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AMERICAN FARMING
AND FOOD

LONDON : PRINTED BV

SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE

AND PARLIAMENT STREET

AMERICAN FARMING
AND FOOD

BY

FIN LAY DUN

AUTHOR OF 'LANDLORDS AND TENANTS IN IRELAND VETERINARY
MEDICINES, THEIR ACTIONS AND USES ' ETC.

LONDON

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

1881

All rights reserve,/

PREFACE.

The present volume is the result of a visit to the
United States in the autumn of 1879. I then travelled
through the wheat regions of the Red River, Manitoba,
and the great Mississippi basin, examined crops and
farming in Illinois, Minnesota, Dakota, Iowa and
Kansas, and inspected some of the valuable herds and
studs of Kentucky and other states.

Wherever I went I found everyone courteous, and
ready to furnish information regarding the country and
its wonderful and varied resources.

Amongst many things new and notable to a
stranger, I was particularly impressed with the sobriety,
assiduity, adaptability, and energy of the people ; their
appreciation of the advantages of education ; their
ingenious application of labour-saving machinery ;
and their progress in almost every department of
industry.

Farming in America does not, however, as yet,
invariably receive the liberal and skilful attention it
deserves. It is frequently conducted in a rapid, nay
even in a rude manner ; small labour and cost are
expended in the production alike of grain crops and
live stock ; but a great deal of the land is deep,
fertile, and easily worked, and even with indifferent
management yields remunerative returns.

vi Preface.

The great grain crops and rapidly increasing
herds and flocks more than suffice for home require-
ments, and the United States now export annually
about eighteen million quarters of wheat or one-third
of their production, more than one-half of their hog
products valued at 17,500,000/., about one-tenth
of their beef and mutton representing 7,000,000/.,
besides butter and cheese estimated at 4,000,000/.
Nor have these surplus supplies reached their maxi-
mum, either in the States or in Canada. They will
necessarily be largely augmented as settlement extends
West and South, and capital and labour are more
widely employed in agricultural development. Im-
proved transport facilities will compensate for the
longer distances over which agricultural produce will
be carried. The preservation and refrigeration of
perishable products, so generally and successfully
adopted in America, notably economise and cheapen
food, and are destined largely to add to the quantity
and variety of edible produce forwarded from the New
World to the Old.

The greater part of these observations on American
farming and food were communicated in 1879 and
1880 in a series of letters to 'The Times.' By per-
mission of the proprietor they have been revised,
added to, and reproduced in book form.

Estate Offi'
2 Portland Place, London, W.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

I. Introductory

II. Statistics ok American Farming . . . . u
III. Land, Land Laws, and Taxation . . 25

IV. Landowners, Farmers, and Labourers

V. The Cheap Movement of Grain .

VI. New York Meat Supplies

VII. Fruit and Vegetable Culture .

VIII. Farming in the New England States

IX. Pennsylvania Farming ....

33

52
61

74
85
105

X. Agriculture in Ohio 127

XI. An Agricultural Exhibition in Michigan . 145

XII. Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades . . . 160

XIII. The Red River 197

XIV. Manitoba 222

XV. St. Paul, Minnesota 236

XVI. The Minneapolis Flour Trade . . . . 255

XVII. Lumbering and Prison Life .... 268

viii Contents.

HAPTER PM.r.

XVIII. South-Western Minnesota 279

XIX. Prairie Farming in Minnesota . . . . 294

XX. Land and Crops in Southern Dakot\ . . 322

XXI. Land and Prospects in Iowa 332

XXII. Farming in Kansas 351

XXIII. Missouri Farming and St. Louis Trade . . 378

XXIV. Kentucky Agricultural Resources . . . 397
XXV. American Competition in Wheat and Meat . 421

INDEX 471

AMERICAN FARMING AND FOOD.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

The United States of America, including lakes and
rivers, have an area of nearly four million square
miles. They occupy fully thirty times the extent of
the British Islands. They extend 1,300 miles from
the 30th to the 49th degrees of north latitude. The
sun occupies four hours in rising over the 3,000 miles
of continent. The vast extent, diversified aspect,
varied climate, and wide distribution of good, easily
worked, level land, confer great capabilities for grow-
ing food for man and beast. The physical geography
of this continent has made admirable provision for
agricultural and other industries. The great mountain
ranges consisting mainly of granitic rocks, the early
upheavals of the western world, are chiefly situated
several hundred miles from the eastern and western
seaboards ; and, unlike those of the Old World,
mostly run north and south. This configuration

B

2 American Farming and Food.

widely distributes the watery treasures distilled from
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The great lakes and
rivers, scattered throughout many regions, continually
contribute their quota of moisture. In the moister
localities between the oceans and the great mountains,
fringing both sides of the continent, forests cccur,
equalising the distribution of rain and proving a ready
source of wealth. On the prairies, plains, and plateaux
a drier climate prevails, proving less favourable for
the growth of trees.

The mountain chains enclose vast basins, the site
of ancient inland seas. The Green and Adirondack
mountains, extending from the Canadian dominions
running through New York State, and at a lower ele-
vation sweeping westward over New Jersey and Penn-
sylvania, approach the Alleghanies and enclose a
basin which forty years ago comprised the chief cul-
tivated portion of the United States. The great
central or Mississippi basin is bounded on the north
for nearly two thousand miles by the Laurentine
mountains of Canada ; on the east by the Appala-
chians, which include the Alleghanies and other ranges
which proceed from the Dominion boundary, south-
west, towards the Gulf of Mexico ; on the west by the
Rocky Mountains which run from Alaska south to
Mexico. This triangular basin, fifteen times larger
than Great Britain and Ireland, once a huge inland
sea dotted with islands which are now undulating hills
and subordinate watersheds, is watered by the Missis-
sippi, the Missouri, and other tributaries which wind
their slow and tortuous way into the .Mexican Gulf.

Mineral Wealth. 3

Gradual denudation of these old mountain ranges,
the spread of their debris over plain and valley, fre-
quent upheavals of later stratified rocks, and the
operation of ice-floats have secured the wide distribu-
tion and intermixture of minerals, and produced great
varieties of soil. No country is so abundantly and
almost ubiquitously furnished with" mineral wealth.
From New York to the centre of Alabama, in scat-
tered valleys amongst the foot hills of the Alleghanies,
are anthracite deposits conveniently situated for the
supply of New York, Baltimore, and eastern cities.
On the western slopes of the Alleghanies are great
fields of bituminous coal, often close to the surface and
cheaply worked. Coal is found also in Ohio, Iowa,
Missouri, and Kentucky ; indeed, M. Jules Marcou, in
the text of his map of the United States, declares that
the coal measures occur with short intervals, from the
Atlantic to the Pacific. Iron ores are tolerably plenti-
ful ; deposits hitherto unknown are constantly being
discovered. Preparations are in active progress for
the extensive working of valuable ores in the eastern
part of Kentucky. Building stones and clay for bricks
are widely distributed. Colorado and New Mexico
are rich in lead and silver. In minerals, as well as in
the precious metals, the United States is very inde-
pendent of other countries.

American soils, the debris of varied geological
formations, are most diverse. North of New York,
throughout most of the New England States, granite,
porphyry, and greenstone afford by their disintegration
valuable plant food ; but along the coast the soil is

4 American Farming and Food.

thin and poor, and cultivation is impeded by quantities
of stones and large boulders. South from New York
along the Atlantic shores as far as the confines of
Florida, tertiary and quaternary deposits overlie
for the most part cretaceous rocks. Often there is
superimposed a deep friable diluvium, admirably
adapted, as in New Jersey State and Delaware, for
vegetable and fruit growing. In Kentucky, where
the carboniferous measures and the blue limestone are
in juxtaposition, the famous feeding Bluegrass speci-
ally flourishes. The prairies of the Mississippi basin,
a generation ago known as the Great Central Ameri-
can Desert, the home of the wild herbivora and the
Red Indians, are now fittingly styled the ' land of
promise' and of 'plenty.' Their northern zones are
occupied with wheat, their southern with Indian corn.
They largely consist of a friable loam reposing on
beds of sand, gravel, or clay. They are generally
fertile, unencumbered with trees or stones, easily
turned over with a six-inch furrow, by a pair of light
horses, are often two to four feet deep, are adapted
for the growth of almost any description of crops, and
without manure for ten or twelve years consecutively
grow fair crops of wheat.

Diversified physical conditions necessarily affect
the climate. The mountain ranges gather for several
hundred miles the ocean-begotten clouds, are the
scenes of violent, often sudden, tempests, and have a
rainfall many times greater than the plains below.
These great plains and prairies stretch far beyond the
visible horizon, often have a slope of only two feet to

Climate and Rainfall. 5

the mile ; their flat monotony at long intervals is
diversified by river, lake, or ravine, and occasionally
by belts of plantation. The weather on these vast
levels usually maintains a somewhat unvarying uni-
formity. Bountiful rains, which in a land of hill and
dale continually drop fatness, are scarce. Mist and
fog are almost unknown. During winter intense cold
continues steadily for weeks or months, according to
latitude or situation. The thermometer in Minnesota,
Northern Dakota, and Nebraska often stands as low
as — 200. But the atmosphere is dry, the sun shines,
and although all agricultural labour is arrested, the
winter is described as pleasant and healthful. Stormy
weather often occurs about the spring and autumn
equinoxes. Thunderstorms sometimes disturb the
even equilibrium of the season. Blinding blizzards of
drifting snow sometimes darken the atmosphere for
days, and render it dangerous to go even a few yards
from home. The summer heat, once begun, is toler-
ably continuous and intense. Days from July and
March are not alternated, as they are apt to be in our
more fickle climate. In Missouri and other Southern
States, after a short winter, spring begins in February ;
before May the temperature in the shade will reach
8o° ; a few weeks later it will mark ioo°. Even as
far north as Winnipeg, sunstroke is not uncommon.
Under the blaze of the burning sun the fresh greenery
of early spring soon becomes dry and brown ; the
bright verdure of English grass is sadly wanting.

Tables published by Mr. E. A. Schott thus record
the temperature at various stations : — At West Point,

American Fannin? and Food.

^

New York, 167 feet above the sea level the summer
average is 72*24, the winter 30*26. At Chicago, 600
feet above the sea level, the summer average is 6676,
the winter 2478. At Cincinnati, 540 feet above the
sea level, the summer average is 75*24, the winter
34*28. At Austin, Texas, 650 feet above the sea, the
summer temperature averages 81*62, the winter 51*16.
At the Great Salt- Lake City, Utah, 14,262 feet above
the sea, the summer termperature averages 73*57, the
winter 30*31.

The rainfall is as various as the temperature. In
New York the annual average is 43*24 ; it is a trifle
more at Boston and Philadelphia, a little less at Saint
Louis, 37*61 at Cleveland, Ohio; at different observa-
tories in Kansas and Texas it varies from 12 to 33
inches ; at Fort Bridger, Utah, the precious drops only
measure in twelve months 6*12; about the same
limited amount is recorded for Fort Garland, Colorado.
At San Francisco the figures are 21*69. The highest
mentioned rainfall is 123*35 at Neah Bay, Washington
Territory, on the Pacific coast, and 183*20 at Vera
Cruz, Mexico. Planting, wisely encouraged through-
out the drier Western States and territories, will
doubtless increase and equalise the rainfall, which in
some of the arid regions comes down in wasteful
heavy storms.

Under such diverse conditions, throughout this
vast continent, the farming is of many sorts. It is
conducted on a large scale in many Western States,
on a much smaller scale in the East. It adapts itself
to situation, climate and market. It has much less

Fruit, Vegetables, and Dairy Produce. 7

system or uniformity than at home. It changes its
chief productions with changes in demand or in price.
Owing to lower values of dairy produce, many Ohio
and other farmers have recently been reducing the
number of their cattle, and increasing their sheep.
Their neighbours in Pennsylvania are going in more
largely for potatoes and tobacco, whilst the needy
Western settler, who at first devotes himself exclu-
sively to the readily grown wheat generally styled ' the
poor man's friend,' by-and-by wisely diversifies his
crops, and keeps cattle, sheep, and hogs.

Around the larger towns vegetables are exten-
sively grown, and are used by all classes of the com-
munity in abundance and variety unknown in Great
Britain. Even at railroad dining depots, and at
hotels in the far west, six or eight vegetables are
often presented at dinner and supper. Fruit is
equally abundant, and almost universally used ; where
it is not grown it is cheaply distributed by railway.
On the good limestone soils by the banks of the
Hudson some of the finest apples in the world are
produced. In the Genesee valley, forty years ago
the granary of the continent, a more restorative and
varied system of farming now prevails, and peaches,
pears, and apples are grown in great profusion. The
statistical returns indicate that throughout the States
2,000,000 acres are devoted to apples alone. New
Jersey State and the fertile peninsula extending
between the Delaware river and Chesapeake Bay, are
pre-eminently the home of the luscious peach, usually
sold in New York at 4s. a bushel.

8 American Farming and Food.

Dairying is extensively pursued, especially in the
Eastern States. In New York and Pennsylvania
States alone are 2,374,600 milch cows, being rather
more than the number returned in Great Britain. But,
like other descriptions of farming, the dairy business
is travelling west. Everywhere milk is more freely
and frequently used than in England. Adults as
well as children drink it at every meal. The best
butter in New York is stated to be brought from
Iowa. Creameries and cheese factories, first estab-
lished in 185 1, extend throughout Illinois, Iowa, and
Minnesota, and butter is thence sent regularly 1,200
miles to New York and other eastern markets. It is
collected by the great transportation companies, who
send their refrigerating cars to the western producer,
furnish ice and all necessary attendance, and forward
butter, as well as fruit and meat, in admirable con-
dition to New York and other eastern markets at 50
to 80 cents, per cwt. for a transport of upwards of
1,000 miles. Nowhere are long distances made so
light of, time economised, remote producers and
consumers brought together, and the bountiful fruits
of the earth so widely and cheaply distributed.

Farmers in the Eastern States, like their brethren
in Great Britain, for some years have suffered from
Western competition. On cheap, easily tilled, virgin
soils, wheat, live stock, and dairy produce are econo-
mically raised and are conveyed eastward at low
rates by railroad, lake, and river. The eastern
farmer, with reason, complains that his western com-
petitor has his produce forwarded 600 or Soo miles

Development of Agricultural Wealth. 9

to market for about the same cost that he pays for
delivery over 100 miles. Stimulated by abundance
of cheap land and cheap transport, grain-growing,
stock-raising, and feeding are all pushing west, where
more scope, opportunity for individual enterprise, and
profit are looked for.

During long years there must still be room and
to spare for all comers. Little more than one-tenth
of the available food-producing area of the continent
is yet occupied, and made the best of ; of many fertile
regions not one-twentieth is yet made profitable use
of ; a great deal of what is cultivated is still worked very
imperfectly. The wastes are, however, being peopled.
Mechanics and men of science are year by year aiding
to increase agricultural production, to render it more
certain and cheap, to convert it into more convenient
portable forms. Reduction or removal of the high
duties at present imposed upon the necessaries and com-
forts of life must occur during the next few years, and
will greatly aid the American farmer. Americans have
got thoroughly imbued with, and are profitably acting
upon, Adam Smith's admirable precepts: — 'Wealth
arising from the solid improvements of agriculture is
most durable. No equal capital puts in motion a
greater quantity of productive labour than that of the
farmer. Not only his servants, but his cattle become
producers. Nature, too, labours along with man.
Her work remains as a gain after deducting every-
thing which can be regarded as the work of man.'

Agriculture occupies nearly half the population of
the States. No other American industry compares

io American Fanning and Food.

with it in extent of operations, rapidity of develop-
ment, and increment to the national wealth. She
feeds liberally about 48,000,000 of people at home ; she
contributes fully four fifths to the 165,000,000/. annual
exports. She averts famine and high prices of food
amongst the nations of the Old World. She has
earned the ready money which especially during the
last two years has become plentiful in America,
which has given an impetus to all other industries,
which has been the chief agent in maintaining ex-
changes in favour of the States, and in rapidly re-
ducing their great national debt.

II

CHAPTER II.

STATISTICS OF AMERICAN FARMING.

The statistics of American farming published
annually by the Department of Agriculture at Wash-
ington strikingly demonstrate the food-producing
capabilities of the Western world. They point to
rapidly increasing production far exceeding the needs
of her own people. They testify to surplus supplies
of grain and meat available for several generations
of the more thickly peopled countries of Europe.
Diversity of climate and situation, as already stated,
secure great diversity of production. Rice grows
on the swampy river banks in Carolina and Georgia,
on the old sugar lands of Louisiana, and yields
annually about 90,000,000 lbs. Cane sugar, chiefly
produced in Louisiana, on the Mississippi, beginning
some 200 miles above and extending 60 miles below
New Orleans, although not such an important in-
dustry as formerly, occupies 150,000 acres and pro-
duces annually about 208,570 hogsheads of sugar,
being 13 per cent, of the total requirements of the
States; and 13,524,000 gallons of molasses, together
worth nearly three million pounds sterling. The

12 Statistics of American Farming.

growth of Sorghum Saccharatum or amber cane
sugar, which does not require the swampy situation
or tropical heat necessary for the growth of cane
sugar, is profitably extending in Minnesota, Iowa,
and Missouri, and promises to become a very impor-
tant industry. Throughout the Southern States
12,500,000 acres are devoted to cotton, yielding
a return of 40,000,000/. sterling, producing besides
a valuable crop of cotton-seed, which is tena-
ciously held by a Mississippi clique who decorticate
and grind it, export a large amount of the oil
especially to France, whilst a still larger propor-
tion of the useful residual feeding cake comes to
Great Britain. Half a million acres produce tobacco ;
the cultivation is extending, and the yield annually
exceeds 4,600,000/. Five million acres are occu-
pied in fruit-growing, and probably half as much in
the production of vegetables ; the fruit and vegetables
together in a favourable season reach to half the value
of the wheat.

Of still greater dietetic and national importance
are the grain crops and potatoes, which occupy about
105,000,000 acres. Wheat covers one-third the total
area of the grain crops ; it represents three-fifths the
acreage devoted to Indian corn : it exceeds by ten
times the area of the wheat crops of the United
Kingdom ; it is grown at an average cost of 40-$". an
acre ; one-third of the produce is now exported.
Indian corn is the most extensively cultivated crop,
is grown at 36s. an acre, is largely converted into

Acreage of Wheat and Maize. 1 3

beef and bacon, and used for the making of whisky ;
but only 7 per cent, of it is exported.

Oats occupy 37 per cent, of the area of the
British corn crops, but are only about 8 per cent, of
those of the States ; in northerly regions, where live
stock are much kept, they are more extensively
grown ; 32 lbs. per bushel is the standard weight ;
not one-hundredth part of the quantity grown is
exported. Barley constitutes about one-fourth of
British corn crops, but in the States it does not reach
one-sixtieth part ; one-third of the production is in
California ; the samples generally are thin and
shrivelled ; 48 lbs. is the usual standard weight per
bushel, 50 lbs. is the weight in California ; for
many purposes its place is taken by the more cheaply
grown and productive Indian corn. Rye, most largely
grown in New York and Pennsylvania, as at home, is
occasionally cultivated as a spring fodder crcp. It
occupies 1,622,700 acres, or nearly the same area as
barley or potatoes, affords 16 to 20 bushels an acre,
and where well manured, besides produces about two
tons of straw, which is now in good demand for
paper making, sometimes realising 3/. per ton of
2,000 lb. »

Potatoes are produced at one third of the cost
bestowed upon them in this country. I have seen a
tolerable crop grown where the prairie sod is raised
with a stocking axe, the potato set dropped in, and
the turf turned down by the foot. The quality is
generally excellent. Owing to summer drought,
the crop of 1879 generally was light ; the average of

1 4 Statistics of A merican Farming.

the previous nine years is 88 bushels ; the heaviest
yield recorded is no bushels in 1875. The supply
varies from 2*5 to 3-8 bushels for each unit of the
population : 1,776,800 acres are devoted to its culti-
vation ; fully one-seventh of the produce is grown in
New York State ; taking a series of years the average
price is 2S. ^d. per bushel. The value of the potatoes
annually exported exceeds 100,000/. Swedes, man-
gels, and other green crops, demanding more con-
tinuous costly labour than is at present spared for
American farming, are on a very restricted scale.
They are more grown in the cooler, moister parts of
Canada, where Indian corn cannot be so successfully
raised.

The hay crops have lately been extending ; they
occupy nearly 27,000,000 acres; the area of 1 S78 was
20 per cent in excess of 1877 : more than one-fourth
of the total, 40,000,000 tons, is grown in the States of
New York and Pennsylvania. More fodder is yearly
needed for the increasing number of horses, mules,
and cattle used in the larger cities. In the eastern
older States much of it is cut from meadows laid
down to grass, or from clovers planted in rotation.
In the west it is taken from the natural prairies, plains,
and parks. There it is still to be had almost for the
cutting, is worth only \os. per ton, and I have seen
flour-mills and thrashing-engines run with such rough
prairie hay.

The annual value of the grain, potatoes, and hay
of the United States in 1878 reached 264,630,000/.
It was still greater in 1879 and 1880. Adding

Value of Grain Crops.

15

tobacco, cotton, and fruit, the agricultural produce
makes a grand total of about 340,000,000/, or more
than double the value of the corresponding produce
of the United Kingdom.

The subjoined summary from the Report of Mr.
Charles Worthington, the able statistician of the
Department of Agriculture, Washington, gives the
acreage of the principal farm crops, and their produce
and value in 1878. Detailed returns of later years
are not yet published. The values given in dollars I
have converted into pounds sterling, taking \s. 2d. as
the value of the dollar : —

Bushels, lb. or Tons

Acreage

Value in £

Wheat, bushels

420,122,400

32,108,560

67,769,285

Indian corn, ,,

1,388,218,750

51,585,000

91,730,783

Rye ,,

25,842,790

1,622,700

2,828,565

Oats ,,

413.578,500

13, 176,500

21,289,166

Barley ,,

42,245,630

1,780,400

5,096,663

Buckwheat ,,

12,246,820

673,100

1,340,824

Potatoes , ,

124,126,650

1,776,800

T5,III,825

Total .

2,426,381,600

102,733,060

205,167,108

Tobacco, lbs. .

392,546,700

542,852

4,621,484

Hay, tons

39,608,296

26,931,300

59,462,750

Cotton, bales 450 lbs.

5,216,603

I2,266.oOO

40,380,928

Grand total

142,474,010

309,632,270

The yield of most crops in the United States is
considerably less than that of corresponding crops in
the British Islands. No comparison can, of course,
be made as to sugar, tobacco, cotton, and other plants
of almost tropical climates. We have no crop so
widely grown and so generally useful for man and

1 6 Statistics of American Farming.

beast as Indian corn. We cannot compete in
quantity and variety of fruit. On a given area we
raise, however, double the amount of wheat, oats,
barley, or potatoes, and in proportion to acreage our
farms produce and feed much more than twice the
amount of live stock. High rents, augmenting rates,
and expensive labour enhance the cost of production
in the old country. Droughts, locusts, Hessian fly,
scourging cropping and imperfect cultivation are
the farmer's chief enemies in the New World. The
acreable value of the purely agricultural crops of
America are small compared with those of Great
Britain. They do not reach one-third the price which
would remunerate the English farmer, but cheaply
grown on cheap land they generally leave a margin
of profit. Taking the official statistics for 1878 the
principal crops in Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, and California are valued at about 4/.
per acre. In New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Maryland, Ohio, and Michigan they range from
2/. \os. to 3/. In Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, and
Wisconsin, they are about 2/. The crops of Illinois,
Minnesota, Missouri, and Kansas average from 30s.
to 32J. per acre.

