davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-01-14
AN ASTONISHING SEAT.

One day as I was out playing in the snow saw the
grocers boy coming in his bob with some things for
mama AS I had often seen my brothers catching on
hobs as they called it, I thought would have fine
time riding on grocer's bob but as did not know
much about art Of catching bobs to my surprise
and disgust was soon given comfortable ~ seat
in the road was so surprised that sat there few
minutes and then and walked away began to
make a snow man, in which succeeded. That was my
last experience in catching on hobs.
Fifth Grade Eleanor Washburn,
Franklin School. Austin, Mimi
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-01-14

looking for other children, usual, but
all day. had to spend that unusually snowy day with
the teacher. Anna Jesse,
Fifth Grade. r. r. 3 Lester Prairie, Mimi
The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-01-14
AMUSING THE BOY INSIDE.

There had been great many springlike days in
aTose about seven o'clock and it was very dark.
not at all surprised this it had been dark every
morning this time but when looked outside and saw
about foot of snow was dismayed. The snow had
been melting until After breakfast it was still
dark night but made up my mind to 60 to school,
which was three blocks away did not generally take
nv lunch but now, and started for school with
nv brother We had pretty hard time getting there,
but at last we succeeded and just as had the heavy
door it blew shut banged my head to the
ment of boy inside. My brother, another boy and
were the only present in the third and fourth grades
In the professor took home and we coud
not walk as the wind with and blew SO hard we
had to FRANCES ~ o'ai,1y,
Seventh Grade. Moorneao' NAA1'
The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27

A large proportion of the harvest hands are showing disposition to make their work vocation and are following 1t throughout the season. They have an opportunity 10 start in harvesting winter wheat in Texas in May and then advanc. ing up through California and Oklahoma and Kansas to Minnesota and the Da- kotas to the Pacific Northwest, and finally to the wbeattields of the newly developed grain-growlng territory in Western Can ada they are enabled to keep busy almost continuously until early autumn. This journey from the southern 10 tue northern boundary of the republic Is an inexpensive one fo- the harvest hand, for the reason that his class of labor Is so much In de- mand that the railroads are usually only too glad to allow the harFestworkers free rides on their freight trains, in order to get them 10 the districts where they are ofttimes so sorey needed.
 Ont West the harvest time has no repn. tation such us lt holds In the East, as the heyday of Cupid's activity. Probably tbis is dne to the fact that in the wheat eIn- nire If is not the custom for the farmers wife and daughters and all the pretty girls fin the neighborhood to make a lark of preparing and serving the meals for the haryestworkers, as has been done from time out of mind In the East and tle Middle West. On an 5000 to 10000 acre farm, where the harvesting of the wheat keeps busy for 10 days Q force of dozens of men, this simDle,- old-fasbioned hospitality Is out of the question The farmer must foot the board bill, to be 'sure. hut the meals for the harvest hands
The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27

