Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1904-07-15
The LARGEST Farm in the World.

The Homestead is authority for the
statement that David Rankin's farm OF
$4,000 acres in Atchison Co., Mo-, is
the largest real farm in the world, and
that Mr.. Rankin is also the largest
stock feeder.
His farm is all titled under his per-
sonal supervision. His motto is.
Thou shalt not sell corn" He at
tends to corn In every stage of its
GROWTH but he has never sold even as
much as a kernel. 1t is against his
principles, his conviction, his expert
ence.
His start in life was a colt worth
$50 which his father had given him.
He snapped the colt for calves, and
these he traded for a pair of steers
with which he worked an eighty acre
farm he had bought on credit. 1t was
six weeks after he got married before
he had money enough to buy a bread
board. He got his start in Hender-
son county, Illinois. He put money
In the bank for a while, but that
did not suit him, and when he got
ready he began buying land in Atchi-
son county, where he now lives. The
farm is divided into fourteen divi-
sions, numbered from one to fourteen.
Each division is a ranch under the
direct charge of a foreman. These
are all like the heads of departments
in a great mercantile establishment.
They are educated and capable men,
and they are paid from $50 a month
to $1,000 q year. Under their direction
are 200 employees. These he pays $25
to $50 a month, wet or dry" and Mr..
Rankin pays their board.
1t Is thirty-five miles from one end
of the farm to the other. Something
over 10000 acres are in Atchison
county and he has an additional 1900
acres across the state line In Free
mont county, Iowa On the fourteen
ranches there are thirty-five houses.
On each ranch there is a good house
for the foreman and his family and
a large house where the employees are
boarded by the wife Of one of them,
who is paid $3.50 a week for ZACH man
by Mr.. Rankin. The home ranch" lies
or three sides Of Tarkio and extends
as far as the eye can reach. 1t re-
quires 700 teams to do the work on
this $4,000 acre farm. Most of his
teams are mules, but he also keeps a
number OF good horses. The expenses
are $500 a day. There are times when
For chain harness there is spent
$4,000 a year. There Is not a leather
trace on the farm. Leather Is not used
where chains can be USED In north
western Missouri the roads are not
good, but that cuts no figure when any
tnlnS mas TO De nauleu over tnem. 1t
is only a matter of how many horses
will be necessary to pull the load or
having harness that will stand the
strain.
The chief product of the farm is
corn. There Is a wheat field OF 1000
acres and the rest OF the ground Is
sown with clover, timothy and blue
grass. When seeded down the land
is used for pasture for four years.
On his $4,000 acres of corr field there
is raised 100000 bushels of corn. That
is only about half enough to feed his
cattle. He buys all the corn HIS
neighbors will sell him and then he
goes to the market for more. One
year he bought 43s. 600 bushels. There
are times when from 5000 to 5000
bushels Of corr are fed In one day. In
busy seasons. in addition to his TOO
teams. he hires all the horses he can
at 81 a day.
The ranches range in size from $40
acres to 3,100 acres. On July 3rd,
every man In the employ of Mr.. Ran
kin receives SIS, with patriotic pur-
pose assuredly, as the day following is
the national holiday. Mr.. Rankin feeds
from 5000 to 10000 head OF cattle on
the farm n twice or three times as
, many hogs.