Taking the official statistics for nearly twenty
years, the average wheat yield of the United States is
little over 12 bushels an acre. The yield per acre of
the last three years, exceeding former averages, are
13-9 bushels in 1877, 13-1 in 1878, 137 in 1879.
The winter wheats in many States have been more
productive than the spring. In Illinois and Indiana

Yield and Crops.

*7

and also in Minnesota, well-authenticated cases occur
where 40 to 50 bushels per acre have been reaped.
The British wheat yield ranges from 24 to 28 bushels.
Without any considerable outlay, and despite drought
and other conditions which cannot be controlled,
American agricultural returns would be largely aug-
mented by the more careful preparation and cultiva
tion of the soil, by the occasional use of portable
manures and dung from the yards, by the more fre-
quent recurrence of clover and other restorative crops
grazed with sheep or pigs, and by the judicious selec-
tion of seed suitable for the climate and locality.

The official report of the Statistician to the De-
partment of Agriculture furnishes the subjoined table,
which exhibits the average acreable yield, the price
per bushel, pound, or ton, and the cash value of the
several farm products for 1878, which may be taken
as a fair average of recent years : —

Yield per

Price per bush.,

Value per

acre

lb. or ton.

acre

£ *• d.

£ s. d.

Wheat, bushels .

131

0 3 3

227

Indian corn ,,

26-9

0 1 a\

I 17 O

Rye

15-9

022

I 14 6

Oats ,,

31*4

0 1 o\

I 12 I

Barley ,,

23-6

025

2 17 II

Buckwheat ,,

18-2

022^

I 16 IO

Potatoes ,,

69-3

0 2 Si

8 11 10

Tobacco, lbs.

723-I

O O 2$

850

Hay, tons .

1-47

I IO 9

242

Cotton, lbs. .

191-4

OO4

3 3 8

The magnitude and growth of American agri-
culture is strikingly illustrated by the numbers and

c

1 8 Statistics of American Farming.

rapid increase of the animals of the farm. The
Statistician of the Department at Washington gives
the following estimate of their number and value in
January 1879 : —

Numbers

Value per head

Total value

Horses

Mules ....

Milk cows .

Oxen and other cattle .

Sheep ....

Swine ....

10,938,700
I,7I3,IOO
11,826,400
21,40s, 100
38,123,800
34,766, IOO

£ s. d.
O 18 4
11 13 6
464
3 4 2
3 8 7
0 13 3

£

119,451,000
20,000,000
53,560,000
68,708,000
16,464,000
23,044 ,000

118,776,200

301,227,000

All classes of farm animals are steadily increasing,
not only in numbers, but very notably in usefulness
and quality. Horses multiply at the rate of half a
million annually. Careful selection and the use of
stout English thoroughbreds, Percherons, and Clydes-
dales is advancing the standard of excellence amongst
the various breeds. Especially throughout Canada,
New York State, and in Kentucky, English dealers
obtain increasing numbers of stylish carriage horses.
Very few hunters with good shoulders and manners
arc, however, to be met with ; cobs and hacks of the
stamp to command a high price in this country are
rare ; fast-trotting buggy teams arc plentiful. The
farm horses are lighter and cleaner limbed than those
of Great Britain, and resemble the stoutest of the
animals used by the omnibus companies. Upwards
of 5,000 horses and 4,000 mules are annually ex-
ported.

Enumeration of Herds and Flocks. 1 9

During recent years the milk cows have multiplied
annually to the extent of more than half a million.
Owing to the low prices made by dairy produce dur-
ing 1878 and the first nine months of 1879, the
number of milk cows has, however, been again re-
duced. The Texans, rough, leggy, with imposing
horns, descended from the Spanish cattle imported
upwards of 300 years ago, the Cherokees and cattle of
the western scrubs, are not bountiful milkers, do little
more than rear their calves, but are improved both in
dairy and feeding capabilities by crossing with better
sorts. Shorthorn grades are generally preferred on
account of their usefulness in the dairy and their sub-
sequent value to the butcher. Dutch and Channel
Islanders are common, especially in the Eastern
States. The oxen and other cattle, enumerated in
1877 at less than 18,000,000, now exceed 22,000,000,
and more careful selection and the use of well-bred
sires are steadily determining more weight, quality,
and earlier maturity.

These rapidly multiplying herds are ever-increas-
ing sources of national wealth. One-fourth of the
oxen and one-seventh of the cows are probably *
slaughtered every year, yielding 7,000,000 carcases,
averaging 600 lbs., and, at ^d. per pound, worth 7/. \os.
each, making an aggregate value of 52,500,000/. The
hides at yi. per pound, the fat at 2d., with other offal,
may be moderately computed at 3ar. per head, or
10,500,000/. Besides other slaughter-house products,
all carefully utilised, such subordinate articles as neat's
foot oil, and parings for glue, are estimated at

c 2

20 Statistics of American Farming.

2,000,000/. Rapidly although the exports of cattle
from the United States have developed since thsy
began in 1875, they are small compared with the
enormous supplies. Allowing for live cattle deported
through Canada, about 100,000 beasts are annually
exported ; about the same number are exported
dressed ; whilst more than another 100,000 are
exported salted or canned. The live and carcase
exports represent picked cattle, averaging, when
dressed, about 700 lbs. ; the preserved meats come
from rougher animals weighing 400 lbs. to 500 lbs.
dressed. The 300,000 cattle annually exported do
not represent one twenty-third part of the total sup-
plies. There still remain for home consumption
6,750,000 carcases, averaging 600 lbs. each, and re-
presenting an annual allowance of 84 lbs of beef for
every unit of the 48,000,000 of the States. Adding
to the beef, mutton, bacon, and pork, and allowing for
live and dead meat exported, the available animal food
of the United States amounts to 160 lbs. per head per
annum. The corresponding British supplies from all
sources amount to 98 lbs. Although consuming the
. largest proportionate amount of animal food of any
people in the Old World, we are not so liberally
supplied as the Americans.

The milking cows of the United States, muster-
ing 12,000,000, contribute dairy products worth
83,000,000/. annually, or a return of nearly 7/. per
head. Increasing steadily year by year, in 1878 they
made a bound of 30 per cent., with the effect of
running down prices lower than they have been since

Dairy Produce. 2 1

1 861. The annual manufacture of butter reaches
1,000,000,000 lbs. A good deal of it is of inferior
quality, the best is made in creameries, which are
general throughout most States. Americans are
great butter eaters, their consumption per capita is
about 20 lbs. annually. Only 2 per cent, is exported.
Cheese made on the farms and in the 'factories totals
up 300,000,000 lbs. a year. It is generally of uniform
and excellent quality. With abundance of other
albuminoid food, Americans, however, use much less
cheese than Englishmen ; their average annual con-
sumption per capita is about 4 lbs., or two-thirds the
English consumption. The export of cheese now
reaches 40 per cent, of its manufacture. Each unit of
the American population consumes annually upwards
of 100 quarts of milk, which is everywhere of excel-
lent quality, and retailed at about half the price it
brings in this country. Valuing the butter at gd.
per lb., the cheese at $d. per lb., and the milk at
\\d. per quart, the dairy industries of the United
States represent annual earnings which amount to
83,000,000/. They are more than double the value of
the cotton crop, two-sevenths more than the wheat,
nearly one-third more than the hay, and only an eighth
less than the Indian corn.

Sheep increase at the rate of a million annually,
and the Mexican and the Merinos, hitherto cultivated
almost exclusively for wool, are being improved in
weight and quality of mutton by admixture with
Downs, Leicesters, and Longwools. Fortunately the
system, of crossing, which is enhancing the value of

22 Statistics of American Farming.

the mutton, and extending the demand for it alike
in America and Europe, is also adding to the value
of the wool. Cross-bred wools, which are in such
request for the coarser cloths in general use, find
of late years more ready purchasers than the finer
merinos which were formerly in such demand for al-
pacas, or even than the long-stapled Cotswoids and
Leicesters. From sheep the annual returns amount
to 30,000,000 fleeces, averaging at least 4 lbs. worth
is. per pound, and representing a value of 6,000,000/.
One-fourth of the United States flocks, or about
10,000,000, are slaughtered annually. Most of the
sheep are two and three years old before they come
to the butcher. At present they probably do not
average more than 64 lbs. dressed, but at 3^/. per
pound, or 16s. per carcase, this yields a total of
8,000,000/.

Pigs increase in the ratio of 2,000,000 a year ; are
chiefly of Berkshire, Yorkshire, or useful Poland-China
sorts, and are quite as good and profitable as those at
home. They are the most convenient and economical
converters of bulky, unsaleable vegetable food into
more concentrated saleable animal food. Cheaply
reared on the pastures or in the woods, and finished
off on Indian corn at is. per bushel, although they
sometimes fall to i^d. per pound gross weight, they
pay their way. Multiplying rapidly and readily
saleable at twelve to fifteen months, probably two-
thirds of the total swine, or 23,000,000, are annually
slaughtered. Their average weight in the great es-
tablishments where three-fourths of the hogs of the

Beef, Mutton, Wool, and Pork. 23

country are killed and cured, is about 217 lbs. At
2d. per pound this represents 1/. 16s. 2d. as the value
of each hog, or an aggregate of 41,500,000/. ; 60 per
cent, of the hog products are now exported.

These facts and figures strikingly demonstrate the
enormous mines of wealth which America has in her
herds and flocks. Taking no cognisance of horses
and mules, together worth 120,000,000/., the annual
sales of cattle, sheep, and hogs, and their produce, es-
timated at the above moderate values, may thus be
summarised : —

£

Cattle slaughtered, 7,000,000 at £7 10s*, car-
cases averaging 600 lbs. at 3*/. . . . 52,500,000

,, Offal at 305. ...... 10,500,000

Cows numbering 12,000,000, from which the

dairy produce is estimated at 83,000,000

Sheep slaughtered 10,000,000, averaging 64

lbs. each, at 30'. per lb. .... 8,000,000

Wool from 38,000,000 sheep, averaging 4 lbs.

at is 6,000.000

Hogs, 23,000,000 slaughtered, averaging 217

lbs. at 2d. 41,500,000

^201,500,000

This great production can be maintained and in-
creased. There is still abundance of unoccupied or
partially occupied land. There are plenty of well-
watered summer grazings over which the wild herbi-
vora still roam. There are vast areas available for
Indian corn and hay, requisite for winter-feeding and
fattening. Capital will continue to be attracted to
the business ; for although, during four years of in-
dustrial depression, prices of farm produce had fallen,

24 Statistics of American Fanning.

cows and wool depreciating 25 per cent., and hogs
50 per cent., fair profits were nevertheless earned, and
with extended industrial prosperity which set in during
the autumn of 1879, prices and profits are again
advancing.

The farm animals of Great Britain, although
greatly more numerous per acre, and worth more
than double the value per head, are few compared
with those of America. Our agricultural horses are
within 2,000,000, or one-fifth, those of the States.
Our milk cows are less than one-third ; our oxen and
other cattle are about two-sevenths. With 32,000,000
of sheep we possess within 6,000,000 of the number of
the American flocks, and with the extra weight of our
sheep and their earlier maturity we annually produce
a somewhat greater weight of mutton. In pigs, how-
ever, we are far behind, figuring up only one-tenth of
the American census. The farm animals of the
United Kingdom represent about one-half the total
value of those of the United States.

25

CHAPTER III.

LAND, LAND LAWS, AND TAXATION.

America has almost inexhaustible supplies of the
raw material from which farm crops and live stock
are produced. She has profusion of land, much of
it fertile, much of it in a good climate, much of it
requiring no expensive clearing or tedious prepara-
tion to fit it for either arable or pastoral husbandry.
In this closely peopled old country it is difficult to
find a piece of ground without an owner, and whereon
a man might squat undisturbed. On the American
continent, however, there are still great tracts of un-
surveyed land on which the enterprising pioneer may
settle without so much as asking leave, and find, as
in patriarchal times, food for himself, his herds, and
flocks. Including Alaska, these unsurveyed lands
now extend to 1,500,000 square miles. Of some
eleven States and most of the territories considerable
portions are as yet unappropriated. Less than half
of California, not one-third of Oregon and Colorado,
have hitherto been surveyed, disposed of, or settled.
From the British possessions to Mexico, from the

26 Land, Land Lazus, and Taxation.

Missouri river to the Pacific, lies a vast area of
1,000,000,000 acres of which not three percent, is yet
occupied in farms.1 Eastward of the Rocky Moun-
tains are thousands of acres of fertile slopes, sheltered
valleys, and even of well-watered bottoms adapted for
cattle or sheep, unclaimed and unappropriated.
There are great tracts of uncultivated prairie in
Minnesota, Iowa, Dakota, Nebraska, and other
States and territories, which men and money at
small expense are turning into fertile wheat and corn
lands, or profitable pastures for cattle and sheep.
The southern States lying between the Ohio river
and the gulf of Mexico, between Delaware and the
Missouri, including a territory four times as large as
France, ten times the size of Great Britain, also pre-
sent a great area of unused and very partially used land.
Not one-fourth is yet actually farmed ; not one-tenth
is yet employed agriculturally ; more than half is in
wild pasturage adapted for cattle and sheep, and
capable of carrying more than ten times the numbers
now kept. Excluding the thirteen original New
England eastern States which are more fully culti-
vated, it may be concluded that of the remaining
area of five-sixths of the United States, not one-tenth
part is at present appropriated, cultivated, or profitably
made use of.

Over the Canadian frontier are likewise great
tracts of useful, easily broken land awaiting settle-
ment, and especially adapted for wheat. The

1 United States Department of Agriculture : Message from the
President U.S.A. relating to sheep husbandry, January 1879, p. 12.

Unexhausted Laud Resources. 27

northern portion of the Red River valley, the alluvial
flats and bluffs of the Assinaboine and North and
South Saskatchawan which flow nearly 1,000 miles
from the Rocky Mountains into Lake Winnipeg,
are now attracting European farmers. Any of these
great river valleys when devoted to wheat might
alone produce supplies sufficient to make good the
annual deficit of the United Kingdom !

With such vast tracts of unappropriated and un-
used territory, no wonder that land in America is
cheap. It is not as at home a luxury, indulged in by
those possessed of ample means, and who can afford
to invest capital to pay about 2 per cent. The land
property of Great Britain is in the hands of com-
paratively few ; one-fourth of the area is held by
1,200 persons ; 600 members of the House of Peers
hold rather more than one-fifth, and enjoy between
one-tenth and one-eleventh of the total income de-
rived from land.1 There are many large estates in
America, but the enormous area still leaves abund-
ance for all who desire a piece of their own. In
many of the Western States tradesmen, artisans, and
domestic servants have an eighth or one-quarter
section (160 acres) or even more land on which their
savings are invested. Such purchases often pay very
well, owing, however, rather to their steady apprecia-
tion than to their yielding a large annual return. In
this country a rise of 1 per cent, per annum was con-

1 General View of British Apiculture, by James Caird, C.B.,
Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, vol. xiv. part ii.
Second Series.

28 Land, Land Laws, and Taxation.

sidered a fair advance during the good times, which
extended from 1855 to 1874. In America, where
most things move with quicker pace, a great deal of
land judiciously bought and fairly well managed un-
dergoes an annual appreciation of 5 to 10 per cent.,
and in some States well circumstanced for railroads
and other means of communication, thousands of acres
have recently doubled in value within five years. The
acquisition of land does not as in this country involve
a heavy expenditure of capital, for which a low rate
of interest is obtained. Securing the fee simple, the
American yeoman not only has his annual profit, but
the steady unearned increment in value, resulting
from extending settlement and augmented wealth.
Excepting in some of the Southern States, still
paralysed from the sad conflict of eighteen years ago
between North and South, and notwithstanding ex-
hausting cultivation, land steadily becomes more
valuable. Alike in the Eastern, Middle, and Western
States, farms are constantly changing hands.

The possession of property so abundant and
widespread as land is in America, naturally confers
less consideration and homage than a good pile
of ' the almighty dollars.' It secures fewer privi-
leges and less social prestige than it does in the old
country. The laws and customs relating to it very
closely resemble those applying to personal pro-
perty. The reform of our own land laws, which
cannot long be deferred, must take this direction.
The artificial, antiquated distinctions which have
gradually grown in Great Britain between so-called

Land Offices. 29

real and personal property must be entirely or greatly
reduced.

As might be expected in a new country, the land
laws are simpler than those of England, and the
acquisition and sale of land is more readily and
cheaply effected. The title conferring the fee simple
in the first instance comes from the National Govern-
ment. At the general land office at Washington,
and at district offices throughout the States and
territories, are the survey maps and records of pro-
perty, begun as early as 1785. The unoccupied lands
have of late years been surveyed and set out in town-
ships six miles square. Each of these is subsequently
divided into thirty-six sections, each containing one
square mile or 640 acres. These plots are arranged like
the squares on a chess board, the straight boundary lines
running north and south and east and west. Stones,
stakes, or other distinguishing marks, indicate the
corners of the sections, which are all numbered. In
the newer States two out of the thirty-six sections
are reserved for elementary and other educational
purposes. The sections are sometimes sub-divided
into halves, quarters, and eighths. The public lands
undisposed of and scattered widely throughout nine-
teen States and eight territories belong to the
United States Government, but Texas has reserved
its own public lands. Railway companies, in con-
sideration of their building lines of iron roads, have
received large tracts generally in alternate mile
sections, extending ten, and sometimes even twenty
miles on each side of their line. Of these lands they

30 Land, Land Laws, and Taxation.

gradually dispose, giving the purchaser for the sale
and transfer a brief ' warranting deed,' which passes
through the local register office, is duly vouched, and
the transaction recorded.

Somewhat on the same system as obtains in
Middlesex and Yorkshire, the details of every trans-
action connected with the sale, settlement, or mortgage
of land, are duly recorded at the district register office.
In these official documents stand recorded the names
of the ' grantors and grantees,' the description and
number on the plan, and acreage of every parcel of
land purchased, the price, nature and date of instru-
ment, with its date of acknowledgment and filing.
When a sale is made, the registrar gives a certificate
that the title of the lands dealt with ' is correct as the
same appears upon the original records.' The clerk
of the district court affixes his signature and seal to
an appended certificate, attesting that he has ex-
amined the records and files and ' finds that there are
no judgments therein against any of the within-named
parties.' The county auditor further certifies whether
or no taxes are due upon the land. In the absence
of the deeds of conveyance, the records referring to
any lot or parcel of land, as set forth in the books of
the district register office, are held good evidence of
ownership. Authenticated certificates of such records
are procurable for a small fee. In the district office
are also recorded all mortgages on land, and as they
take precedence in order of their registration, no time
is lost in their being officially entered. Very con-
veniently in the same office is likewise kept the

Entail and Primogeniture* 3 1

valuation of the whole of the landed estates of the
district, made every five years, and in some cities
revised at intervals of three years. These arrange-
ments simplify and cheapen the purchase and sale of
land. They obviate tedious and costly investigations
of title or the drawing of voluminous deeds. Estates
are sold and conveyed almost as easily and as
promptly as bank or railway stocks.

Powers of entail and settlement for one life and
twenty- one years, as in England, are recognised by
United States law, but are seldom acted upon, and
Americans can scarcely believe that half the land of
Great Britain is held by strict entail. The custom of
primogeniture, so common in the disposal of British
landed estates, is rarely adopted. When a widow
survives, after payment of legal charges, she is entitled
during her lifetime to one-third of all real estate. In
Kansas she claims one-half. After provision for the
widow, the property of the father is generally equally
distributed amongst the children. The property of
an intestate landowner is divisible equally amongst
his children or his next of kin. These laws and the
custom which gradually moulds itself upon them
interfere with the aggregation of large estates.

The public lands, of which there are still thousands
of acres unoccupied in the Western States and
territories, are divided into two classes. Some are
to be bought on cash payment of 1 dollar 25 cents
per acre. Others, more conveniently situated, for
double that amount. But 160 acres of these cheaper,
or 80 acres of the dearer, may be acquired under the

32 Land, Land Laws, and Taxation.

Homestead Acts on still easier terms. Any citizen
of the United States, or any one who declares his
intention of becoming a citizen, over twenty-one
years of age, whether male or female, who will settle
upon and cultivate these lands during five years, on
payment of fees or commissions, varying according
to situation or extent acquired from 30s. to 90^., is
entitled to a patent endowing him, his heirs and
assigns, with the fee simple of the land. Cultivation
for two years of five acres of forest trees under the
Culture Acts of 1873-8, in most of the States, further
entitles a settler, after three years and on payment of
small office fees, to 80 acres of land. Ten acres of
trees similarly cultivated secure a patent for 160
acres.

Increasing advantage is being taken of those
cheap, easy processes for the acquisition of land. The
official records1 testify that 5,260,111 acres have
been acquired under the Homestead Acts in 1879,
the largest amount ever taken up in any one year, and
nearly double the area acquired in 1869. Under the
Timber Acts 2,766,574 acres have been acquired in
1879, or more than five times the area thus obtained
in 1875. Eight million acres thus entered upon
partially cultivated and planted in one year strikingly
illustrates the rapidity with which the Western world
is being settled. Many of the grants would be lots
of 40 to 80 acres, but even supposing all amounted
to 160 acres, here would be 50,000 new farmers

1 American Almanac for 1880.

Valuation of Real and Personal Estate. ^

settled within twelve months. This continued ever-
widening colonisation goes on every year, and this
estimate takes no cognisance of the thousands of
acres disposed of by railway companies, corporations,
and private speculators, formerly void, but now being
settled and brought into some sort of cultivation.
Thousands thus going forth and cultivating the waste
places of the earth augurs well for the future abund-
ance and cheapness of food.

The assessed value of the real estate of the United
States as set forth in the return of the last census of
1870 was #9,914,780,825. Personal estate is figured
at #4,204,205,907. The true value of the two forms
of property is given at #30,068,518,507. Since 1870,
steadily recovering from the shock received from
the civil war, the value of the land and personal
property of the States is believed to have nearly
doubled.

The land scheme of the United States aims at
multiplying freeholders and erecting homesteads,
which it also generally protects from forced sale. By
federal law no homestead can be seized for debts
incurred previous to the obtaining of a patent for
such homestead. In thirty-two out of thirty-eight
States the homestead is protected against execution
from all debt, excepting for taxes. This protection
has frequently been abused ; it has proved a tempta-
tion to the taking up of land by men who had no
capital with which to cultivate it ; sometimes it un-
fairly shields the debtor from payment of his just
debts. Most States now wisely limit the exemption

D

34 Land, Land Laws, and Taxation.

to a certain acreage, to enumerated articles, or to
chattels of specified value. In Vermont the home-
stead reserved must not exceed S 500, with growing
crops, clothing, furniture, farm animals, and sundry
stores ; #200 in teams, #200 in professional library.
In New York State the value of the homestead
reserved from seizure may be #1,000, with personal
property, consisting of mechanics' tools to the value
of #25, furniture, instruments, library, &c. In
Kentucky the exemption consists of land, with
dwelling, to the value of #1,000, with furniture,
clothing, and domestic animals valued at #100. In
California the fortunate debtor may reserve home-
stead to the value of #5,000, #200 of furniture,
and a multitude of special articles. The house
of the town debtor, sometimes with a quarter, and
even half an acre of land, is exempted from
seizure from debt. The husband cannot alienate
the homestead without the consent, in writing, of his
wife.

