Evening star., 1898-12-02
MILES OF WHEAT.
n California Field That Contain,
23,OO0 Acres

From the San Francisco Call
What is said to be the largest single
wheat field in California is now being
planted TO the grain that makes the stsff
CT HE. 1t covers over 5000 acres. or Forty
square miles
Ihis enormous field Of grain is located on
'he BANKS OF the Sau joaquin river, near
the town OF IfoNIs IN Mauera county Tns
heid is part IN Fresno county ana part in
MADEIRA county.
IIoNls Ooie As the man who is putting in
inns vast acreage, ana ne mas unuertakeu
one OF the IdrsvsI loDs tnGt anN man na
Yet uUne IN Ia4IIor.iia.
Wine IT rs true tnat larger acreases of
wheat nave Deen pianted 10y certaIn ranch
efs IN the state, there seems TO ne no rec
ora OF an eAac. pdraueI 10 ,ne present case
On the sIIIer ~ LuA riinca, M rN-rn coun,y.
''tvJU acres were painted IN one year net
the Heius were scattered ABOUT an inherent
piaces. 1ney We're rcany d series OF neius,
iocaIed Wherever Unere was lerule SPOT
rev OF the heIus were over z,bp acres ana
III many Instances there wound De rait a
mile OF bare Iand between tnem. The
acreage pianIeu could not De Gained a wheat
neIu "a oV.U,J acres any more IMAM aIl tne
NnedI lIeIus IN the state coula be cisssed
unuer one neaC.
Inc Cows neld. however, is an ideal
wheat nerd. 1t Is afmost as nat as a floor,
wlJn a geulle siope toward tue river 1ne
other nnes OF the neiu make IL almost a
perfect square. F.acn s,ue IL lIue over
FIX mIIes, ana IL the aHy Is clear every
part OIL Ine neld can be seen from any
oJner part.
Inere are no roads through the Clovis
wheat neIu. 1t is 90 he one sOud stretch OF
gram, ana every square 1901 Of land ls 20
De utilized.
PlowIng and planting began I'm the big
wheat neIu about the mlude of last Juiy.
ana Will harUy pe compteled Tor the next
two montns at least but the gram will AT
mature al sDouU the same Tune. Then wit
come the hercmean task Of harvesting IL.
WITH the DIg, improved machinery il
does not look as though there was much
Work spent on painting ana harvesting the
neld. but suppose one man nad 10 hanCIc
the crop, il such thing were possible,
how long woufd II take MN?
Suppose the neld was one mile wide and
forty mnes Iong. ana the one man had
double garg Prov cutting a furrow twenty
tour incnes wlue. lie would start at cor
of the heId in san Francisco and pow
south toward San Jose, q distance OF forty
mues- Then lac would come back anc CIT
arother turrow To san FRANCISCO. making
eighty mics tor the round TRIP.
1ns amount OF work would only he a tiny
scratch tour feet w1de aIong one sIce Of the
forty-miIe held, and the process woulG have
to be repeated at least l,5uo times. making
a total aIstance Of about ld5,vo miles.
Suppose that the rlowman worked at the
rate of about twenty miles a day. To get
over the lo5,UJW miles would take 5,210
days. To plant would take abOEt tho
same time, making a total of lOJ0 days.
or nearly thirty years. 1t would bo like
spending a lifetime, and the distance tray-
eIed would be equivalent to gong around
the world four tunes. And all in one Calf
fornia wheat field.
To accomplish the necessary amount OF
work within the time at his disposal the
owner of the Clovis wheat field has 20 en-
ploy over 100 men, over 900 horses ard
several tons OF big machinery. The men
are working early and late now, and II the
whole acreage is planted by January ant
a sufficient quantity of rain falls, there will
be such a crop OF wheat as has never
been heard Of for the land is good land
and the seed is good seed. Then will the
bread eaters OF the world give thanks for
the existence of the largest wheat field in
California.