Semi-weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings Co., S.D.) 1894-1898, 1897-03-13


four hundred dollars to start with, /
would look the country over very care
fully before bought my eighty acres,
and try, II possible, to have on it at
least ten acres of good hay land, and
ten or fifteen acres that | could plow,
then the rest could be as rough as it
pleased if only grassed. For obvious
reasons it would for time, be an ad-
vantage not to be to close to neigh
bors. The class Of land | would select
can be had today for from two to four
dollars an acre. If, after paying for
the land, and two good cows, 25 or so
No. l sheep and as many thrifty young
hens, there was enough left to put up
neat three roomed house, say $3.50,
and $50 for a warm shed and hay room,
l would do SO. But IL my money was
running low, / would make sod hay
shed for the stock, and a $50 plain
board shanty for myself. For short
time cupboard will do for pantry,
calico curtains for partitions, and high
banking for paint and plaster. And
then, through all my life could look
back-as so many do-and say, "My
happiest days were spent in that
shanty." l have heard them say this
when their costly drawing rooms
glistened and shone with all that mon
ey could buy, and tears too, shone and
glistened as they tried to forget the
troubled present in thoughts of the
happy past. But to 60 en-. II / had
the means to spare, would break ten
or fifteen acres Of my lowest, blackest
land, and fence all that was left ex-
cepting the hay land. Should the
means be lacking, however, | would ex-
change work for the breaking, and get
along with herding as best | could till
able to fence. Trees and willows, of
course, would be set around the plowed
land and good wide strip of them
around the garden and building. This
should be done il nearly everything
else had to be left undone. Under no
circumstances would / break more
than ten or fifteen acres of the $780,"
With the sod on, land will bring in
money without expense. When it is
once off, IL cannot be replaced, and the
title may go too. Five acres of this
land would put into root crops and
garden, five into corn, and the balance
into millet or corn, or both. One acre
of mangels and beets, with the millet,
wild hay and corn stalks ought to keep
at their best, six good cows, and so
ewes. The cows would bring in $3.50,
besides the calves, and the surplus
milk will keep good pig and also help
greatly with the poultry. The sheep
should bring In as much as the cows,
and the combined offing, If well rotted
keeps the fifteen acres very rich. The
corn and milk will keep in fine con-
dition from one to two hundred Leg
horn hens, and fatten fine pig, be-
sides some corn will be left for the
cows. When the ground is once In a
high state OF cultivation, judging from
my own yields here, the four acres Of
potatoes should surely yield from 600
to 900 bushels, and with no better
prices than paid in Gary the past
thirteen years, sell for $500 to $500.
From accounts carefully kept, ! know
the hens can be counted on to make
one dollar each above expenses. The
acre Of rich garden land could be made
to yield some income, certainly enough
to pay for all the years reading, which
should include the local paper, a near
by farm paper, and number of other
good journals and magazines. Now,
to do this, the land must be kept rich
and thoroughly titled. The cows must
be good ones, and well fed 365 days out
of the twelve months. The sheep
must be large mutton ewes, the lambs
come early and keep thriving. The
hens must be leghorns or leghorn
grades, and fresh blood must be added
every year. The potatoes must be
early varieties, planted early, good
large seed, in rich, lowest land, and
planted every year, high or low. The
corn must be Canada smut or some
early dent variety, the latter / prefer
for feed.
Nothing here outlined is impossible
or exceptional. This very dry year,