Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-10-12
A FAMOUS TOUR.
FOREIGN COMMISSIONERS VISIT
THE GREAT FARMS AT
LARIMORE.
They See Forty-Five Decrinc Self Bind
ers. Manned by $50 Men, Moving In
the Same Direction at tho Same
Time.

Forty-6ve Deering Irvine finders,
forming a procession half a mile in
length and steadily moving through a
sight that greeted the foreign commits
t~hcirrecent famous visit to the bonanza
farms of North Dakota. This impos-
Ing spectacle was witnessed on the
great Elk Valley farm at Larimore, N.
D., a farm comprising l2, 600 acres or
nearly nineteen square miles, 10000
acres OF which formed one unbroken,
fenceless field of wheat. To witness
this sight the distinguished spectators,
Worlds Fair commissioners and
Representatives of the foreign
press, together with an equal
number of Americans eminent in
Worlds Fair, railroad and commercial
circles, had undertaken the discom-
forts of a thousand mile journey from
Chicago: and the EXPLANATIONS of de-
light and surprise, and the cries Of
bravo" that rang out on the air
showed that their expectations were
vastly more than realized. From st.
Paul through Minnesota and North
oonNe@ ohCy lIaNClCu dS RucStS Ol bHc
Great Northern railroad, and the
farther north they travelled the
warmer and more cordial was their re-
ception. Here at Lsrimore they
found the climax of interest and the
height of hospitality. They were
met at their train and escorted to car
riages by what seemed to be the whole
population of the little CITY of Lar,-
more, headed by o. II. Phillips. the
mayor, Gov. Shortridge and n. q.
Larimore, the proprietor of the great
farm which they were TO see. Silently,
and almost breathlessly at first, they
viewed the mighty rhalanx of ma
chimes; then quickly alighting from
their conveyances they followed the
machines on foot, eagerly peering
into their mechanism, as If bent on
finding the sc ret OF their perfect, au-
to matte, almost roiseless action. For
an hour or more they followed the ma
chimes, asking innumerable questions
of MIR. Larimore and his sons, when
their attention was called to scientific
tests of draft that were being made
under the supervision of Mayor o. II.
Phillips and MIR. C.. H. Olmstead. The
machices tested, the Deering Pony
binder and the Deering Ideal mower,
were remarkable because embodying
the ball and roller bearings, such as
are used in bicycles and bicycle su,k-
les. Twelve tests were made on each
machine with a registered Osterhe d g.
Eickmeyer dynanometer, each repre-
sentiug the draft involved in cutting
a 8 foot swath. 100 feet in length, in
twenty TO twenty-five seconds OF time.
The six cutting tests with the binder
showed an average of only 2gs pounds
of draft. Six tests followed in which
the machine was run in gear over the
tops of the stubble just cut. This
test, which is known as rolling
draft, showed an average draft
ct 2o7 pounds. The Deering
Ideal mower, a new machine
also fitted with the bicycle bearings,
showed a cutting draft in heavy grass
averaging only 12o pounds, and a
Ruling draft of only 92 pounds. The
remarkably low draft-about half the
draft of ordinary machines--shown by
these figures for both machines was
carefully noted by the ~astunished