So long as land belongs to the United States
there are no land or house duties, no stamps, or
Schedule A of the Income Tax, which, in the United
Kingdom, together collect 8,500,000/. and constitute
12 per cent, of our total taxation. The general
Federal Government of the United States is supported
by heavy customs duties collected on an import of
nearly 100,000,000/., and by internal revenue derived
from spirits, fermented liquors, tobacco, banks and
bankers, penalties and adhesive stamps. Spirits
produce one-half, and tobacco one-third, of this

General and Local Taxation. 35

excise. The revenue goes to meet the 20,000,000/.
still required to pay annual interest on the National
Debt, and maintain military and naval establishments,
pensions, public works, the administration of justice,
&c.

The states and territories raise for their own use
about 12,500,000/., which is chiefly expended on
public works, bridges, and roads, administration of
justice in county courts, maintenance of prisons,
lunatic asylums, education, and bureau of agriculture.
Of these local taxes about one-half is derived from
real estate. Land and houses are rated not as with
us on annual rental, but on value determined at
intervals, generally of five years. In different States,
according to their necessities and the amount of their
debt, the assessment varies considerably. It averages
about one-half per cent. In Texas and some States
it is provided by statute that the taxes on real estate
shall not exceed one-half per cent. In Illinois the
rate s about ^d. per acre. In Pennsylvania real
estate is exempted from all taxation.

Land is taxed whether it is void or occupied,
unless belonging to the United States Government or
situated in Pennsylvania or other favoured districts.
This somewhat discourages speculators holding land
unprofitably idle waiting a rise. The revenue officers
are prompt to take account of all improvements.
The assessment made is the first lien on the land ;
interest accrues when it is unpaid ; it constitutes
almost the only description of debt for which in many
States a homestead can be sold. The municipalities,

J

6 Land, Land Laws, and Taxation.

besides paying their own city charges, unlike the
English arrangement, usually also contribute their
share to the country expenditure. Government,
desirous to favour small freeholders, exempts from
taxation in many States land under 200 dollars. In
some Western States encouragement is given to clothe
the bare prairie with trees, by exempting for seven
years payment of taxes on land of which one-fourth
is planted with timber trees.

More than half the local taxation is derived from
personal estate. The assessment embraces horses and
other live stock, steam engines, carriages of all sorts,
implements and machinery, household furniture, in-
cluding pianos, watches, clocks, jewellery, &c. A
poll tax of 1 dollar is levied in some States. Pro-
fessional men, merchants, and all manner of traders
pay licence to practise their avocation. Railroad
companies are generally charged one-half per cent,
on the value of their property, and the same amount
on their gross earnings. Boarding and eating-houses,
as well as billiard-rooms and theatres, are taxed.
Liquor merchants have usually to pay a graduated
tax on sales. In some States stallions and jackasses
contribute 10 dollars annually. Livery-stable keepers
frequently are assessed at 1 5 dollars, and half a dollar
for each stall. These licenses and taxes on personalty
collect annually upwards of 6,000,000/. or one-half
of the local assessment. The system has the recom-
mendation of raising revenue from all sorts and con-
ditions of men. Those who have most pay most.
Professional men, traders, and those living on realised

General and Local Taxation. 37

property (of whom, however, there are very few in
America) are taxed according to their means. Local
taxation is thus equitably spread over a wide area,
and is drawn from every description of property.
The farmer and the land are not so heavily mulcted
as in Great Britain. The American agriculturist pays
on an average about 1 per cent on the valuation of
his land, plant, and personalty, which, presuming it to
be valued at from 2/. \os. to 5/. per acre, would place
his local taxes at 6d. to is. per acre. The adminis-
tration of the taxes is much better managed than it
was a few years ago. Instead of increasing, as in
England, they are gradually being reduced. Univer-
sal suffrage seems to keep down local expenses. In
the West, owing to liberal grants of State lands, the
cost of gratuitous education is minimised.

J

8 Landowners, Farmers, and Labourers.

CHAPTER IV.

LANDOWNERS, FARMERS, AND LABOURERS.

The United States census of 1870, out of a total
population of 38,600,000 (which has now mounted to
48,000,000), represented 12,506,000 adults as engaged
in various occupations, and of these 5,922,000 were
employed in agriculture. The number must now
exceed 7,000,000. Allowing to each bread-winner
two non-workers, nearly half the population of the
United States are directly concerned in agriculture.
In the Trans-Mississippi States more than three-
fourths of the people are engaged in agriculture. In the
Southern States lying between the Ohio and the Gulf
of Mexico two-thirds are occupied in rural pursuits.1
Of the population of the United Kingdom about one-
fifth are interested in agriculture as landowners,
tenant-farmers, and labourers. The United States
statistics in my possession do not show, as those of
Great Britain do, the relative numbers of the three
great classes engaged in agriculture, but farmers own-
ing the soil still outnumber the other agricultural

1 Report of the Commissioners of Agriculture on Sheep Husbandly,
January 1879.

Agriculture Employs a Fourth. 39

classes, and constitute more than half those engaged
in agricultural industries. In Great Britain the
farmers are six times as numerous as the landowners ;
the labourers are greatly more numerous than both
put together.

No Domesday-book indicates the area of
American estates ; some of them, however, measure
hundreds of square miles. As in this country,
a good deal of land is in the hands of nominal
owners, who have obtained advances upon it, who
have not the means or the wish to employ it to the
best advantage, but often await a sufficient apprecia-
tion to justify their partitioning it for sale. There
are few old family estates. Almost all are for sale at
a price. Land changes hands much more frequently
than in England. Many elderly men now in the
Western States began life onsmall New England farms,
migrated to some of the Middle States, spent some
years in improving property there, and, tempted by a
remunerative price, sell and re-invest farther West.
Numerous pioneers of colonisation push ahead of their
fellows, acquire land cheaply, break up, cultivate, and
after a few years sell out and move onwards with the
sun. Of unoccupied, uncultivated land there must still
be abundance for all comers for many years. In the
enterprising States of Minnesota and Iowa, with ad-
mirable railway facilities, within three or four miles
of a station, prairie land, requiring no costly breaking,
can be bought at 2$s. an acre. In older States,
such as Pennsylvania and Kentucky, which have
been occupied for a hundred years, farms are still

40 Landowners, Fanners, anel Labourers.

purchased at 5/. to 61. per acre. Whilst in Virginia
within fifty miles of Washington and in Georgia, and
other Southern States, are many fine estates belong-
ing to gentlemen whose fortunes were wrecked in the
struggle between North and South, who are unable
to find the means for improvements or for farming
profitably, and who, untrammelled by entails or
settlements, would gladly sell their property at low
prices.

By far the most numerous of the agricultural
classes is the yeoman who cultivates his own land.
So much is done by himself or his family that his
hired labourers, who in this country are fully four
times as numerous as the farmers, do not in America
amount to half their number. With abundance of
cheap land, easily worked and rising in value,
labourers aspire to be farmers, and the farmers
naturally prefer to own the land they till. This is
especially the case in the West. In Minnesota and
Kansas the moderate demand for land to let is evi-
denced by the fact that school lands, and those of
absentee proprietors abounding in prairie grass, and
well watered, are let at the moderate figure of two
cents, or even one cent per acre, and no restrictions
are made as to cutting hay or removing the produce.
In the Eastern and Middle States many farms are let
on shares, the owner, for his land, house, and build-
ings, usually receiving one-half of the grain grown.
The tenant finds labour and seed, and besides his
proportion of the grain, usually also earns a profit
from his cattle and pigs. Many men of limited

Small Capital Needful. 4 1

capital in this way make their first start in farming.
On fruit and dairy farms a similar division of profits
is often made between owner and occupier. It is the
old principle, once common in this country, of pay-
ment in kind. Considering the abundance of land, it
appears rather paradoxical that American landlords,
when they do get a tenant, manage to have as their
share nearly half the produce, whilst the British land-
lord has to be content with about one-fifth the gross
yield of his land.

Farms are let occasionally by agreement from
year to year, or on improving leases, the tenant of
unbroken land stipulating to bring so many acres
into cultivation annually. Sometimes, as with fruit
and vegetable farms, leases extend for ten years, or
even for longer periods. Simple leases and deeds of
agreement, usually remarkable for their directness and
brevity, are generally procured for 4s. to 8s., whilst
2s. is the common charge for recording a lease or
agreement. An indifferent tenant is not got rid of
by a simple notice to quit. He must be served with
a writ of ejectment. In most States distraint for rent
is prohibited. The landlord has no hypothec or pre-
ferential claim. In most States, as already remarked,
personal goods, farm implements, tools, and live stock
to a stipulated value, are protected from seizure for
debt.

The amount of capital employed in British agri-
culture, inadequate although it often is to secure the
fullest returns, is enormously in excess of that re-
quired in ordinary farming throughout the States.

42 Landowners, Farmers^ and Labourers.

Agricultural land in England and Scotland in its
natural condition, without any equipments, may still
be taken to be worth about 30/. an acre. Farm-house,
cottages, draining, roads, and fences cannot be fur-
nished for less than 10/. an acre. The tenant's in-
vestment for machinery, implements, horses, cattle,
and sheep should reach 10/. This total of 50/. an
acre is a very moderate estimate of the amount of
capital invested by British landlords and tenants. It
is, however, ten times the amount hitherto employed
in farming in the Western States, or in many of more
recently settled parts of Canada. Throughout the
great Trans-Mississippi wheat-growing regions, where
about one-half of the wheat of the continent is now
raised, good land is still purchased at 253-. to 30^. an
acre. In the great stock-raising regions west of the
Missouri, south in Texas, or north towards and be-
yond the Canadian boundary line, grazing lands are
bought at $s. to 1 $s. an acre. House and buildings
cost less than half the amount expended upon them
at home. Great tracts of country are in little need
of artificial drainage. Where frost for three months
secures an adamant way of ice, and summer drought
for a still longer period gives firm transit over meadow
and prairie, expensive roads are little needed. The
herd law, in force throughout many States, forbids
cattle being turned out without a keeper, and dimi-
nishes the need of fencing. These conditions ob-
viously economise outlay. For 2/. an acre American
farmers are generally supplied with the requisite
buildings and permanent equipments which here cost

Farmers Work Hard. 43

10/. On equally moderate terms the farmer possessed
of the requisite ready money buys his lighter ma-
chinery and implements, and his lower-priced live
stock. Many settlers on 320 acres calculate under
this category to start with il. an acre. Even if
double this sum is used, the total capital invested in
the fee simple of the land, in its equipments, and in
the farm stock, is but 5/. 10^, or little more than one-
tenth the amount contributed by the British landlord
and tenant in starting ordinary farming. On the
British investment of 50/., if 5 per cent, over head is
to be earned, the first charge on each acre will be $os.
This estimate may, however, be considered figurative
—at any rate, it is very rarely obtained. The land-
lord, if satisfied with 3 per cent, on his investment of
40/., would claim il. 4s. ; the tenant on his 10/., some-
what precariously invested in an uncertain vocation,
should earn 7 per cent, or 14^. per acre, making a
total for rent and interest on capital of il. i8i-. per
acre. Money, more valuable in a new country, must
pay 10 per cent., and the American farmer's charge
on his investment of 5/. 10s. would accordingly be
us. an acre. This aspect of the land question
accounts in great part for the low cost of agricultural
products in America, and explains how wheat can be
profitably grown, although it takes two acres to raise
the amount obtained in England on one. With land
so abundant and so cheap, and equipped and stocked
at such moderate cost, farmers naturally prefer to
own the soil they till.

Farming, like most other businesses in America,

44 Landowners, Farinas, and Labourers.

is done with energy and with a determination to over-
take as much work as possible. Labour is largely
aided and hastened by ingenious, light, easily worked
machinery. The land is generally level, friable, and
free from stones. But so much is often attempted,
that it is seldom thoroughly done. As often happens
at home, the farmer has frequently too large an area
under cultivation for the capabilities of his capital,
his horses, or his hand labour. He grudges especially
the employment of costly helps. A good deal of
American farming, accordingly, lacks the polish,
finish, and attention to details which distinguish the
best British culture. Headlands, corners, inaccessible
or indifferent portions of a field are seldom tilled.
The returns of maize crops are thus minimised.
Indian corn, missing frequent timely stirring, yields
only half as much as it might do. On imperfectly
prepared land, insufficiently hoed and not ridged up,
potatoes are often less than half a crop. In many
States reiterated growth of wheat, without any resto-
ration of the annually extracted plant food, has im-
poverished many good soils. In the newer Western
States, except amongst careful farmers, the bulk of
the straw is wastefully burnt in heaps as it comes
from the thrashing machines. Such treatment has
gradually exhausted the fertility of much land
throughout the Eastern and Middle States, and ob-
servant farmers are generally adopting a wiser
system, are not growing wheat so frequently or con-
tinuously, are adopting some kind of recuperative ro-
tation, are taking care of and applying the manure
made, and are keeping more live stock. Good

Labourers Wages Good. 45

managers are realising the truth of the Spanish
proverb which declares that ' the hoof of the sheep is
gold.' The severe winter and dry summer are un-
favourable for the growth of weeds, and notwithstand-
ing the small attention paid to hoeing, many farms
are tolerably clean.

Although the farmer is generally his own land-
lord, he works fully as hard as any British tenant,
and as hard and for fully longer hours than many
British labourers. He employs fewer hired helps ;
on all, excepting the largest occupations, the Boss
and his household have their full share of the
drudgery. The wife and daughters toil almost as
hard as the father and boys. They usually do the
milking and dairy work, and I have occasionally seen
young women riding the sulky ploughs. The truth
of the couplet is very generally illustrated :

Man's work proceeds from sun to sun,
But woman's work is never done.

Labourers have good wages, especially during
summer, and all food is cheap ; house accommodation
is not, however, so good or so moderate as it now is
in England, and there is often difficulty and uncer-
tainty in procuring employment during winter. The
average wages of ordinary farm men are $1, or about
4s. per day exclusive of board. Double that amount is
given in harvest. Owing to the boom of increased
prosperity which bountiful harvests have secured for
the States, during the past year wages both of farm
labourers and of artisans were advanced, and as com-
pared with several previous years that of 1880 repre-

46 Landowners, Farmers, and Labourers.

sents a rise of 7*25 per cent.1 The summer wages
range from £9/60 per month with board in South
Carolina, to $12'62 in Vermont, and $16 in the
Mississippi Valley. Although becoming more uni-
form than formerly, they are higher near towns than
in purely rural districts. They are highest in Montana
and the mineral districts. They are lowest in the
Southern States, where there is on the whole less en-
terprise and demand for labour, and where a freed
negro population is numerous. On most large farms
the hands are engaged from March 1 to November,
earn 3/. 10s. to 4/. a month, are housed in barracks or
bothies, are well fed with meat thrice daily, and work
twelve or thirteen hours. For unmarried men this
arrangement answers well enough, but very few farms
are provided with sufficient cottage accommodation
for married men and families, and the wives and
children have often to maintain a separate establish-
ment in some neighbouring town or village.

Artisans have generally good remuneration and
plenty of work. Carpenters, masons, blacksmiths,
shoeing smiths, wheelwrights, and machine makers,
without board, can earn $2 to $3 per day. They are
most in request and best paid in Colorado, Oregon,
and other Western States, where they command #3
to $4 daily.

In northern latitudes, towards and beyond the
Canadian frontier, during the long bitter winter, when
the land is bound in the adamant grip of frost, no
outdoor agricultural labour can be effected. The care

1 Statistical Report, Department of Agriculture, 1SS0.

Grain Crops suffer from Drought. 47

of the live stock is the only work of the farm. Not
one-half of the regular summer labour is required.
The want of sufficient work for the agricultural popu-
lation during winter is a serious evil, leading to
constant changes amongst the labourers, leaving
some in enforced demoralising idleness, necessitating
their migrating in quest of lumbering,, pork-packing,
or other such work, driving many into the towns,
where their summer earnings melt away. When
severe winter extends, as in Manitoba, for nearly six
months, spring brings the necessity for extraordinary
effort. In the north and north-west, the spring
wheats, where used, have to be put in with all haste,
often while the frost is slowly relaxing its hold of the
deeper soil. Haymaking in such a dry climate cer-
tainly causes less anxiety than under our dull,
showery skies. Except where Indian corn is
properly cultivated, there is little trouble or expense
with hoeing. Wheat harvest again calls forth every
effort. Under a blazing sun the ripened crop, unless
promptly gathered, suffers great loss from shake.

Drought is the untoward condition which more
than anything else minimises American grain crops,
and especially wheat. It accounts for the small
shrivelled berry, but if not excessive, confers the thin
skin and richness in albuminoids. Notwithstanding
deep good soils, it is the chief factor in bringing down
theyield to 12 or 13 bushels an acre, or less than one-
half the estimated acreable produce of Great Britain.
We suffer from excess of rain and deficiency of sun-
shine ; they have too little rain and too much sun-

48 Landowners, Farmers, and Labourers.

shine. Drought in early spring sometimes interferes
with regular germination or growth. Scorching
weather as the grain is maturing sometimes shrivels
it up, reducing in 1879 the yield of wheat in Kansas
to 1 1 bushels, in Texas "]\ bushels per acre. In
various Southern States and in California irrigation
is essential for arable cultivation.

Locusts (Caloptenas spretus) have frequently com-
mitted great devastations. From their indigenous
breeding districts in Montana, Wyoming, and part of
Colorado, they have frequently extended in all direc-
tions over other States, reaching throughout the
Canadian dominions, proceeding north as far as Ohio
and south into Kentucky. In swarms measured by
hundreds of miles the hoppers have travelled, darken-
ing the air, stopping railway trains, devouring every
green blade, leaving fields, gardens, and orchards bare
and blackened, as if they had been swept by fire.
They are no new plague. There are records of their
devastations in 1858. Their most serious recent
widespread eruptions were in 1875 and 1876, and
throughout many parts of Kansas in 1877.

Another insect pest which causes serious loss is
the small Hessian fly {Cecydomia destructor), which
deposits its eggs in the tender leaflet of the autumn
wheat in September, or of the spring cereals in April.
The maggots, hatched in five to ten days, live on the
fresh juices of the plant, starve, shrivel, and kill
it. Later generations of the fly attack the cereals
even when they have shot to the second and third
joints.

Size of Farms. 49

Some of these serious drawbacks to American
farming will doubtless be gradually abated. Planting,
as pointed out, will increase and equalise the rainfall ;
irrigation will be more widely used in drier regions ;
thorough cultivation will extirpate insect pests, or
limit their devastations ; growth of clover, green
crops, and their consumption on the soil, will main-
tain and increase fertility ; selection of better seed,
more suitable for special localities, will ensure a more
uniform and better yield.

The farms of the United States as set forth by
the official returns (no cognizance being taken of
farms under three acres) averaged 190 acres in i860,
fell to 153 acres in 1870, and are still diminishing.
They are under 100 acres in the New England States ;
in Utah, with its irrigated gardens and tidy orchards,
they only reach 30 acres ; the largest holdings are in
California, where the acreage is set down at 482 acres,
and where there are several arable farms of over
20,000 acres ; the cattle ranches of Texas present an
average of 300 acres ; the cotton plantations of
Georgia average 338 acres. The average acreage is
greater than in the United Kingdom, where 70 per
cent, of the farms are under 50 acres, and only twelve
per cent, range from 50 to 100 acres.

Alike in England and America an important
practical question arises, What size of farm pays best ?
In proportion to the amount of capital invested, the
arable farmers who in America are making the most
money are undoubtedly the industrious owners of 80
to 160 acres. A great proportion of their work is

E

5<d Landowners, Farmers, and Labourers.

done by themselves and their families ; their expenses
are small ; their wheat has recently paid well ; they
are generally diversifying their culture. With abun-
dance of capital, the best of machinery, and system-
atic intelligent supervision, the large arable farms in
California, the Red River settlements, and elsewhere,
have lately paid well. Hitherto, however, they are
too dependent on wheat ; a good crop throughout
Europe and America might seriously cut down their
profits. Capitalists engaged in the great cattle
ranches and sheep runs of Central and Western
America are less liable to disastrous fluctuations of
price. They have been making handsome returns,
often reaching 25 per cent, on judiciously expended
capital, and there is no near prospect of diminution
in their returns. The wheat production of the world
now readily suffices to find bread for her population,
but the meat supplies, especially for the Old World,
are yet inadequate to the wants of the people, and
there is still ample scope for the production of beef
and bacon. American dairy farmers have not gene-
rally done so well as the graziers or feeders. For a
couple of years until September last good cheese has
been selling at about 2d. per lb. ; the cheese factories
of New York State have repeatedly reduced their
price for the farmers' milk ; occasionally it has fallen
to id. per quart. As at home, those who sell milk or
butter have done better than the cheese makers.
Owing to the large amount of capital embarked in
the business, and the higher price of labour in the
Eastern and Middle States, unless the farmers have

Freedom and Libe7'ty of Action. 51

taken up market-gardening, fruit-growing, or other
specialty, they are not generally so prosperous as
their brethren out West. Western competition, with
some reason, is said to affect them as seriously as it
has done the British farmer. Nor has agriculture
been particularly prosperous in the Southern States.
The free negro has not yet settled down to steady
industry. Although not paid much more than half
the wages given for white labour in the North or
West, work is virtually more costly, whilst markets
are not so numerous or accessible.

Compared with their British brethren, American
farmers have certain other advantages. They are
untrammelled by old-world restrictions. They can
buy and sell land with as little expense and delay as
if it were government or railway stocks. Their
homestead or implements cannot be seized for ordi-
nary debt. Excepting during close time, without
licence or permission asked or given, they shoot and
sport over their own and also over their neighbours'
property. When land is let, the landlord does not
dictate as to the mode of cropping or the sale of
produce. There is no prejudice or clinging to anti-
quated systems ; but a readiness to. modify practice
according to soil, climate, circumstances, or markets.
Around the cities market gardens and orchards are
rapidly multiplied, and dairy farming is prosecuted.
This American adaptiveness is especially worthy of
imitation in the present unremunerative condition of
British agriculture.

e 2

52 The Cheap Movement oj Grain.

CHAPTER V.

THE CHEAP MOVEMENT OF GRAIN.

A KEEN appreciation of novelty, a readiness to adopt
improved processes, and the extensive application of
machinery constitute important elements in the indus-
trial successes of the United States of America. In
the preparation of the soil, the harvesting of the crops
and their transit by rail or water, these principles are
strikingly illustrated. Time, labour, and consequently
expense are hence economized. With a pair of smart
horses, two acres are readily ploughed daily : the
Western farmer, except when turning, mounts com-
fortably seated on his sulky plough. Reapers have
long been universal, and are now superseded by the
combined reaper and binder. On the great Dal-
rymple farm in the territory of Dakota 120 of these
useful combined machines were at work last season.
Portable steam machines thrash and clean the grain.
In sacks, carried in light vans or waggons, it is
delivered to the railway depot or to the canal or river
barges. A handy crane usually hastens the unloading
and emptying of the sacks.

Grain delivered by the farmer even at remote
western depots is examined by the sworn inspector, is

Cheap Transport, 53

generally winnowed by steam, water, or wind power
as it passes into the bins of the elevator. It is weighed
60 lbs. to the bushel instead of 63 lbs. as is general
in England : 480 lbs. constitutes the quarter. The
inspector grades both the varieties as No. I, 2, 3, or 4
winter or spring. According to this official estimate,
which is rarely questioned, the farmer is paid in con-
formity with his bargain or in. accordance with current
price. The memorandum of the transaction received
by the buyer constitutes an order for the delivery of
so many quarters of the specified quality. Unless,
however, under special arrangement, rot a particle of
the same wheat to which the order actually referred
is delivered to the buyer. The delivery note, especi-
ally in speculative times, is sold and resold repeatedly.
Each purchaser deposits a small percentage to pro-
tect the vendor from loss in case of a drop in value.
The ultimate buyer, although he does not receive the
grain actually bought, has its equivalent of the stipu-
lated grade set forth in his delivery order. Without this
simple deferential system it would be impossible to con-
duct the great grain business of the Western World.

