Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1909-11-05

&c caacwed with s~uficienf' jaGdgG&iislt
to know what really constitutes y
genuine opportunity. However, the
vast majority Ut the American people
are OF sufficiently high order Of
intelligence to make the distinction,
Ito only elnsneut lacking being
vigorous action in grasping It.
With tho p~henomenally rapid
increase in tho population OF the
country it has become apparent to
even the most unobserving that 1t
will be but q comparatively short
time before all available public land
will have passed into the hands of
private owners and there will be
none left which may be obtained ex.
cept through purchase. In fact there
is very little remaining at the present
time that is valuable for agricultural
purposes and in consequence 1t
behooves those DESTROYS of securing
farms in q section of the country
where crops do not fail and 1t Is
possible to readily secure q COM
petence from the soil to get hold of
some of the rich land of Morrison
county and participate in the wonderful
prosperity being enjoyed by those now
following agricultural pursuits here. 1t
is an opportunity which should not be
overlooked and leans unqualified
success to the ordinary man of in
telllgence who IS willing to conscien-
tiousIy apply himself to the work in
hand.
There are, in addition to improved
farms, many thousand acres of land in
Morrison county which IS still virgin
soil, never having been disturbed by
pillow or other agricultural implement.
BY far the greater portion of this is
equally fertile as that from which
rich harvests are garnered annually
and which return to their owners
dividends far beyond those of other
sections where land values are much
higher. Considerable of the land has
ample timber to last for two or three
generations for fuel purposes if pro-
perly conserved, with by far the
greater part of the tract under cultiva-
ton. This is a very important feature
and gives the Morrison county farmer
a distinct advantage over those who
are forced to purchase all fuel-..re-
quired. .,
When 1t is remembered that Morri-
son county carried away for two
successive years the first premium at
the Minnesota state fair against all
corners it may be readily understood
that practically everything in the
cereal. forage, root and fruit line IS
raised here for the older and more
thickly settled counties of the state
did not give up this coveted laurel
willingly or without an attempt to
again wrest from this county the
valued distinction she bad won.
However, it is very probable that she
will continue to hold her proud posi-
t1on as the banner agricultural county
in this great state-the genuine
paradise of the farmer and dalryman.
Within more recent years there has
been shown a disposition on the part
of the farmers here to 60 more into d.
versifed farming and as a result their
prosperity has increased accordingly.
They never have all their eggs in n
basket any more as was the case when
all depended upon the wheat crop
and the price of that commodity.
Now there are EXTENSIVE diaries
furnishing cream to the eleven
creameries operating in the county
and putting good, hard cash into the
pockets OF their owners ach month.
The farmer of today in Morrison
country who does not have a bank
account is the exception and loans on
farms and chattels of every description
have decreased in proportion to one In
ten a few years ago.
During the past season many farmers
planted a large acreage OF potatoes and
while tho season was somewhat drier
than usual a good yield was secured
which was disposed of at highs prices
and netting splendid returns. All
other root crops are successfully
grown throughout the county and for
which there Is a fine market. Timothy
~ grown successfully and there are
farmers who have just started in to
raise clover for the seed, some of them
paying for their farms with the first
crop. That is a feat impossible where
lands are so much more valuable, but
it is also a demonstration that clover
thrives here. solving the question OF
feed.
An element which has directly af-
fected the agricultural development of
the county Is the disposition of the
county commissioners to construct
trunk line roads from all sections of
the county to Little Falls and other
towns for the benefit of the farmer in
order that he may the more readily
and economically haul his produce to
market. Pursuing carefully laid
plans IN this direction the roads are
being brought to a high degree of
perfection and as the soil readily packs
down hard our roads are better than
those of sections where rains make
deep mud, ruts and quagmires result
ing from their use in rainy weather.
Here the roads are tar better after q
hard rain but are uniformly good
throughout the year.
Another question which enters