Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-08-24
THE IHRESHING SEASON
HAS STARTED NDAk0TA
MOST IMPORTANT PERIOD OF
THE YEAR IS NOW At
HAND.
The Season has been a Remarkable
One in Many Respects and the Yield
is Better than war Expected.

Dakota, is now here and the grain Is
being threshed out at the rate Of two
million bushels day, more or less, in
spite of the unprecedented dry sea-
son. Farming in North Dakota this
year, owing to the conditions, has diff
fered somewhat from the ordinary
year, but from all over the state come
reports that the grain is turning out
wonderfully we'll for the straw and
that the crop developed greatly dur
ing the two weeks before harvest.
The state crop is variously estimated
from 30,O00,OOO bushels to 100000
but the betwixt and between figures
40, 100000 to 50,000,000 are generally
accepted as the more accurate. 1t
has been now q little over hundred
days since most Of the crop in North
Dakota was placed in the ground fol-
lowing the late snowfall and now the
result of the labor and work is being
realized.
TO bring this about not only have
the farmers been doing business
themselves, bit they have kept sew
eral other classes of people jumping
in various directions at the same time.
The task was really begun year ago
when the blowing fo- this years crop,
or a large portion of it, was done,
and the knights of the grip" gathered
in their orders for new harrows, drills,
tanning mills and other machinery for
the early spring use of the farmers.
Then the factory hands had their
whirl at the crop of 1909 for several
months. The railroads proceeded to
get busy with their first stunt at the
crop, bringing the machinery from the
factories to the dealers. During Feb
ruary and March the implement deal
ers and their assistants had some
strenuous days getting in the machin-
cry soon to be needed by the farmers.
Next in order was the matter of seed,
this in some cases having to be ship
ped in or purchased from elevator or
farmer and all to be cleaned and sack
ed ready for sowing time.
Some OF the more aggressive farm
ers took the bull by the horns, fig
uratively speaking, and began seeding
early in April. The heavy snowfall
that came about the middle of the
month stopped seeding operations for
the time being, but proved to be the
salvation of the crop, for it furnished
practically all the moisture the grain
got during the summer. The seeding
was finished by the middle of May
and then the farmer settled down to
wait for the crop to mature. June
and July brought their full share Of
work in providing feed and in sum-
mer following land, but the usual hay
crop was not in evidence owing to the
drouth and it can hardly be said that
North Dakota had a haying season
this year.
Getting Ready for Harvest.
In the meantime thousands Of men
were at work in the harvester and
threshing machine factories getting
ready. the machinery for the harvest
and threshing season, and again the
railroads were kept busy in getting
the goods from the factories to the
scene of operations. Eleven thousand
and some hundred harvesting mach
ines have been sold this season to
the farmers of North Dakota and this
gave work to small army of experts
for several weeks setting the machines
up.
The dealers in harvesters, as we'll
as the large distributing stations in
Grand Forks, Fargo, Bismarck and
Minot, have just begun to take breath
now after strenuous siege of putting
out the new machines, but there is no
let up to their work yet, for the mat
ter of repairs, usually requiring the
filling of rush" orders, has kept them
busy.
Over a thousand threshing rigs
have been sold in North Dakota this
season and this has meant plenty of
business for hundreds of workmen in
getting them into the possession Of
the threshers.
Where Irvine 10 Procured.
A year ago, and in some instances
more, the material from which the
binding twine for use in harvesting
this seasons crop was purchased in
Manila or other foreign lands and
shipped to the factories in this coun-
try, and for the past nine months
several thousand men have been en-
ployed in the factories manufacturing
the twine. Nearly four million pounds
of binding twine has been manufac-