Nearly half the wheat grown in America now
comes from the great Mississippi valley 1,000 miles
west of New York, and from the vast alluvial prairies
and plains which extend thence 500 miles, and away
beyond the Missouri, embracing an area fifteen times
as large as Gieat Britain.

The handling and transport of the grain from this
great region, as elsewhere in America, is cheaply and
effectively managed. Lakes, rivers, canals and rail-

54 The Cheap Movement of Grain.

roads contribute ready and cheap transport. There
are in the States 86,497 miles of iron roads ; they
have doubled their mileage twice in ten years ; 4,721
miles were laid down in 1879. Over the great level
western prairies they are built at the rate of 3,000/.
per mile. The trucks or cars contain 400 to 500
bushels or 10 to 12 tons. The grain in bulk, and
graded as described, does not require to be kept in
small separate lots ; the trucks travel full. The rail
roads out west, where competition is small, charge,
however, relatively high for transport. From St. Paul
to Chicago, for example, a distance of 450 miles, the
tariff is usually about ^s. 6d. for 480 lbs. From
Kansas city (280 miles) to Saint Louis, the charge is
about 4s. From grain centres such as Chicago, Cin-
cinnati, or St. Louis, to the eastern seaboard, or to
Great Britain, the cost of transport is, however, pro-
portionally less. During the summer of 1879, owing
to competition between the five railroads which run
east from Chicago, thousands of quarters of grain were
carried at 3-r. 4^. per quarter, and even lower rates
were given to Philadelphia and Baltimore. A similar
moderate charge forwarded the quarter of wheat to
British ports. But these are exceptionally low rates,
probably 50 to 70 per cent, below what may be re-
garded as a fair standard during an average of years.
Long distance charges are relatively sometimes abso-
lutely lower than those for shorter distances. For
other goods as well as for grain low rates are obtained.1

1 New York Produce Exchange Report for 1879 and 1880 ; Messrs.
Read and Pell's Report on American Agriculture,

New York Grain Elevators. 55

From Chicago to New York, which, according to the
route taken, varies from 800 to 900 miles, the cost of
transport of a barrel of flour of 214 lbs. has ranged
during the last five years from 50 to 80 cents (2s. 2d.
to 3^. 4d.) Pork, beef, and lard have varied from 42
to 57 cents per 100 lbs. Tinned meats in cases, fall-
ing as low as 18 cents, for three years have had a
steady maximum of 45 cents per 100 lbs.

Fully one-third of the grain sent east is carried by
water, over all or part of the route. The canal or
river barges stow about 1,000 quarters, and strings of
twelve or sixteen, hawled by a steam-tug, are de-
spatched at very cheap rates, over the great lakes or
down the canals or rivers to the seaboard. From
S. Louis 1,000 miles down the Mississippi to New
Orleans, grain is often conveyed at the rate of 3d. per
bushel. From Chicago via Buffalo or Oswego to New
York, a distance of 1,400 miles, the freight for 1878
was /fed. per bushel ; that of 1879 is about ^d. per
bushel. The average cost of transport of 480 lbs. of
wheat during the last five years has been ^s. $d. The
transport of a quarter (448 lbs.) of Indian corn has
been 3s, id. Equally moderate rates are charged for
the transit of grain from the interior to other ocean
ports. By fixed or floating elevators it is transferred
from the barges, and weighed by Fairbank's standard
scales, as it is ' dumped ' at the rate of 2,000 or 3,000
bushels an hour into the bins for storing, or into the
hold of the vessel that carries it to Europe. Of the
152,000,000 bushels of grain and breadstuff's annually
brought to New York, 44 per cent, is by water car-

56 The Cheap Movement of Grain.

riage, and somewhat similar proportions are carried to
the other Atlantic ports.

Even in a country where everything is on a large
scale, the grain traffic of the great railway companies,
encouraged by these low rates, by numerous inter-
secting local lines, and by facilities for movement,
' bulks tolerably big.' New York has 54 per cent, of
her grain and breadstuffs by rail. Fully 3 1 per cent.,
or about 50,000,000 bushels, is annually forwarded by
the New York Central and Hudson River rail; 14^
per cent, by the Erie ; upwards of 9^ per cent, by the
Pennsylvania. The two latter lines are erecting at
their depots at New Jersey City elevators to facilitate
the movement of the grain. Four years ago the
New York Central and Hudson River Company, fol-
lowing the spirited example of Chicago, erected at
their terminus at Fifty-ninth Street two gigantic
warehouses with elevators, capable of storing 1,250,000
bushels, built on piles driven into the bed of the Hud-
son, and commanding 25 ft. of water for the mooring
and loading of vessels. Each of these buildings is
about 300 ft. long, 100 ft. wide, and 150 ft. high ; and
so rapidly is business extending, that it is said a third
warehouse is required. Each building contains up-
wards of 100 bins ; each bin is capable of holding
5,000 to S,ooo bushels. They arc 12 ft. square, and
50 ft. to 55 ft. deep; their walls are made of 6 in.
battens, 2 in. thick, spiked together, and further
strengthened by a few iron rods passing across the
bin. These bins are filled by 20 large elevators,
which can take up grain simultaneously from ten

American G?'ain Warehouses. 57

trucks, unloaded on the ground floor within the
building, or from barges, discharged from the wharfs
on either side. An engine of 700-horse power drives
the gigantic 4 ft. belt, 300 ft. long, which moves this
unique machinery, the wheels, shafts, and working
parts of which are conveniently fixed in the top stories
of the building.

V/heat and Indian corn constitute the bulk of the
grain received, and about half of it is on through bills
for Europe. Most of the oats go for the home trade.
The grain is chiefly collected 1,000 miles to 1,500 miles
west ; the cars carry 400 to 500 bushels, or an average of
10 to 12 tons. The stuff is examined and graded on
transit by qualified inspectors appointed by the State.
Of the several grains there are about forty grades ; of
spring wheat, for example, there are first, second, third,
and fourth grades, and rejected. Unless distinctly
stipulated for in the bills of lading, consignors' lots are
not kept separate ; grain of the same grade is, how-
ever, strictly kept by itself; and indiscriminately from
a bin of 6,000 bushels may be drawn the 1,000 bushels
belonging to six small consignors. Separate bins re-
served for small lots would entail much extra trouble
and cost.

Three hundred cars, containing 120,000 bushels,
are sometimes unloaded daily. In lots of 8 or 10,
they are run under the elevators and rapidly emptied
in 12 or 15 minutes. Two men, with respirators to
keep the dust out of their lungs, enter each truck
armed with a shovel, which consists of a board or tray,
about a yard square and without any handle. To

58 The Cheap Movement of Grain.

each of these shovels is attached a rope, which passes
over a roller, conveniently placed several yards above
the truck and worked by steam, which winds up the
rope until it pulls the shovel and all the grain before
it towards the door of the car, where it falls into a
receiver below. The roller then automatically re-
verses its motion and unwinds the rope, thus enabling
the workman to retire to the far corner of the car,
when the roller again reverses, and the process is re-
peated until the car is emptied. The ropes are so
arranged, that while one of the men is guiding his
loaded shovel forward, the other is retiring for another
charge. From the receiver, the grain is raised to its
destination by an endless band, provided with the
ordinary tin buckets. By arrangement of shoots each
elevator is in communication with twenty-six bins. If
it is desired, the grain on its way to the bin, at a cost of
id. per quarter, can be run through one of the six win-
nowing machines with which each building is provided.
The perforated shakers keep back stones, straw, or
other rubbish : the air blast drives out very light
grain, chaff, and dust, which, by a pipe, is conveyed
into the Hudson. Every parcel passing through the
elevators is weighed automatically by Fairbank's
scales, which accurately weigh a bushel or a lot of 10
to 14^ tons. The charge made by the railway com-
pany for this transference from car or barge to the
bins and re-delivery to the vessels is one-half of a
cent per bushel ; and this includes ten days' storage.
Longer storage is charged at the rate of id. per quarter
for ten days or any part thereof. At any time the

Fixed and Portable Elevators. 59

grain can be turned, not laboriously by men -with
shovels, but by machinery, from one bin into another ;
and for less than id. per quarter. Unsound stuff is
charged extra rates. If grain is sacked and the sacks
loaded on cars or barges, the charge is 4/t. per quarter.
Most of the grain within ten days is usually discharged
from the bins into lighters for delivery to the steamers.
or direct into the ship carrying it to Europe. Down
shoots of about 12 in. in diameter the grain rushes
through the hatches, and is firmly packed to prevent
shifting. A steam-worked shovel, similar to that
used for emptying the cars, might be here effectively
employed. A handy vessel, with convenient hatches,
is loaded with 60,000 to 80,000 bushels in eight hours.
A steamer frequently receives on board in one day
her freight of 90,000 bushels.

Without the fixed railway elevators and their
steam-floating prototypes it would be difficult to load
up and export every week, as is often done, from New
York, upwards of 2,500,000 bushels of grain. With-
out them it would have been hopeless to handle the
unprecedentedly large export of 13,676,000 bushels
which were despatched for Europe during July
1880.

These ingenious useful appliances, so interesting
to the mechanician and so considerably reducing the
cost of the movement of grain, are not yet sufficiently
used in Europe. In Great Britain the only public
elevators are those in the grain docks at Liverpool.
The handy floating elevators, costing about 6,000/., so
constantly employed at all the American ports to

60 The Cheap Movement of Grain.

transfer grain from the barges to the larger ocean-going
vessels, are now likely to receive a fair trial in this
country. An elevator built by the New York elevator
construction company for Messrs. Edward Power & Co.
has for twelve months been working successfully on
the Thames. The adoption in this country of these
American labour-saving machines has been retarded
by many vessels bringing grain having besides other
cargo on board, and hence discharging at docks remote
from the grain warehouses. The general distribution
of grain in sacks instead of loose, as it is in America,
also limits the general use of elevators. The grain
warehouses in many older ports are besides often
placed too far from the wharfs to allow the grain
being raised direct from the ships into the warehouses.
At many of the newer ports, and where granaries
have recently been erected, their convenient proximity
to rail and water, and the introduction of elevators
have most unaccountably been overlooked. The
economy of such appliances is, however, very strikingly
demonstrated in the tedious and expensive discharge
of grain vessels at European ports. The vessel
which had her cargo of 8o,ooo bushels put on board
in bulk at New York in a single day, at her European
destination is unloaded by tardy, costly hand labour ;
every bushel is painstakingly weighed and sacked up,
often carried ashore on men's shoulders, and ten or
twelve days are sometimes occupied, entailing, besides
expensive labour, an unnecessary outlay of at least 10/.
daily for detention of the vessel.

6i

CHAPTER VI. .

NEW YORK MEAT SUPPLIES.

The sale, preservation, and distribution of animal
food are somewhat differently managed in England
and America. From American practices may cer-
tainly be learned various useful lessons ; notably in
the cheap transport alike of live cattle and of meat, in
the sale of cattle, sheep, and pigs by weight, instead
of by the guess system so generally prevalent in this
country, in the use of convenient central abattoirs, in
the adoption of cold storage chambers ; and in utili-
sing every portion of offal. The marketing, slaugh-
tering, and shipping arrangements at New York
illustrate these, and perhaps other practical lessons.

New York, with her million of population, attracts
to her markets every week nearly 12,000 cattle for
slaughter, 160 to 200 cows, about 30,000 sheep,
32,000 swine, besides variable numbers of calves and
lambs. Twenty years ago New York, in twelve
months, slaughtered 150,000 cattle, or about one-
fourth of her present requirements. From Chicago,
Philadelphia, and elsewhere, she further receives large
consignments of dead meat, some of it for consump-
tion, some of it for transmission to Great Britain.

62 New York Meat Supplies.

The live-stock supplies are tolerably equally divided
between the yards of the New York Central and
Hudson River Company, at the foot of Seventy-
Second Street, and those of the Stock Yard Company
at New Jersey City, on the opposite side of the Hud-
son, but readily reached from New York in fifteen
minutes by the huge ferry boats, carrying buggies,
coaches, loaded carts and vans, as well as passengers.
The swine are assigned separate quarters, at
Fortieth Street, New Jersey City. The commoner
cattle, narrow, leggy, brindled or yellow, with enor-
mous formidable horns, direct descendants of the
Spanish stock imported into Mexico 350 years ago,
come 2,000 miles from Texas and New Mexico, weigh
alive 1,000 lbs. to 1,200 lbs., and yield 52 lbs. to 54 lbs
of beef for every 100 lbs. of live weight. More
compact and shapely, nearer the ground, and with less
offal, arc the steers from Colorado and Wyoming.
Many lots, varying considerably in quality, are made
up from Chicago. St. Louis, or Cincinnati. Improved
by selection, and 'graded up' by crossing with Short-
horns and Herefords, but seldom reaching one-sixth
of the whole, are consignments from Kentucky and
Illinois, forwarded direct from the pastures, or in
winter and spring from the yards where they have
been fed, mainly on Indian corn and hay, averaging
four years old, reaching 1,500 lbs. to 1,800 lbs. live
weight, and yielding 56 to 60 per cent, of beef. As
everywhere in America the beasts are sold, as they
should be in this country, by weight, the beasts
bought pass, as they from the pens are run on to one of

The Cattle Trade. 63

Fairbank's ubiquitous weigh-bridges, where, inclosed
within gates, their weight is recorded by a market
official. These useful scales cost 70/. to 100/. Gene-
rally the animals are disposed of by live weight, or on
the hoof, as it is termed ; but at New York they are
sold on the estimate of the carcase weight. In recent
markets good and extra bullocks have sold at $d. to
5f</. per pound, and lower qualities at ^d. to A^d. per
pound.

In the great cattle-breeding territories, west and
south of the Missouri, three and four year old cattle
in good condition are worth less than 2d. per pound
live weight. In early spring thousands are driven
north and east, often for several hundred miles, to the
railroad stations, grazing on the sparsely occupied, or
unoccupied lands. They are usually travelled steadily,
at the rate of ten miles a day ; when well managed
they improve, often gaining 1 lb. of weight daily;
with considerable droves, 2d. per head per day covers
all travelling expenses for men and beasts. Reaching
their destination at the railway yards, they are allowed
to feed and rest, are packed 16 to 20 in large weil-
constructed covered cars, and by special trains are for-
warded east. The large operators have staffs of ex-
perienced, steady men, who take pains with their
charges, with long poles keep them on their legs, pre-
vent quarrelling, and have very few casualties. Every
300 or 400 miles, at intervals of 18 to 24 hours, the
cattle are unloaded, fed, watered, and rested from 24
to 30 hours. Hardy and accustomed to roam at
liberty in wide pastures or large yards, American

64 New York Meat Supplies.

cattle lose less weight in travelling, either on foot or
by rail, than English cattle would do under like cir-
cumstances. A journey of 1,500 miles by rail gene-
rally pulls off 100 lbs. to 150 lbs., from a beast of
1,200 lbs. or 1,500 lbs., but three-fourths of this loss is
fluids.

American transport charges are very moderate.
From Cheynne, Julesburg, and other stations on the
Union Pacific, 1,200 miles west to Chicago, the
freight charge is under 3 or. for each beast. From
Chicago (900 miles) to New York, it is 16s., the
charge usually made in this country for one-eighth of
the distance. From Chicago to Baltimore the rate
is 20s. The charges are so many dollars per car load,
nominally of ten tons ; but so long as no cruel sense-
less overcrowding occurs, the companies are not par-
ticular in restricting the weight to ten tons. There is
no ridiculous difference, as in this country, between
the transport rates for live animals and for dead meat ;
both are charged, as they should be, by weight. The
rates vary from \d. to less than \d. per lb. per mile.
On short journeys higher rates are charged, concern-
ing which there are many and loud complaints.

Mondays and Thursdays are the busy days at the
New York and New Jersey stock yards, but sales are
made daily at both ; 1 50 to 200 car-loads of cattle
are frequently forwarded in one day to each of these
two stock-yards. Sheep and pigs are brought in
double-decked trucks which, like those for the cattle,
are double the size of those used at home. Hay is
furnished at id. per lb. Officers of the Society for the

New Yo7'k Stock-yards. 65

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are in constant
attendance. Cases of cruelty or neglect are punished.
Whips and long sticks are used to separate and drive
the animals ; dogs are seldom employed. The rail-
ways discharge the animals direct into the stock-
yards, each of which accommodates 6,000 cattle, and
three times that number of sheep, which, forwarded
mainly from Canada and the Northern States, are
most numerous in the New York mart. The avenues
between the stock-yard pens are 20 feet wide. The
pens are 70 feet by 30 feet, mostly enclosed with six-
barred iron hurdles, conveniently holding two car-
loads, or about forty animals, and furnished with
water-troughs and racks for hay, which is fairly sup-
plied. The salesmen begin work at 5 a.m. They
receive 2s. as commission on cattle, and is. on sheep
and hogs. They furnish consigners the weight of the
animals they sell, as ascertained by Fairbank's scales ;
they also give the price obtained, and the name of
the purchaser — important particulars which salesmen
in this country do not always vouchsafe. Animals
disposed of at the stock-yards, whether of New Jersey
City or those of the Central and Hudson River Rail-
road Co., if required, are conveyed by floats to any of
the river slaughter-houses for the small charge of
ioc/. each. The charge for similar service on the
Thames is 4s. per head.

Adjacent to the New York Central and Hudson
River Stock-yards, at the foot of Seventy-Second
Street, are the commodious slaughtering and cold
storage premises of Messrs. T. C. Eastman and Co.,

F

66 New York Meat Supplies.

the most extensive slaughterers and fresh meat ex-
porters in America. Mr. T. C. Eastman was the first
to open the fresh meat trade with England in 1875.
His shipments of cattle and sheep alive and dead
sometimes reach 1 ,000 per week. Now that the business
is a success he expresses astonishment that it was not
done long before. It is not, he remarks, uniformly
conducted with profit. Numbers of those who have
embarked in it have lost heavily. Owing usually to
bad weather, sometimes from other causes, for several
weeks together, a glut occurs in the English market,
and prices fall id. and even i\d. per. lb. Not only
are profits sacrificed, but freight and insurance are lost.
In summer the live animal pays better than the dead
meat. About 6^d. obtained at British ports yields
good remuneration to shippers. American meat, he
says, could be afforded at less money if the present
restrictions at the port of landing were dispensed with
and the beasts allowed to be moved alive to inland
markets. Mr. Eastman is a decided free trader : he
says we cannot supply England nor any other part of
Europe with provisions unless we are prepared to
take manufactured articles in return. Politicians, he
says, will have to fight out the question of tariffs, but
the American people want free trade.

Mr. Eastman further informs me (May 29, 1880)
that ' throughout the American continent there are
now more good fat bullocks ready for the market
than the home and export trade can use, and prices
accordingly are falling off. The agricultural re-
sources of the country are such that the supply can

Mr. Eastmans Establishment. 67

be kept up and almost any reasonable demand made
good. Stock steers two to three years old are cheap
and plentiful. They weigh about 1,1 OO lbs. ; good
grass or hay, and about 80 bushels of Indian corn,
raised at an expense of 8d. to is. per bushel, will
make them up to 1,500 lbs. A small portion of our
rich western lands,' he continues, ' are really under cul-
tivation. You may calculate that this country can
furnish cattle delivered on British soil for an almost
unlimited time at prices lower than are being realised
at present.'

Mr. T. C. Eastman's premises are conveniently
connected with the Hudson River stock-yards. The
slaughtering and storage buildings are 150 yards long,
80 wide, and mostly four storeys high. Here 5,000
cattle are sometimes received, killed, and distributed
in one week ; 2,000 are sometimes remitted alive to
other eastern cities ; 500 are occasionally despatched
to Europe. The chief proportion are slaughtered for
the great Washington and Fulton dead meat markets.
The commoner sorts are forwarded to the beef canning
establishments. Three to four hundred men are em-
ployed, earning 6s. to 12s. a day. From the adjoining
stock-yards the cattle are driven down the central
passage into separate pens. Suspended from a re-
volving shaft are a series of stout hempen ropes,
terminating in a hook, which is placed round one or
both hind fetlocks of the beast. Automatically by
steam the rope is slowly wound up. The bullock, at
a loss to comprehend the unwonted process, seldom
makes much resistance, is steadily raised off the

68 New York Meat Supplies.

ground, swung clear of the pen, and with a vigorous
thrust of the knife the large bloodvessels of the
neck are severed, and also the gullet, which en-
sures cleaner dressing. The blood rapidly drains
away, and is collected in tanks, dried for sugar-
refining, or, with the entrails, goes for manure-
making. Four or five men are promptly to work
with knife and cleaver removing the hide, which
in summer is slightly salted to secure preservation.
The heads are removed ; the tongues go for pick-
ling, the tails for soup. The kidneys find their way to
the restaurants and hotel-keepers. The heart and
liver are sold fresh or for sausage-making. The best
of the fat, carefully washed and kept cool, is secured
by the oleomargarine manufacturer. The refuse fat
and that stripped from the entrails is used for soap
and candle-making. The feet go for glue and gela-
tine. Within fifteen minutes the beast is killed and
dressed ; twenty are generally finished off every hour.
Suspended from pulleys, run on stout iron rods over-
head, the carcases are passed into a cool, darkened
chamber, where at a temperature of about 400 Fahr.
the natural heat is in great part dissipated. In from
eight hours to twenty-four they are transferred to the
adjacent cold storage chambers, in the centre of the
building, with double walls of i^-inch boards, kept an
inch apart, so as to reduce conduction, with an
accurately fitting door on the same non-conducting
principle. In these refrigerating chambers, with
several hundred tons of ice overhead, and fans moved
by steam, the dry air, at a temperature of 34° to 38°,

Export of Live Stock and Meat. 69

is kept continually circulating amidst the suspended
carcases, which remain for twenty-four to thirty-six
hours, or in the case of meat intended for shipment
to Europe, until the steamers are ready to receive it.
The total cost of killing and dressing each bullock,
including rent and interest on plant, Mr. Eastman
informs me, is 3s. to 3s. 6d. But during summer,
when the carcases are kept several days in the re-
frigerating chambers, the cost is nearly doubled.
These expenses are, however, covered by the 6s. or js.
obtained for the offal, of which the best is made.
The blood dried, and in bags weighing 175 lbs., con-
tains about 17 per cent of ammonia, and is bought
for nurserymen and cotton planters at from $35 to
#40 per ton of 2,000 lbs. The remainder of
the offal, including heads of oxen and sheep, is re-
duced in steam-heated, close-covered vats, the grease
skimmed off, the ground bones added, and a useful
well-dried manure made, which contains about 6 per
cent, of ammonia, and 25 of phosphates, and is dis-
posed of at $26 per ton.

Mutton is not so much used in America as in
England, nor is the quality generally so good. Sheep
have been kept almost exclusively for their wool, but
crossing the native Mexicans and half-bred Merinos
with well-selected rams of approved English breeds,
is steadily improving the weight and quality of the
mutton. The best sheep brought to New York come
from Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio, and from Canada ;
500 to 600 are sometimes killed and dressed in a
day ; their average carcase weight is 50 lbs. to 60 lbs.,

70 New York Meat Stipplies.

but picked lots, such as are forwarded to Great
Britain, reach 65 lbs. to 80 lbs. The wholesale carcase
price is 4^. to ^d. per lb.

