422 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
a costly way of getting rid of it, unless it is con¬ 
sidered that the advantage would over-ride the ex¬ 
pense. Perhaps to mow over such a surface, and 
leave the cuttings on the ground as a mulch and 
a fertilizer, might be a cheap way of disposing of it. 
But the most helpful thing to do, is to give a fairtop¬ 
dressing of manure, fine and well rotted, before the 
winter. This will be well wash¬ 
ed into the soil to nourish the 
roots, so that an early and rapid 
growth will be made in the 
spring,after a smoothing harrow 
has been run over the surface to 
break up any lumps that may 
remain. This early growth is 
the greatest advantage, because 
the crop being cut before the 
usual dry weather occurs, a sec¬ 
ond growth begins immediate¬ 
ly, and is ready to cut very 
soon after the usual first cutting 
would have been made under 
other circumstances. During 
the hot, dry season, the soil is well shaded and 
protected, and the roots are uninjured, and when 
the second crop has been gathered, a third gets 
under way at once. This exacting treatment of 
course requires liberal return, and in this ease the 
“liberal soul shall be made fat.” In fact, niggard¬ 
liness in the treatment of the soil is the tvorst 
economy; while liberality is returned many fold. 
This is especially true with regard to grass lands, 
which in America, on the average, can pasture one 
steer or cow, only, upon seven acres; while in 
England pastures that will fatten one bullock per 
acre are common. 
The want of manure with which we should be so 
liberal is the great difficulty. But this may be man¬ 
aged by devoting one special compost heap for this 
purpose, and enriching this with the addition of 
bone dust, potash salts, gypsum, or phosphate of 
lime and wood ashes. If this is prepared in time 
for use in the fall, and a light dressing of nitrate 
of soda and gypsum, or grass fertilizer is given 
after the first cutting, there can be little doubt that 
the dry brown appearance of the fields will be 
changed to verdure, and the barns filled with a 
largely increased product. 
A Cheap and Convenient Cow-Shed. 
Mr. F. E. Gott, Spencerport, N. Y., favors us 
with a sketch and description of his combined 
cow-shed and pigpen. It consists of an open shed, 
with a box-pen for the cow one side, and the 
pigsty on the other. The whole shed being twenty 
Fig. 2.—PLAN OF COW-SHED AND PIGPEN. 
feet 'ong and fourteen broad, covered by the same 
roof. It is constructed of hemlock lumber, and 
should not cost over fifty dollars. The outward 
appearance of the shed is shown in fig. 1. The 
posts in front are twelve feet in hight, and the rear 
ones eight. The boards are put on vertically, and 
battened on the sides. The roof is made ot rough 
boards laid double, and breaking joints, so that u 
will not leak. The box for the cow is eight by ten 
feet, and six feet and four inches high, and has 
a feed passage four by eight feet adjoining it 
The middle portion of the building is an open 
shed, seven by fourteen feet, and is used for stor¬ 
ing muck, protecting the manure heap from the 
mins etc The pigpen occupies the left end oi 
the building, and is separated from the central or 
shed portion by a low partition, while the cow-stall 
is boarded up to the roof. The floor, being six feet 
and ten inches from the ground, provides storage 
room between it and the roof in which to put hay. 
Mr. Gott suggests that it would be better to have 
the posts two feet higher, thus providing a loft in 
FRONT VIEW OF COW-SHED AND PIGPEN. 
which over a ton of hay could be stored. The 
ground plan of this cheap and convenient building 
is shown in figure 2, giving the position of the 
doors, meal-boxes, open shed, feed-rooms, etc. 
Editorial Correspondence. 
Fargo, Dakota Territory. 
Turn to the map of North America, follow a 
line west from the westerly point of Lake Superior 
some 254 miles and you are at this place, which, in 
reaching, we have travelled 1,661 miles by rail from 
New York. To many of our readers, unfamiliar with 
the country, this doubtless appears to be far into 
the cold, unhospitable regions of the north—a very 
wilderness. Yet here we are, in a hotel, as com¬ 
fortable as almost any in the Metropolis, in the 
midst of a flourishing town of 3,000 people, where 
yesterday we visited churches and Sunday-schools 
that seemed no different from those enjoyed at 
home. So far as the people are concerned they 
appear as if one of our best New England or New 
York villages had been taken up bodily and trans¬ 
planted here—people, houses, gardens (minus the 
fruit trees), etc. 
Some Wheat Fields. 
4fter arriving here, we made a circuit of about 
40 miles in a southwesterly and westerly direction 
over the nearly level, treeless expanse, broken only 
by two large streams, termed the Cheyenne and 
Maple rivers, margin-lined with a small strip of 
low trees and shrubbery. Throughout nearly all 
this long ride our road was bounded by fields of 
waving grain, or those thickly studded with shocks 
just cut; and these fields stretched away on either 
side as far as the eye could reach. At one point 
was a single plot of wheat four miles long and one 
mile wide, that is, 2,500 acres all in one body, 
while only roadways or small plots of grass or oats 
separated this field from other extensive wheat 
fields on all sides. Being able to judge pretty 
accurately of the yield of ripened wheat, we 
estimate the product of these numberless acres at 
full 20 bushels of plump grain, some say 22 bushels 
for each acre—varying, however, from 15 to 30 
bushels, though generally pretty uniform. 
