106 ANNUAL REPORT 



sends east fcr men, mules and machinery by the car-load, and provisions for them 

 come from the same source ; the lands are speedily put under cultivation ; a half 

 dozen crops of wheat are skinned off ; he owns his own elevator on the line of the 

 railroad, ships his grain to the east, sells it, and adds the proceeds to the fat bank 

 account in New York city. If any of this cash ever gets into circulation out west, 

 where it rightfully belongs, it will be al the expense of a mortgage lien, upon the 

 farm of some poor homesteader, which our New York friend will need bye-and-b}'e 

 to square out his railroad sections, when the mortgage takes the land, which it will 

 surely do if he bases his expectations upon exclusive wheat culture in a small way. 



Machinery, taxes, interest, are certain actors, uniformly good crops of hard No. 1 

 are uncertain factors, the whole going to make up the problem of wheat growing for 

 a living. 



The evident intention of these speculators is to make money both in buying and 

 selling their lands, and after the novelty wears away and the cream fairly skimmed 

 off, they will peddle them out by the quart (er) and "better late than never," for the 

 country. Then, what are these wheat farms worth, how can they be utilized? How 

 make amends for previous abuse? 



True they can be seeded down, but what will you do witli the product. Handling 

 hay for profit on a large scale is a delicate task, and stock to which the hay can be 

 fed becomes a necessity. Stock growing presupposes shelter from cold and heat, 

 and fences for pastures, and it is then late in the day to commence a new deal, and 

 to make all this from seeds, seedlings and cuttings. 



The law of congress regarding the growth and culture of timber, is too well 

 known to need mention in detail at this time, suffice it to say that in the extreme 

 liberality displayed in this measure, rare foresight was shown in the endeavor to pro- 

 vide this great and crying necessity, and the disadvantages are invariably owing to 

 the machinations of land sharks, who are always ready to snap up the unwary. The 

 most serious defect in the law, is allowing an entry under the timber culture act to 

 be relinquished, and either a homestead or pre-emption to be placed upon the same. 

 This will probably be changed by this present congress. We need all the timber 

 claims that have been made, and we must have them improved. Estimating that 

 each settler on government land takes his full quota— three quarter sections, as is 

 the usual custom, — this will only provide one-sixty-fourth of the entire land to be 

 planted to timber. And now, how can the most be made of this limited area? 



Too man}' men only see in this law the means of procuring 160 additional acres of 

 land, and if they comply with the law and carry out its demands, it will be as if they 

 are saved by grace alone. 



The provisions of the law, in substance, is to the effect that the first year the land 

 must be broken, the second year cropped and the third year planted, in two install- 

 ments of five acres each, a year apart, ten acres in all, with an acre thrown in for 

 good measure, and to provide a firebreak around the young grove. 



The best time to break is from May 15 to June 15, depending upon the condition 

 of the grass, which should be in its prime as to rankness, tenderness and juiciness, 

 it being desirable that it should rot speedily when turned under to the depth of two 

 inches. After doing this allow the breaking to rest until the middle of August, by 

 which time, in some localities, the noxious plant seeds in the soil will have grown 

 and can be turned under by back setting, i. e. turning the sod bottom side up, with 