Messrs. Sherman and Gillett have large abattoirs
connected with the New Jersey Stock-yard, supply
the trade in the Washington and Fulton markets, and
elsewhere, and forward 250 to 300 carcases even-
week to England, besides about the same number of
sheep and pigs conveniently disposed amongst the
quarters of beef. Animals of different grades are
killed for different purposes. The best, yielding 56
to 58 per cent, of beef, and weighing dressed 750 lbs.
to 800 lbs., are forwarded over the Atlantic. The
system of slaughtering is much the same as at Mr. East-
man's. Six men work together ' on the bed,' with a
seventh as a subordinate to wash and tidy up, and
have 2s. 6d. for each beast. The hides, weighing in
the horns and hair of the tail, range from 56 lbs. to 96
lbs., bring ^\d per lb., are salted, and many exported
to France. The head fetches 2s., the tongue 2s. 6d.
The kidneys bring 2s., the heart and liver are worth
is. 3d. The fat, of which 100 lbs. are got from a ripe
beast, is worth 2\d. per lb. The feet, valued at is. 3d.
to is. 6d., are taken by the stock-yard company as
rent of premises. The bones arc sold at i£ cents per
lb. Sheep skins are worth in October 6s. to js.
each. After hanging for a few hours in an airy, cool,
darkened shed, without any laborious carrying, sus-
pended from pulleys gliding along iron rods over-
head, the carcases are run into the refrigerating
chambers, where, with ice and sometimes with salt,

High Retail Price of Meat. 7 1

the temperature, even in the hottest summer weather,
is maintained at 340 to 380. The average cost of this
thorough effectual cooling during summer is ys. 6d. to
Ss. per beast. The carcases intended for the English
market usually remain in these refrigerators during
two to four days. They are quartered and the
quarters sewed in stout calico. The sheep and pigs
whole are done up in cloths, and transferred to the
cold storage chambers of the ocean steamers.

A large proportion of the meat slaughtered in
New York is concentrated in the Washington and
Fulton dead meat markets, whence it is distributed to
retailers or bought by the public. In these large
markets the price of the best joints is, however, high,
compared with the first cost of the animals in the
stock-yards, whilst in the retail shops in New York,
and indeed throughout many cities especially of
the Eastern States, the price of the best meat is as
high as it is in London, Liverpool, or Edinburgh.
Although the first cost is certainly \\d. to 2d. per lb.
less than it generally is in Great Britain, the best cuts
are not obtained under is. per lb. Amongst almost
all classes throughout America the prime parts,
especially the tender loin, is in great request ; boiling
pieces are even more at a discount than in Great Britain,
and their price does not reach one-half that given for
the sirloin, ribs, or rump. A considerable proportion
of the forequarters, the thin flank, and other inferior
parts, disposed of with difficulty to retail consumers,
goes to the canning trade.

The manufacture of oleomargarine and oleomar-

72 New York Meat Szcpplies.

garine butter in America has now assumed large
proportions.

There are eleven manufactories in various parts of
the States. The New York factory alone turns out
from 40,000 to 50,000 lbs. per day of this new butter
in tubs and pound prints, which, according to law,
must bear distinctly the stamp ' Oleomargarine.'
Notwithstanding this brand, which the dealers in
milk butter insisted on, and believed would prevent
the sale of the oleomargarine, it has steadily gained
the approval of all classes, and especially those who
cannot afford butter at is. 6d. to 2s. per lb., and who
freely purchase this new product at g<t. to is. The
manufacture is conducted with great care and more
regard to cleanliness than obtains in many dairies.
The fat, fresh, well washed, and in summer iced, is
forwarded from the slaughter-house to the works in
covered vans daily and sometimes twice a day. It
is again carefully washed and trimmed, cut finely
in a sort of mincing machine, and then melted in
jacketed kettles, when the melting fat gradually
attains a temperature of 1200 to 1300 Fahr. When
thoroughly melted, it is allowed to stand and settle,
all fibrous tissues going to the bottom, and a yellow,
sweet, and odourless oil remaining on top. In the
earlier experimental trials, made seven or eight years
ago, a little carbonate of potash and some rennet or
portions of calves' stomach were introduced, but this
is not now regarded necessary. The oil is run off
from the top into tanks, allowed to cool gradually,
and then iced. It is packed in clean cloths holding

Oleomargarine Butter. 7$

about 2 to 3 lbs. each, and exposed to hydraulic
pressure. A clear, sweet, and golden oil, ' Oleomar-
garine,' is expressed.

Stearine in beautiful snow-white flakes remains in
the towel, and is used for candle-making, and to give
consistency to lard in hot weather. -Fully 50,000
tierces, about 17,000,000 lbs., of the oil are exported
annually from New York alone, and in London and
elsewhere are made into butter, and sold seldom with
any ' oleomargarine ' brand. The making of the butter
from oleomargarine oil is effected by churning in the
same manner as for ordinary butter, adding a little
milk for flavouring and arnatto for colouring. The
product is salted and packed in the usual way. The
orthodox and oleomargarine butters have closer
resemblance than most prejudiced persons suppose.
The cream oils from the milk and from the solid fat
differ slightly. The butter from the two sources has
the same melting point; the microscope discovers
little difference ; dissolved in ether and allowed to
stand until the ether evaporates, the residuum of the
oleomargarine butter exhibits a flavour of beef suet,
whilst that of milk butter emits a distinct lactic
flavour.

74 Fruit and Vegetable Culture.

CHAPTER VII.

FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CULTURE.

Taking advantage of suitable climate and soil, the
cultivation of fruit and vegetables steadily extends
throughout the United States. In no country is such
food so largely used in such variety by all classes.
Orchards, vines, and small fruit, it is estimated,
occupy 5,000,000 acres ; apples alone take up fully
two-fifths of this area. Not including figs, oranges,
olives, and almonds, California has 70,000 acres of
vineyards, 45,000,000 vines yielding annually, besides
grapes and raisins, upwards of 12,000,000 gallons of
wine. Good wines are now also extensively made in
Missouri, Ohio, and elsewhere. Of oranges alone
Florida produces annually 100,000,000, worth about
300,000/. The total value of the fruit of the United
States in a favourable year reaches 30,000,000/.
sterling, or fully two-fifths of the value of the wheat
crop. I do not find any recent statistics of the
number of acres devoted to each description of fruit,
but the government estimate made for the centennial
in 1876 gives the number of trees of different sorts as
follows: apple 112,000,000, pear 28,260,000, peach
112,270,000, grapes 141,260,000. The estimated

Extending Growth of Fruit. 75

value of the fruit was given as follows : apples
#50,400,000, pears #14,130,000, peaches #56,135,000,
grapes #2,1 18,900, strawberries #5,000,000, other fruits
#10,432,800; making a grand total of #138,216,700.
Encouraged by horticultural and pomological socie-
ties, which are particularly serviceable jn indicating
the best sorts for particular localities or circumstances,
so soon as provision is made for bare life, the wheat
planted, and a farmhouse and barn run up, the
settler proceeds to enclose his orchard and garden.
Illustrating the widespread anxiety to grow and
make use of fruit, Messrs. Read and Pell in their
report remark : ' More than 5,000,000 peach trees
blossom every spring on the lands between the Dela-
ware and Chesapeake bays and the interoceanic
regions of the Northwest. In the Middle States and
New England, hundreds of families get an income
from the gathering and sale of the wild strawberry,
raspberry, blueberry, ruckleberry, blackberry, cran-
berry. These small fruits are mostly consumed
at home. In the Genesee valley peaches were carted
about in waggonloads, and orchards of pears and
peaches were universal. So eagerly are they culti-
vated here, that the graveyards are covered with
these plantations.' (P. 6.)

The abundant varied fruit of favoured spots is
widely distributed in a fresh state, often being carried
1,006 miles in refrigerating cars. In discovering and
making a market for these, and indeed all other
commodities, Americans are remarkably ready and
enterprising. From the Southern States strawberries

y6 Fruit and Vegetable Culture.

and peaches are obtained in May, and from later
localities continue to be forwarded till the season is
far advanced.

Spreading from Baltimore, where the business
was begun twenty years ago, the preserving and
canning of fruit is extending in many cities of the fruit-
growing States. Carefully gathered peaches, plums,
and the finer pears are boiled with sugar in steam-
heated pans and bottled or tinned. Tons of small
fruit are similarly preserved. An extensive industry
is occupied in the systematic drying of many varieties
of fruit in a succession of chambers, each of which is
hotter than the preceding. Fully three-fourths of
the natural moisture is thus removed without injuring
colour or flavour. These fruit-preserving establish-
ments also can vegetables and put up oysters during
winter.

At Spencer Port, New York State, is a good
typical evaporating establishment, where in the
autumn of 1879 and in the following winter 13,654
bushels of apples were dried. The fruit is pared,
cored, and sliced in one operation. One girl works
the machine, a second trims the slices and places
them one and a half inches thick on trays of galva-
nized iron wire holding a bushel each. Two girls
prepare 20 to 25 bushels of fruit in a day of nine
hours, receiving 6 cents a bushel. The trays filled
with fruit are bleached by brief exposure to burning
lime and introduced into the evaporator, which con-
sists of a brick tower or chimney constructed with
hollow brick walls 16 feet high and 5 feet square, at the

Export of Fruits. 77

base of which is placed the furnace. Up each side of
the tower runs an endless chain, with cross bars 5
inches apart, on which the trays are run. One after
another, at intervals of j\ minutes, to the number of
thirty, they are placed in the evaporator at a tempera-
ture of 2300 and in the order in which they are put in
reach the second story, are removed, cooled, and
packed usually in boxes containing 50 lbs. Five
evaporators are now erected. In busy times the work
proceeds day and night ; 700 to 800 bushels are dried
daily : 60,000 to 70,000 in the season. Large con-
signments of the preserved fruits are forwarded to
Russia. Here, as in so many other American estab-
lishment, every care is taken of so-called waste pro-
ducts. The refuse fruit, skins, and cores are dried for
cider and vinegar making.

In this growing and preserving of fruit the British
public are becoming more and more interested. The
fruit exports of America have increased one hundred-
fold in five years. A large proportion comes to the
United Kingdom. In 1861 the exports were valued
at 54,000/. ; in 1871 they were 102,000/. ; in 1877
they mounted to 590,000/. The two last seasons not
having been so generally favourable for fruit grow-
ing, the exports have declined 25 percent. In 1879 the
ripe apples, which generally reach i,coo,ooo bushels,
were valued at 200,000/. The dried apples, many of
them pared and cored by machine, sometimes sliced
and dried in the sun, were valued at 60,000/. ; other
fruits, green, ripe, or dried, are set down at 50,000/.
Preserved, bottled, or canned fruits reach 80,000/.

78 Fruit and Vegetable Culture.

For 70 miles around New York market gardening
and fruit-growing are important and increasing in-
dustries. Long Island for sixty miles from the city
is devoted to vegetables, or ' trucking ' as it is locally
termed. The plots vaiy from five to twenty-five
acres, and are generally owned by the cultivators. A
great variety of ai tides are raised in order to insure
against failure ; or rather against markets glutted
with some specialities. The fertility of the light,
sandy soil, twenty-five years ago almost worthless,
is developed and maintained by liberal doses of
manure carried out in the vans which deliver the
vegetables, or in barges, and by guano and other
concentrated fertilisers. The most successful men do
a good deal of their marketing personally. For dis-
tances of twelve or fifteen miles the produce is taken
into town in the cultivators' own vans ; but heavily
laden trains night and morning deliver the produce of
more distant districts. Up the Hudson, throughout
many parts of New Jersey State, in Delaware, and
on the rich, deep loams around Philadelphia, garden-
ing and fruit-growing are industriously cultivated.
As elsewhere, these farms usually range from 10 to
50 acres, and are owned by the occupiers. Only a
very few are mortgaged. On some the peaches,
pears, and other trees are found and planted by a
more successful neighbour, who, for a term of years,
reserves half the produce. One successful nursery-
man at Morristown, New Jersey, has thus a lien over
and good profit from about thirty orchards. The
value of these vegetable and fruit farms varies accord-

New Jersey Market Gardens. 79

ing to nearness to New York and other local circum-
stances, and ranges from 20/. to 700/. an acre.

Many parts of New Jersey State illustrate satis-
factorily the advantages of the ' little farm well tilled.'
Taking advantage of proximity to New York and
other large markets, the farmers go in largely for
vegetables and fruit. They cannot compete with
the West in wheat or maize, nor even in the cheap
rearing of cattle and hogs, but successfully cul-
tivate the most perishable produce which does
not bear long carriage. On these farms, which
seldom exceed 10 acres, more labour is often em-
ployed than on twenty times the area devoted to
ordinary farm crops, and the profits also are often
more satisfactory, especially where the grower, as is
common, takes his share of the work, and does most
of his own marketing.

For the cultivation of early potatoes and cabbage,
the land is well ridged up in winter. As early as
practicable in April it is ploughed and harrowed.
With a two-horse plough furrows are drawn 2,\ feet
apart and 8 inches deep. Fully 20 tons of well-
rotted compost, made of farm and horse manure, fish
refuse, and street sweepings, are generally applied.
The early rose potato is a favourite sort. Large
seed is cut usually to two eyes. Spring growth is so
rapid that it is not necessary, as in Lancashire and
elsewhere in this country, to start the sets before
planting. They are covered in with a one-horse
plough. The crop is usually hand-hoed twice, horse-
hoed three or four times, and left well ridged up
They are dug towards the end of July ; 300 bushels

80 Fruit and Vegetable Culture.

of marketable potatoes are frequently grown per acre,
worth 2s. to 2s. 6d. per bushel.

Cabbages generally pay well. For the staple
crop, Drumhead and Flat Dutch are largely grown.
Twenty to thirty tons of well-made manure are used.
The plants are set out, often after an early crop of
peas, throughout June and the first week in July ;
they are horse-hoed every week, and weeds cut out
by hand; thorough frequent stirring of the soil is ap-
proved of, especially if the weather is not too
dry ; 3,000 to 4,000 marketable heads are got per
acre, producing a gross acreable return of 30/. to
35/. From collards, brocoli, cauliflower, peas, and
tomatoes still better returns are made. Lettuce,
radish, cress, and other green stuff, for salad, are
widely and profitably grown, and are largely used by
all classes. It is the masses of the population
throughout America that are the best customers
alike for vegetables and fruit.

Fruit trees, as in England, are often grown on
lands laid down to grass, apples, pears, damsons, and
cherries being generally mixed. This is the practice
followed on the large holdings remote from the
towns. On the ten acre and smaller farms, under the
fruit trees are usually planted gooseberry, raspberry,
and other bushes, whilst strawberries and vegetables
occupy the intervening space, which is constantly kept
under the plough or spade. Exempt from the late
white frosts which so often blast the prospects of
English fruit-growers, and with a higher summer
temperature, larger and more certain fruit crops are

Apples, Peaches, and Currants. 8 1

obtained, Mr. P. T. Ouinn, of Newark, on one quarter
of an acre has sixty-two Duchesse d'Angouleme
pear trees, from which in 1878 he had, besides 10
bushels of small inferior fruit, 1 5 5 bushels of prime sold
at $i'7S> representing an acreable return of 74/. The
same successful fruit-grower records that from twenty-
six Caufield apple trees, occupying about an acre,
he has a full crop every alternate year, and had last
season 557 bushels, the best hand-picked selling at 8s.
a barrel of three bushels, the remainder, disposed of for
cider at is. 3d. to is. Sd. per bushel, yielding a total
return of 40/. per acre. The growth of apples, as of
all fruit, steadily extends. Besides a very great home
consumption, 1,500,000 barrels of apples in a good
year are said to be exported from New York alone.
New Jersey State produces splendid peaches, but
they are not so largely and generally cultivated as on
the peninsula of Delaware and Maryland, where, in the
prolific season of 1876, it is estimated that upwards
of 7,000,000 baskets were gathered. Currants are
usually an easily grown and good paying crop. They
thrive even on heavy clays. They are usually
planted on land prepared for potatoes, are set out
4 feet by 5, and potatoes planted between the rows.
The sets cost $5 per 100. In the second year potatoes
or beans are again grown in the intervening spaces.
In the third year each bush is expected to produce
1 lb. to 1 i lbs. of frui t, saleable at 6 cents per lb. When
in full bearing 3 lbs per bush is reached, which, allow-
ing 1,200 bushes for the half acre, would realise #216,
or at the rate of 95/. an acre.

G

82 Fruit and Vegetable Culture.

The New Jersey State Agricultural Report for 1S7S
publishes the following particulars of the successful
growth of strawberries by Mr. P. T. Quinn of Newark : —
After a crop of early rose potatoes, heavily manured,
dug, and marketed in the end of July and beginning
of August 1877, furrows half-a-yard apart and 4 to 5
inches deep were opened with the plough. Between
August 15 and 22 strawberry plants of the Charles
Downing and Green Prolific sorts were set in these
furrows 15 to 18 in. apart ; weeds were kept down by
two turns of the cultivator between the rows and
twice hoeing. In December the plants were covered
with a light, well-decomposed compost, made of
sweepings of the vegetable and fish markets and
some horse manure. Towards the middle of April
the coarse portions of the manure were raked from
the plants and left between the rows : salted hay was
laid under the now luxuriant leaves to prevent undue
evaporation from the soil, and to keep the fruit clean.
The yield of strawberries was 5,487 quarts, the gross
receipts were #795 "6i. Deducting commission and
expenses of picking, the net returns for the acre were
$62&6o or 125/. In 1879 equally good results were
obtained. Mr. Henry Jerolaman, Irvington, Essex
county, applies about 40 tons farm manure to his
dark strong loam on the usual yellow clay substratum,
sets out Durands and Boyden No. 30 straw berry plants,
3 feet apart and 1 foot from each other in the rows,
keeps down weeds with horse and hand hoe, applies
for winter covering protecting nutrient mulch, and
obtained in 1878 from 1 acre 231 sq. feet. 4,568 quarts

Cranberries and Grapes. 83

of superior strawberries, disposed of at is. per quart,
and realising 225/. New York, like other cities, is most
bountifully supplied with strawberries. During the
height of the season, chiefly from New Jersey State,
from Delaware, and the New England . States, 10,000
bushels are sometimes received in one day.

Cranberries are largely and increasingly grown in
New Jersey State. Low-lying moist ground is
selected and usually flooded in the winter. One
prosperous grower has his best crops in an old mill
pond which he floods throughout the winter, running
off the water early in May. 300 to 600 bushels of
the long- shaped bell berry are obtained.

Grapes, often of the Concord variety, are grown on
trellises about 5 ft. high, the rows 3 ft. apart. Com-
post is applied liberally in winter, weeds are carefully
cut or pulled, but cultivation is avoided, as it injures
the roots. Some of the prize lots of % of an acre
yield 1,500 lbs. and sell at 2d. per lb.

From these American successes useful home
lessons are surely deducible. The American of a
certain type has an instinctive aversion to the pursuit
of an unprofitable calling ; he has a wonderful
capacity for accommodating himself to circumstances.
If wheat-growing does not pay, he tries dairying or
gardening, and, failing that, will cut down lumber or
split rails, keep a store, or ' run a hotel,' or even make
politics his profession. A successful New York mer-
chant, referring to the readiness of the race, exclaimed
the other day, ' I guess if a thoroughbred Yankee gets
into a tea-kettle, he pretty quick kicks a hole and

o 2

84 Fruit and Vegetable Culture.

lets himself out' Such extraordinary smartness and
versatility are scarcely to be expected of those ' not
to the manner born.' But British farmers certainly
are not compelled to pursue unprofitable practices.
They need not go out of their own vocation ; they
cannot cultivate the profusion and variety of vegeta-
bles and fruit produced in America ; they may find it
difficult to keep themselves and families and clear
regularly, as many of the Long Island * trucksters '
do, 100/. a year from ten acres of vegetables and
fruit ; but they can profitably grow many of these
useful articles, and the demand for them well deserves
to be encouraged as a means of increasing the health
and advancing the sobriety of the British public.

CHAPTER VIII.

FARMING IN THE NEW ENGLAND STATES.

TRAVELLING from New York to Boston, a distance
of 240 miles, by way of Newhaven, Hartford, Spring-
field, and Worcester, ample evidence is obtained of
the industrial prosperity of these and other thriving
cities. Mills and factories are running full time ; the
unemployed labour which was common during 1878
and the earlier months of 1879 is absorbed; most
firms have orders booked which will keep them occu-
pied for months ; and it is reported that several
houses which were wont to take Government work
have demurred to send in tenders, on the plea that
they have as much general business as they can
profitably overtake. It is well that these iron, textile,
and other industries are prospering, for this seaboard
portion of the New England States is not of high
agricultural importance. The limestone and granite
rocks are thinly covered by a poor soil ; great boulders
dot the surface, as they do on the Scottish and
Cumberland mountains. The pleasantly undulating
country is varied by lakes, rivers, and huge arms of
the sea, and abundantly clothed with moderate-sized,
sometimes with poor, scrubby timber, including oak,

86 Farming in the New England States.

elm, and the various firs familiar at home. The
timber is chiefly used for firewood. Neither winged
nor four-footed game are found in the woods. Fences
seldom enclose this line of railway, which passes un-
protected along the streets of towns and villages, by
country roads, and through unenclosed plantations,
the boom of the loud bell or the hoarse screech of the
engine whistle warning away trespassers. The houses
in the villages and on the farms are small, mostly
built of wood, and annually lime-washed, to protect
them from the glaring summer sun, which is also kept
out of the rooms by green-painted Venetian blinds.

Reclaimed from the woods or taken up along the
river banks are scattered here and there small farms,
which are often under 20, and rarely exceed 50 acres.
The fields, usually 4 or 5 acres, not always very
symmetrically shaped, are enclosed by rudely-built low
walls, made with the stones so superabundantly piled
about. Indeed, in such profusion are these stones,
that a man industriously gathering and grubbing
them up, if he clears an acre is said to require
another acre on which to run them ! Indian corn is
the crop chiefly cultivated ; wheat, oats, and small
patches of turnips and potatoes are occasionally seen ;
clover and timothy grass are grown, and thrive for
several years. Around the house is usually a small
garden, not always as tidy or productive as it should
be, and often flanked by a few fruit trees, seldom
worthy the title of an orchard. About the farm
premises and in the valleys are portions of perma-
nent grass, mown for hay and subsequently grazed

Small Dairy Farms. 87

often in want of draining, and seldom made the best
of. As in England, a good deal of the hay, notwith-
standing the use of the canvas caps for the cocks, has
been spoilt by rain and flood. The chief business of
these small farmers is the production, of milk and
butter, which are disposed of in the neighbouring
towns and villages, the milk bringing \\d. a quart,
the butter gd. or lod. a lb. The cows are nonde-
scripts, often with a considerable dash of Holstein,
and susceptible of much improvement, whether as
producers of milk or of beef. A few goats and pigs
are kept ; but during the 500 miles travelling en route
to Boston and back to New York by one of the coast
lines I never saw a sheep, although a great deal of
the light land appears more adapted for sheep than
for cattle. As already indicated, the greater part of
this district is poor and sterile, and even under the
best agricultural management, and although generally
owned by the occupiers, the land will never yield
very satisfactory returns ; while the more promising
industries in the towns and the farms of the west
attract the best of the young men.