The Noted “ Dalrymple Wheat Farms.” 
While there are many large wheat farms here¬ 
abouts, of 300, 500, 1,000 acres, and upward, and a 
multitude of others are being opened, a great deal 
has been said in the papers about the “ Dalrymple 
Farm,” the accounts, as we have seen them for two 
or three years back, varying greatly. We have, 
therefore, attempted to get at the real facts, and for 
this purpose called upon Sheldon C. Dalrymple, 
who received us with characteristic western hos¬ 
pitality, and freely responded to our numerous 
queries. There are no less than nine farmers here 
bearing the name of Dalrymple, all related, and all 
originally from Warren County, Pa.—two of them, 
Oliver and S C., having, on the way, occupied large 
farms in Minnesota for a few years. Most of them 
came here from two to five years since with scant 
if any ready means, or, as they express it, “ with 
nothing but a ‘Grip-sack’ in their hands. But they 
are all now, we believe, the owners of what would 
be considered ample domains in old Pennsylvania. 
Location of the Farms. 
Standing at the Railway Station, some 18 miles 
west of Fargo, and 2 miles east of Castleton Depot, 
there is to the southward what is known as the 
“ Alton Farm,” extending say 4 miles north and 
south, and 3% miles east and west, and containing 
about 9,000 acres. Of these 6,000 are now in wheat 
and oats, mainly wheat—here, as on other farms, 
oats enough being raised to feed the working 
animals. East of the Alton Farm is the “Cass 
Farm,” extending some 4 miles along the south 
side of the railway, and southward about 2i miles 
—containing about 6,500 acres, of which 5,000 are in 
grain this year. North of the railroad and opposite 
the Cass Farm, and part of the Alton Farm, is the 
“Cheney Farm,” extending east and west some 
5 miles, and northerly an average of 2 miles. 
This embraces 5,500 acres, with 4,000 acres now in 
grain. On account of the original ownership of 
only alternate sections by the railroad, and the 
settlement by others of some plots, as well as the 
successive purchase of various pieces, the farms 
are not entirely compact, but have irregular out¬ 
lines with interjected plots of other owners. The 
“Alton Farm,” so named from its Superintendent, 
Alton Daliymple, for easy reference, is owned en¬ 
tirely by Oliver Dalrymple. The “ Cheney Farm ” 
was originally owned by Benj. P. Cheney, of Bos¬ 
ton, Mass., and the “Cass Farm” by Geo. W. Cass, 
of Pittsburg, now of N. Y. City. Oliver Dalrym¬ 
ple took charge of these with certain facilities in 
the way of capital, to work them, and with the 
privilege of owning an undivided half, if in 10 
years he should make profit enough to pay the 
original cost. Though the time has scarcely half 
elapsed, we understand this has been done and he 
is now the half owner outright. The other Messrs. 
Dalrymple own various plots, mainly located north, 
northwest, and northeast of the “ Cheney Farm” 
as follows : S. N. Dalrymple (brotherof Oliver), has 
1,500 acres 5 miles north. S. C. Dalrymple, who 
mauages the “Cass Farm,” owns 2,500 acres, 2,000 
now in grain, and managed by D. W. Dalrymple. 
O. C. Dalrymple owns 1,500 acres, 400 now in 
grain, but he manages the “ GrandonFarm,” noted 
below. C. G. Dalrymple owns 320 acres, 240 now 
in grain. W. C. Dalrymple owns 160 acres all now 
in grain. N. M. Dalrymple owns 320acres, 160now 
in grain, and superintends the “Watson Farm.” 
D. W. Dalrymple owns 320 acres, 110 now in grain. 
Most of the Messrs. Dalrymple are young men, 
and while owning smaller farms are at the same 
time managers or clerks on other farms. 
Oliver Dalrymple is General Superintendent not 
only of the “ Alton,” “ Cass,” and “ Cheney ’’farms 
above noted, but also of the “Grandon Farm,” 
situated in the Red River Valley, 35 miles north of 
Fargo, containing 45,000 acres, of which 7,000 acres 
are now in grain ; also of the “ Watson Farm ” of 
23,000 acres, a dozen miles or so south-east of the 
“ Alton Farm.” He is, we judge, a general adviser 
of operations on all the farms above referred to. 
He is the “General-in-Chief”—the “Veteran”— 
and is spoken of as the “old man,” though only 
some 45 years old. The others hold various ranks 
or offices, and the whole farming operations are 
carried on with a sort of military, or rather a man¬ 
ufacturing system, with close connections, yet dis¬ 
tinctive departments, from the largest to the 
smallest matters. For example, in a plot of 420 
acres of ripe wheat, we saw a row of 16 self-bind¬ 
ing reapers, each drawn by three horses abreast, 
or more mules than horses, marching in procession 
around the whole field at once, each machine tak¬ 
ing off a strip 5 to 6 feet wide, and dropping the 
bundles at the side. If a machine got out of gear, 
it turned aside and the rest of the phalanx moved 
on. An expert, “Superintendent of Machines,” 
on horseback, with a kit of tools, galloped to the 
“lame” implement, and generally soon had it re¬ 
paired and in line again. Thus every round cut 
and bundled a strip 80 to 100 feet wide, and 250 
acres were cut during the day. Anothei Superie- 
