Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1919-07-18


occasion to examine this section crit
icaIly. The observations which he
made on us and our county in his pa
per are not only pleasing and inter
esting but are also valuable for the
criticism which he offers. The article,
from the Lester Prairie News, fol-
lows:
THE writer, in company with
friend, made an extensive trip into
the western portion of the state the
latter part Of the week and looked
over a vast amount Of country lying
in the west central portion of the
state
Driving in car from here straight
on through to Litchfield we found
crop conditions about the same as
here, the grain standing trifie heav-
Ter the farther west we went. Around
Grove City and Atwater we saw the
most promising prospects of the trip,
while as far west as Willmar the
conditions, seemed to be about the
same. West of there the country be-
gins to get fat and the insufficient
heavy rains of the past month have
resulted in almost drowning out
large number of fields in that section.
Near Benson a vast drainage sys-
tenn is now being put in which will
carry the excess water off thousands
upon thousands of acres of fertile
farm lands. This immence ditch,
which is veritable river, eventually
empties into the Chippewa river,
which in turn empties into the Min
nesOta river at MOntevideo The
ground thrown up from this ditch has
the appearance at a distance of a row
of hills The ditch is in many places
thirty feet wide and is fully as deep
in places.
Twenty miles west Of Benson the
country suddenly becomes more roll
ling and here we found some of the
finest farm lands in the central por-
ton of the state. The soil is a heavy
black loan fully two feet deep in
most places with a heavy clay sub
soil of unknown depth. The top soil
is mellow and appears wonderfully
fertile. Here the grain stands what
would be called rank in this Sec
tion-almost too thick, one from this
vicinity would say. We walked into
fields of marquis wheat that stood up
to our waists, all of it being fully
headed out and apparently in shape
to ripen almost as soon as ours. Corn
fields were on all sides, some as high
as $50 acres in a solid piece. Fields
comprising eighty acres were not I'M
common. Where properly cultivated,
the corn appears to be as far advanced
as it is in this section, but the seige
of rainy weather has interfered with
proper cultivation in many places and
many immense fields of corn were
seen in which little or no cuItivating
had been done.
"At Hancock, in Stevens county, we
visited the 400 acre farm of Mr.. Bies-
terfeld located in a German COM
munity five miles south Of town. The
writer has never visited large farm
where the soil was as we'll cultivated
and everything kept up in as good
shape Mr. Chesterfield has 800 acres
under cultivation, the greater portion
being in wheat this year. He does
his blowing with a fOur-bOttOm pillow
and tractor and says he plows II
acres per day of ten hours. He cuts
his grain with two 8-foot binders
drawn by horses. He has his own
threshing rig and allows no strange
separator on his place. He had, until
last year, herd Of sixty head of
cattle, part of which were disposed of
when one of his sons went into the
army. He has at present flock of
$50 old sheep on the place, besides
any number of lambs; said he hadn't
had time to count the latter yet. His
buildings are thoroughly modern in
every respect, and they aren't small
either. The immense barn is 48x98.
At one end he keeps his II head of
horses, while the balance is devoted
to cattle. Steel equipment all the
way through, cement floors, feed box
es, troughs, milking machine, cement
separator room, everything of
the best and in the finest shape. 1t
is possibly one of the best arranged
and equipped barns we have yet had
the privilege to inspect. Besides this
there is a sheep barn larger than the
average barn here, up-to-date hog
barn in which we counted over eigh-
ty head of fine hogs and an excellent
chicken coop with fine flock of
Rhode Island Reds. The beautiful
grove and splendid lawn on one side
are set off by an orchard of over nine
ty fruit trees, all bearing heavily
This place was, by all odds, the best
we looked over on the entire trip.
Eat Morris we had the privilege OF
visiting the state farm and expert
mental station, and this visit alone
repaid lis for our trip. Here the state