MlillHHHWrJS 
Vol XLI. No. 1672. 
NEW YORK, FEB. 11, 1882. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS, 
$2,00 PER YEAR, 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1382. by the Rural New-Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
farm (Topics, 
“BONANZA SERIES,” No. 4. 
Seed and Seeding. 
One of the most perplexing and at the same 
time important questions to the farmer is the 
kind or variety of seed to be sown. We do 
not mean here the species of cereal or vegeta 
ble, for we are considering only the cultiva¬ 
tion of wheat. 
To wisely consider and profitably decide 
this question involves both some scientific and 
practical knowledge of soil and climatic iuflu- 
Fife Wheat for seed; we have tested other va¬ 
rieties but find this the best, and believe it the 
only wheat that can grade No. 1 Hard, or pro¬ 
duce the “New Patent Process ” flour for 
which this variety has become noted.’’ 
In our last we spoke of the preparation of 
the ground for the coming crop, by back¬ 
setting, cross-plowing, or fall-plowing, the 
previous Autumn. Seeding commences on 
these farms from March 20th to April 10th, 
and is concluded about May 1st; and instead 
of the old scyle of hand-sowing (in which the 
writer has trudged many a weary day), they 
use on these farms, at present, 137 broad¬ 
cast seeders, of the Buckeye pattern, made 1 
by P. P. Mast & Co., Springfield, Olfio, or 
ly cleaned before sowing. Negligence in the 
proper preparation of seed furnishes the key 
to many low averages in yield, and nothing 
short of ignorance or indolence will permit 
any farmer to put in seed that is either dirty 
or mixed with light, shrunken, barren kernels, 
that fill their place in the seeder and the soil, 
but fail to pay rental for their occupancy. 
From 20 to 25 teams with broad-cast sowers, 
constitute a gang, and each of these gangs 
is under the direction of a “ Gang Fore¬ 
man,” who remains with them continually, 
carefully watching every detail and move¬ 
ment in the working of the men, stock and 
machinery. Each team is expected to move 
from 17 to 18 miles per day. This is not to be 
while, of course, the expense of the seed Is 
liable to vary; but the average cost of seed- 
wheat thus far upon the “ Bonanza ” farms 
has been 81.50 per acre. 
Three hundred and twenty acres of oats are 
sown to each six thousand acres of land, to 
furnish the requisite food for the teams and 
seed for the ensuing season. The average 
yield of oats we will state here to be 50 bush 
els per acre, as we do not propose to refer fur¬ 
ther to the subject in future letters. What 
will our Eastern friends think of the idea of 
one Dakota farmer cultivating 1,4-10 acres of 
oats, and raising 72,000 bushels of grain for hia 
own use in feed and seed l 
While we are writing in this series of the 
BONANZA FARMING—SEEDING. (Drawn From a Photograph.) Fio. 48. 
nces and a careful study of the habits of dif¬ 
ferent, varieties to ascertain their adaptability, 
ihe consideration of these points would in¬ 
volve much spuce, and being foreign to the 
gist of our subject, will be passed over and 
the simple statement of Mr. Dalryuiple is here 
given instead. He says; “We use the Scotch 
one seeder to each 200 acres, and as each ma¬ 
chine averages about twelve acres per day, 
the aggregate shows 1,014 acres for a day’s 
see ling—a little less than 17 days to 
sow the 27,400 acres of grain raised by Mr, 
Dalrymple in 1881. Fifty-two quarts of seed- 
wheat are used to the acre, and it is thorough- 
done within any stipulated number of hours, 
for the daylight is supposed to belong to the 
farm and its service, bud in what is denom¬ 
inated a day’s work. 
The wages for the men during the seeding 
season are $20 per mouth and their board and 
lodging. The cost for seeding is 7oc. per acre, 
“Bonanza” farms in which Mr. Dalrymple 
is either entire or part owner, and which are all 
under his personal management, and are 
quoting the details and figures exclusively 
from them, we wish to digress enough to say 
that during the seeding season a traveler on 
the Northern Pacific Railroad, between Moore- 
