The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-10-26
ONLY.A SERVANT:
PRAIRIE FARMING.
Mr.. Richmond Describes the Agriculture
Methods Which Are in Vogue ON tho
Grcnt Plains Of the Far West. t


Grcnt Plains Of the Far West. ~
Written for The Tribune. ...
The cultiva ton OF the soil in a. prairie
country is in some of its processes very
different from the methods pursued
elsewhere. The farmers use two TECH
nical terms, known as breaking and
back-setting. The virgin soil is usual
ly free from roots, vines or other OBJ
structions, and is turned over like a
roll of ribbon from one end of field
Of several miles to the other a fact,
which We Eastern people. who are ac-
costumed to plow among stones,
stumps and roots, can scarcely grasp
The sod thus turned is SO knit together
by the sturdy rootlets of the rank
prairie grass that clod of large size
will not fall apart even when suspend
ed in midair To break or plow this
mat they, use a peculiarly constructed
machine called breakers" as no or
binary plow could endure the strain.
They cut the mat at the width Of the
furrow, and also underneath the sod
at the thickness desired.
Usually three horses abreast are en-
ployed with a thin steel circular 'coult-
er, called a trolling coulter" This Is
sharpened few inches above the point
Of the plough. A furrow Is broken
sixteen inches wide by three inches
thick. and the sod, as a rule, Is COM
pletely reversed or turned over. Each
team Is expected to break sixteen miles
Of sod, sixteen inches wide and say
! three inches thick for a days work.
As many as one hundred teams are
used at one time in line on the BON
anza farms'-an interesting sight. BY
breaking the sod only three inches
thick, the roots of the grasses under
the action of heat and moisture rap
idly decay.
Cost OF Brcaking the Sod.
The breaking season" begins May J.
and ends July /, and costs about $2.75
per acre. This includes labor, imple-
ments and supplies. But the ground
once broken is ready for continued cul-
tivation. and Is regarded as having
added the. cost of the work to its per-
manent value. The broken land Is now
with proprlety termed farm.
'tBack setting" begins about July 1.
just after breaking is finished. or after
the grass becomes too high, or the sod
too dry, to continue breaking with
profit. This process consists In follow
ing the burrows of the breaking and
turning the sod back with about three
inches OF soil. Each plow worked by
two horses will "back set" about two
and half acres per day, turning fur
rows the width Of the sod. Next comes
cross-plowing, which is entered upon
as soon as threshing Is over-or during
tbreshing season. A team will accom-
plish as much cross-plowing In a day
as was done In back setting-two and
a half acSes--at q cost Of $3.50 per
acre. Seeding machines will sow
twelve acres a day. Flfty-two quarts
Of clean, Scotch Fyfe" seed wheat,
are used to the acre, at a cost Of sew
enty-fve cents for sowing. Following
the sowing, a pair of 1narrows follow
each seeder, going over the ground
from one to five times, as Is needed to
cover the seed evenly.
Western Harvest Methods.
Harvesting commences about Aug,
| /. This process Is particualarly inter-
esting. For every 160 acres. a self
binding harvester. with one driver and
two shockers, Is required. The work
on. a wheat field only occupies few
! weeks in a year. After the plowing
and seeding are finished, the farmer
can look on and see nature grow and
ripen his crop until the harvest time
comes, and by the end OF August the
year, 3 WORK IS pTacllcaIly uOne.. EX-
pensive farm buildings are not re-
quired for the grain may be threshed
in the field and hauled Immediately to
the neare.st railroad station. Very
little fer,clng Is needed on wheat
farm. Only enough of wire fence is put
around the pasture lot to secure the
cattle. The, outlay is Hight for, the
country Is open and ready for the
plow and the settler makes a crop the
first year. and, Is tolerably independent
from the start. 3
The wheat of North Dakota has no
equal for milling purposes. 1t is pre-
femed by the great millers Of Min
neapClis and Duluth to any other va
riety. being. as they say. adapted to the
modern methods Of making -four. 1t is
raised from the hardy Scotch Fyfe
seed, which brings from ten to fifteen
cents per bushel over the soft varieties.
The extent OF the wheat fields Of the
Northwest cannot now he estimated,
nor Its future productiveness foreseen.
1t includes nearly the whole of North
and South, Dakota, east of the Mis-
sourl river, and a considerable portion
of the western half. The rich lands
Of the Red River valley Of the north,
and the vast rolling plains Of Dakota
and the. Pacific Northwest must ulti-
inately be the permanent wheat fields
Of the continent. . j. e. Richmond,