Nearing Boston the land is more bountiful, the
farming better, the farmers more prosperous : several
assure me that their average annual profits run from
10 to 15 per cent. ; in this calculation household ex-
penses are generally placed against their own personal
labours. In a zone extending from 30 to 60 miles
around the intellectual capital of America, as Boston
is sometimes styled, ordinary farming lands are still
to be bought at #15 to $25. Few farms reach 60

88 Farming in the New England States.

acres, many are not half that area ; most are owned
by their occupiers, and are devoted to the production
of milk, butter, poultry, and eggs, and occasionally
vegetables. The farmer and his family do most of
the work ; hired labour is uncommon. The house-
hold lives mainly on what is produced on the farm ;
expenses for butcher's meat, groceries, and clothes
are not greater than those of an English agricultural
labourer ; but, unless in sickness, not a cent is spent
upon beer, wine, or spirits ; any cider made is sold.
But with all their thrift, the milk farmers lately have
not done well. Milk, and indeed all dairy produce,
has been lower than at any period for thirty years.
During summer, when their supplies are at their
height, prices fall sometimes as low as id. per quart,
owing to the town dealers being overstocked. The
most hopeful relief of this state of matters is the
introduction of separators, such as those used by the
Aylesbury Dairy Company, London, or the some-
what similar apparatus being perfected in America.
If the unsold milk is passed through these separators
the thick cream, of which the last particles are ex-
tracted, is in an admirable condition for butter-
making, whilst the skim milk, deprived of its spores
and green slimy albuminoid matters, has its keeping
properties improved. Waste is thus in great part
averted and a better price consequently afforded for
the milk. In many localities throughout the New
England States, as well as elsewhere in America,
following on the tracks of the cheese factories, butter
factories or creameries are established, are furnished

Barns for Live Stock. 89

with skilful managers and modern appliances, handle
the milk to the best advantage at a cost of 1 cent, per
quart ; turn out a uniform high quality of butter,
and pay farmers 1^ cents for every quart of milk
they send in. To some of these establishments the
cream only is forwarded, the skim milk being usually
reserved for home use amongst calves and pigs.

In the distribution of milk and cream in Boston
and New York, glass and porcelain jars and bottles,
with stoppers and caps, are coming into use, as they
have done in Paris. They are more easily cleansed
than the metal cans, and the milk kept in them is less
apt to sour.

The most successful dairymen are thoroughly
alive to the importance of liberal management. They
provide big barns in which are kept from November
until April, not only the fodder but the live stock of
the farm. These ungainly erections, very similar
throughout all parts of the States, have often a foun-
dation of stone or brick carried up a few feet from the
ground, occasionally reaching as high as the first
storey, the upper portions are built of boards ; on the
principals of the roof boards are nailed, on which are
tacked shingles, made of parallelograms of thin wood
about the size of ordinary roofing slates. These
barns run from 60 to 200 feet long, 40 to 50 feet wide,
and 40 to 60 feet high. In Massachusetts and various
Eastern States under all, or a part, of the barn there
is usually a cellar 6 to 8 feet high into which the
manure is passed, and in which the pigs are kept.
The ground floor partitioned into stalls and pens

90 Farming in the New England States.

is occupied by cattle, horses, and sometimes sheep.
With about 10 feet of head room on stout wooden
supports, comes another floor reached from outside by
a raised roadway, and into which loaded waggons are
driven, and fodder, roots, and other food are stored and
thrown as required down shoots to the animals beneath.
In the larger barns communication between the several
stories is effected by a rude staircase or by ladders.
An inside casing of boards several inches from the
outer wall is sometimes provided to keep out the
biting frost and keen winds. Lumber is sensibly said
to be cheaper than fodder. The cattle, and especially
the milking cows in the severe winter which continues
here from November to April, cannot thrive without
warmth. Ventilation of the cattle pens and piggeries
is secured by cylinders of boards 2 to 3 feet in calibre
extending to the eaves sometimes with a diaphragm
within them.

Hay costing $y to #10 per ton of 2,000 lbs., and
corn stalks worth about one-third that price, are the
staple winter fodder for cows, the daily allowance
ranging from 12 to 30 lbs. To those in full milk
eight or ten quarts of cut mangel and swedes or purple
turnips are given. Two quarts of oat or corn meal
are usually allowed twice a day. This is considered
a fair dietary for Ay rsh ires and Jerseys giving 12 to
20 quarts of milk. Bigger Shorthorn grades stand
more forcing, and, where hay and roots are scarce,
liberal supplies of concentrated food are used. Many
Massachusetts dairymen give such cows when in full
milk 12 to 14 lbs. daily of a mixture of oatmeal, shorts
bought Sit $16 per ton, and cotton cake at $26. In

Massachusetts Dairy Cows. 91

winter the cattle are usually watered twice daily, when
they drink rather less at a time than if water is given
only once, and hence they are not so liable to suffer
from chill. In some localities they are turned out of
the barns for an hour or two in fine weather.

The summer pastures are helped by corn and cake,
and by cut ryegrass, Hungarian millet, and green
Indian corn, which when liberally manured produces
several tons an acre of valuable fodder used chiefly
throughout August and September. The cows are
generally shorthorn grades ; some herds have a good
deal of Jersey and Guernsey blood ; others a strong
infusion of Ayrshire, said to be specially suitable for
cheesemaking ; others have conspicuous black and
white Holstein markings. Most dairymen can tell
you the weight of their cows, which they generally
have scaled once a month. A record is often kept of
the milk each cow yields. A very ordinary milker
produces 1,800 quarts a year, or during her ten
months' service. The Wanshakum and Miles herds
of Ayrshires, of which a record has been kept respec-
tively for eight and three years, have given overhead
an annual yield of upwards of 2,500 quarts, whilst
several good Jersey herds vary in their annual pro-
duction from 2,200 to 2,300 quarts per cow per annum.
The yield of butter from each cow per week through-
out the height of the season is 9 lbs. to 10 lbs. ; 300
lbs. should be produced in the year. Careful managers
once or twice in the season test the amount of butter
which each cow produces. These weighings and
measurings, troublesome as they may appear to a

gi Farming in the New England States.

British dairyman, afford much valuable, practical,
profitable information. Selection is improving the
milking capabilities of many herds. Without fresh
purchases of cows, by breeding only from the best
milkers, many farmers within ten years have doubled
the butter got from each cow. Milking is done at
5 A.M. and 5 P.M. Deep tin setting pans are generally
preferred ; in summer are often set on a floor laved
with running water, keeping down the temperature to
500, and in winter are placed in the cellar, which is
essential in all American houses for tempering ex-
tremes of summer heat and winter cold. The cream
is taken off generally in twenty-four hours and churned
usually in the ordinary dash churn twice a week. An
ounce of salt is added to ever}* 3 lbs of butter.
During winter the finest qualities bring 2s. per pound
and occasionally more. Vermont butter, especially
that from the Green Mountains, has the highest repu-
tation throughout New England. The successful
dairyman takes pains to keep the milk house at all
seasons at 550 and scrupulously clean, and when the
butter is being made up, to get rid by washing and
often by the use of wooden paddles of every particle
of milk.

Increasing attention is paid to sheep, of which
Massachusetts musters 61,000, most of them of diver-
sified character. They are now cultivated for mutton
as well as for wool. The coarser wools are thrice as
numerous as the fine. Notwithstanding the expense
of housing or y aiding during winter, necessary for pro-
tection from cold and wet, the flocks when properly

Sheep Management. 93

managed yield good profits, which might be still
larger but for the numbers of unowned and dangerous
dogs, which kill or seriously maim about 2,000 sheep
annually. During winter the flock receives hay or
good corn stalks night and morning, a few roots and
half a pound of corn, or a mixture of corn meal, cotton
seed meal, and a few oats. Sheep consume about 3
per cent, of live weight daily. Properly selected and
fed they are expected to add 25 per cent, to their
weight in four montl s. They generally go to grass
late in April, cotton seed meal and corn are still
sometimes supplied upon the pasture. They clip 4
to 5 lbs. of wool worth about 30 cents per lb. Near
the cities a considerable number of early lambs are
reared, realising $4 to $6 if brought out in May or
June, but double that price if ready for Easter. Six
months' winter feeding of ewes is estimated to cost
#2-50. The summer keep, including salt- washing and
shearing, is covered by $1. The estimated profit of
breeding, and feeding over the whole flock of Massa-
chusetts is stated to vary from $12 to #15 per head
per annum, but many smart managers are believed to
make more.1

Very good Berkshire pigs and middle-sized
Chester Whites with a few Magie or Poland Chinas,
are met with. They graze the orchards or pastures,
clear up the refuse vegetables of the market gardens,
and when it is desired to finish them off receive several
pounds daily of corn meal, with occasionally a few
oats or some barley. One bushel of corn meal is

1 Report of Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, 1S7S, p. 304.

94 Farming in the New England States.

estimated to make 10 lbs. of pork, and when corn is
60 cents a bushel, bacon and pork to be profitable
should realise 6 cents per lb. Placing a moderate
value on the manure, New England farmers expect
that the fodder and corn used in stock feeding pays
twice its ordinary market value. The liberal
management of the live stock, their enforced winter
housing, and the judicious use of the manure made, as
Mr. Mechi wisely insists, under cover, secures here, as
elsewhere, satisfactory returns of grain and hay. The
restorative treatment gives the New England farmers
better returns than their brethren in the Middle or
Western States. It is only in Massachusetts, Rhode
Island, and Connecticut that the annual average of
the farm crops reaches 4/. an acre. In New York State
they are 2/. 1 3^. ; in Kentucky 2/. 4s.; in Missouri
and Kansas it. 12s.

Vegetable and fruit gardens flourish where there
are good markets, good soil, and abundant capital.
These three favourable conditions concur in the neigh-
bourhood of Boston. Within six miles of this fine
old aristocratic city are admirably managed market-
gardens, worth 250/. per acre, employing capital to the
extent of 100/. an acre, applying 20 to 30 cords of
rich town manure, and producing all round an average
yield of 200/. an acre. Mr. William D. Philbrick, of
Newton Centre, thus describes the cropping of these
gardens : ' ' The vegetables mostly grown are spinach,
kale, radish, dandelions, beet-greens, beets, early
cabbages, lettuce, onions, to be followed upon the
1 Massachusetts Agricultural Report for 1S77 and 1S7S.

Vegetable and Fruit Gardens. 95

same land by the late crops, which are melons,
squashes, eggplant, peppers, cauliflowers, celery,
horseradish, beets, carrots, and parsnips. The only
crops which occupy the land for the whole year are
rhubarb and dandelions ; and some gardeners grow
a crop of onions set on the same land with their
dandelions. In the management of these various
crops so as to meet a profitable sale, and also not to
crowd and injure each other, the skill and experience
of the gardener are shown. To accomplish his pur-
pose many ingenious devices are used for forcing early
crops and for storing late ones ; so as to keep up an
unfailing supply the year round. In general only two
crops are raised upon the same land in a season ; but
instances are not uncommon where three and even
four crops a year are taken from one piece of land ;
thus winter spinach sold in March was followed by
onions, sets, melons, and celery on the same land,
all full crops ; again, winter spinach sold in April,
was followed by bush beans, melons, and spinach
again.'

Success mainly depends on careful selection,
usually of home-grown seed, on heavy manuring,
skill in devising cheap effectual hot-beds for forcing
early crops, the management of celery pits and
spinach houses, the careful storing of roots and
plants in winter, and dexterity and tidiness in pack-
ing for market. The demand for almost every de-
scription of vegetables and fruits steadily grows.
Massachusetts is believed to produce 200,000 bushels
of tomatoes, and 400,000 bunches of asparagus ;

g6 Farming in the New England States.

part of which are cheaply grown under field culture

and kept clean by horse as well as hand hoeing. In

a good season her 3,500,000 bushels of apples are

worth 300,000/. New varieties both of apples and

pears are being cultivated to take the place of the

good old sorts which are degenerating. In many

directions strawberries are largely cultivated. Around

Norfolk-Vermont their production sometimes reaches

3,000,000 quarts a year, employing 10,000 pickers.

One grower has 185 acres. In Boston alone there is

received throughout the season 20,000 bushels of this

fine fruit.

Hops, a few years ago, were an important crop in

some of the New England States, which raised nearly

1 ,000,000 lbs. : ' but for several seasons they have not

paid, and production, as in England, is decreasing.

The old yards running out in many quarters are not

replaced. The total acreage approximates that of

England, which in 1879 was given at 67,671 acres.

The State of New York in 1877 was believed to have

36,000 acres, and to produce 20,000,000 lbs. Wisconsin

comes next in hop cultivation, and although the

growth is considerably restricted, especially owing to

low price and attacks of lice, the yield is believed to

reach 4,000,000 lbs. At Madison, New York, the

average cost of raising hops is stated to be 12 to

14 cents per pound. The average yield ranges from

300 to 800 lbs. Prices during the last few years have

been irregular and unsatisfactory, varying from 10 to

1 Report of the Statisticians, Agricultural Department, for 1879,
p. 276. Washington.

Hop Cultivation Unprofitable. 97

15 cents, and not paying the cost of production.
Indeed in some yards the low price has caused growers
to leave the crop unpicked. The statistician of the
department of agriculture, Washington, in his report
for 1878, remarks that a convention of hop-growers
in New England appointed three different commit-
tees to estimate the average cost of producing hops.
1 Committee No. 1 allowed $100 per acre for the
average value of the land ; cost of poles, fertilisers,
and cartage, #44-10: labour in cultivation, #18;
harvesting and curing, #64-36 ; insurance and mar-
keting, #11-83 ; boxes &c, #2-98 ; total, #141-27. A
crop of 1,000 lbs. would at such a rate average 14!
cents per pound. Committee No 2, allowing #80 per
acre as the value of the land, estimated the average

o

cost of 1,000 lbs. at 12^ cents. Committee No. 3 at
#100 per acre, and with a yield of 800 lbs., made the
average cost 124- cents per pound. The average total
cost of producing hops in Kent, England, is estimated
by a local authority at 5/., or #24. 30 per cwt. (not
quite 22 cents per pound).' — P. 278.

Owing to diminished production, the export of
hops, which in 1877 amounted to 95,000 bales, has
now fallen to less than one-third ; but the deficit in
the home growth has been in part made up by im-
portations from Bavaria.

Maine, the most north-easterly State of the Union,
appears to keep well in the van of agricultural im-
provements. She has a State college, where gratuitous
instruction in the principles of agriculture is given to
youths born in the State ; and where outsiders have

H

98 Farming in the New England States.

similar advantages at very moderate charges. At
experimental stations on the best German plans, inves-
tigations are conducted as to manures, varieties of seed
and culture, and the relative value of feeding stuffs.
Agricultural, horticultural, and pomological societies
are doing good work. Interesting reports recording
observations and progress are published annually.
Besides creameries, there are throughout the State
sixty cheese factories, some of them in operation
during six months of the year, extracting 1 lb. of cheese
from 875 lbs. to 10*5 lbs. of milk, and disposing of the
produce at 1 1 cents to 14 cents per pound. The cows
of the State are enumerated at 170,000 ; the other cattle
at 202,000. The State has 3,ooo,coo acres of improved
land, and about the same amount of unimproved.
The farms, which average 98 acres, are worth about
Si 10,000,000, or 30 per cent, more than they were in
1 860. The average value of the crops as set forth by
the statistical returns is fully £12 per acre, or about
double the value of the yield in such Western States as
Iowa and Nebraska. English practices and opinions
prevail. Liberal good management is alone believed to
pay. Not only is the home-made manure taken care
of, but ashes, fish-scraps, bones from the glue and soap
works, and concentrated fertilisers arc in use. The
general tendency is to plough less, graze more, and im-
prove the grass land. Good breeding and care all the
year round arc the precepts inculcated by their success-
ful dairymen.

The summer pastures with little trouble pay best,
but a good deal of winter dairying is now practised ;

Dietary of Milk Cows. 99

the cows being warmly kept in barns, receiving 10
lbs. to 15 lbs. of hay, which should be cut early
in July, a peck of roots, with several pounds of bran,
oatmeal, or cotton cake. The best managers feed
liberally, and declare that the more .you pour into
a good cow the more she pours into the bucket, and the
more goes into the dairyman's pocket. Cows well fed.
from 10 lbs. of milk produce I lb. of butter ; 9-2 lbs. of
milk produce 1 lb. of cheese. At a meeting of the
Maine Dairymen's Association, Mr. H. M. Smith
Orrington, who sells his milk at Bangor, gives the
following account of his operations :'— ' He keeps from
twelve to fifteen cows, and feeds 4 quarts of shorts,
and 2 quarts of cotton-seed-meal per cow daily, in
two feeds, with extra early cut hay. He uses green
food all summer, planting fodder-corn in large quan-
tities, which he never wants to become over six feet
high. His cows produce 3^ gallons of milk per day.
His dry cows he feeds but half the above quantity of
meal. Early in the spring he burns off the dead grass
in his pastures as the grass starts, and on such spots
the cows obtain their first feed, the ashes stimulating
the growth of grass. His choice for cows is a cross
of the Shorthorn and Jersey. His cows go dry two
months. Upon an average in the year it costs $60
to keep a cow, and her income will average $110.
His milk sells from 6 cents to 7 cents per quart. His
provender is fed dry. Mr. Flanders said his cows fed
on good hay would give from 20 lbs. to 22 lbs. of
milk per day. Leonard Robinson considers that dairy-

1 Twenty-third Annual Report of Maine Board of Agriculture, p. 1 12.
H 2

ioo Farming in the New England States.

ing during the past thirty-five years had been 'the most
profitable business with him. He top-dresses his
land, using five cords per acre, once in three years.
He thinks highly of oat and pea meal as a feed.'

Fewer trotting horses and more cattle and sheep,
it is said, should be reared. The sheep, usually graded
Merinos with varying admixture of Cotswold and
Down, during winter are generally housed and get oat
straw, a few roots, and the feeding flock some meal
and fish pomace, which they soon learn to eat. Too
many unowned dogs are stated to roam on some dis-
tricts, disturbing and sometimes killing the sheep.
Wages, which previously have been high throughout
the New England States, during the period of depres-
sion from 1876 to 1879 fell 25 per cent. In Maine
agricultural labourers hired by the month receive
#i8"25 without board, $1 ro8 with board. Temporary
hands get a dollar without board, and about half as
much more in harvest. Carpenters, blacksmiths, and
other artisans earn from $i'40 to £i'47 per day. The
estimated cost of growing wheat in Aristook county1
is 25 cents per bushel, barley 35, oats 25, potatoes
from 12 to 24 cents according to season ; hay carted
to the barn cost #3 to $4.

Freedom in America, as in well-ordered old
countries, is hedged about by reasonable restrictions,
and hurtful licence is jealously guarded against. In
Maine and other New England States, every farmer
is bound to keep in good order his fences, generals-
consisting of rails or stone walls. Fence-viewers are

1 Twenty-third Annual Report of Maine Board of Agriculture
for 1878, p. 155.

Laws as to Sale of Portable Manures. 101

appointed, to whom appeal can be made against care-
less neighbours, and who are bound to see that repairs
are promptly done. Animals straying are impounded ;
trespassers are punished ; the wilful or malicious
killing, wounding, maiming, disfiguring, or poisoning
of any domestic animal is visited by imprisonment or
fine. The State enacts stringent laws against adul-
teration and sophistication of all articles of food.
Beef, flour, and other commodities in bags or barrels
must be branded according to quality. Standards of
weight are fixed for the sale of all produce. No hay
can be trussed and sold without the grower's name
and place of abode being distinctly marked upon it.
All portable manures sold at more than I cent per
lb. and put up in bags of 50 lbs. or upwards must
have specified on a printed label the maker's name
and address, and the percentage they contain of
soluble phosphoric acid, insoluble phosphoric acid, and
ammonia. For any mis-statement the vendor is liable
to a fine of #10 for the first and #20 for subsequent
offences, and any purchaser receiving manure which
does not come up to the specified standard is entitled
to recover compensation. British farmers would gain
by such a guarantee of the manure they purchase,
and by enactments punishing fraudulent vendors.

Boston, like most other American cities, is well
provided with markets. The meat is forwarded from
the Brighton abattoirs, which also furnish supplies for
Portsmouth, Concord, Manchester and other adjacent
towns. Here 3,000 to 5,000 beasts and as many
sheep are slaughtered every week. Several of the

102 Farming in the New England States.

salesmen kill for exportation. Some of the cattle are
useful and well fed, showing a large amount of short-
horn character, weighing on the hoof 1,400 to 1,500
lbs., and forwarded from Illinois and Ohio. Others,
chiefly of Texan extraction, have a great predomi-
nance of horn, thick hide and offal, and stand much in
need of grading up. Their price varies according to
quality from 4^ to 5 cents per lb. {2d. to 2\d) live
weight. Kentucky sheep, from 13010 150 lbs. live
weight, or reaching about 20 lbs. a quarter dressed,
constitute about 7 per cent, of the mutton supplies,
and bring nearly id. per lb. more than the poor
scraggy Merinos or half-breds, which average about 4
cents live weight. The best Kentucky, Ohio, and
Canadian sheep, which are generally superior grades
having several crosses of Cotswold, Leicester, of Down
on Merinos or native breeds, average 6 cents live
weight, and, as at home, the dressed weight is about
four-sevenths of the live weight. Good lambs, from
June 1 to July 1, are worth 8 cents (4^.), and later
in the season fall to 7 cents.

At the Brighton abattoirs even-thing is handy
and well arranged ; the water-supply is abundant ;
refrigerating chambers preserve the meat for expor-
tation or home use. The fat, assorted according to
quality, is milled in large vats. The shin-bones, after
extraction of their oil, and the hoofs, are exported to
Europe for making buttons. Cattle hoofs, in growing
demand for making other dress ornaments as well as
buttons, now sell at £50 per ton. The blood, refuse,
and bones, after digestion, are transferred to an

Boston Stock-yards and Markets. 1 03

adjacent building and converted into Stockbridge
fertilizers ; a great chimney gets rid of all dis-
agreeable odours. For the refuse materials Messrs.
Bowker & Co. pay the Abattoir Co. 8,000/. a year.
Here, as at most of the stock-yards, dogs are little
used. For moving the beasts the drivers use long
sticks and whips, whilst the sheep are led from the
cars and guided into pens, or wherever required, by
docile flock leaders, picked specimens of their own
race, whose readiness and intelligence belie the com-
mon belief that all sheep are either stupid or way-
ward.

Besides the meat consigned from the Brighton
slaughter-houses, a large amount, of which no record
seems to be kept, is forwarded to the Boston market
from Chicago and also from New York. In the city
markets beef sells from 6d. to lod. per pound ; the
butchers here as elsewhere complain that inferior
cuts are in such indifferent demand that a clearance
has to be made at very low prices. Mutton brings
from Afd. to 8d. ; superior Canada and Kentucky
hams fetch 6d. In the principal shops prices are,
however, 25 to 30 per cent, higher. The best butter
is forwarded from the factories, and during summer
brings on an average is. per pound.

The winter price sometimes reaches 2s. The
receipts of butter in Boston market during 1879
amounted to 750,000 packages, one-tenth being boxes
8 to 12 lbs. weight, the remainder averaging 50 lbs.
each ; 230,000 boxes of cheeses were forwarded
averaging 58 lbs. These supplies, some of them

1 04 Farming in the New England States.

drawn from creameries and factories 1,000 miles dis-
tant, besides supplying the city, are distributed to
various parts of the State ; about one-sixth of the
butter and one-third of the cheese are exported,
and these exports are steadily increasing.

Railroad cars kept cool with ice chambers are in
general use for forwarding not only butter but
the finer fruits for long distances. The vegetable
and fruit markets are profusely furnished with an
astonishing quantity, quality, and variety. Grapes,
peaches, melons, and pears in their season are abun-
dant and cheap ; half a bushel of peaches is procured
for a couple of shillings. On stands at almost
every street corner, as well as in shops, at railway
stations, and in the trains themselves, fruit is offered
for sale, and the chief purchasers are the labouring
classes. Owing to the great and growing taste for
good vegetables and fruit, which has enormously
increased throughout America during the past ten
years, market gardening and fruit culture have paid
better than most other departments of farming.
Early supplies come from Florida and the sunny
States laved by the warm waters of the Mexican gulf,
which begin to forward strawberries in April, while
Maine, in the north, contributes hers in July ; and
throughout this vast continent, with its varied
climate and circumstances, some portion is enjoying
its harvest season and distributing its surplus to
customers hundreds of miles distant.

