Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1904-12-15
At..dt WEEKLY RtfltCoR AstN KANSAS DECEMBER Isl PAGES

i
along the edge Of the uncut grain
to guide the pilot. Finally We rugged
a lamp and reflector, fastened to q
reel post, and by that device success
fully accomplished our object.
The yield was trifle under twenty
bushels to the acre and was sold for
about so cents per bushel. 1t was
threshed by steam engine and
thresher. Both that and the header
used, so far as know, we're the first
brought into Kansas. All the work
was done by contract, and it became
known as the contract system" OF
growing wheat. paid So an acre
for breaking the prairie; 20 cents an
acre for each narrowing; 10 cents an
acre for the broadcast seeding, and 40
cents later when we used drills. The
price for heading and stacking ranged
from Il, so to 81 per acre. About 9
cents was paid per bushel for thresh'
ing, and the price for hauling the
grain varied according to the dis
lance OF the haul, from 5 to 6 cents
per bushel. Ga the basis OF tive MY
bushels to the acre, the cost was be-
tween 40 and 30 cents per bushel.
My boast was that 81 farmed in kid
gloves with neither horse nor hoe"
In the spring of 1874 broke ZOO
acres adjoining the other. The fall
was very favorable for seeding. 1875
was "wet" year, and my l,2OO-acre
field all adjoining the railroad attract
ed great attention, and was widely
advertised as it certainly merited.
The yield averaged nearly % bushels
to the acre. One half section grew
more than thirty-:ive bushels to the
acre. The crop WAS grown and har'
vested by the "contract system" as
\ before, and done mainly by M. u.
Thisler, still prosperous and respect
ed citizen OF Dickinson county. The
price realized on the railroad track at
Abilene, ranged from 81 to $l.2l3 per
bushel and was sold to Leavenworth
millers. 1t was No. /, grade, never
again equaled in all my wheat grow
ing.
Mr.. Henry Worrall, Of Topeka, a
man whose unique public services
Kansas should honor, was sent by a
Chicago newspaper to interview me-
and write up and illustrate my wheat
field. We had never met. He was
directed to my modest little house in
town and inquired of me where he
could find MIR. Henry. | told him
presumed was the man. "Oh, no!
he said, II want to see Farmer
Henry" But urged, II am that
party" As l was then in my early
3o's, and looked anything but q
"hornyhanded son" Of the soil, only
those who knew Professor Worral eau
com prehend his establishment and
characteristic expression. He had
expected to see an old "hayseed'
farmer living on ranch with the
usual environments-but merely on
larger scale.
My wheat farming operations wer'
rapidly enlarged, reaching the max
imum Of nearly 10000 acres scattered
over the county. There we're about
s, 900 acres in the main field extend
ing from Abilene FIVE miles east tt
Detroit, through the center Of which
ran the railroad. In those years thu
trainmen we're instructed to call ou
to the passengers: "We are coming
to Henry's wheat field" 1t was truly
an attractive sight, particularly wheE
the harvesting was going on. Al
this spread the story Of my success
The example became contagious
Dickinson for some years was thu
banner wheat county In the state
and by 1876 Kansas surpassed every
state in the Union In the production
of winter wheat, a supremacy main
tanned to this day. The fame Of ou'
fields became national.
In 1876 a staff correspondent wal
sent out by the New York Herald tc
writa mn the wheat industry, HC