The Dickinson press., 1910-04-30
STILL LIKES NORTH. DAKOTA
50 WRITES mrs. cRonklTE

comes to us weekly, and along with
The Hettinser County Herald seems like
letter from home. We are glad to
hear from you all and to know you are
having such good times. What a bless
ing it would be if people could only
realize when they are well enough of
and be contentsd.
One of the kindest and most sensible
ladies l have ever met said to me at
one time There are draw backs in
livery place dear. yell find them
wherever We Co." For years l had
dreamed Of an irrigated country as an
ideal place for a home, to be able to
regulate ones supply of water, never
too much. never 0 little. always
enough. Add to this a soil and eli
mate favorable to the production of
many kinds of fruits and vegetables.
with no cyclones or thunder storms,
would it not be almost a paradise?
We were singing
No cyclones ere sweep Ger this valley
But the noble Columbia river
Gives freely its waters to all.
But one day last week after an x
perience that would have to be see
and felt in order to be realized. our
little song CHANGED somewhat:
There are dirt storms that sweep DER
this valley.
And they'r re worse than a cyclone could
be:
And when we look out on our orchards.
There's nothing but dust we can see.
Talk Of billiards in good North Dakota!
In truth they were not half so bad
And with both eyes and ears, nose and
mouth full.
What else can you do but Oct mad?
However, they tell us that these dirt
storms will soon be q thing of the past,
that as soon as the trees Oct a little
larger and the soil is cultivated enough
to contain sufficient humus it will lie
still. Now it has spells when it seems
to want to be on the move 40 though
it were possessed with a restless under
current of feeling. They assure us that
this is the case with all newly irri-
gated countries, where the soil is of
mineral formation and that in a little
while from this on we will not have as
many dirt storms as has the ordinary
farming county. Everything seems to
be prospecting finely at present.
We have planted about 10 acres of
early potatoes between the rows OF trees
which we expect to be selling by the
middle of June for 3 cents and 4 cent a
pound.
What the A i Dakota hard wheat is
to North Dakota the big red apple is to
Washington, particularly to the Nenat-
chez country. For several days we have
seen numbers of large, beautiful apples
floating down the Columbia river.
Some of them came so near shore that
they are easily gotten out, and are
among the very incest apples we have
ever tasted. They were condemned by
the fruit inspector on account of some
tiny mite or scale which would develop
into a fruit pest. thought of the many
little children in the large cities who
seldom see any fruit except in shop
windows and wished there might be
some better way of disposing of these
delicious apples than of dumping them
by the carload into the river.
The strawberries are earlier than
usual and w may have a few ripe by
the last of April. Strawberries would
pay about $500 per acre here if properly
cared for but M serious proposition
the berry grower has to contend with is
the help question. Much of the help
here comes from the south. where it
is SO easy to get a living that many
of the people seem to lose their am
bition. Now. though every star in
the bright blue of our flag shines with
its own peculiar lustre. we somehow
think that those representing our north
ern startes are, in some respects, stars
of the first magnitude. When a south
ern senator asked Daniel Webster in
~sneering tone what do they raise. up
in New Hampshirey'', He got his
answer. They raise men," And if
ever you are tempted to change your
home don't 60 where you can make too
easy q living. Better the snow drifts
to shovel and plough though, better the
billiards and prairie fires TO fight. than
to sit down to live without work. We
love to think over the experience on
the North Dakota ranch. We would not
forget any of them and in the store
touse of our mind among the most
tender recollections are the memories of
North Dakota.
0, North Dakota. stern and grand.
Foremost for truth and right aye stand.
We loved thy prairies, brQad and fair. !.
The roaming herdsA free as the air.
Nor 1oxyo NJ 1oco <hn hnn-Ar&o - x-,@