The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1914-12-31
LETTER FROM
RESIDENT
3. H.. Ffahm Writes Hand County
Friends on Farm Life
In Idaho
Kima, Ida, Dec. Il, 1914.

~ OAh hAoiiy Aoi w.
will try and write a few
lines in general thru the columns of
the Miller Press. Today was a most
beautiful day. clear and sunny, but
real cool yet. The last tSv weeks
we have been having real wintry
weather, ~ degrees below zero with
about 2 inches of snow. So YOU see
nv friends it gets cold in Idaho as
well as i'm Dakota. When it IL real
cold here, it is perfectly still, not a
breath of air to be felt. In fact we
, have but a very little wind at any
time. When 1t SHOWS, the snow re-
mains LAYING on the cops of the fence
posts. Our winters are most de-
liehtful here.
The people were out blowing up
to the first part of this month, and
in the latter part of January every
BODY is out in the field again prepar-
ing their ground so that 1t can be
irrigated. 1t takes a lot of work
and time to get a field ready for the
seed so that it can be irrigated. All
little bumps and high ridges have to
be scraped down to a perfect level
with the rest of the field. And then
we have to level it. that is go over
it 2 or 3 times with a kind of a float.
Then the ground Is ready for the
drill. And when we irregate we inst
food the whole field OF course.
after we have the ground once per-
fectIy level. then it is just like farm
ing In Dakota, We only need to do
this leveling once. And we lrrigate
8 or 4 times to make a crop.
Our summers are very hot and dry.
No rains all summer. Although the
nights are real cool. Towards eve
ming the cool breezes from the snow
capped mountains pass over the val
ley, leaving everything to awaken
the next morning refreshed with
rene~ed energy.
The crops this wear were far.
| Wheat made ON an average a Weld
of 90 bushels per acre, oats from IS
to SO bushels, barley 25 and 80. Corn
is not raised very much here. altho
it is coming in. What corn there
was this year made from 10 to Is
bushels per acre Occasionally you
hear of wheat making 40 and 80 bu,
per acre, but if you ask the party
how many acres he had of it, he VIII
tell you probably half an acre, or
even less. And sometimes an acre
Take a little patch like that they
baby around all summer and get a
Blk Yield.
Farmers have to keep their whole
place fenced with woven wire. If
they don't the jack rabbits ruin every
particle of crop. They are very
thick.
In the winter the farmers have
rabbit drives. Everybody that can
fire a gun takes part in the sport.
They'll aim to drive them up against
some long woven fence. And then
they close in on them all at once.
Then you al see rabbits by the
thousands. Last winter in one drive
we killed between five and six thou
Sand. Sure some fun boys
All the farms have as nice lawns
and pretty yards with trees as city
homes have. Most lawns are green
even vet. The snow came before the
cold weather and protected the green
grass from the severe cold.
NV father and mother have a coy
little home and five acres of land
joining our place. Father and moth
er just wanted enough so that they
can have their own COW and horse
and a few chickens. They also have
their own orchard consisting of ap-
pies, prunes. peaches. apricots,
cherries, pears and plums. Besides
all kinds of berries they have a most
beautiful little home. We have 50
acres of land here. That may seem
laughable out there, but that is a
fair sized ranch out here. We have
everything fixed up modern, only we
haven't u own orchard vet but we
intend to set one out in the spring.
There have been different ones
written that they heard my father
and mother had lost all of their
money in a bank failure out here in
Idaho but that is not true. They
have all OF their none out OF Hand
Co. real estate and they intend to
leave it there to. They had a very