The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-04-11

titles Of alfalfa and wild hay. Last
acres 10 these crops. Alfalfa yields
three cuttings annually.
Hay harvesting is an Interesting
sight on the big farm. Six mowers
/ are started, one behind the other, and
/ they go the length OF the field.
4 Perhaps they viii go straight ahead
/ for five miles before turning the time
j being arranged so that they can lust
make the round trip between meals.
after windows have been made up
with ordinary rakes, a "bull' rake Is
Started down the line. This piles the
! hay at intervals in small stacks of q
ton EACH and these, in turn, are gath
cred into large stacks. In winter the
cattle are turned loose among these
stacks, thus saving any further e&-
/ pense Of handling.
+ Flowing the fields is another inter
esting spectacle.
Until this season a steam traction
I engine was used to haul the gang
/ ploWs, but this will be disca rded ana
/ mules.
Five mules are hitched to each disc
! pleW, every pillow having three discs
for turning the soil. over forty of
/ these ploWs may be seen in the field
at one time, which means the stimuli
taneous turning Of one hundred and
/ tAy ent3 burrows 1t is a beautiful sight
+ when a great expanse of grassy sur
] q.
/ IA mellow. crumbIing soil.
neat harvesting on One Hundred
ana one ranch is a spectacle that al
ways attracts many visitors.
Down the long belt of waving
] golcen grain the forty two reapers go,
! one after the other, behind the pIod-
dlnS horse or mule teams until the
me OF gathering machines stretches
away almost as far as one can see,
] each leaving a swath of cleaning
stubble in its wake as it cuts a wide
cash in the luxuriant growth
F1Ity wagons are engaged in carry
ing the freshly bound sheaves to the
five great threshing outfits, whose
! positions are marked by the smoke Of
+ their steam engines and by the groups
of busy men about them.
Furnishing meals for all the men
! employed on this eighty-seven thou
sand acre farm would tax the organ
! ization and ingenuity of a large COM
nissary department.
There are, in fact, several commits
/ sary departments, located at different
points about the estate, so that the
! farm hands at meal times shall lose as
/ little time as possible.
Arrangements are also made for
feeding the horses and mules wherever
/ they may be when the monday dinner
hour arrives. At night. however, these
animals are housed in great central
sta bles.
These stables are about one hundred
and eighty feet long, and each has =
driveway down the center. Through
this loads of provender are driven, and
the trOughs filled from the wagons.
Automatic feeders regulate the sup
ply of food that goes into the managers.
! A telephone system connects all the
ranch houses, and on hot days Mr..
Miller can sit in his Office, hear re-
ports from his haryesters in different
sections of the farm and issue his or
ders just as though he were on the
spot
He holds his foremen to strict ac-
count for the sections under their
charge. and rich bonuses reward those
who can coax the greatest crops from
! their territory.
Especially proud is Mr.. Miller of his
fine herd of buffaloes, which Craze on
, | the Oklahoma side of the ranch. Ok
lahoma is one of the natural herding
grounds Of the buffalo, and they do
we'll there
Mr.. Miller is arranging a lively en-
! ! tertainment for the national cOnven
ton of editors when it meets this
spring at Guthrie. In addition to
showing them what farming on a large
{ I scale really Is, he proposes to gather
, several hundred Indians from all parts
of the Southwest. These will be given
a buffalo dinner, and will in turn give
: exhibitions of their war dancing and
: pony racing for the benefit of the
visitors.
Kansas has other large farms that
open the eyes Of visitors from the
east One is the Forsha ranch. near
Hutchinson, although this is barely q
: garden plot compared with the Miller
, tract
It has six thousand acres, and
makes 100000 a year raising alfalfa
, cattle and corn and running a Touring
/, mill on the farm. The home contains
! eighteen rooms. is heated by steam
and lighted with gas from a private
g. plant. There is a bath house close by
2 for the use of the hired men Last
year was made, it is understood, ST.
: 600 from a twelve hundred acre field
! of alfalfa.
The Sherman ranch of forty thou
= sand acres near -Geneseo, Kan, is an
other of the big farms of the west
! Fifty men are employed the yeal
around, and many more at harvesting
time, with a general manager and ar
expert for each department. The pay
roll is $1,000 a month.
Still another extensive farmer IS
John T. Stewart of Wellington. He
made his first $4,000 investing ir
Kansas farm lands. Now he owns one
hundred and forty farms in Kansas
and forty in Oklahoma. All are rented
! on shares-SteWart taking a third Of
D the crop for rent
: Dan Rice of Atchison county, Kan
sas. owns one hundred and twenty
: quarter sections, and buys more farms
I never sold farm after it once came
4 into his possession. Last year ht
Earnered about 100000 worth Of
t wheat. One of his wheat fields is f1v'
: miles long.
: SHOT AT A NEGRO INTRUDER.