possibly for want of continuous practice
 However, there is one ray of hope for the lover of the cowboys free and daring life; In Uncle sam's, present crusade the West there is prospect that many cattle kings will be convicted for fencing public lands and their illegal barbed wire boundaries will in consequence be torn to the small free lance stockmen and nD Increased number of cowboys will be re qulred 10 look after their herds. Even this respite. however, will be very tenn porary one The invading army of farm. ers-tlllers of the soil, who, by the aid of irrigation, can earn comfortable hvell render the cowboy md his occupation but memory. Even the long-horued steer Is disappearing along with the other features of the Western life of the last generation. The ''long-horns" are stll 10 be found to some extent in Texas ana the Southwest, but the days of the old. fashioned breed of beef cattle appear 10 be numbered.
 tie ranching on a large scale Is found In the advent of increasing numbers Of sheep. When the sheep make their np pearance In locality they drive out the prices and lambs bringing more than so In the meat eenters Jas has frequently been the case of latel It is small wonder that sheep ranehing Is being carried on much more extensively than ever before To be sure the wool-growlng or sheep raising industry Is doomed to decrease be cause of the encroachment of settlers who are taking up the land for farming purposes, but the sheep are helping 10 drive out the cattle ere they themselves have to make way for the tillers of the soil.
 One of the reminders of old days m cattle ranehing that Is still to be found is the 'rustling," which still continues In many parts of the country. Both cattle raisers and sheep men yet suffer 10 greater or less extent from the thieyery of these pirates of the plains, To ilus trate, 1t may be cited that for fully i've years past n considerable section of the State of Oregon has been terrorised by Il large and well organized band of rustlers. who have carried on wholesale stock steal Ing in a systematic manner. This gang until recently openly defied the author ties, held their regular round ups and boldly branded with their own irons stock which they did not care to dispose of promptly after il had been stolen. As side line these gentry have indulged n sheep shooting and ranchers have lost high ns 1000 head nt a single shooting But, save in a few isolated cases. The rustler Is being extermlnated even more rapidly than the mnch-lamented cowboy
The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27

machine. These filled sacks, each holding more than two bushels of wheat, are tossed by the men Into wagons which are driven alongside the harvester as 1t pro- gresses, and which as rapidly as they are filled are driven away at top speed to transfer the sacked eat to trains waiting with steam up [ sidings of the Santa Fe Railroad, ani fhch fn turn hurry the grain to fhe q itors or to the ships which carry 1t ove a. The steam harvester cuts a swath E feet wide and requires only eight men for its operation. two of the number being the engineer and fireman.
 This year has brought the same old problem of a scarcity of harvest hands l have. heard of wages as high as SJ her day being paid in some sections of Oreeon and Washington, but the average n,ice seems to be S2 per day and board Even nt this the harvest hands-mosty col lege boys on vacation and hardy yolno men from the towns of, the Middle Wesfe can save almost their eotal earnines. for there. Is no expense for lodging. most or the harvesters "camping out" In tba wheatfelds; one suit of old clothes ,viII last through the suUf ner, and man yvbn Is working IA hours n day in the open hoe few temptations to dIssipate after worn, ing hours, even If he had the opport,,. nity. A large proportion of the Sum GOO which will be paid for harvesting thj;s years wheat crop will go back as nos, office money orders to some of those sa me saving Dapks from which 1t came fin fbe for of crisp new bills only a few weeks ago.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27
The Giant Bees of
 India.

The ordinary bee ls an In nyfEgs ,lnt creature compared with the 'giunr bees of India, specimens of which are now about to be exported for expermenial purposes
 These giant bees, one species of which is found in the Philippines. are much larger than the little honey-gatherers 10 which we are accustomed. They are pcn tiful in India, and though they never hnve been domestieated, enormous quantities of their combs are collected, chiefly for wax, which Is m article of considerable export from that country. One may see tons of 1t stored In warehouses at Cal cutta and other seaports.
 These nre forest bees. dwelling in the wild woods They do not live In hives of lofty trees. The natives are exceed lngly afraid of them. telling incredible tales of their ferocity, and even narrating instances where swarms 9f the, the insects people. Nevertheless, for 'the sake of gain, professional beet unters are engaged regularly In the occupation of robbing inc honey makers of their stored sweets. 'if The % bee hunter In india wears no cloth ing except a breech. h.cloth, and lacking n bee-veil or other protection, he uses stratagem. Having located a comb he ledge of rock from which the comh hnngs-nnd holds long stick with bunch of lgnited lenves on the end of II in such WnY thai fDP sfHoke Wii uriVf out the bees. The hitter rise In q clond i'm the mir above the comb, while the robber cuts 1t away and lowers It to the ground gently with rope.
 Notwithstanding the supposed ferocity of these giant bees, there is no doubt that they can be handled easily and safely by persons who understand the business. How rnr they may be susceptible or do- mestication remains to be ascertained The drones, or males, strange to say, are no larger than ordinary bees, and 1t is likely that they would mate with the females of species already accllmated here, producing new md useful varieties
 One Important reason why lt Is desired to introduce these bees from India Is that they have much longer tongues than other bees, and so could get honey from many kinds of flowers which, like red clover, have coroIa tubes so deep that most Of their sweets are beyond reach of the species now dOmesticnted. If this nectar, which now goes to waste. enn be gathered by the Imported insects. It Is so much clear gain The subject Is one in which all bee-keepers, whose industry Is of great importance in this country, have goed reason to be keenly interested.
 In Central and South America there are stingless bees, which are cousins Of the true honey bees, being grouped zo- ologically between the latter and the bunhlebees. They make excellent honey. which. though less sweet than that to which are accustomed, has an arc matte perfume and delicious flavor Of Its own.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27

