The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-04-12

localities where nothing but corn can be
raised.
Several farmers have reported that they
raised corn last year that was worth as
much in the market as the land on which
1t was grown. Forty to fifty Dushel
crops were common. and this in face of
the fact that the outlook for crop was
never so poor in the spring, owing to late
frosts. ~
When farmers in the northern part of
South Dakota fatten their own steers the
farmers Of Iowa and Illinois will be de-
prived of another source of profit and the
star of empire will have logged several
points to the north and west.
The extent of the cattle Industry in
northern South Dakota can only be sur
missed. AS yet it is impossible to present
reliable figures, the state being without a
statistical department.. The railroad
companies know about it from their ship
ments of young stock in and finished stock
out, but they guard the figures as care
fully as though disclosure meant ruin.
The country west of Aberdeen, the
counties of Edmunds. Mcpherson, Wal
worth and Campbell. are simply ideal for
stockraising and the development Of
their resources in this direction has
hardly begun
The counties of Marshall, Day, Grant
and Roberts are also magnificent stock
sections, while Sphinx, Clark, Faulk and
Potter counties are equally good.
South Dakota ranks fourth in the list
Of states and territories in the produc-
ton Of gold, but in growing cattle,
horses, hogs and sheep-that is in the
cost and in the number of pounds Of flesh
an animal will take on during a season.
it ranks so far ahead that there is no
comparison.
One farmers Experience.
H. E. Henry, farmer living near
Britton, Marshall county, had an eX-
perience last fall that should open the
eyes of farmers in this part Of the state
to the amount Of money they have lost
by selling their cattle to feeders.
Mr.. Henry owned 400 head OF good
steers. Numerous buyers visited the herd
and offered all the way from 21a to
cents pound for the bunch. Three
cents was the highest offer made In
stead of selling them he turned them into
standing corn of Indifferent quality and
herded them in the corn fields for just six
weeks
At the end of six weeks he sold the
steers for cents pound, a gam OF 2
cents a pound. But this gain does not
represent his profit. When he turned the
steers into the corn they weighed an az az
erage Of 1000 pounds each, or 400,o0O
pounds. When he sold them they showed
net gain of 100 pounds to the head.
On the original 400, 900 pounds he gained
2 cents a pound, or $4,000. The increased
weight Of the bunch was 1000 pounds,
and on this he gained the entire selling
price Of cents a pound, or $1,000. His
total gain, therefore, was $11,200. From
this should be deducted the value OF the
corn, which at the utmost did not exceed
$4,000, while the expense Of herding was
trivial. He also ran many hogs IN the
fields with the cattle, and it Is stated or
good authority that the profit on the hogs
alone paid for the corn. The figures giyer
are accurate
Money in Flax.
Many farmers in Brown county last fal
harvested crops of flax that were worth
more in the market than the land or
which the crops were raised.
Dickerson Brothers, the we'll known
farmers near Putney, Brown county, sowet
200 acres to fax and harvested $500 bush.
els, seventy acres of the land giving 6
yield of over twenty-one bushels. The
price at which it was sold has not beer
learned, but at S1.20 per bushel, which Il
about the lowest quotation the seed hal
reached, it would have netted them 81, 200
better than $40 an acre, or more than the
land would have cost them had they
bought 1t last spring.
Frank Sullivan last spring bought wha
was known as the Dora Holland land neal
Putney, part Of which lies in the Big
Slough, paying $3.50. Seventy acres of the
| land could be cropped and he leased 1t or
shares for crop of fax. The tenant fur.
nished the seed, labor. ETC.. and paid al