Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 March 1881 — A BIT Fara. [ARTICLE]

A BIT Fara.

r»—t*»<aißiMi tib— i. The ranch of H. J. Glenn, in Colusa county, is one of the largest and most noted in the state, and. perhaps, presents the best illustration of extraordinary farming along the Sacramento. On being asked recently why he raised wheat alone, his reply was aa follows: “People ask why I raise all wheat. The answer is simple: It is the only crop that will bear transportation ; it is the only crop not perishable. I must not raise on my land what ruins me, but what is profitable.” Dr. Glenn’s ranch comprises about 50,000 acres of land, and the number of acres in wheat each year ranges between 40,000 and 50,000. Reckoning an average of from 20 to 25 bushels to the acre, the aggregate crop each year amounts to something more than 1,000,000 bushels. This enormous amount of grain requires vast appliances for planting and bringing it to market; and the capital invested in machinery alone-sums up a considerable fortune.

During the harvest time there are employed on the entire ranch some 500 men. Dr. Glenn is general in chief of his force, and the ranch is divided, for convenience of operations, into nine smaller ranches each with dwelling house, barns, blacksmith shop, and other necessary buildings. In charge of thes are seven foremen, under whom are sixteen blacksmiths, fourteen carpenters, six engineers, six machinists, five commissaries, and numerous cooks and servants. The common workmen are divided into gangs, and detailed where they are needed. There are 130 gang plows, 60 herders, to which belong 180 wagons, 6 cleaners, 100 harrows, 18 seeders, 6 thrashers, 6 engines. Besides there are many smaller instruments and vehicles which cannot be classified. Co-operating with their human brethren in the great labor are 1,000 work horses and mules, with a kinship of 1,000 brood mares and younger stock w Ii icli has not yet achieved the dignity of 1 abor. There are 32 dwelling houses, 27 barns, 14 blacksmithshops, and other structures sufficient to swell the aggregate to 100. The machinery could not be replaced for $125,000; the work horses and mules are worth sllO,000; the brood mares and young stock, $75,000, and the buildings on the place, SIOO,OOO. The ranch is about twenty miles above the town of Colusa.