LARGE FARMS OF THE COUNTRY. 609 



The milk is set thus for 24 hours, and the cream taken off with a deep skimmer shaped like 

 an inverted cone, which can be sunk in the milk without displacing the cream. About two 

 quarts of cream are taken from each pail. The cream is churned at the temperature of 59 

 in summer and 62 in winter. The churn used is of the old-fashioned dasher pattern, and is 

 made of a barrel, the dasher being worked by steam. The buttermilk is drawn off as soon 

 as the butter comes, while it is yet in the granular form, and worked in fresh, cold water. 

 The salt is then added, three-fourths of an ounce of salt to the pound, and by the time the 

 salt is worked in thoroughly the butter is all gathered. It is then set away to cool, after 

 which it is worked in an old-fashioned lever butter-worker, weighed, molded and printed in 

 a common mold, with the Long View Dairy imprint, and after being wrapped in muslin, 

 each print is packed in a neat box of white pasteboard.&quot; 



It is surprising that so few farmers among the many, adopt the improved methods, and 

 with a well-defined system, rigidly enforced, endeavor to rise above the drudgery that char 

 acterizes farm life as generally practiced. Capital is not the only essential. A man with a 

 small capital and few acres of land can practice as complete a system, as far as it goes, as one 

 with immense wealth, like the proprietors of some of the farms previously described. Small 

 farms, properly managed, can be made very profitable, as we have already seen, and with bet 

 ter planning, involving more brain-work and less physical labor, the average farmer can 

 make the results of his labors bring him by far more profitable returns than have ever been 

 secured by following the old way of no system in particular, anti letting things manage 

 themselves. 



LARGE FARMS OF THE COUNTRY. 



THE people of the United States naturally take a considerable interest in the bonanza 

 farms of the country, which contain the great wheat-fields of the world, as it were, 

 whose thousands upon thousands of acres of waving grain seem to beckon to the 

 destitute and starving millions of the old countries to come and find plenty; and it is not at 

 all surprising if a degree of pardonable pride, together with a feeling akin to that of pro 

 prietary right, were entertained personally, concerning them, for is it not &quot; our &quot; country, and 

 are not all of the products &quot; our &quot; harvests, and &quot; our &quot; crops? 



The following interview is said to have taken place between a Western farmer, who 

 owned a large farm in Dakota, and some of his Eastern acquaintances, whom he wished to 

 impress with the idea of the immensity of the farms in his section: 



&quot; We own some big farms up there, gentlemen. A friend of mine owns one which he 

 had to give a mortgage on, and I give you my word, the mortgage was due on one end 

 before they could get it recorded on the other. You see, it was laid off in counties.&quot; 



There was a murmur of astonishment, and the Dakota man continued: 



&quot; The worst of it is, it breaks up families so. Two years ago I saw a whole family 

 prostrated with grief; women crying, children wailing, and dogs barking. One of my men 

 had his camp-trunk packed on seven four-mule teams, and he was bidding everybody good 

 bye.&quot; 



&quot;Where was he going?&quot; inquired a listener. 



&quot;He was going half-way across the farm to feed the pigs,&quot; replied the Dakota man. 



&quot; Did he ever get back to his family? &quot; 



&quot;It isn t time yet,&quot; replied the Dakota gentleman. &quot;Up there we send young married 

 couples to milk the cows, and their children bring home the milk. We don t count by acres; 

 we count by townships and counties. My yield was $68,000,000 on wheat alone, and I am 

 thinking of breaking up a little patch of eighty to one hundred more counties this season.&quot; 



