Vol. LVII. No. 2549. 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 3, 1898. 
11 PER YEAR. 
A CITY WHEAT YIELD. 
WHEAT AFTER ONION SEED. 
The Value of Complete Tillage. 
City farms and city farmers are so often laughed at 
as impracticable, that a little notice of one that is not 
so may he of interest. D. M. Ferry owns and has 
operated for 25 years a farm of about 200 acres in and 
adjoining the city of Detroit. For many years, it has 
been devoted to raising seeds of various kinds, and 
has repeatedly produced the largest crops of onion 
seed, not only as to total product, but in yield per 
acre, that has ever been grown east of the Rockies. 
The land produced such crops, not so much because of 
its exceptional natural fertility, as because it was first 
put into the best physical condition by thorough tile- 
drainiDg and cultivation, and then liberally manured 
with nicely-proportioned fertilizers. 
But under constant cultivation, there came a time 
when the-soil, though fertile, failed to produce satis¬ 
factory cropSj[of 
seed, because of 
the want of what 
Prof. Bailey aptly 
calls “fiber”, and 
a florist in speak¬ 
ing of potting soil 
calls “life”. It 
was tired of seed 
growing. To re¬ 
store it to its 
normal condition, 
it was decided to 
devote the farm 
for a few years to 
ordinary farm 
crops, wheat and 
hay especially. 
The field shown 
at Fig. 368 con¬ 
sists of 21 acres, 
and up to 1897, had 
been continuously 
in Summer crops 
for over 20 years. 
In 1897, it grew 
sweet corn and 
cucumbers, which 
were gathered and 
the field cleared 
by September 24, 
when it was culti¬ 
vated with a disk 
harrow, running 
twice each way. 
On September 27, 
it was sown with 
24 bushels of a white wheat known by the local name 
of No. 6. The photograph which was taken July 5, 
1898, shows the result. It will be noticed that, in 
spite of the evident weight of straw, there is not a 
spot of lodged wheat in the field, though at the time 
the picture was taken, much of the wheat in the 
country was badly down, proving how well-balanced 
in potash, nitrogen and phosphorus the manuring 
had been. 
The crop was thrashed July 13, and by August 1, 
Mr. W. R. Radford, the efficient manager of the farm, 
had delivered to a local miller and been paid for the 
1,155 bushels which the field produced, at two cents 
over the market price, because of its being such an 
exceptionally fine sample. 
Another 100-acre field on this farm produced, in 
1895, 4,475 bushels, and that crop has been followed 
by immense crops of hay, and the field is now in con¬ 
dition again to be put into seed crops. I think this 
experience shows that the conditions of soil essential 
to the best crops of vegetables and seeds are equally 
so to the best results with ordinary farm crops. I 
doubt whether there is another 20-acre field of wheat 
in Michigan which was raised at a smaller cost per 
acre, or 1,000 bushels of wheat produced at a less cost 
per bushel. Is not that good farming, even though 
done by a city farmer ? will, w. tract. 
WHEAT GROWING IN SOUTH DAKOTA. 
PROFIT FROM SIX BUSHELS PER ACRE. 
On page 589 of The R. N.-Y. for August 27, Mr. A. 
W. Milne, of Edgefield County, S. D., told us some¬ 
thing about “one-man farming” in that State. He 
took care of 300 acres of grain this year, and we gave 
pictures of some of the great tools required in this 
wholesale business. He now tells us something about 
the way this grain is cut. Harvesting, out there, is 
usually commenced about July 20, and lasts two 
weeks. He says that the self-binder is giving away 
almost entirely to the header, because heading is 
cheaper, and with it, there is practically no waste. In 
their dry climate, wheat will do to head nearly as 
soon as it is ready to bind, by making small stacks of 
the first cutting. Mr. Milne says that round stacks 
seem to keep better, and are more popular than long 
ones. The value of any stack, however, is mostly in 
the stacker. 
At Fig. 369, page 814, is shown a picture of a header 
at work. With this machine, the horses walk behind. 
In front, is an immense reel or header, which brings 
the wheat down to the cutter bar. The straw is cut 
off high, and the heads and the upper part of the stalk 
are sent up a carrier, so that they fall upon the wagon 
which travels alongside the header. These heads are 
stacked without being bound, and thus there is no 
need of twine. The header works faster than the 
binder, but of course, requires more power to run it, 
and extra teams to carry away the heads. Mr. Milne 
says that he bound his wheat this year. He com¬ 
menced binding on July 20, and averaged 20 acres per 
day, put in the shock. He changed teams and divided 
the day into three tricks. An average team, with a 
six-foot machine, will cut about 1% acre per hour. 
“ What does such cutting cost ? ” 
“ Here is the actual cost of harvesting this season, 
which is a fair sample : 
Actual cost of self-binder per day, interest and wear.13 00 
Two men at $1.50 per day. 3 00 
Two three-horse teams at $1.50 per day. 3 00 
Cost of 20 acres.$9 00 
This equals 45 cents per acre, to which add 1% pound 
of twine at from 5^ to 8 cents, say 10 cents per 
acre.” 
“ What does it cost for the header ?” 
“ The average cost for heading is 50 cents per acre, 
which represents five men and five teams at $2.50 per 
day, and wear and interest on the machine, $20. This 
crew will cut and stack from 25 to 40 acres per day. 
Sometimes two or three neighbors club together and 
do their own heading or cut for others, charging from 
60 to 75 cents per 
acre under such 
circumstances. ” 
“What about 
stacking ? ” 
“ We do not re¬ 
quire a loader in 
this country, as 
the racks all have 
a fence around 
them, which we 
think is the com¬ 
mon-sense way. 
Two men with one 
team will stack 
from 15 to 20 acres 
per day.” 
“ How much less 
does it cost to 
thrash from the 
shock ? ” 
“ It means the 
price of three 
extra men at $1.25 
a day, and five 
extra teams at $1, 
which equals $8.75 
or 10>£ cents per 
acre, for each ma¬ 
chine will average 
60 acres per day. 
We consider it 10 
cents per acre 
cheaper to thrash 
out of the shock. 
The cost of thrash¬ 
ing bound grain in 
the stack, for labor, equals $15.25 per day, or 26 cents 
per acre. For headed grain, the cost is 19 cents. My 
total harvesting and thrashing expenses this year 
averaged just 90 cents per acre, and the cost of putting 
in the crop, plowing, seeding, pulverizing and harrow¬ 
ing, averaged 61 cents per acre, which made the total 
cost of the labor $1.51 per acre.” 
“That is a small cost compared with our eastern 
methods, but what was your yield ? ” 
“ The yield ran from 4 to 12 bushels, and the aver¬ 
age was just six bushels per acre, so that the thrash¬ 
ing bill was 18 cents. I call the interest on one bushel, 
the amount of seed sown, four cents, which makes the 
total cost per acre, $1.73.” 
“ There cannot be much left for you out of that 
crop.” 
“ If I estimate one-fourth for the land or the in¬ 
terest on the value of land, and deduct one bushel, 
the amount of seed sown per acre, there will be left 
3>£ bushels which, at the present price, is worth $1.75 
WHEAT AFTER ONION SEED; HARVESTING A CITY GRAIN FIELD. Fig. 368. 
