The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-02-27

extent andsva1ue is as yet impossible
| to estimate.
Estimated value of farm products
1908, $133,000,000; value of our dairy
and creamery industry in 1908 is $3,-
100000. North Dakota corn won sec
ond prize at the Pan-American expo
sitl0n IN competitor With the great
ers in Richland county was so encour-
aged with his corn growing experience
that he planted 1900 acres in 1902.
Moisture Is just Right.
The rainfall Of that part of the state
east Of the One-hundredth parallel is
more than twenty inches, ranging to
| tWenty-three inches in the Red River
valley. AS this falls upon land that
is nearly or perfectly level, and pos
sessing a soil very retentive of mois-
ture, and further, as the greater
amount comes thru the growing sea-
| son, particularly in the spring, the
quantity in general is quite sufficient
From the conditions enumerated it
will be seen that this region has ad-
vantages all it's own for certain lines
of agricultural productions. The grass
family is decidedly at home here. For
| thousands Of years the wide eXpanSe
of plain and majestic sweep Of hill
and valley, have yielded their sue
cess1ve generations of the four score
or more native grasses, and the soil
| thus enriched is eminently fitted to
yield abundantly of the grasses that
man, in the past, has especially Sc
lected for his needs, the barley, oat
and wheat.
It has been said that the cost of
opening up a farm In North Dakota
is greater than 1t is in some states
farther east. In the early develop
ment of Dakota, when 1t was exclu-
s1vely devoted to wheat-raising, for the
farmer to open up l60 acres and be
able to maintain family until he
could get returns from the land neces-
/ Stated quite an outlay of money. I'm
der 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 back-set it, that is. pillow 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 year and
a half from the time that he estab-
lished himself in Dakota before he
could get any returns from his land.
So, to break up $50 acres, pillow it
twice, maintain family and stock for
a year and a half, get the machinery
to seed and harvest 100 acres, required
some capital.
Easy to Get Start.
Many settlers with small means
made the mistake of undertaking too
much and got in debt, so that if the
crop proved not to be a very profita-
BILE one, they became involved. But
now that they are raising flax they
can break the land the first spring,
SOW. flax the same, season, and get a
pretty fair crop, the income of Which
enables the settler to go for seeding
the next spring to other grain. This
practice of seeding flax on newly
lbroken land hassbeen quite an attrac-
Itive feature tomthe neWssetlers in the
'1northwest for the last few years.
Settlers in North Dakota should go
into stock as early as possible. 5se They
should go into mixed farming and not
depend entirely upon grain, and there
fore not breay up all of the farm,
even If they can do so, but retain a part
OF it for pasturage and stock pur-
poses. I feel confident that on plan
similar to this, a good, thrifty, enter
prising economical young farmer can
under ordinary circumstances, sue
coed in short time in establishing
la comfortable home in North Dakota
4 The atmosphere is dry and devoid
/ of any ehurni dity during the winter
). months, and, therefore, it never pene.
: trates and chills as does the damp at.
) mosphere of the Atlantic states. 1t is
=, a fact, borne out by the assertions
L
: ing, as they do, from all sections Of
l the United States, that the winters Of
North Dakota are no more severe anC
cause less suffering and Inconvenience
than the winters of New England OF
western states. The thermorne tert oc
casionally registers a very low tenn
j, perature, and probably this is the
o cause Of so much inexcusable miscon
t ception in regard to our climate; bu
0 the reader is assured that a, 7tempera
:. ture Of 40 degrees below zero, an ex
il ceptionally cold day of the winter, ha.
It no more terrOrs for a North Dakota1
q than has the 'norther'' Of Texas, o.
Is the daily snow storms Of New England
!. for the residents of those ATTITUDES.
The Autumn Fingers.
The autumn is a delightful season
and is generally prolonged far int
December; set cold weather rarel.
comes until after the holidays. Thu
> sudden breaking up of the winter is
e very noticeable feature of North Da
# lxota weather. There is none of tina
=; intermittent warfare between Borea
- and the sun, resulting in a prolonged
visitation of rain and wind, alternat
} freezing and thawing, so common II
\ the eastern states, and dreaded al
ways as the most disagfeeable seasol
of the year.
The winter breaks in March, usl1
ally, and is followed Immediately b.
the warm, sunny days of summer
! Seeding and farm operations general
\ begin in the latter part of March, o
] early in April, and are seldom inter
rupted by the return of frost or snow
There is no agricultural district i
. which a farmer of small means ha
) been able to start more advantage
ously than in North Dakota. It
= possible that the opportunities TO
= establishing a home in North Da