The Oakes times. [volume] (Oakes, N.D.) 1906-current, 1906-12-20
GREAT COUNTRY
FOR SMALL FRUITS
Grown Very Successfully With
Proper Care
Great Possibilities Of Artesian Wells on Farm
Rain and Snow Fall for Year and for
Rain for Past Ten Years.
BY F. o. AL1N
This article was written for our special
edition but received too late for insertion.l

rullerCOn, Uec. lU-lne advantages
North Dakota offers can hardly be
surpassed anywhere. We have more
means for independence than any other
state in the Union. North Dakota
ranks first in flax and spring wheat
production and close up to the first
mark on several other products, and
Dickey county can proudly stand to the
front. The farmers in Dickey county
can boast of having over twenty-five
different varieties of profitable grain
stock, and products to market an
nually, and I believe it would be hard
to beat the list anywhere. We live
close to market and have all the con-
veniences of the older settled states,
such as. rural free mail delivery, rural
telephones, etc.
Fruit of many kinds can be easily
raised, such as plums, apples, raspberries
strawberries, gooseberries, currants,
ETC., and they all produce good crops
with very little care. Any family can
raise enough good fruit to supply the
table during the year and yet have
some to spare.
The main problem in raising fruit is
to select good low sheltered place for
the orchard and give the plants little
care to start with and then nature will
do the rest. I have more then
dozen different kinds of forest trees
and all grow well. A lot of fine groves
already adorn the country and it is just
a question of time when everv farm
will have a lot of beautiful trees.
Dickey county is well supplied with
nice pure water and the deep artesian
basin underlies most parts Of the
: county. This is the only county in the
state where good pressure can be
had. Here and there a pressure Of 100
pounds and over can be found. have
one Of the best artesian wells found
anywhere and it gives enough power
to run lot of machinery. Ihave now
installed a regular power plant. Have
the we'll harnessed to the following
machines: Feed mill, tanning mill,
grain elevator for granary, blacksmith
blower, blacksmith drill, turning lathe,
circular saw, emery wheel, grindstone,
corn shelter, churn and washing ma
chine, and yet I am going to have a
dynamo for electric light. Experts
claim will have enough power to do
the cooking and maybe heating by
electricity. Here is an extract from a
letter from the Simplex Electric Heat
ing Co. in which they say: IF you
can develop about 8 H. P. % amphers
at 100 volts, you will have enough cur
rent for family of four or five for
cooking purposes. For such family
you will need say, two stoves, one 8
stove and an oven. For ordinary cook
ing you would never need all of these
going at once or very rarely, but in the
event Of you doing so, you would have
some surplus under the conditions men,
toned above and when you are cooking
at time when you want the lights
also, you probably would be able to get
along comfortably"
From the average annual rainfall at
my farm near Fullerton, "U. S.
Weather Bureau Station" for the past
ten years it will be seen that half the
time it has been above the yearly average
and the other half below, SO there is
no ground for the much increased rain
fall lately. In 1896 the precipitation
for the year. amounted to about %
inches which held the maximum record
up to this year, 1906, which for the
eleven months past amounts by months
as follows:
1906 Rain Snow
January LILY ILL.,
February. ........... " 1.9
March ..................... .89 &c
April l................... 6.3
May .o.6
June. .............4 .4.43
July y.......,..............5.39 9
August G
September. .2.89
October. lies 9.5
November. ......... ......2.& 1871
December, 10 days. ....... 10 7.(