105

CHAPTER IX.

PENNSYLVANIA FARMING.

The Pennsylvania railroad, starting from New Jersey
city and running west 354 miles to Pittsburg, with its
many branches, covers about 5,000 miles, and is in
direct communication with the Great Western and
Southern roads. The main line is thoroughly
ballasted three feet deep to prevent disturbance from
frost ; the sharp curves, astounding to English
travellers, are very safely negotiated by the long,
heavy cars ; over the light bridges the pace is always
moderated ; the travelling is smooth and easy, reach-
ing on the main line 35 miles an hour. The trains
are now well-filled and very punctual ; once a week
or oftener a line indicator car is run, and by means of
ingeniously arranged wheels and indicators, on a sheet
of paper, on a scale of 4 ft. to the mile, is accurately
pencilled the condition of the permanent way. An
ill-laid or started rail infallibly makes its mark on the
chart, and as the instrument dots every mile, the
whereabouts of any fault is thus readily noted.

The Pennsylvania and other great railroads are
steadily developing their carrying, wharfage, and
storing capabilities. Each year extends their mileage

106 Pennsylvania Farming.

and their business. During ten years they have
nearly doubled. Satisfactory as was their trade
during 1879, that of the present year greatly exceeds
it. Both the east and west bound traffic is increas-
ing. On the four great trunk lines — the Pennsyl-
vania, the New York Central, the Erie, and the Balti-
more and Ohio — there has been, during the first eight
months of 1880, an increase over the corresponding
months of 1879 of 10 to 40 percent. Under the
' pool ' system, which institutes uniform rates and
abolishes unfair discriminations, the charges are
tolerably satisfactory alike to consigners and to the
railways. The increasing steady business handled
with the economy inaugurated during bad times is
being done with profit. Compared with 1878 the
interest paid on the funded debts of American rail-
roads has slightly advanced, now averaging nearly 5
per cent. The average dividend has also improved,
reaching 2\ per cent. Such results point to economy
in running expenses. It is got out of more business
better done. Freights all round are cheaper than they
were a few years ago. The Pennsylvania, for example,
which has the heaviest goods traffic of the American
lines, moved 9,211,234 tons of freight in 1873, earn-
ing ,919,608,555, In 1879 its goods tonnage grew to
13,680,041, but the earnings from the goods traffic
declined to #17,017,080. It earned ['41 cent per ton
per mile then, it earns 079 cent now. The experi-
rience of the other lines is about the same.

About New Jersey City the land lies flat and low
for several miles : the country is wet and swampy,
producing mainly sedges and poor grass. Soon,

New Jersey State. 107

however, it becomes more undulating and better
wooded ; straight, wide roads are tidily enclosed with
stout rail fences. For 25 miles, until approaching
New Brunswick city, the light red marl soil is mainly
in plantation and scrub ; not one-tenth of the land is
cultivated ; the sparse crops are poor ; a few dairy
cattle and young horses are on the pastures. Milk-
selling, which is started here with a very restricted
capital and the purchase of a few cows at 7/. or 8/. a
piece, is the chief farming. This is not at all a
favourable aspect of New Jersey State, but proceed-
ing south-west the soil becomes deeper, drier, and
more productive. The fields are symmetrical, usually
measuring six to eight acres, enclosed with post and
railing and occasionally with hedges. The Indian
corn, reaching 4 or 5 feet high, is (Sept. 1 5) being cut
and shocked. With active horses, such as at home
are used for van or omnibus purposes, the wheat
stubbles and clover leas are being ploughed ; a single
plough, drawn by a pair of horses or mules 16 hands
high, turns a wide furrow about 4 inches deep, and
overtakes an average of two acres daily. Wheat is
being drilled ; a bushel to a bushel and a quarter is
the usual seeding ; in some fields the wheat is up and
already looking well ; potatoes are being ploughed
up. Near Trenton, the capital of New Jersey State,
is Mr. Smith's stud farm, conspicuous with its nicely-
arranged, commodious buildings, large fields, and
tidy, clean cultivation, and doing good service by the
breeding and distribution of superior male animals.

Near Bristol, Pennsylvania is entered — one of the
richest of the Eastern States, with a history of more

io8 Pennsylvania Farming.

than a hundred years. Of a tolerably perfect rect-
angular shape, about 360 miles long and 200 broad,
its western counties are the thriving strongholds of
the coal and iron trade, while in the north among the
Alleghanies flow the oil wells, which discharge their
unsavoury treasure so bountifully that the oil is not
worth on the spot over a cent a gallon. Although
Pennsylvania embraces an area of 29,440,000 acres,
not one-sixth of it is under tillage. Even here, so
near the Atlantic seaboard, amidst a settled popula-
tion, there is plenty of land which might be brought
into cultivation and much more susceptible of im-
provement. The agricultural returns indicate that
this State produces 1,473,000 acres of wheat, with an
average acreable yield, however, of less than 15
bushels; 1,259,000 acres Indian corn, yielding 35
bushels per acre; 1,166,000 acres oats, bulking 32
bushels; 245,300 acres of rye, casting only 15
bushels ; 26,050 acres barley, giving 26 bushels ;
154.500 acres are devoted to potatoes, producing 70
bushels per acre, grown at much less cost than in
Great Britain, and usually selling at is. 6d. to 2s. per
bushel ; 2.650,000 acres are mown for hay, and 19,000
acres are devoted to tobacco. The number of milk
cows is figured at 828,400 ; the number of oxen and
other cattle is the same ; the average price of cattle
is 7/.; sheep exceed 1,500,000, and are valued at 12^.
each ; there are nearly 1,000,000 hogs, worth about
zSs. each. The population of Pennsylvania being at
present about 4,000,000, the State could annually
supply each of her citizens with about 5^ bushels of

Vegetable and Dairy Farms. 109

wheat, 1 1 bushels of Indian corn, 9 bushels of oats,
with fully 2\ bushels of potatoes : if all the tobacco
were used at home, it would give \\ lbs. per capita ;
the produce of the cows would represent a liberal
daily allowance of nearly 2 quarts of milk ; while the
other cattle and sheep would contribute nearly a
pound of meat daily. For each unit of the popula-
tion, the hogs would further supply nearly one-third
of a pound of bacon or pork daily. Pennsylvania
may therefore be regarded as producing more than
she requires for her own support.

Around Philadelphia the soil is a kindly working
loam 1 5 to 20 inches deep, some of it 3 feet, generally
on a clay subsoil interspersed with marl and limestone
rock, requiring little drainage and that little being
done with pipes or stones and at the depth of 2 to 4
feet. Vegetable farms are common, varying from 10
to 50 acres. Twenty or more different sorts of vege-
tables in their seasons are raised, chiefly for the
Philadelphia markets. These market-gardeners own
the land, manure it liberally, keep it as clean as the
best gardens at Hitchin or Evesham, pay 4s. or $s.
per day for the men they require, and about half that
for the women ; but the day's work generally extends
to 12 hours. Many farms of 70 to 200 acres are
occupied in dairying. From some the milk is night
and morning brought into the town and disposed of
either directly to the customers or to the dealer who
distributes it ; 3d. to 4J. per quart is the winter price,
2d. to id. the summer. On other farms butter is the
chief object, and some of the finest in America is

no Pennsylvania Farming.

produced here, the best bringing 20 cents per pound.
Cheese is rarely made, except for household use.

The successful butterman usually has a spring-
house of solid stone built by the side of the stream.
Several inches from the floor, on stone slabs, the
shallow vessels, usually made of tin, are filled night
and morning with the fresh milk ; the water turned
on, flows constantly through the house, laving the milk
vessels and keeping down the temperature. After
twelve hours the milk is skimmed ; the cream is still
kept in the ' spring-house ; ' churning is done twice a
week ; scrupulous cleanliness is observed. The skim-
milk is either sold in the town at half the price of the
new milk, or is given to the calves or pigs. The cows
are usually Channel Islanders or descended from such
dams. Black-and-white Holsteiners are also used.
As at home, the biggest and best show several crosses
of shorthorn, and these not only milk the heaviest,
but make afterwards the best carcass of beef. The
cows are home-bred, or bought in, usually in the
autumn, at 61. to 7/. Their winter food consists of
corn, flax seed, a little unthrashed corn, hay, and a
few roots. The summer fare is grass, with a small
quantity of oats and maize. Most of the dairymen
give the cows all they grow, excepting a small amount
of the wheat and the produce of the orchard. The pigs
arc generally kept for home use, and with poultry,
eggs, vegetables, and abundance of fruit, constitute
the farmers' fare. Accounts are not kept, and it is
a little difficult in a hurried visit in an utterly new
country to ascertain correctly the amount of ex-
penecs and profits; but, after paying for everything,

Successful Suburban Farming. 1 1 1

the dairyman seems to have a net profit of 2/. or 3/.
per acre. I am assured by merchants and bankers in
Philadelphia that within a radius of ten miles round the
city there are plenty of dairymen who twenty-five years
ago began with nothing, but have gradually acquired
80 to 100 acres, and, besides their land and stock,
are now worth 2,000/. or 3,000/. In thus building up
comfortable homes and securing a competency, these
farmers, many of them from Vermont, have been
greatly helped by industrious and thrifty wives. In
many of these homely households education and re-
finement flourish along with laborious toil and careful
saving. The young men as they grow up often
migrate West, where a small capital acquires more
land, where profits are larger, and there is a great
margin for advance in the value of landed property.

Mr. J. E. Kingsley, of the Continental Hotel,
Philadelphia, besides other business, has within a
mile of the city a farm of 950 acres, which is a good
type of these milk farms. He has from 60 to 70 cows,
which supply daily to the hotel 400 quarts of milk
and cream, and admirable butter. The cows are
mostly Channel Islanders and crosses with shorthorns.
Ten or twelve heifer calves are reared to recruit the
herd, making a total cattle stock of 85 to 95.
The rich grass is the chief summer food. About 100
acres of grass are mowed, yielding two to three tons
of hay, which is the principal winter dietary, the milk-
ing cows besides receiving a ration of corn, meal, and
bran night and morning. Besides the hay required
for the cattle and 14 farm horses, about 100 tons is

112

Painsylvan ia Farm ing.

generally sold at an average of 4/. a ton. Thirty
acres of Indian corn are grown, and are now being
harvested, some being used green for the table, the
bulk stacked for the winter food of the cattle, and
yielding 150 bushels of corn in the cob, or jo bushels
of shelled corn. Twenty acres are devoted to millet,
Hungarian grass, and sugar cane cut for summer
foddering. A good deal of bran is used for feeding.
Twenty acres are in potatoes and small vegetables
used for the hotel. The land appears in too high
condition satisfactorily to grow wheat. The 1 50
acres of pasture, consisting of clover and timothy, is
allowed to remain down for four or five years, and
when ploughed up is followed by maize. The farm
is worked by eight or nine men, their average wages
being 4s. a day ; 25/. a week pays all the labour bills,
including the foreman and his wife, who look after
the cows. Mr. Kingsley and most of his well-to-do
neighbours make free use of the best machinery, such
as mowing, tedding, and unloading machines.

Even as recently as eight or ten years ago many
of these farms were only worth 10/. and 12/. an acre,
but would now realise double that value. I was shown,
three miles from the city, a useful dairy-farm of 80
acres, said to have been purchased ten years ago at
15/. an acre; it has since been well but not extra-
vagantly managed, has paid its way, and is now re-
garded as worth double its former purchase-money.
Picked farms within five miles of Philadelphia,
thoroughly equipped with house and buildings, roads
and fences, and much cleaner and in higher manurial

Land free from Taxation. 113

condition than many are at present in England, may
be bought at 30/. an acre. On such purchases money
can be had to about half the value of the land at 5
to 6 per cent. Nor are investments limited in number
or to a narrow area. For 50 miles around Philadel-
phia, in almost any direction, the land is an easily-
worked fertile loam, adapted to any description of
farming, well watered, and with reasonable prospect
of a steady advance in value.

Land in Pennsylvania rejoices in immunity from
taxation. Personal property moderately valued pays
at the rate of 30 cents per #100; but the chief
revenue is derived from taxing public corpora-
tions, stocks, coal companies, foreign and insurance
companies, banks, and from succession duties,
licences, and a small income tax. The affairs of the
State have been wisely and economically managed ;
its moderate debt is diminishing. Its gratuitous
public-school system works admirably, and shows its
fruits in the general intelligence and knowledge of
every class. Labourers, artisans, and small farmers
met with in the cars and elsewhere exhibit more
general information and readiness to converse and ex-
change ideas than people of the same condition in the
old country.

The farmers show considerable versatility. Be-
sides dairying, vegetables and fruit growing, and
sometimes cultivating tobacco which is extending,
many good managers address themselves to buy-
ing half-fed or lean cattle at 3/. to 4/., feeding them
in summer with grass, green oats, or other fodder, or

I

114 Pennsylvania Farming.

in winter with a little beet or turnips, and with corn
and hay, and after four or six months realise double
their first cost. Others buy sheep from Ohio,
Canada, or elsewhere in the north at 1 ^s. to 20s. and,
feeding them in a similar manner and for about the
same period as the bullocks, dispose of them at 20s.
to 2%s. Others obtain, usually from flocks which travel
eastward from Ohio, common graded Merino ewes at
135. to 20s., place them with a southdown ram, dispose
of the lambs in May and June at 16s. to 30s., secure
about 5-s\ for the fleece of the ewe which speedily
follows the lamb, realise several shillings more than
cost price, and, besides manure, thus earn a handsome,
quickly turned profit. The farmer of this district
has a good choice of markets. In Philadelphia beef
brings about lod. per lb. ; choice mutton, 6d. ; veal,
Sd. to lod. ; and early lamb, upwards of 1 jr. per lb.

The stock-yards at Philadelphia, as in other
American cities, are commodious, contiguous to the
railroads, and well managed. Useful cattle are selling
at 6 to 7 cents per lb. live weight, ordinary half-bred
Merinos and western sheep bring 4 to 5 cents, but well-
fed Downs arc worth 6 cents'per lb. live weight. The
stock-yard charges, including lairagc and weighing,
is is. Sd. for cattle, and 2\d. for sheep and pigs. Hay
is provided at id. per lb.

Philadelphia five years ago commenced the ex-
port of dead meat to Europe, and Messrs. Martin,
Fuller, and Co. are now extensive exporters both of
live cattle and of dead meat. Live animals are sent
during summer, dead meat is the chief winter trade.

Meat Expoi'ts from Philadelphia. 1 15

They collect from the grazings of the far West, and
from the feeding yards of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio,
good heavy cattle from 1,500 to 1,800 lbs. on the
gross. The dead meat they consider pays for export
better than live cattle, on which the transport charges
are again increasing, 5/. per beast being now taken by
the best shipping companies, and the heavy landing
dues, especially at Southampton and Victoria Docks,
London, being complained of as cutting seriously into
profits. Their admirable premises at Philadelphia
provide for the slaughter of Soo cattle and as many
sheep daily ; cold storage chambers, kept at a tempe-
perature of $6° to 38° Fahr., economically preserve the
meat and the best of the offal whether for home use
or for export. The ice usually costs 10s. 6d. per ton.
The carcases for British markets hang in the cold
chambers for about forty-eight hours ; in refrigerating
cars, as yet not introduced in England, they are
usually forwarded to New York ; 1,000 quarters sewn
up in stout calico are sometimes despatched by one
steamer. Allowing for all expenses, Messrs. Martin,
Fuller, and Co. concur with other shippers in de-
claring that ' a living profit ' is earned if the beef and
mutton in this country make 6d. per lb. Owing,
however, to glutted markets, they have sometimes,
even for a couple of weeks, an unsatisfactory return of
less than %d. Pork pays if sold at British ports at $d:
Mr. John Miller Hickory, of Washington County,
West Pennsylvania, is the thriving owner of 400 acres
of useful land, is superior in education to most of his
compeers, a successful breeder of good Devons, and

1 1 6 Pennsylvania Farming.

a prize-winning exhibitor at many State fairs. One
hundred acres of his farm are in wood, hitherto only
used as a source of fencing and fuel. He grows
about 40 to 50 acres of Indian corn, which he has
reaped towards the middle of September with the
prospect of getting 100 bushels an acre of grain in the
cob, or half that amount when shelled out. The
shelled bushel of corn weighs 56 lbs. The stalks
and leaves are the chief winter provender for the
cattle. Throughout September and October, the
corn stubble is ploughed, oats are sown in early
spring, reaped in July, and yield 50 bushels an acre
of about 33 lbs. to the bushel. In August the oat
stubble is turned over to the depth of three or four
inches. Wheat is sown in September, is reaped in
July, yields 30 bushels, and is sold usually to dealers,
who fetch it at an average of 90 cents, or $s. gd. per
bushel. Along with the wheat in autumn timothy
grass is sown ; when the wheat is harrowed in the
succeeding spring, clover is sown. The seeds are
mowed in June, produce two and a half to three tons
of hay, a second cutting is sometimes taken, and they
remain down during three to five years. By the help
of machinery, which, like so many American farmers,
Mr. Hickroy uses to full advantage, he overtakes the
seasonable working of his land with the assistance of
four light-limbed, active horses, and three men, the
principal of whom has 70/. a year, a cottage, and
milk ; while the other two have each 40/. and are
boarded. The master, his family, and men live
almost entirely on the produce of the farm ; their

Cows and Sheep. 1 1 7

animal food is bacon or pork ; they kill an occasional
sheep, have plenty of home-raised vegetables and
fruit, drink nothing stronger than milk, water, tea, or
coffee, are very seldom ill, but pay the doctor an
annual retaining fee of $1 5 (3/.), and for this moderate
sum command his attendance when required. Besides
the few well-bred Devons, 20 ordinary milking cows,
repeatedly crossed with Devon bulls, are kept, worth
61. each when five years old, and used for breeding
and making a little butter. The heifers produce their
first calf when two years old ; when longer grace is
given they become too fat and breeding is uncertain.
The smart steers and heifers, with their compact
Devon type, weigh, when fed at three years, 1,200 lbs.
on the hoof, and are worth 7/. to 8/.. With a larger
breed more food would obviously be consumed, but
considerably heavier weights would be scaled. The
sheep stock appears to be more profitable than the
cattle. One hundred and fifty Merino ewes produce
120 lambs ; some of the selected ram lambs realise
5/. ; the majority are not worth more than 3/. ; the
ewes do not fetch quite so much, ordinary ungraded
stock ewes are not worth more than 20^. These
Merinos, however, are still prized ; they shear 6 lbs. to
7 lbs. of (unwashed) wool, saleable on farm at is. per
pound ; the clip becomes heavier as the sheep reach
maturity. Some picked Merino hogs have shorn 1 5 lbs.
to 20 lbs. Mr. Hickory had an old ram that pro-
duced 37 lbs. ; these, however, are unwashed fleeces.

• An approximate valuation and balance-sheet
bring out the following figures : —

II

Pennsylvania Farming.

Capital Account.

/

j.

a

400 acres with buildings, roads, &c. at ^20 .

S.000

0

0

Machinery, implements, and four horses

1,000

0

0

200

0

0

1,000

0

0

10,200

0

0

Expenditure.
Interest on capital above detailed, ,£10,200 at

£

s.

d.

612

0

0

20

0

0

Labour bills, 3 men .....

180

0

0

Own labour and superintendence .

100

0

c

Incidental expenses .....

20

0

0

Balance excess of income over expenditure .

8

18

9

940 18 9

Income.

£ s. d.

Wheat, 45 acres, yielding 25 bushels at 3.C 9</. 210 18 9

^ ool . . . . . . . . 1 30 o o

120 sheep . . . . . . . 400 o o

20 cattle ....... 140 o o

Butter, poultry, hay, &c. . . . . 60 o o

940 18 9

This represents a meagre money profit : but planting
fruit trees, draining, and other improvements have
increased expenses without bringing as yet any
adequate returns. On many farms Mr. Hickory
believes as much produce might be got from 250
acres as he gets from 300 acres. While supporting
himself and his family, he is, however, satisfied that
consuming so large a proportion of his produce —

Agricultural Show at Philadelphia. 1 19

keeping so much stock and taking care of the manure
— is steadily adding to the value of his property,
which represents 1,000/. more than it would have done
five years ago. In thus building up the value of
their farms the profits of many good- Pennsylvanian
agriculturists are in great part invested.

During ten days, beginning September 8, 1879,
in the Centennial buildings in the large and beau-
tiful Fairmount Park, amid permanent art and ma-
nufacture exhibits, the Pennsylvania Agricultural
Society held its annual show. A couple of hundred
horses were collected, comprising several indifferent
Clydesdales, a handsome Percheron stallion, owned
by D. Walters, of Baltimore, well-bred sires for
general purposes which did not reach a very high
standard, and some useful mares, foals, and yearlings
adapted for carriage or quick farm work. The cattle
included pedigree shorthorns in good condition for-
warded by Mr. D. Selsor, London, Ohio ; half a
score of smart, shapely, Bates -looking bulls and cows
contributed by Mr. L. H. Long and Son, Mason
County, Kentucky, descended from good sorts bred
and imported by Mr. Abraham Renick and Mr. R. A.
Alexander ; and a number of superior grade short-
horns— that is, cattle not qualified by four crosses of
pure blood for entry in the American herd-book.
These shorthorn grades are rapidly extending and
improving, and their size, weight, and good thriving
testify how the general western stock may be steadily
improved. Ten shorthorn-graded oxen, mostly roan,
weighing on hoof 1,600 lbs. and selected from a lot of

1 20 Pennsylvania Farming.

64, were exhibited by the butcher who had bought
them in Ohio, and would have done credit to any-
English agricultural show. In a dairy district
Channel Islanders, as might be expected, mustered
in force, and with grades contributed upwards of 100
entries ; there were a dozen Ayrshires, the same
number of black and white Holsteiners, and some
very useful Devons, belonging to Mr. J. M. Hickory
and Dr. C. Morris. There was a fair show of sheep,
Merinos, Cotswolds, Oxfords, and other Downs ; the
grades and crosses were generally better than the
pure breds. The pigs, both black and white, were
very good. The poultry were not in as fine condition
as at most English exhibitions.

Proceeding westwards from Philadelphia the land
for fifty miles is pleasantly undulating, well enclosed,
only sparingly wooded, and very fairly cultivated.
The farms vary from 50 to 150 acres ; very few ex-
ceed 200 acres, and the owners are almost invariably
the occupiers. In rare instances the farm is run on
shares, the landlord, in addition to soil and buildings,
occasionally finding the implements and machinery,
and even the span of horses, the tenant only furnish-
ing labour, each party taking a proportion, usually
half, of the takings of the concern. Desirable, well-
equipped farms even 50 miles from Philadelphia sell
at 20/. to 30/. an acre. Many of these thriving Pennsyl-
vanian agriculturists or their fathers have come from
Vermont ; most are industrious and thrifty, bear up
well against summer heat ; nearly all have laid as
money, and started their sons either in adjacent farms

Money-making Fanners. i 2 1

or sent them farther West. Beyond the limits con-
venient for the production and sale of dairy produce
and vegetables for the Philadelphia market, many
farmers, for both summer and winter feeding, buy store
bullocks from Colorado, Texas, or other Western
States, paying for them #15 to $20 (3/. to 4/.) They
are kept four to six months, getting the while grass
or hay, according to the season, with Indian corn ;
80 to 100 bushels of corn is generally estimated as
the winter feed of an ox, and also help along the pigs.
With good waiting on, the beasts in five or six months
nearly double their value. Other managers purchase
sheep, usually brought from Canada or the Northern
States, bought in at about #3 (15^.), and sold out, after
four or five months, at a profit of $s. or 6s. As at
home, most of the best cattle and sheep are bred on
the farm, and not quitted until disposed of to the
butcher.

