The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1909-09-08


on rails the full length of the build
ing and to the rear for convenient
distance for handling. The princi-
pal feed is provided from silos, of
which there are already four, made
with cedar slaves and a capacity of
260 tons each, as given by the fore
man. They are thirty feet high
and % feet in diameter, Of circular
form. The foreman, who was a
Connecticut Yankee, informed US
that the company was buying herd
of 500 cows as fast as they could
procure the kind they wanted. Land
is too high priced to depend on pas
turage. and by using silo. they fig
ured that every acre would support
one coW-Which seemed to the writ
er doubtful proposition. even on
the wonderfully productive soil Of
this valley, where we saw ITO acres
of as fine red clover as one could
wish to look upon, and fields of oats
so rank and badly lodged in many
places that the foreman was almost
in despair how to cut it, to say moth
ing of binding the grain. Farmers
in the vicinity are inclined to be
sceptical as to this enterprise ever
paying dividends. and the writer
shares in their belief that corpora
lions can make more money water
ing railroad and mining stock and
milking the stockholders than they
can at milking cows on big corpo-
ration farm of this sort.
Granted that the soil Of these val
leys is exceedingly fertile and the
markets for their product the very
best in the country, there remain
some problems for them to over
come. Perhaps the greatest is the
cost of clearing the land, in many
cases approximating 500 per acre.
This helps to account for the price
of tillable land in these valleys, one
acre of which will cost as much as
three in Redwood county. One
learns of new ways of clearing land
here. My cousin asked me day or
two ago if | wanted to 60 with him
and see him set the world on fire.
He was equipped with large can
an infammable distillate
Of petroleum which the farmers use
for setting fires. This he poured
upon brush piles or upon the dry
peat bog along the tract which he
vas retaining from Its natural
state, and in due season the peat and
moss on the surface took fire, smoul-
Tered for afeW days, and left the
ground with a mellow covering of ;
ashes wherever the conditions were
favorable, in excellent condition for
the breaking pillow. | was told that
this messy surface growth is detri-
nent rather than a help to the
growth of grass or grain, and its de-
by fire no loss to the fer
tility of the soil below. Fire plays
A large part in all clearing of land,
Millions of cords of wood that Red
wood county farmers would be glad
If chance to take away for the
hauling going up in smoke every
season. AS the weather is dry and
favorable for this work just now,
smoke is ascending all through this
1alley of late, obscuring from view
he glacier-coyered summit of Mt.
Baker, which in clear weather tow
RS above the lesser ranges of noun
aims seen eastward from this place.
We like the Canadians we have
net in this vicinity since our arrival.
The prevailing class is of the sturdy ..
Scotch breed, and they have the
oft voices and kindly ways which
Usually go with the sons and daugh-
er of "auld Scotia" On the road
hey put the average countryman
rom the states to blush in the mat
er of courtesy and friendliness.
n Canada you are always expected
o turn to the left when meeting
cam, and when the writer did some /
,oor steering on the road on two or |
hree occasions, the mix-up was &C $
epted with a smile instead Of cuss :
word as would have been the usual
utcome in the states. In short,
When YOU meet grouchy person in
canada, the burden of proof is that