Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1899-01-05

Miles of Wheat.

What is said to be the largest SIN
gle wheat field in California is now
being planted to the grain that makes
the staff of life. 1t covers over $4,000
acres or forty square miles.
This enormous field of grain is To-
Gated on the banks of the San joaquin
river, near the town Of Clovis, in Ma
dera county. The field is part in
Fresno county and part in MADEIRA
county.
Clovis Cole is the man who Is put
ting in this vast acreage, and he has
undertaken one OF the largest Jobs that
any man has yet done IN California.
While it is true that larger acreages
of wheat have been planted by certain
ranchers in tn. State, there seems to
be no record of an exact parallel to the
present case. On the Miller & Lux
ranch in Kern county, $4,000 acres
were planted in one year, but the
fields we're scattered about in different
places. They were really series Of
fields, located wherever there was a
fertile spot. Few OF the fields were
over 1000 acres, and in many IN
stances there would be half mile Of
bare land between them. The acreage
planted could not be called a wheat
field of $4,000 acres any more than
all the wheat fields in the State could
be classed under one field.
The Clovis field, however, is an ideal
wheat field. 1t is almost as flat as a
floor with a gentle slope toward the
river. The other lines Of the fields
makes it almost perfect square. Each
side is little over six miles, and if the
day is clear every part Of the field
can be seen from any other part.
There are no roads through the
Clovis wheat field. 1t is to be one
solid stretch Of grain, and every square
foot Of land is to be sterilized.
Flowing and planting began in the
big wheat field about the middle Of
last July and will hardly be completed
for the next two months at least. But
the grain will mature about the same
time. Then will come the herculean
task of harvesting it.
With the big improved machinery
it does not look as though there was
much work spent on planting and
harvesting the field. But suppose one
man had to handle the crop; if such a
thing were possible how long would
it take him?
Suppose the field was one mils-"ide
and forty miles long, and the one
man had a double gage plow cuttin1
furrow twenty-four inches wide. He
would start at the corner Of the field
in San Francisco and plow south to-
ward San Jose, a distance Of forty
miles Then he would come back and
cut another furrow to San Francisco,
making eighty miles for the round
trip.
This amount OF work would only be
a tiny scratch four feet wide along one
side Of a forty-mile field, and the pro-
cess would have to be repeated at
least l 800 times, making total dis
tance Of about l05,OO miles.
Suppose that the plowman worked
at the rate of about twenty miles a
day. To get over the 10000 miles
would take $3.50 days. To plant
would take about the same time, max
ing total of 1O,50O days, or nearly
thirty wears. II would be like spend
ing lifetime and the distance trav-
eled would be equivalent to going
around the world four times. And all
in one California wheat field.
To accomplish the necessary amount
of work within the time at his disposal
the owner Of the Clovis wheat field has
to employ over 200 men, over 1000
horses aud several tons Of big machin
cry. The men work early and late
now, and if the whole acreage is
planted by January and a sufficient
quantity of rain falls, there will be
such crop Of wheat as has never been
heard Of, for the land Is good land and
the seed good seed Then will the
bread eaters Of the world give thanks
for the existence of the largest wheat
field in California.
Miss Jessie Mcintosh, daughter Of