were. ais not only does away with the old-style method Of heading and then threshlng the grain, but saves from one to three sacks of grain per acre, which was wasted or lost under the old plan.. One of these w-fangled combination machines will harvest 40 acres of grain per day, and yet only four men are re- quired to operate 1t Practically, all that Is required of human hands is the driv- Ing of the big team and the tying up of the cleaned and sacked grain as It Is de- llvered at the bottom of the machine ready for market. Every other function Is automatic.
 Yet another step in advance may be witnessed in the faW ous San Joaquin Val ley. In California, lere combination ma chimes such as have just been described are operated by big fraction engines In- stead of by the 30 or 40 horse teams These steam harvesters can be used to best advantage on reasonably level land. and, consequently, they are as yet i'm practicable ea many of the more hilly wheat farms of the Northwest but in the great level wheat-rais.ng territory of the Golden Gate State they are workplg wonders, single machines of this type har- vesting as Ugh as 150 acres of wheat per day.
 Ahe steam narvesters that whIrr and chatter up and down the Valley of the San Joaquin arc combination machines that Is, they, at one operation, cut the standing grain, tbresh 1t, throw the straw into a receiver at the back, aud after cleaning the grain pour it into sacks, which are fiad by mel sitting inside the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27

The eyes of the world have been on the American wheat harvest this year. Europe and the Orient are always very much interested in the yield of the grain fields of the greatest republic, for the foreign bread-eaters depend very largely upon Uncle Sam for the stan of life, but this year they are especially concerned. because of the failure of the crops in certain other countries that usually as- slst the United States in feeding our cousins over seas. Fortunately, | record breaking crop Is reported from many of the giant wheat farms that are scattered over almost the entire area between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean, and the indications are that our Yankee wheat dealers will be enabled to send abroad vast quantities of the golden yield with which to appease the hunger of folk of other nationalities.
 Last year, 1t may be remembered, the exports of wheat from the United States were decreased because the crop failed in certain sections of the country and the surplus in other quarters, which is usually sent abroad, had to, in a measure, be kept at home in order to supply the deficiency. Great Britain Is thls year calling for. big slice of the products of the American wheat harvest, and the cessation of war in the Orient will mean that Japan will require great quantities Of wheat and flour. For some months past the Japanese market has been to a considerable extent closed to American wheat, because many of the Mikado's subjects have found their funds running low, and rice has been substituted for flour whenever possible.
 To provide the most important item on the bi-of-fare for our own citizens and for the people of other clmes an army of 10000 men and millions of dol lars worth of harvesting machinery has been working day and night for weeks past on the .bonanza'' farms of the West. This gathering of the sheaves in up-to-date manner has come as the cul- imitation of almost q year of work and watching and worry, and no wonder the wheat farmer. whose all Is at stake awaits anxlously the verdict of the reap CTS and threshers and heaves a big sigh of relief when 1t is all oyer. There is no doubt, though, that harvesting as carried on In the wheat empire" of Western America constitutes one of the most pie turesque industries in the world
 1t Is, of course, the size of the farms which makes the harvesting dramatic and impressive in its magnitude and which has necessltated the invention of power ful and ingenious machinery, almost bu- man in its work, which Is the wonder and admiration of the man or woman who has been accustomed to the or dinary reaper and binder which is familiar sight in the average farming wheat grower of the West operates a farm-or, as be Is more likely to term 1t,
 ranch"-of tb"nsands of acres.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27

