The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-10-24
THE STAFF OF LIFE.
The Wheatfields Of the West
Priscilla Leonard in EoyWaytl.


over the endless Dakota prairie, as
fiat as floor, one is forcibly reminded
Of the little boy, who, born and bred
among the Rockies, journcycd East
sor the first time when lie was four
years old. Waking up in the sleep
ing car the next morning, he cried out
in alarm to his mother, as he saw the
absolute level Of the landscape, go,
muyyer, look look. EycryGng's fall
en- down fat!' and he could not be
treasured for some time.
Yet it is just this exact anu mopoto-
nous level that has made Dakota The
State Of the "bonauza" farm, and,
with one exception, the richest wheat
belt in the world. The very undula-
tiou, SO billowy and beautiful, of the
prairie of the Middle West, gives
slope here and swampy patch there,
each Of which will produce fewer
bushels to the acre than the door-like
field that is the wheat growers ideal.
On the absolutely fat surface all
machinery runs to perfection; and
bonanza farm is all machinery, so far
as possible. It has been truly said
that "in the lexicon of the Dakota
farmer there is no such word as hoe -
He does not require that "hingc in
his back" which Charles Dudley
Warner SO longcd for when he tried
farming in the East The smallest
implement on these big farms is q
plow, and it is machine plow at that.
Farm and factory are not supposed
to be alike. Yet as one looks at these
western farm hands one realizes the
spirit Of the age even here, out on
the limitless prairie, where twenty
years ago the buffalo roamcd and the
coyote burrowcd. The man who can
run machine we'll is tho ideal farm
hand in this region. The harrow is
most complicated arrangement Of
levers; the sowing is done by drills
and brakes, the rcaping by cogs and
belts. 1t is all just as systematizcd,
as labor-saving, and as busincsslike as
an eastern manufacturing plant. One
curious aspect is, however, to be no.
ticed. There, in tho fence corner,
stands big, expensive harvester-a
splendid machine that has broken
down after season wear and tear,
and stands, unrepaired and unshcl-
tered, visibly rusting to ruin.
"Surely, that is not business, to let
such valuable property be destroyed"
is the visitor comment.
The keen-eyed superintendent
smiles. eyes, it is good business.
We buy our machines by the carload,
and we figure it out that the time lost
in repairing machine that has done
one seasons work would pay for two
new ones. It's common saying that
If you keep on repairing an old ma
chine long enough, even if you don't
count in the time lost to the farm
work by it's breaking down, you'll pay
out enough for fve new machineE: and
still have nothing but an old one left.
We've got all these things down to
dollars and cents, you see.
They certainly have. All over the
seven thousand acre farm, where crews
of workmen live at one end and never
meet the crews who work at the other
end from the seasons opening to its
close, the most admirable system pre-
walls. Here and there, over these
rich acres, are substantial frame din
ing halls, where the men are given
their meals, but in harvest time it has
been found that it saves time to carry
the meals to tho men, as each crew
may be from one to three miles from
its hall; SO, carried they are. The
kitchens of these dining halls are
models Of cleanliness and economy Of
space, and two men do the cooking
for fifty farm hands. Such farm
may have three divisions, each with
superintendent, and each division ma
chine shed will have about ten four
horse plows, eight four-horse drills,
half dozen harrows, seven binders,
and tremendous steam -moter thresh-
or, besides wagons, carts, and wheel
barrows galore, with blacksmith to
look after the tools and machinery,
and carpenter to do the necessary
woodwork.
Two elevators, on opposite corners
Of the farm, by the railroad track
which runs across the great field,
store up the season crop, of perhaps
one hundred and fifty thousand bush.
.els-enorgh to LOAD freight train two
: miles long. One picturesque stats
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