The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1902-06-05
NORTH DAKOTA.
Big Country, Big Crops, Big
Machinery &c.

County News reaches me regu-
larly, and the intelligence that it
brings from my old home county
in the keystone State, would
awaken q feeling of inconsistencies
sometimes if it were not for the
fact that l am kept busy trying
to make showing, and improve a
homestead of 100 acres.
For the information of my Full
ton county friends, / will state
that | am located in Towner coun-
ty, North Dakota, 80 miles direct
ly north of the west end of DEVILS
Lake Il am sure every school boy
remembers seeing thatlake mark
ed on the map in his geography,
and about 27 miles south of the in
ternational line which separates
North Dakota from Manitoba.
After looking through niue or
ten states of the Union, l pulled
up at this place four years ago !;
and since that time l have observ-
ed the seasons here, the more or
less peculiar growth of small
grains-such as wheat, speltz,
oats, barley, and iax-and l can
truthfully say that do not be-
lieve there is another spot in the
United States that can equal this
for agricultural purposes no 9th.
er place where such vast acre
age may be successfully handled
in proportion to the mum Der of
men employed.
1t is remarkable the extent to
which horses may be utilized in
furnishing power to operate farm
machinery, which is of the latest
improved kind, and much of it de-
signed and manufactured espe-
cially to meet the wants of this
section. The plows are all riding
plows." One man with five or
six horses hitched to a gang plow
breaks five acres a day. The
steam gang is used in this coun-
try quite extensively. An engine
with six to twelve plows attached,
makes from twenty to forty acres,
and harrows successfully operat-
ed cover anywhere from 40 to 160
acres a day. Grain drills are
made from 16t to 33 feet in width
and drill from 15 to 40 acres a day.
Fourteen to thirty men with
steam threshing outfit, thresh
from 2000 to 5000 bushels of wheat
a-day. Some of the threshing
outfits are enormous, and calcu-
lated to surprise a Fulton county
farmer. Think of a separator
with cylinder "a inches in length
and run by 35- horse power en-
gine! If an outfit like that were
to make a trip through your
county, it would likely injure the
bridges and flatten some of the
hills.
Seeding begins about the 18th
of April, as a rule. Wheat is sown
first, speltz next, and barley and
flax follow. Then, harvest begins
about the middle of August and
lasts continuously until the middle
ofOctober or first of November.
Corn has not been grown exten
sively, but the attention of our
farmers is beginning to be drawn
towards it's cultivation, and it is
believed that In a short time it will
hold a place equal in Importance
TO the grains before named
North Dakota corn received the
highest award at the Pan Ameri
can Exposition last fall, and every
county in this state is taking steps
to gather in the lion s share of til,
awards at st. Louis.
This county, like all others, ha,
its disadvantages. Billiards. il
the winter, of course, and not al
ways of the mildest kind. Aftel
four years experience. | woult
just suggest that the best thins
You can do when you find bliz
zard on, is to sneak into you
shack, build a hot fire, go wa,
back and sit down and be good
In summer, hail storms, or occas
ional droughts, serve to break tn
monotony and, then, the mos
quito must not be overlooked, TO
he does not forget tolook over you
Some are almost as large as