single field may contain 5000 acres of waving grain. Yet this "bonanza'' wheat farmer is confronted with exactly the same problems which bring furrows to the brow of the owner of 160acre tract back East. There is the same dread of rain ere the wheat can be harvested, and there is the same necessity for cutting the whole yield of grain just at the cru cial tnoment-not q day too soon. lest 1t be unripe, nor day beyond. lest It be over ripe
 With this obvious necessity for har- vesting almost simultaneously vast seas of grain that stretch from horizon to horizon, the wheat farmer of the West has been driven to take heroic measures. He must either employ . vast number of the smaller type of harvesting ma. chimes or else resort to those powerful time-and- labor-saying mechanical harvest CTS which are the latest product of Tan kee invented genius. This latter solution appears to be the most generally accepted one. but there are number of wheat farms where the managers still adhere to the smaller machines, and there are few more impressive sights In this work day world than the spectacle of a serried, diagonal line of from 20 to 90 binders making It's way across the waving yellow sea and cutting path equal. perhaps, to several city blocks
 Even more typical of twentieth-century American achie ,ement is the combined harvester. which Is drawn by from 80 to 4O horses and harvests and threshes the wheat, ties the straw Into bundles and sacks the wheat Ia one oparatjon- as it
The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27

new era of ranching :: dawning in the West which Is sounding the death knell of the occupation of the cowboy, long the most interesting figure In Amer ican plains and frontier life. The farmer or rancher with his wire fence, the rail roads with the industries which follow in their wake. and the trust-controlled packing houses with their starvation nrIces for cattle on the hoof are all iu- 6uences which have helped to put the nicturesQue men In chaps and sombrerOs out of q job, but after all the turn of affairs that Is most surely crowding out the flashing horsemen of the plains, Is found in tue influx of settlers who are into fs,'a smaaf farms.
 This breaking up of the big ranches and subdivision of the old ranges is going on all over the cattle country-in the South west to as great an extent almost as in the Northwest. Just as m indication of the trend of things there may be cited the case of the famous Lea Ranch of 1000 acres on the line of the Santa Fe Railroad In Texas. For two years past there has been In progress the crumbling of this magnificent property and the dis tribution of the small parcels to families who have been attracted by the excep- tional opportunities to better their con dition In the new Southwest, Already more than 10000 acres of the worlds biggest ranch have been sold piecemeal and the remainder Is rapidly being appor- tioned.
 Of course, this tendency of the times Is highly pleasing to a considerable DOT tion of the public in the Western States. The West wants settlers-is eager for in creased population and this transforma- tion of the vast, uninhabited tracts into well-settled farming districts Is mmense- ly gratifying to pretty nearly everybody save the cattle men and the COW punchers whose occupation is gone. Nor is it to be wondered at that the ranch owners are only too willing. in most instances, to maLe way for the time of immigrat ton, for the newcomers are pouring a flood of wealth into the pockets of the land holders. Ranches in the Southwest that were purchased less than two score years being sold as farm land at S9.50 per acre.
 The big rancher is, in many instances, ns has been explained. abandoning his old
The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27

