The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-07-13
VOLUME XII.
TWO GOOD FARMERS

and made short stop at the Frank
Barcal place, but found Mr.. and Mrs.
Barcal not at home. The Barcals have
one OF the best kept farms that we
know of IN the county. He is a good
farmer and Is making real success.
De Is a great lover Of flowers, and
his entire home is surrounded by flow
crs Of almost every kind and it is GER
tainly beautiful place He has one
OF the largest and thriftiest looking
strawberry beds we have seen in the
county, and he has been very success
tul growing these luscious berries. He
is growing the Progressive Everbear
INC variety, and this season he ha.
practically doubled the size of his
patch. He 10 doubt will have large
surplus OF berries to dispose of an
other season when the new patch
comes into bearing. He has fine
little orchard Just coming into bear
ING, and has one Of the incest and
farthest advanced gardens thae we
have seen this season. He has an arti-
ticial lake near his home that is the
delight Of his large flock of ducks and
geese, and this certainly presented
pretty picture Sunday while we were
there, as the lake was literally COW
with these waterfowl The Barcals
have che of the. most delightful and
inviting homes IN the entire county.
While the home is not the largest, it
is real comfy and home like, and the
Surroundings and the landscape gar
dening, the hundreds Of flowers and
shrubs all tend to make a country
lone that is not only inviting, but
living example of what others may
do in the way of beautifying their
home right here in Mellette county.
Mr.. Barcal IS also farming on an eX'
tansive scale and is succeeding Won
dcrfully. He is really good farmer.
We also made short stop at the
f. II. Hamilton home. Mr.. Hamilton
teaches school during the winter
months and tills his farm in the sum
mer season and he is making good.
He works hard and success is crown
ING his efforts. About a year ago
he started in the hog business, and he
has been very successful. He has
some 65 head now, including shoats
and they are as pretty bunch of
Durocs as you will find anywhere. On
account of his school duties he told
us that he would probably 60 out Of
the hog business entirely, and from
now on he is going to give more atten-
ton and devote a larger part of bis
cultivated acreage to the growing of
alfalfa. Mr.. Hamilton is growing
Cossack alfalfa and last season his
field netted him $50 an acre from the
seed crop alone, and he is very enthus-
iastic over the possibilities of alfalfa
in this county He told us that he
was going to seed his entire farm to
certified alfalfa as rapidly as he
can, and expects to make a speciality
of growing certified alfalfa seed. He
told us that last spring he parcel post
ed a bag Of alfalfa seed to a party,
and he received more real money for
this BAG Of seed than he would have
received for big load of corn. There
is no question but what the growing
of certified alfalfa seed in this coun-
ty will make the grower more real
money than any other crop he can
raise. Besides the seed harvested
from the field he can get at least one
good hav crop each season, and owing
TO the high price paid for this seed,
it is the most economical crop to-
market that can be grown here, on ac-
count of our present isolation from
railroad transportation. Mr.. Hamil-
ton also expects to 90 into the turkey
growing business quite extensively
next season. The turkeys will he al
lowed to range in the alfalfa, and they
will keep the field pretty well cleaned
of grasshoppers. The Hamiltons also
have a small orchard and very nice
garden that certainly is looking fine.
fudaing from their surroundings we
would say that they are prospering
and seemed to be happy that they are
living in Mellette county. We en-
loved our visit to these two Cody
farms very much and these two farm
srs are certainly demonstrating what
really can be accomplished in this
county with little effort and stick
to-it-iveness,