Vol. LVI. No. 2487. 
NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 25, 1897. 
81.00'PER YEAR. 
TEN BOYS ON THE FARM. 
A GOOD SHOWING OF HUMAN LIVE STOCK. 
An Ohio Farmer Takes the Record. 
Our readers will remember that, on page 584, we 
made a short note of the fact that Peter Linder, of 
Barry ville, O., and his 10 strong sons were able to go 
into the field together and plow with 11 teams. This 
event seems to us so remarkable that we have secured 
pictures of the Linders and of the field where the 
work was done. The R. N.-Y. is about the only agri¬ 
cultural paper in the country that presents such 
pictures effectively, and this is one of the reasons 
why it stands, as it ever has, in a class of its own. 
All the Linders need to make their farming complete 
is to form 
among them¬ 
selves a club of 
11 subscribers. 
Peter Linder 
was born in 
France, and 
came to this 
country when 
eight years of 
age. Like many 
other solid 
Europeans who 
sought their 
fortunes over 
the sea, Mr. 
Linder pros¬ 
pered in Amer¬ 
ica. Frugal, 
honest and in¬ 
dustrious, he is 
now one of the 
most prosper¬ 
ous farmers in 
his township. 
He owns a farm 
of 167 acres, 
and works over 
80 in addition 
to the home 
farm. His bank 
barn is 48 x 105 
feet, and he 
milks 30 cows 
and is inter¬ 
ested in a Swiss 
cheese factory. 
The father and 
mother speak 
French, Ger¬ 
man and Eng¬ 
lish, and Mr. 
Linder has 
been township 
trustee for sev¬ 
eral terms, and 
a member of the Board of Education for many years. 
They are all members of the Amish church, and 
strong in those rugged and sound qualities which 
have always made the old-time farmer a power. 
Mr. Linder’s career illustrates well how the true 
and sturdy peasant stock of the old world has taken 
root, and made a fruitful growth in America. No 
other land in the world could offer such advantages 
to men like Peter Linder, and we must always re¬ 
member that, when we trace back the pedigree of 
our country’s greatness through several generations, 
we are sure to run up against just such men from 
somewhere on the other side of the ocean. 
While Mr. Linder has been a good farmer in many 
lines, it is as a producer of human live stock that he 
has met with best success. The picture on this page 
shows Mr. Linder and his wife with their 10 big sons, 
Christian, Peter, Joseph, Samuel, David, John, Daniel, 
Jacob, Amos and Eli. Christian, the eldest, is aged 
36 years, and Eli, the youngest, is aged 15 years. The 
wife of Samuel is put in to make good measure. 
There have been 14 children in all, but three sons and 
one daughter have died. The boys are all big and 
rugged, and have been reared and lived all their lives 
on the farm. All of the boys that are married, live 
within a radius of two miles. 
Fig. 262 shows the 11 men at work plowing an oat 
stubble. Mr. Linder went ahead and the boys fol¬ 
lowed in the order of their ages. It is said that, with 
this force at work, a strip 28 feet wide was plowed at 
each round. Naturally such an unusual event at¬ 
tracted attention, and many visitors came to see the 
plowing. Mr. Linder entertained the whole company 
at dinner, after which the family sang a number of 
songs, and speeches were made. It was quite a re¬ 
markable occasion, and one not likely to occur in 
many places in this age when most families are small, 
and when more than half the boys think that they 
must run away from the farm. 
It certainly must be a great satisfaction to Mr. and 
Mrs. Linder to see their 10 great sons gather around 
them. What a pleasure it must be to have 10 good 
boys all farmers and all close at home ! Many a gray¬ 
haired couple who vainly attempt to call the children 
together at the old homestead, would be glad now to 
give up their pride in Lawyer Dick, Dr. John and 
Merchant Henry if they could all be contented farm¬ 
ers again, living near the old home and satisfied 
with the simple life of the farm.- 
WHITE ROADS IN BLACK SOIL. 
ROAD BUILDING IN THE PRAIRIE BOTTOM8. 
How to “Get Out ot the Mud.’’ 
Part I. 
I once rode horseback into central Illinois in March. 
Every inch of the wide dirt road in that black prairie 
soil was tramped to mud ankle deep and worse, from 
one fence to the other. At the creek crossings, I 
found bridges with high grade approaches, made, of 
course, of this same black, sticky soil. A horse could 
wade slowly through this mud and make about three 
miles an hour. On one flat clay hill near Attica, Ind., 
my horse sank till my feet touched the ground and I 
stepped off, while the horse, by a strong lunge for¬ 
ward,came out. 
At the towns, 
one would see a 
few men from 
the country 
who came in on 
horseback. I 
saw one farmer 
using the front 
part of his 
wagon to bring 
a grist to town. 
To crown the 
bad with the 
worst roads I 
ever saw, the 
ground froze 
one night just 
hard enough to 
allow a horse 
to break 
through. Every 
puddle was cov¬ 
ered with ice 
which cut his 
legs. 
I know this is 
taking Illinois 
roads at their 
worst time of 
year; but 
on my way 
through Indi¬ 
ana, my horse 
had cantered 
over the gravel 
pikes,and made 
eight miles an 
hour. I went 
to Illinois in 
search of a 
home, but re¬ 
turned to In¬ 
diana. Their 
farmers would 
laugh and look 
serious, too, and say, “Yes, our roads are impassable 
in the winter months, but they are fairly good nine 
months of the yearand “That kind of dirt that 
makes black, sticky mud, also makes big, yaller corn.” 
“Yes, Mr. B., but isn’t it awfully confining to a 
family to be shut in this way all winter ? In the 
summer, you are too busy and tired to visit and hold 
soaials, reading circles and the like, and in the leisure 
of winter months, with their long evenings, you are 
tied to the monotony of home by this awful mud. 
How do you attend church or school ?” 
“ Oh, we go ’cross lots the best we can, and in bad 
weather, don’t go at all.” 
I could not avoid thinking how true it is that Na¬ 
ture does not lavish all her favors on any one country 
or section. Gravel! a Hoosier misses gravel when in 
Illinois. These enterprising farmers who are a big 
MR. AND MRS. PETER LINDER OF OHIO AND THEIR TEN SONS—ALL FARMERS. Fig. 261. 
