Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1906-08-09
suggest Wheat Crop in the West.

This years wheat crop in Oklahoma
is now being threshed, and is promis.
ing a record breaker. Figures as to
the yield in the whole State, of course.
are lacking at this time, but lOl
Ranch will do its share to swell the
total with a crop estimated at It's 600
bushels.
Sounds big, doesn't it? Well, 1T
is big ranch. There are 10000 acres
of it, and 5000 devoted to wheat.
This lO1 Ranch is where they do
things on large scale.
They had forty.six harvesters hack
ing off the grain. 1t took three horses
to drag each of these harveaters, which
were of the cutting a six.foot swath.
Some of these swaths were easily a
mile long. II you want to become
statistical, figure out how many bush
els to the acre.
And, again, Joe Miller will tell you
with the other Miller boys to back
him up, that each of the machines
cos. from $4,000 to $4,000. Also it is
an undiaputed and indisputable fact
that it takes forty.six drivers to drive
forty-six harvesters. Then there are
twenty.three water haulers, Irvine
haulers, etc., to say nothing of few
superintendent and a gang of men at
the station to feed and harness the
mules and horses.
If you are used to some small or
garden variety of farm, it will mean
something to you when you hear from
Joe Miller-no relation to the joker
of that name-that he now has out
six threshing outfits, besides the
threshing machines. Each outfit
needs ten bundle wagons, ten grain
wagons, one cook wagon and one wat
err wagon. 1t calls for total of sixty
drivers of bundle wagons, six engin-
GERS, six separator men, Six cooks, Six
assistant cooks, sixty grain wagon
drivers and thirty.six pitchers (grain,
not basebalD. Each of these machines
thresh from 1000 to 1000 bushels Of
grain daily.
On the Miller ranch the harvesters
eat and sleep in the field, as they are
from one to ten miles away from the
house. A cook wagon, very much
like the owl lunch wagons you see
downtown in cities, stays by them out
in the field. There is little counter
in it and stools for the men, while the
rear is taken up with the cook stove
and refrigerator. The men go tc
bed by the simple process of lyine
down on the ground, pillowing their
heads upon a shock of wheat and pull
ing a wagon over them for comfort
The mules do not eat in the field
They are fed at the ranch stables
where 400 or 500 of them are allowed
to fill up on corn and oats all nigh
long. This is their only meal in tn
twenty.four hours, but it is one tina
lasts.
The 1Ol Ranch wheat crop, al
though mammoth, is not its only one
The big tract of land, leased from tn
Ponca Indians, also produces 10000
bushels of corn a year, 5000 tons O
prairie hay, 5000 tons of alfalfa hay
and it supports $4,000 cattle AM
5000 hogs.
Joe Miller, 3S, conducts genera
supervision over the farm and sign
the ohecks-and he can sign pretty
big ones, if he does do it with lea
pencil. He also communes with tn
Indian landlords in the Ponca tongue
Next is Zach, who looks out for tn
$1,000 cattle and the cowboys, an
who does most of the travelling.
George is the Office man and keep
in constant communication with al
parts of the ranch and the United
States by local and long distance tele
phone.
They have 200 acres in cotton a
101 Ranch this year. They hav
more than that in watermelons. Tn
cotton is an experiment.
Says Joe Miller: eff it turns GU
all right, we'll plant some"