The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1906-08-16
STATE OF WASHINGTON.
Former Fulton County Citizen Tells How
They Do Things 0ui There.
Touch the Button
AND MACHINERY DOES THE REST.


of Fulton county; so, perhaps, the
readers would like to hear from
this part of the West. Three
years age last April, left Cham
bersburg for this State. Upon my
arrival here | broughta farm OF $50
acres. We all like the country We
ry much and have been very pros
porous. Harvest is com menced
now (being later this season on ac-
count of cool weather) and, so the
farmers are all busy in the grain
feds. The crops all look well.
Plenty of work and good wages
for everyone, especially men with
teams.
There is a new electric railway
almost completed, which passes
Just on the edge of my farm. 1t
starts at Spokane, % miles north
of here, and runs southeast for
near one hundred miles through
new farming country. This line
required many bridges over the
gulches-the one nearest to our
farm being Rock Creek bridge
l,060 #. In length and 1856 #. high
and contains 1,250,000 ft. of Ore
gon fir. The new line will be a
benefit to the farmers, as we are
now more than three miles from
railroad.
The season of 1905 was a very
prosperous one for farmers; abun
dance of wheat and oats, also
vegetables and fruit through the
State The wheat in this sectlon
was over 6 feet tall, and very
heavy y-yielding from 30 to 80
bushels an acre, of fine quality,
and weighing 81 lbs. to the bush
cl 1t brought 60 cents per bush.
el. Oats was equally as tall, and
Welded from 40 to 100 bushels an
acre, and weighing 80 lbs. to the
bushel Owing to several new
railroads being built through this
country lately, oats brought a
good price, 75 cents per bushel.
We raise both fall and spring
wheat.
On the medium sized farms, the
grain is cut and threshed IN the
fields By Combined Harvester,
operated by 30 horses and 10 men
The cutting of the grain, thresh
ing 1t, and putting IN sacks, Is
done in one operation; but on the
larger farms, where they have
thousands of acres IN wheat, the
steam engine has displaced thu
horses. One of the largest in us'
is of 20 horse power; the driving
wheels are each y TT. wide, ant
can draw it's load on very hgh
and sandy soil. Geng plows ar
attached to this engine, and as l
moves leisurely along, it draws
furrow of % TT. Then an i'm
mense harrow is attached and !
performs the work of 40 horse
on freshly plowed land. 1t plows
harrows and seeds from so to Z
acres day. Then, when grain
ripe, this engine draws Con
bined Harvester, cutting "a f
clear, threshing the grain froT
the straw, and delivering 1t
sacks, sewed and ready for tn
warehouse-all In one operation
The entire process requires br
water hauling outfit for the el
glne and six men TO operate I'll
machine and sack the gram. u
der ordinary conditions, at lea,
60 horses and about 40 men woul
be used to save the same amour
of grain daily Every day the m
chine saves from 20 to 100 acr,
of grain, leaving it IN piles in Il
field ready for the wagons to plt
up and deliver to the warehouse
When harvest Is over the @
gne is attached TO number
wagons, which are loaded wi
hundreds of bushels of gra,
draws the crop to the warehous
making at least two trips dali
There are a great many she
raised in this State, the shearil
OF which generally takes place
May. lis a common occurron
to see 20 shearing machines op,
ate1 by 35 men, at work on 3O,C
: shesp.
Those machines are operat