The diamond drill., 1922-01-27

4
ges have excellent soil. but are SO
covered with large stones as TO make
the cost OF clearing quite prohibitive'
These lands In time, however, VIII be-
come our choicest grazing country on (
account OF the excellent deep cray
soil. At times the ridges are SO close
together as TO make very narrow
valley; while at other times they are
located two, threea or four miies
apart with nat stoneless, sandy loan.
pine plains between.
| Located as we are at the heiKht ol
land separating Lake Superior anu
Lake Michigan, splendid streams ieu
by springs, run north and south pc
Tween these ridges. Along these
courses lie the spruce. cedar ana
ltamarack swampe which first attract
ed us as paper manufacturers into
this territory. Sometimes these
j swamps are two or three miles in
length and one-eighth of mile In
width; at other times swamp VIII
be found occupying whole fory,
an eighty. or an entire section oi
land.
BE that as IL may. this confusion
: OF evergreen swamps, pine plains
and low-iying stony, hardwood ridges
' makes IL impossible to block the
a lland off In farms OF eighty acres,
a contiguous to each other and all
suitable for the plow, unless the
Q swamps are tile-drained
z Things Done on Larger Scale
V The whole topography OF the coun-
; try lends itself to large scale agron'
= lomy. Fortunate we are, indeed tha'
= on our block OF ten thousand acres
G we will have as much as two thous
|, sand acres OF land suitable Tor TN
nIow: land, too, that is located righ
nj in the very center OF our whole trac'
I'll for this ratio OF plow land to othe
IL land lends itself admirably to IN
.oI kind OF ranch that we have J.
RI mind and probably 10 no other kh'
,eI By this / mean that the land unde
Ill the plow Is probably just abou
u enough 10 provide winter feed for Tn
lherd which we can handle durin
the rest OF the year on our grazin
lands.
This brings me to another import
H. ant feature OF our undertaking
namely. we do not plan To adopt IN
familiar device OF buying our catt'
In the spring and selling them In IN
fall We plan rather 10 raise our cow
and steers on the land itself and tur
over our entire herd, except on
choice breeding stock, at least ono
every four years. This policy whe
once adopted means that our abil'
IN carry our cattle through the VIII
ter Is the comptometer that give
No the size of our herd. Consequen
lv every effort this past year NJ
heen bent 10 getting our land reao
for the plow with the result that WI
one more months work this year
- operations would have shown
- fnll thousand acres stumped, cleare
- plowed. and seeded.
Careful System Followed
In the clearing OF this land 1
the plow we have endeavored TO K
How the capitalistic methods OF J
dustry with which we are qui
familiar in the paper business; !
exampie. at the opening of the Gu
rent season, around April 10,
started of two men. subsequently
creased to eight whose duty II
10 do nothing but blast stumps.
that work they were busy until IN
III November. During these seven me
, llths they used $4,000 worth OF IL
and dynamite Following them ca
1.-Two or more teams. the duty OF VIII
was to pull those roots out OF
. ground that had been untouched.
- 1.-THE blaster's work. After them ca
other teams which gathered the roc
snaes and blasted stumps into gr
n piles for burning; then other tea
\ with scrapers to fill the holes mi
nv the blasters: then the ten
Holt tractor pulling an evener'
further to level the ground, and
ally two fve-ton Holt tractors
Jumbo Lacrosse breaker plows, e'
OF which turned swarth twenty
twenty-two inches In width. Needl
TO say, In time the men and tea
that aid this work day after day
- month after month became very
80 hcIent in their allotted tasks.
clearing and seeding process took
II those characteristics OF that d
- sions of labor which goes to the
M heart OF capitaiistic industry.
MI one important detail in connect
. with this work OF preparing land
the plow I must emphasize; nam
from all parts OF this plow land,
had first hauled TO our %. II.
the dead pine and cedar logs that
lain on the ground since the
Der Jacks had gone through 81
thirty-nve years ago, suppleme'
IL by dead tamarack and live sp'
from the swamps. these logs tor
n. the raw materials which all
., long have been going through
little sawmill. planning mill,