia''' g.,
| is rot the case now: the quantity mas laie' o -,
! Minnesota and increased in some other "tal''' ~
| co,don AGO of wheat in Minnesota was htteeh VI
! twenty or twenty-five years ago. Then inc "no,S
prairie was a great wheat field ana 'he" l"o nd
! never varied. In the spring the state lay e'"' ~
black-cold and lifelcss. In june 1t had pecoie "
soft fragile green which in July darKened Il "''e
| and then turned to gold as the month wore away
and the State began to rpen and approach the ''he
Of harvest. which came early m August nv" ~
State was thrashed and the gram SOU a, Il 49,
price and the people found themselves WIN NM
in pleny and they ploughed their state ana a"ai''"
! the spring to SOW It again To the era" VIM"
! eaemed to grow as luxurantly as II inuiSelou" ~
the soil 1t was wheat everywhere -
raised wheat or dealt in wheat. or hVec OH Oh ""'"'
in some way to farm was 20 grow wheat 0''P'
! wheat grain was NIedt ~ A"' w.
ingather wheat; the market was the wheat ihaih'|
Minnesota seemed not a cultivated state but nat
ural wheat pampas, a vast prairie of wheat rather
than of the humber sister grasses
OLD HNEYi>T TINES.
And in that Golden Prime Of the good kinS
Wheat vast hordes OF men came UP every summer
out Of Somewhere to help harvest H. u was IN .'e
infancy OF agricultural laborsaving machinery pc
fore a farm could be carried on by one man ana
squad Of complicated machinery. The cradle when
a man swung like a scythe had gone long before 10
ioin the sickle. that early implement and present
symboi Of harvest. Even the reaper had oeeh
vastly improved. The boy who formerly sat on
low scat aud rakcd off the eavels OF grain nae
gone to join the boy Who pullCd the string OF the
carly steam engine cutoff valve. Tho reaper was
yclf-rakIng but It still took FIVE men 10 bind the
grain into sheavcs. With ono Or two to stand the'n
NJ into shocks and another to drive the machine
/ making 4 total Of seven eight to every reaper
Z and each farmer had at least one reaper. ana from
that To three or four. or a dozen. even more II
/ tho farm were large enough. And Somewhere was
sufficiently era, ious To oTcn and give up enough
men: though they como not now. nor does ahypohy
know. what has been their fate" Wages were three
or four. sometimes FIVE. dollars day with board;
/ ami the men came and oyorran the state Ike an
army They cane on foot. slngy and In droves;
and on the where the railroad had penetrated
and II soon penetrated everywhere. attracted liKr
| the men by the wheat which needed carry nS away
/ market well rs harvesting. But chl'IN' IS
pecaliy in slightly earlier dry. these vagrant har-
vesters came or the Mississippi River .'eamboats
sometimes a hundred or moro Of them would dia-
embark at a single landing the more Industrious
scattering at once into thc surrounding country IN
twos and half dozens-often In scores-in quest OF
work each with his satche sluns over his back on
a stick; While the less duigent established them
selves at convenient and inviting liquor establish
ments and awaited the coming Of the employing
farmer. Nor did even thcs" often fail IN g"tting
work FOR the supply seldom fully equaled the
demand.
Many OF those men were from the river-raftsmen
for IL was when RATS noated with the current in
stead OF being pushed ahead Of stern-wheelerS;
steamboat men who had deserted their craft or
= men who were more or less permanently connected
In some way with the great river. Others were
professional harycs,ers in the summer AT least. and
followed the harvest" beginning in Texas ard
coming North. Jumping from state to state aS
] whitening fields bcckoned them on Till they ended
their labors In upper Minnesota. or later In Man
toba and the Northwest Territory. Others. and
perhaps this group the largest OF any had
worked all winter in the Wisconsin pinerics and
had down with the logs on the drive and
were looking forward to spending the late summer
and fa on the farm and returning To the woods
? In the winter. Indeed. the connection between the
Minnesota harves, field ana tie Wisconsin lumber
camp was always close. and the majority OF the
iunerant haryestcrs had had experience among the
\ pines There was a fair sprinkng OF foreigners,
3 Scandinavians prcdominatng. with always. II
seemed (but this may have been mere fancy.
more than a rightful proportion Of representatives
from forgotten ends and odd corners of the earth.
such the little outlying islands Of Great Britain.
: : MOTLEY Ioip\NN.
The reader acquainted with man as he manifosts
h.mself in a given locality in large numbers. called
! | ,hither 10y high wages, may we'll believe that some
Of these wandering harvcscrs- rcapers of the hour
were not very lovely characters. Many were sober.
Industrious wel-behaVed. others. with their wages
! in their pockets. were prone to consume whlsley
| inorlinatey and fight another with almost a
,, religious enthusiasm. Perhaps larger percentage
, Of the river displayed these social pecuarites
than any Of the others. Life on the water
. seemed to engender IL taste for more ardent fluid
Many Of the raftsmcn affected bowie knives in their
trousers rockets The use OF the bowie knife dur
, ing ntoxication is seldom attended by happy re-
: suits from thu point OF view OF the social refOrmer
- The professional harycstmon were often provided
with brass knuckles slungshots. weapons which
. when applied vigorously to vulnerable part of the
. hated opponent. almost as unfortunate in their
. effects as the bowie. The revolver. too, was not
unknown in the hands of all classes. though 1t was
not common. The Scandinavians were perhaps the
most pcaceaby disposed class. and seldom
. armed. depending In case OF trouble In their neigh
y borhood on their usual great physical strength and
n peculiar ability To kick the astonished enemy or
the top Of hs head without losing their balance
But even the most violent usually quiet enough
., on the farm almost invariably requiring the Stimu
- atng influence of large draughts of whiskey tC
, cause his personal happiness to become contingent
@ on his ability to get into fight of the first order
. So il happened during the harvest and autumn
10 the towns less quiet than usual and the city
~ marshal needed be a man of considerable fore,
u of character not to mention familiarity With and
certain "spryness' in the OF. substantial fire
n arm.
= The reader who knows he hocks in out
, of-the-way corners of the earth Will also under
, stand that many who seemed better fitted fol
=, other walks of life were found among the gathercr
a of the wheat This seemed especially the will
49, the foreigners. \ Pole is remembered. a quie
:. ......,r nd a cnol Mnrlknr who astonlshed hi