The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1913-08-08
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A. J. Mcclure, superintendent of
the Minnesota experiment station at
Grand Rapids, IS the subject OF a
most eulogistic article in The Country
Gentleman Of July rs under the cap
ton pathfinder for the Poor Mans
Farm. The Crooked Cow Path Is
the Straight Road to Profits" The
author of the article is Forrest Cris-
sey, and he deals with Mr.: McGuire's
methods in developing cut-over lands
so that they will pay the farmer from
the start. The article is reproduced
here and follows:
'The Minnesota Experiment station
found itself with lanky young Irish
man on its hands whose individual
architecture didn't seem to fit into
the subdued landscape about the COL
lege grounds. He looked to be built
for sterner things. So when he de-
veloped an interest in the problem Of
conquering the cut-over pine lands
he was told to go and see what he
could do. Not that much was ex-
pected from the experiment, but if
anybody could extract blood from a
turnip or crops from timbered Sa-
hara, Mcclure was the man for the
job.
"And Mcclure was pleased to go
up into the stump country as if he
were being sent to the court of St.
James! Mcclure wanted to do some
thing for the state something real
and practical-and if he could show
how to convert cut-over pine lands in
to paying farms that would certainly
be something substantial. Wasn't a
full third Of Minnesota just that sort
of land? The bigness and hardness
Of the task appealed to him. Besides
this idea of helping to show the poor
man how to take cheap land and make
it pay without fighting through pio-
neer period Of semi-starvation be-
fore getting the little farm on pro-
ductive basis got right next to his big
Irish heart. In the job that was CIV
en- him he saw opportunity, not ban
ishment, and he went to it with will.
"After looking over the ground he
came to the conclusion that the aver
age settler on cut-over pine lands
generally began at the wrong end of
the task by starting on the basis that
the amount of land he could clear,
plow and put into crops was the meas
ure and the limit Of activities. Nc
CURE looked at it in this way:
"The two main problems that every
new settler on the cut-over pine lands
faces are: First, getting a living -
and a little more, if possible-from
his place right from the start; second,
building up the fertility of the soil so
that it will do better by him each
year. The average settler seems to
think that the whole problem of get
ting on is focused into the question:
"How many acres can I clear and put
under the plow?"
ut had been drilled into me that the
surest and quickest way to build up
the fertility Of the soil was to keep
livestock on it. Now, a cow can 60
round a stump, but pillow has never
acquired the habit of stump-dodging.
By going over acre after acre Of that
cut-over land saw that there was
quite crop of grass between the
stumps. 1t was some native clover.
It was not fancy pasturage by any
means, but there was enough grass
to give a limited number Of cows am
pie grazing.
$50 made up my mind that the
right way to begin was to make the
uncleared land pay from the start and
to build up its fertility against the
time when it could be cleared and put
under the plow. Clearing cut-over
land is a slow and expensive process,
as every pine-land settler knows to
his sorrow. He generally gets dis
couraged before he can get enough
clear land to yield him, in the form
of field crops, meager living. My
plan was reversal Of this order, and
my motto was: Start with the milk
pail instead of the ak, with the COW
instead of the plow; make the un-
cleared land carry the burden OF
keeping the family and clearing the
stumps.
"Again, 1 was located in the heart
of what you might call a milkless ter
ritory. The pine country had never
been strong on cows; but its woods
swarmed with lumber camps and the
great iron mines were right in our ter
ritory. We had an eager and unfail-
ing market for milk, cream and all
dairy products right at hand.
Mcclure started his demonstration
with grade cows, but headed his herd
with registered Guernsey bull. The
cows did not disappoint him. They
picked up a good living between the
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