Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1903-04-20
NORTH oAkoTA's POSSIBILITIES

NORTH DAKoTA's POSSIBILITIES
Opportunity" published in st. Paul
has the following article on How tc
Succeed in North Dakota" by Hon
John Miller, ex-governor:
There is no agricultural district If
which a farmer of small means has
been able to start more advantageous!
than in North Dakota. l know hun
dreds Of thrifty and well-to-do farmer
today who did not bring a dollar into
that state, being young men who came
there simply to find employment. II
is quite possible that the opportunities
for establishing a home in North Da-
kota on small means are not as favor
able at the present time as they were
earlier in dts history owing to the ad-
vance in the price Of lands. But il
must be remembered hat all other con-
ditions are in favor of opening up and
establishing homes more cheaply than
could be done a decade ago owing to
the great reduction in the interest
rates, in the price Of farm machinery,
and nearly everything that the farme.
has to purchase. An additional adj
vantage at the present time is that the
market is much more accessible than
when the country was newer. He also
has a market for the smaller products
OF his farm, such as eggs. butter and
vegetables, owing to the growth of
small towns throughout the state.
1t has been said that the cost Of
opening up a farm in North Dakota Is
greater than it is In some states 6aI.
Their east. do not think this is true
if the eastern farmer operates o. the
same extensive scale. III the early de-
velopment Of Dakota, when it was ex-
clusively devoted to wheat raising, for
the farmer to open up 100 acres and
be able to maintain a family until he
could get returns from the land neces-
STATED quite an outlay of money.
Under the old plan of opening up a
wheat farm the settler had to be on the
land in the spring. He would break
his land and backset it, that is, plow it
the second time, but could raise no
crop until the next year and would not
get returns from that until in the fall;
therefore it would be a year and a half
from the time that he established him
self in Dakota before he could get any
returns from his land. So, to break
up 100 acres, pillow it twice, maintain
a family and stock for a year and a
half. get the machinery to seed and
harvest 16O acres required some cap
ital.
Many settlers with small means
made the mistake of undertaking too
much and got in debt, SO that if the
crop proved to be not a very profitable
one, they became involved. But now
that they are raising flax, they can
break the land the first spring, SOW fax
the same season, and get a pretty fair
crop, the income from which enables
the settler to go for seeding the next
spring to other grain. This practice
OF seeding fax on newly broken land
has been quite an attractive feature to
the new settlers in the northwest for
the last few years.
What can a settler with $500 or 5000
do in North Dakota? He would have
to purchase his land largely on time,
not paying more than 800 or 500
down. Many farms have been pur-
chased entirely on what is known as
the crop PLAN that is, the settler
agrees to farm 80 much land each year
and give as a payment on the purchase
price a certain share of the crop. After
securing the land he will have from
$500 to 500 left. With that he should
buy a team and pl0w, and a lew other
implements that will be necessary. and
he ought to have as many cows, sheer
and hens as possible. With his team
he should be ready to turn over thirty
to forty. acres and seed the same to
flax. In addition to the fax, he can
raise such potatoes and vegetables as
will be required for his own use. and
possibly, might raise some for mar,
ket. In harvesting his fax, he might
have to purchase a binder; if the acre
age were not large he could probabl.
get it cut by his neighbors. To main
ain him during the first year., h,
would have the proceeds from his crol
OF fax. He ought to be able to get
little income out OF the cows in ~.