56 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



tApril, 



work is done. Expensive farm buildings are 

 not required, for the grain is threslied in the 

 fields and handed immediately to the nearest 

 railway station. Very little fencing is need- 

 ed on a wheat farm. Frequently the cultivat- 

 ed portion is left uninelosed, and a barbed 

 wire fence put around the pasture lot to con- 

 fine the cattle. Thus the outlay for improve- 

 ments is comparatively light, and as the 

 country is open and ready for the plow, the 

 iiew settler makes a crop for the first season, 

 and is tolerably independent from the start. 

 A village, with school, postofflce, stores and 

 churches, springs up as if by magic in the 

 neighborhood of his home, and he suffers few 

 of the privations which used to attend fron- 

 tier life. 



The extent of the new Northwestern wheat 

 region cannot now be estimated, nor its fu- 

 ture production foreseen. It appears to in- 

 clude nearly the whole of Dakota east of the 

 Missouri Kiver, and a ronsiderable portion of 

 the western half of the Territory. IIow far 

 north and west in Manitoba it reaches, will 

 only be determined as settlement advances in 

 that little-known Province. One thing is to 

 be borne in mind about this region — it is the 

 ultimate and permanent wheat-field of the 

 continent. The wheat-growing industry 

 has been steadily moving west for more than 

 half a century. Western New York and 

 Eastern Pennsylvania were once the great 

 wheat sections. Then Ohio had its turn. Now 

 the counties of that State which forty years 

 ago shipped large quantities of wheat to the 

 East do not raise wheat enough to supply 

 their own population with bread. Afterward 

 Indiana, Southern Michigan, Northern Illi- 

 nois and Wisconsin made wheat the chief 

 crop, to be succeeded by Iowa, and now by 

 Minnesota, Nebraska and Dakota. The wheat 

 belt cannot move much farther west. It will 

 soon reach the great grassy plains where there 

 is not sufficient rain fall for successful agricul- 

 tiu'e. Beyond the Rocky Montains, in Oregon 

 and Washington Territory, a new wheat 

 country of immense extent is being slowly 

 developed, but on the Atlantic side of the 

 continent the area where wheat-farming is 

 the chief industry will not be pushed much 

 beyond the pre.sent limits of Dakota. The 

 rich lands in the valley of the Red River of 

 the North and the vast rolling plains of Da- 

 kota and Manitoba are evidently destined to 

 be a permanent granary, like Hungary and 

 Southern Russia. 



Their product, it is interesting to .note, 

 seeks the markets of the world by way of the 

 harbor of New York. A glance at a map 

 will show that the water route from the head 

 of Lake Superior to Buffalo and thence to 

 this city by the Erie canal and the Hudson 

 river is almost a direct line from the new 

 wheat country of Nortlicrn Dakota. A short 

 stretch of rail transportation brings the wheat 

 produced on the vast Northwestern plains to 

 cheap water transportation extending to the 

 seaboard. The commerce of New York can- 

 not fail to profit directly and largely by the 

 development of the new wheat region of the 

 Far Northwest.— JV. F. Trihune. 



horses and the pits adjoining holding the ex- 

 creta so close to the house, and have hostlers 

 and coachmen to come there, to kitchen and 

 dining-rooms, with rank-smelling person and 

 clothing. When yellow corn, mixed with 

 mill feed is fed to horses generally, or hard- 

 husked old oats given to old horses that can- 

 not duly masticate and consequently fully di- 

 gest them, the droppings and urine are un- 

 usually acrid, and will badly scent whatever 

 absorbents are about. All this injurious un- 

 savoriness may be avoided by simple and 

 iheap means. Very dry, waste plaster of 

 Paris, or fine powdered land plaster dusted on 

 stable floors where said voidings generally ac- 

 cumulate, will cover or coat them and pre- 

 clude the escape of ammonia. 



When the bottom and sides of the vaults 

 are dusted, and the ordure nicely leveled 

 therein, then firmed by treading them down 

 with the feet of stablemen standing on a thick 

 board ; finally, having a moderate coat of 

 plaster scattered over, as painters sand-coat 

 oiled walls, no effluvia will issue, because the 

 ammonia is bound. On emptying these vaults 

 the contents may be properly 'called manurial 

 matter unless too much salt hay or long straw, 

 not fully soaked, or badly carbonized litter be 

 there. The wagon loads might likewise profit- 

 ably be dusted, top and flanks, ere starting, 

 and so further obviate the ungrateful sight 

 and odor of offal openly passing through the 

 streets. We have read of a prominent livery- 

 man in Manchester, England, disinfecting 

 his stables with Douglas' powder, made for 

 that pyrpose. This did not only prove bene- 

 ficial to man and beast, precluding sore eyes 

 and coughs, etc., but the voidings were 

 eagerly bought by truckers, for these got the 

 full value of their money. 