are prepared In gypsy-llke kitchens on wheels, which travel from farm to farm, as do the harvest tollers for whom they constitute base of supplies.
 The private in the harvesting army, which each year marches from Mexico to Canada, leads a strenuous life. If the cutting and threshing of the grain Is be- Ing done on single shift" the toilers eat breakfast at 80 o'clock In the morn Ing and supper at s o'clock at night toll ing constantly between those hours save for brieT respite for dinner at noon. More likely, however, the harvesting is engaging the attention of two shifts of men. One set of crews work from dawn until dusk and are then relieved by others, who continue the activity through the night by the light of the moon or hnring torches. Day and night division superintendents IQ buggles-or in these days, in automobiles ride mp and down the line of the cutting directing opera tions and making m estimate of the value of the crop, in case the owner wishes to take out short-liYed fire nsurance-7a form of protection that will cost him at least SS per S1.0OO for three months or less.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27

pursuits willingly because he is selling smaller cattlemen are, however, being pushed to the wall by stress of circun- stances and are quite unreconciled to the troubles of these smaller cattlemen be, gan some years ago when the area ot free grass" began to be curtailed.
 In the old days the great expanscs of Western grazing ground were virtually common property and any cattlemen could feed his herd when and where he pleased. These. were the palmy days of the cow boys for with no confines of any kind to limit the roaming of the cattle large essential to keep track of the wandering herds. Then of a sudden there came a change. Cattlemen with capital began to buy up the choicest tracts and to fence
The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27
His Idea.

Doctor-so you're employeu ip the Treasury Department making money. eh. Well. you'll have to give 1t up.
 Pahent-I'm perfectly satisfied to do 1t as soon as I get your bill.
The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27

tnem In for their exclusive use. The stockmen who had DO ranges of their own hercely resented thls and bitter wire cutting wars followed In which the fences were Repeatedly cut or broken down, but compelled to either move on toward the mountains where the grazing was poor or else lease fenced tracts.
 Mans of the cattlemen pursued the latter course but of late lney lave been receiving notice to vaeate even this leased land. Ranch owners who have been leas- ing their pasturages to cattlemen for rJout 30 cents per acre have discovered that they can get .S10 or s12 per acre for agricultural purposes, and naturally they are. taking advantage of the oppor- tunities for increased profits just as rapid ly us they can secure tenants
The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27

The cowboy as an institution began to wane as soon as the cattle ranges com menced to be sold and free grass" to disappear and now the invasion of the cattle country by the small farmer has assuredly dealth the death blow to bis occuration. There WIS some need for the
The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-27

ards of the oldtimers. To be sure they dress the same us in the halcyon days, they ride the same wiry COW ponies and thhey ride ride and % shoot as well as any t or in many Instances tbeir hands have lost their cunning In the roping of cattle
Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1905-02-25

Do not turn the eggs for three days
from beginning the hatch, nor after
the nineteenth day
Leave chicks In the incubator from
twenty-four to thirty-six hours after
they are Matched; they do not need
feeding for at least thirty-six hours
after they come from the shell. Ma
ture has provided for their sustenance
during this time.
Keep the temperature as near lO3
degrees as possible, but do not worry
If 1t runs up to 1O5 degrees or as low
as 90 for a short time. Watch the
size Of the lamp fame, and keep it as
nearly the size that will produce the
proper temperature as possible.
Do not open the egg chamber after
the CHICKENS begin to pip the shell,
even If some chick seems TO be having
a hard time TO get out. A chick that
cannot get out Of the shell without
help is not worth saving. If the chicks
gasp and struggle, do not bother them
lit is good for them.
Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1905-02-25


When there is such quantity of
ground to be cleaned of snow rs is
FOUND around the average farm home,
something more than the ordinary
snow shovel is needed. If the snow
Is deep and the space to be cleared
considerable, then one should bring
into use a large pillow with the horse
to pull 1t. For hand plow nothing
Is better than the simple one made in
the following manner:
Select two pieces of board free from
knots, each three feet long and six
inches wide. Bevel the end Of each
board and nail them together in the
form of V. If necessary they may
De braced at the wide end by a strip
three inches wide and the necessary
length Then put in a pole five feet
long with a cross piece at the upper
End. To strengthen the end in which
the handle is inserted cut a block of
wood as large as possible, and fit it