A day or two ago I took a carriage ride of forty-five miles due south from Sioux Rapids to Odebolt, one of the objects of my trip being to visit two immense farms there, which are, so far as I can learn, the largest in the United States. The first is that of C. W. Cook & Son, who own thirteen sections (8,320 acres) of land. When Mr. Cook took possession, fourteen years ago, there was not, on the whole tract, a single tree or bush, and his first work was to set a double row of trees on each side of the road which surrounds each section (640 acres) and also to set groves where the houses of his prospective tenants were to be. These trees are now fifty or sixty feet high, and eight inches to one foot in diameter. Mr. Cook's land is now all under cultivation, his own buildings being situated near the centre, while those of his tenants are scattered over the various sections. He sells comparatively little grain, preferring to feed stock. The ordinary small farmer of this section feeds his corn on the cob, and puts in two or three hogs with each steer to pick up that which the latter would scatter and otherwise waste, but Mr. Cook detests hogs, and prefers to grind his corn, mix it with finely cut unthreshed oats, and feed cattle only. He has facilities for feeding 4,000 head of cattle, though just at present he is fattening only about 700. Some of his stock he raises himself, but the bulk is bought at an age suitable for being fattened, and is sent to market after being kept but a few months. Most farmers here have very cheap buildings, straw covered sheds for stock being common and, indeed, answering this purpose excellently, but Mr. Cook's buildings are of a kind to do credit to a farmer in any state. His main barn will accommodate 2,000 cattle. It contains a mill for grinding corn and other purposes. But little hay, comparatively, is fed, but an adjoining barn, of circular form, holds 800 tons of hay. At this season of the year his fattening stock is not, of course, kept in the barn, but in a series of yards with a shed to go under at pleasure. The yards at the central station, will accommodate about 2,000 cattle, and the shed at the end is 30 ft. wide and 2,000 ft. long. The barn and all the yards are supplied with the purest of water, pumped by a wind mill from wells sunk in a little hollow about half a mile away.
Next to Mr. Cook as a land owner comes Mr. H. C. Wheeler, whose farm of nine sections, 5,760 acres, adjoins the village of Odebolt. Mr. Wheeler farms all his land himself, employing for that purpose about 50 men, and keeping a team of something over 100 mules. It will thus be seen that the Cook farm is the larger, but excluding the parts of this estate which are rented, Mr. Wheeler tills the greater number of acres. He has made a specialty of timothy seed, of which he has this year over 2,200 acres. I started to look at this farm at one corner, from which, with a single break of a few rods, there extended a corn field two and one-half miles long and one-half mile wide. We did not stop to go the length of this, but taking a cross road through it we passed a "section" wholly devoted to the growing of timothy seed, and in which seven self binders, each drawn by three mules, were reaping the grass at the rate of more than a dozen acres an hour, while five more of the same machines were doing equally good service on the next section. By providing relays of mules so as to change once each half day the work can be so pushed that each reaper will average twenty acres a day, or 240 acres in all, a record which it would be hard to equal elsewhere in the world. Mr. Wheeler keeps his own carpenter, blacksmith, wheelwright, etc., thus saving expense and ensuring prompt attention to any needed repairs. Passing a corn crib I noticed some old corn left over, and remarked upon that fact, to which Mr. Wheeler replied that he wished he had sold it as the abundant crop this year would prevent the price from going higher. "However," he added, "there are only about 30,000 bushels of it." and as this amount was manifestly so small as to make no considerable difference, I had nothing more to say. There is an old adage which declares that no one "can eat his cake and keep it too," but Mr. Wheeler comes as near accomplishing this apparently impossible feat in the matter of pasturage as any one I have ever heard of. In the spring his stock is allowed to range for a month or two on the timothy fields: the cattle are next accommodated on some natural grass lands which are afterwards cut for hay, and later still upon a half section of clover. Just before the time of harvest they are sent for a few weeks on a rental section of prairie, and after that are returned to the stubble fields until winter. In Mr. Wheeler's opinion none of the above mentioned crops are at all injured by their spring and summer feeding, and he thus gets his cattle pastured without cost, except for a month or two on the rented land, and without reserving a single foot of land for pasturage. The clover, it should be stated, is raised for seed; if kept for hay the spring feeding would probably be an injury. Mr. Wheeler manifestly farms for profit, and allows but few extras for looks, but for practical business management, as well as for size, his farm would be hard to beat.
The country around Odebolt is a little more rolling, but otherwise differs very little from that around Sioux Rapids. It is, however, about ten years older, in point of occupancy, and is therefore more generally and more carefully tilled, and the price per acre ranges about $10 higher. Land in Illinois, within 100 miles of Chicago, is worth about $100 per acre; this land is fully as good, and as the difference in the cost of transportation is but slight the owners of it would seem to be not very reasonable in their belief that ere many years the value of their own land will approximate the present value of the land further east.
transcribed by B. Ekse from microfilm
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