The rubbish so generally bought for manur- 

 ing is almost worthless — hardly worth hauling 

 — for the substance has largely evaporaied, 

 either before or diu'ing transit, and more yet, 

 ere said stuff" is covered with soil enough to 

 prevent still more exposure. It might be well 

 for the horse-car companies to try this process 

 on a small scale. 



HOW TO DEODORIZE STABLES. 

 We often wonder why the occupants of 

 large costly dwellings permit stables for 



UTILIZING ROUGH GROUND. 

 On many farms there are portions of land 

 that cannot be plowed without great difficul- 

 ty on account of ravines or stones. They 

 may be seeded to grass and used for pastur- 

 age, but it is hard to cut the grass that grows 

 on them. This broken land may generally be 

 utilized to excellent advantage by planting it 

 to crops that require considerable room. 

 Grapes do well on rocky and broken land, if 

 sufficient pains be taken to prepare the places 

 where the vines are to stand. Quite a large 

 hole should be excavated and partially filled 

 with manure and loose earth. A rocky soil is 

 ordinarily warm and well drained by the 

 SQaces between the stones. Many of the best 

 vineyards in Europe are located on land so 

 broken and rocky that it cannot be made to 

 produce paying crops of grain, grass, or po- 

 tatoes. Tomatoes can also be profitably raised 

 on broken land. The vines reipiire conside- 

 rable space in which to spread their branches. 

 There is some trouble in preparing the hills, 

 but the warm location and good drainage will 

 generally insiu'e large crops that ripen early 

 in the season. Pumpkins, melons and squash- 



es may be planted on broken and rocky land 

 to most excellent advantage. As the hills 

 should be about ten feet apart, but little dif- 

 ficulty will be found in making them. Ex- 

 cavations can be made with the spade 

 or pick if necessary, and filled with suita- 

 ble manure and fine earth. The large 

 space between the hills will require little at- 

 tention except to remove the weeds, which 

 will not be very troublesome in a poor soil. 

 If a farmer has large tracts of broken and 

 rocky land he can scarcely do better than to 

 plant it to forest trees, giving a preference to 

 those that will produce nuts. 



THE BUILDING OF HOMES. 

 Doulile doors— folding or sliding— are a great 

 social "institution.''' By them two rooms 

 may be thrown into one. A good broad hall 

 becomes in summer an extra room. The air 

 circulates. There is a freedom, an openness 

 about the house, which gives an air of su- 

 periority to even very humble dwellings. The 

 superiority is real, too. If we invite a few 

 friends for the evening, it is not necessary to 

 confine them to the "parlor," but the doors 

 are thrown wide open, our guests will .111 

 parlor, and hall, and sitting-room and kitchen, 

 perhaps, and yet all are one company, for the 

 broad doors being open the whole house is 

 thrown together. Music sounds through such 

 a house delightfully, and people have a good 

 time and love to come, because it is so cheer- 

 ful and social. Another point in our home 

 building which we too often overlook is the 

 exposure of the principal living and sleeping- 

 rooms to the direct influence of the sun. The 

 effect of the sunlight is best gained when the 

 house stands with its corners toward the car- 

 dinal points, tor thus the sun shines with con- 

 siderable power on all sides of the house 

 every clear day in the summer, and yet its 

 power is broken, because at noonday the rays 

 strike two sides obliquely, and very soon 

 leaves the southeastern side in the shade. We 

 should not forget that the sunshine is health- 

 giving ; dampness and shade, if slightly in 

 excess, injure the health of both men and 

 animals. 



One thing more is the importance of hav- 

 ing some provision for fire in the chambers. 

 We build for health and not for sickness, and 

 I do not hesitate to say that many a family 

 mourns the loss of a member simply because 

 the sleeping-room could not be easily heated. 

 The best mode of heating no doubt is by an 

 open fire of some kind. It is very easy in 

 building to make open fire-places in at least 

 three chambers through which the chimney 

 passes. 



Of coiu-se, open fire-places are not economi- 

 cal of fuel, but in the chambers fire is seldom 

 wanted, and stoves may be used, if preferred. 

 As to economy of fuel, builders, as well as 

 architects and proprietors, either frequently 

 overlook one important fact, or they do not 

 look at it, that is, that the warmest part of 

 any room is farthest from the floor ; 

 so if we make our rooms ten or eleven feet 

 high we must heat the air in all that upper 

 part before a person sitting at a table begins 

 to feel at all warm, unless he is where he gets 

 radiation from the stove or open fire. Low 

 ceilings effect the greatest economy of fuel, 

 and even make open fires economical as com- 