Along the line of rail neat wooden station-houses
are provided, and smart flower beds rival in taste and
colour the pretty shows made at many English road-
side stations. The familiar milk-tins are seen on many
platforms ; deliveries of wheat are being busily made,
although growers and dealers complain that the car-
riage from their stations is so high that Mid-Pennsyl-
vania competes disadvantageously with Chicago and
the West, favoured as they are with cheap through
rates. It is particularly gratifying to note bags of
guano, phosphates, and other fertilizers, as well as
lime, in the goods sheds ; while evidences of . a re-
storative system of farming also declare themselves

122 Pennsylvania Farming.

in the carting out of yard-made manure by the bul-
lock teams, and by small doses spread here and there.
Neither straw nor stubble is now burnt in the State 5
nor, as formerly, is the stream turned through the
yards ruthlessly to get rid of the manure. Taking
advantage of the fine autumn weather, ploughing is
being pushed along ; the active horses, usually de-
corated with nets, doing fully an acre and a half a
day, with the ordinary short and rather ungainly, but
good working plough of the countiy made with wood
stilts and beam, but iron working parts. A good deal
of wheat is up (September 20), and more is being
sown by light nine-furrow pair-horse drills. The
clovers look well, and in the pastures and elsewhere
white clover springs naturally, feeding kindly on the
debris of the lime and clay slate rocks. In gardens
and fields tobacco is cultivated, the large clammy
leaves being cut and dried first on wooden horses in
the fields, and subsequently in sheds and warehouses.
Passing Elizabeth Town, where many Germans are
settled, and the wooden houses are mostly painted of
a warm brown red, the country becomes more undu-
lating ; the distant hills are well-timbered, and the
larger enclosures and thinner limestone soil suggest
recollections of the Gloucestershire hills. But soon,
amid rugged hills, on which lie giant boulders, among
the closely-growing timber, we reach the slow-running
Susquehanna, winding through shallow lagoons, float-
ing down quantities of timber, and chiving numerous
saw-mills. Approaching Harrisburg, the capital of
Pennsylvania and situated in the centre of the State,

Mineral Wealth. 123

cultivation again improves ; several large and well-
managed farms are passed. Some considerable herds
of Jerseys are kept for the milk supply of the city,
which has rolling mills and an extensive manufactory
of railway passenger cars, turning out, it is said, four-
teen daily.

For 250 miles from Harrisburg to Pittsburg the
country is generally wild, rugged, and mountainous.
But although poor agriculturally, the country abounds
in mineral wealth, mostly in coal and iron ore. On
the eastern slopes the hard anthracite is found, and
the soft bituminous is equally plentiful on the western
slopes. Beginning the ascent of the eastern foot hills
of the Alleghanies, the farming is confined to small
scattered patches of cultivated land and some useful
orchards. Amidst grand and varied mountain scenery
for many miles the railroad winds along the beauti-
fully-wooded banks of the Susquehanna, crossing and
recrossing the river, which at several points is half-a-
mile wide, plunging into darkly wooded ravines and
running parallel with the road, canal, and river, for-
cibly recalling the Vale of Llangollen. Again, among
barer rounded hills, and valleys down which the burns
dance, with picturesque white cottages relieving the
solitude of ' mountain, wood, and stream,' the mind
reverts to the Peebleshire scenery.

Altoona, 327 miles from New York, is the resting-
place for the night. It is a reproduction of Crewe or
Swindon, with roaring forges and busy workshops ;
for here the Pennsylvania Railroad Company have
their chief factory for engines and carriages, and for

124 Pennsylvania Farming.

repairs of rolling stock, and generally employ 3,000
men.

Amidst mountains and woods, and at a high alti-
tude, Altoona and its neighbourhood have not, how-
ever, much agricultural interest. Oats are grown in
preference to wheat ; maize is only produced of the
smaller sweet sort cultivated for table use. There are
not many cattle or sheep kept, but beef and mutton
in the market here are bought at \d. per pound, spring
chickens are is. each, eggs two a penny, and vege-
tables and fruit varied, plentiful, and cheap, as they
are almost everywhere throughout America. On the
heights are settled numbers of the Donkers, who are
allied to the Memonites, abhor war and litigation, and
are thrifty, industrious people.

From Altoona, with three powerful engines drag-
ging eleven cars, we slowly creep up the steep moun-
tain ascent, with the grand forest trees just beginning
to assume their wondrous varied autumn tints of red
and brown, pink and yellow, proceed around rocky
ravines overhanging the valleys and river, sweep
round the sharp curve of the horse-shoe bend, pass
along the wild wooded heights for fully twenty miles,
and drop down on Johnstown. Thirty years ago,
before the railroad was made, this journey was under-
taken in favourable weather by canal, the boats,
placed on wheels, were laboriously dragged by horses
up a timbered road, were returned to the water when
the more level plateau was reached, and made the
descent on the other side by tedious locks. The
journey of 200 miles from Ilurrisburg to Pittsburg,

Pittsburg, Centre of Coal and Iron Trades. 125

now accomplished in five hours, then occupied five
days.

Pittsburg lies on the western base of the Alle-
ghanies, at the confluence of the Aileghani and the
Monongahela rivers, which here unite, to formr the
Ohio. It is the great centre of the Pennsylvania coal,
iron, steel, glass, and petroleum industries. It is in
the midst of the bituminous coal fields. The veins,
conveniently near the surface, sometimes broken and
upheaved by subterranean force, occasionally lying ver-
tically instead of horizontally, are about five feet thick,
are often worked without shafts or lifts, being quarried
as stones usually are in this country, and loaded at
once on tram cars. It is very free from sulphur, is
prized for smelting and making iron ; and a great
deal is forwarded to New York and other eastern
cities for household use.

The purification and export of petroleum is one of
the important trades of this part of Pennsylvania.
The oil was struck in the Alleghanies as recently as
1859, and has since been a continuous increasing
mine of wealth. Produced from the gradual decay of
vegetable matters, it exudes from the black shales, or
is found in subterranean chambers into which it has
filtered. When these are tapped by the borer, the oil
is forced to the surface, and sometimes thrown out in
jets. The borings or wells are 1,000 to 1,300 feet
deep. When a well fails or runs short, another is dug.
The supply seems never failing, and the region over
which it is found is measured by several hundred miles.
Expensive pumps are unnecessary, and would scarcely

126 Pennsylvania Farming.

pay, as the oil at the wells is worth only \d. per
gallon. From its source along the Alleghanies it is
carried by its own gravity in iron pipes, thirty or
forty miles, to the various cities where it is purified
and barrelled. Fifty-thousand barrels containing 45
gallons each are put up daily in the State of Pennsyl-
vania alone. The largest proportion of this is done
at Pittsburg by the Standard Oil Company, under the
able presidency of Mr. J. D. Roekefiller. The extent
of the operations of this company in illuminating and
lubricating oils may be gathered from the fact that
40,000 tons of hoop iron are annually used for the
barrels. Mr. R. G. Waring, one of the directors of
this important corporation, informs me that three-
fourths of the iron purchased in 1879 was bought by
him in England.

It was in Pittsburg that Horace Greely and
sixteen determined and zealous spirits, upwards of
twenty years ago, met and organised the Republican
Party, inaugurated the first decided stand against
slavery, and insisted that it should not be introduced
into any of the new States. The citizens of Pittsburg
pride themselves that on the eve of the great struggle
between North and South, they first brought under
notice of the Government the depleting of the
arsenals of the North, and obtained orders for the
interception of cannons and military stores which
were being transferred to Southern depots.

127

CHAPTER X.

AGRICULTURE IN OHIO.

SOME of the Middle and Eastern States, settled for
a hundred years, exhibit the aspect and methods of
farming of the old country. In the contiguous States
of Kentucky and Ohio are farms with house, build-
ings, fields, stock and general arrangements of a
familiar English type. Ohio has an area of
25,500,000 acres, it is about one-sixth less than New
York and Pennsylvania, half the size of Kansas or
Minnesota, about one-seventh the extent of Texas,
about three-fourths that of England. Fifty years ago
Ohio was largely covered with forests, a considerable
amount of which has been cut down with much
labour. Upwards of 5,000,000 acres are still, however,
under wood, which with thinning and management
might pay better than it does. Evidences of the
' forest primeval ' are still conspicuous in the old
stumps standing several feet out of the ground in the
pastures and even in many arable fields. A younger
growth of plantation and scrub has risen in many
localities, and even on lands which had been cleared
and cultivated, which have been run out by exhaust-

128 Agriculture in Ohio.

ing cropping, and allowed to revert to their natural
wild state.

According to the statistical returns more than one-
third of the State, or about 9,000,000 acres, are in
cultivation. About 6,000,000 acres are in pasture.
Three million acres are devoted to Indian corn ;
nearly 2,000,000 acres each to wheat and hay, and
1,000,000 to oats. The yield of corn is stated at 35
bushels per acre, wheat at 15 to 18 bushels, oats at
36, hay at 1^ ton per acre. Flax is not so common
as it has been ; tobacco is on a more limited scale
than in Pennsylvania ; sorghum extending in Minne-
sota and Missouri is uncertain, on account of frosts.
About 500,000 acres are in orchards, producing in a
fair season 10,000,000 bushels of apples, 500,000
bushels of peaches, and 100,000 bushels of pears.
About 10,000 acres are in vineyards, annually in-
creasing at the rate of 10 per cent., producing
12,000,000 lbs. of grapes and 500,000 gallons of wine.

Real estate in Ohio is assessed at #1,091,116,952,
personal at #461,460,552.' The State taxes amount
to 2-9 mills, per dollar. Besides State taxes there
were levied in 1879 county taxes amounting to
#16,429,629, and town, school, and city taxes amount-
ing to #1 5,398.441. To these levies not only the land
contributes, but all manner of personal property, all
implements, machinery, and furniture, the animals of
the farm, and dogs. Taking all into account, the
taxes in Ohio range from \\ to 2 per cent on the fair
valuation of the farm. Supposing the land worth 10/.

1 American Almanac, by A. R. Stopford, for 1880, p. 186.

Game, Public Property. 129

an acre, and bearing, as it does at home, the bulk of
the burdens, these would amount to 4-r. an acre. As
in the old world, taxes are amongst the farmer's
grievances. It is complained that the railroads
do not contribute their quota. They take 12 acres
per mile, occupy in Ohio about 4,000 miles, and
hence represent property to the value of $1,500,000,
which at present escapes taxation. Game, being
public property, pays no rates. It is hunted or shot
by anj- one. No proprietor forbids the sportsman
ranging where he pleases. The only game laws are
those preventing, sporting during close time. Many
farmers, especially near towns, would gladly have
some enactments preventing the public, on Sundays
as well as week days, tramping over their fields in
pursuit of game, or fishing in their rivers or lakes,
without so much as saying ' By your leave.'

Englishmen in Ohio, as in many parts of the
Continent, will find some inconvenience from ex-
tremes of summer and winter temperature. The
summer heat ranges from 70° to 750: the winter from
280 to 340. The rainfall at the capital Cincinnati, which
lies low and attracts a good deal of moisture from the
broad Ohio, on an average of twenty-five years, is
44*87 inches. At Cleveland on Lake Erie it is 37'6
inches. Draining and cultivation have removed the
causes of malaria which some years ago was
common.

In a. great Republican country, where it might be
supposed that the interests of agriculture would be
left to individual enterprise, it is satisfactory to find

K

T30 Agriculture in Ohio.

that almost every State paternally enacts for its benefit
laws, some of which in an old country might be
regarded as arbitrary and unduly interfering with the
liberty of the subject. The General Assembly of
Ohio has laws regulating the ancient industry which
in America is the first and great source of wealth.
A State board of agriculture was formed in 1846,
with laws as to public exhibitions, or ' fairs/ as
they are termed. At these shows, as at home,
prizes are given for live stock, for implements, and
for labour competitions, in which both farmers and
their men frequently join. Arrangements are made
for the collection of statistics, the management of
county societies and clubs, the prevention of con-
tagious diseases amongst animals, and the construc-
tion cf ditches, water courses, and drains. An
Agricultural College is subsidised by the State, and
does good work in disseminating information relating
to the principles and practice of agriculture. A like
technical teaching is also very generally given in the
advanced schools in rural neighbourhoods.

Good farm houses and buildings are met with of
modern and convenient structure, often of stone or
brick, the shedding usually of wood. Draining is
done to the extent of 35,000 miles, and 1,000 miles
of drains are stated to be put down every year.1 On
clay subsoils, drains are made 3 feet deep and 3 rods
apart ; pipes have generally superseded stones and
timber ; in Lorain county, 2-inch tiles cost $\0 per
1,000 ; 3-inch, £15 ; 4 inch, $20 ; digging and laying

1 Ohio Agricultural Report fat 1S77, p, 10.

Fences. 1 3 r

are charged at 25 to 30 cents per rod : the total cost
per acre varies from $r8 to $2j.

Farms vary in size in different parts of the State,
but according to the official census average 1 1 1 acres.
By far the greatest proportion of the occupiers are
their own landlords. With recent good harvests and
improved trade the mortgages of former years have
generally been extinguished, more spirited and diversi-
fied cultivation extends, and land is advancing in
value. Around Rochester and Salem, in the Eastern
portion of the State, good farms now cost 10/. an acre,
and if sold valuation would besides be made for house
and buildings. In some localities farms are run on
shares, the landlord usually stipulating to have five-
eighths of the land in grain, and to receive one-half of
the grain produce.

The herd law, which is general in Western States
and territories, and which compels the grazier to tend
his animals, and keep them out of his neighbours'
crops, is not recognised in Ohio, or other older States.
The farms are fenced, and the fields divided by fences.
In well-wooded districts where timber is still abun-
dant, a six or eight rail, zig-zag or snake fence, is
common ; the heavy roughly split rails are laid one
over the other, and, although without posts, this zig-
zag fence is strong and holds back both cattle and
pigs. Elsewhere, the more familiar morticed posts
and split rails are used. Oak or locust posts, six
inches square, cost about id. each. Some locust
posts put in top end down, in which position they
are most lasting, were shown me in fair condition,

K 2

1X2 Agriculture in Ohio.

"■&

although they had been standing for thirty years. Split
rails are procurable at #12 to #14 per 1,000. Inch
pine boards are often nailed to posts, as is done in
Scotland, and such railing costs less, and lasts longer
than the railing with morticed posts. In the cleared
open country where timber is becoming scarce, wire,
sometimes barbed, is used ; the posts are placed 32
feet apart, but such fencing is apt to flop in very hot
weather, and contract and break when the tempera-
ture falls, as it often does in winter, to 200 below zero.
Thorn and osage, or wild orange, are extending ; both
grow well, make capital fences, are sometimes allowed
to run up 12 to 20 feet ; are sometimes splashed as
in this country, and kept tidily trimmed two or three
times a year.

Eastern Ohio, the earlier settled part of the State,
has a steady, hardworking population, largely con-
sisting of Quakers, formerly drawn from Maryland.
It exhibits some good mixed farming, and is in con-
venient proximity to markets. The better wheat
crops of the last few years have infused more spirit
amongst farmers. Land is more enquired for, and
brings a better price. Useful farms five miles from
any considerable town are to be bought at 5/. to 8/.
an acre. During the last ten years neither the arable
nor pastoral products of this part of Ohio have
sufficiently increased ; indeed, in some districts they
have actually retrograded. An old Scottish settler
remarks that ' the men farm as if they had only an
annual instead of a permanent interest in their hold-
ings.' A few farms are held by tenants, most are
farmed by their owners. A few years ago many

Cost of Wheat-growing. 133

were heavily mortgaged, the advances, often to half
the value of the property, being made at 7 and 8 per
cent. The recent better times have, however, gra-
dually reduced these encumbrances. -As is common
elsewhere, many with means sufficient to farm 50 acres,
profitlessly endeavour to farm 150 acres. It appears,
however, to be generally admitted that any man with
capital, judgment, and industry should still be able
to make a fair livelihood from farming.

Wheat in Ohio is chiefly sown in autumn. It is
got in during the latter part of September and early
in October, and grows rapidly and vigorously.
Generally it follows clover, roots, or oats. Wheat-
growing in Ohio and other mid States costs much
more than on the cheap virgin soils of the West.
Rent, or interest on capital, and rates are nearly
three times what they are in Minnesota, Iowa, or
Dakota. On lands long farmed manure is required,
and at a moderate computation adds 10s. an acre or
6d. a bushel to the cost. Ploughing is rather more
costly than farther West, reaping, thrashing, and
other charges are about the same. Subjoined is a
statement of the average cost of an acre of wheat in
Ohio :—

£ *■ d.

Rent or interest on capital of ^10 at 10 per cent. .100
Rates and taxes . . . . . . .040

Ploughing . . . . . . . .080

Manure , . . . . . . . o 10 o

Seed . . . . . . . . .060

Sowing and harrowing . . . . .030

Reaping and stacking . . . . . o 10 o

Thrashing . . . . . . . .050

Delivering and incidentals . , . , .030

3 9 0

134 Agriculture in Ohio.

This is less than half the cost of wheat-growing in
England, but it is nearly double the cost of produc-
tion in the cheaper Western States. In growing
wheat the yeomen of Ohio are almost as heavily
handicapped as the farmers of Great Britain ; for
several years eighteen bushels has been the yield in
the best districts of Ohio ; grown at 3/. Ss. an acre, if
it is to pay expenses it must be sold at 3^. gd. a bushel.
On the cheap, unmanured lands of Minnesota, eigh-
teen bushels, which is a fair acreable yield, are ob-
tained for 2/. 2s., and can hence be sold without loss
at 2s. qd. per bushel. This difference in the cost of
production more than counterbalances the advantages
the Ohio farmer possesses in nearness to markets and
to the eastern ports. Besides in many parts of Ohio,
wheat-growing is eminently uncertain. In eighteen
years it is said that there have been only six full crops.1
A few days' scorching drought when the grain is ripen-
ing, or subsequent high winds and storms, seriously
jeopardise results. The farmers of these middle
States, like those of England, discovering that exten-
sive wheat-growing is seldom profitable, arc wisely
bestowing more attention on the more certain Indian
corn and the rearing and feeding of live stock.

Indian corn is produced at less cost than wheat.
With good cultivation more than double the number
of bushels is obtained from an acre. Where forty
bushels arc reaped the first cost will amount to is. 6d.
to is. gd. per bushel. It can generally be sold to

1 Messrs. Read and Pell's Report : Agriculturist Interests Com-
mission, p. 14.

Farming Profits. 135

secure a small profit, but still more advantage results
when, as is the practice with most good farmers, it is
converted into beef or bacon. Half a bushel per day
is the usual allowance for a three-year:old beast when
first put up, but more is given as fattening advances.
The 80 to 100 bushels sufficient for feeding a beast is
expected, besides adding to the value of the manure,
to make about 50 per cent, more in beef than it does
when marketed as corn. The fodder, which is the
equivalent of English hay and roots, is used alike for
cattle, sheep, and pigs. In the yards for each beast
two pigs are kept as scavengers. Ten pounds of corn
make one pound of bacon. On clover and timothy
grass the live stock, including pigs, are run from May
until October, and from these Ohio pastures come a
considerable number of the best bullocks which during
the late summer and autumn months are landed at
our ports. From the yards in winter are consigned
many of the animals weighing 1,600 and 1,700 lbs.,
which are slaughtered at the eastern ports and sent to
England.

Dr. Black's farm at Pickaway is a good type of
the management in the pleasant Scioto valley: 371
acres represent $15,000 of outlay in purchase and im-
provements, or 81. an acre : 150 acres are devoted to
corn, rye, and clover, in rotation : 140 acres of cleared
land grows Kentucky blue grass : 65 acres is in wood-
land, furnishing, however, a good deal of herbage :
5 acres are in woodland producing no grass : build-
ings and roads occupy 3 acres. The expenses range
from 4.0s. to 50J-. an acre. In 1874 they were 713/.

136 Agriculture in Ohio.

The receipts were 1,075/., leaving a profit of 365/., or
fully 12 per cent, upon the investment. In 1875 the
expenses were 970/., the receipts 1,467/, The profits
496/. or 16 per cent. In 1876, expenses carefully
looked after were reduced to 634/. The receipts,
owing, however, to the previous wet season and the
consequent indifferent thriving of the stock, were only
760/. the profit of 126/. being little over 4 per cent,
upon the outlay. The expenses of 1877 were 632/. ;
the receipts 1,069/. The profit 435/., or 14 per cent.
1878 and 1879 exhibit still more satisfactory re-
sults, and the profits of Dr. Black's six years' farm-
ing exceed 12 per cent, per annum ; which is nearly
double the amount which most British agriculturists,
even in the best of times, are able to obtain.

Dairy farming is the chief industry of the clay and
shales of the Northern part of the State and of the
Western reserve, occupying the chief portion of the
counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull, and Geauga, with
considerable portions of Portage, Summit, Medina,
and Lorain. Although involving more trouble, if
properly attended to, dairying is believed to pay
better than feeding. Of the 1,624,286 cattle of all
descriptions enumerated in Ohio on January I, 1880,
nearly one-half were returned as milk cows. As has
happened in Cheshire, Buckinghamshire, and other
parts of Great Britain, twenty years' dairying, with
continuous disposal of the phosphate-containing milk
and no adequate return of plant food, has, however,
deteriorated the pastures and reduced the amount of
clovers and fine grasses, which sprang spontaneously

Dairy Farming. 137

and flourished for a time on the cleared forest land.
Neglect of draining and allowing cattle and horses to
stray over these heavy soils in wet weather, has further
determined their deterioration. The productive capa-
city of the pastures is stated to have been reduced one-
third ; four acres instead of three are now required to
maintain a cow. An average farm of 100 acres gene-
rally carries ten or twelve cows ; three or four heifer
calves are reared annually to recruit the stock. The
land is worked by a pair of horses. Fifty acres are re-
quired for pasture, which, as' a rule, receives no manure ;
2 1 acres may be devoted to timothy grass, which lasts
three years, and hence necessitates 7 acres being sown
down annually. Fully 21 acres will be ploughed
every year, one-third being Indian corn manured, one-
third oats, one-third wheat, for which some manure is
often spared, and amongst which the timothy is sown.
Eight acres will be occupied with garden, orchard,
and buildings. Besides the yield of the seven acres of
wheat there is little to sell excepting the dairy pro-
duce, which reaches 4/. or 5/. per cow ; Soo to 1,000
quarts is the annual average yield of milk per cow.
The cows are chiefly Shorthorn grades, a few have an
infusion of Ayrshire, Guernsey, or Holstein. At the
cheese factories and creameries the price paid for the
milk rarely exceeds \\d. per quart, and the farmers
who make their own butter and cheese presumedly
do not realise any better price. Generally throughout
America, in all the larger markets butter is now care-
fully graded ; the common qualities, unfortunately
most abundant, sell tardily at gd. or \od., the best

J

S Agriculture in Ohio.

readily make is. 6d. to is. Sd., and in winter con-
siderably more.

The annual yield of butter in Ohio exceeds
50,000,000 lbs. ; that of cheese is 30.000,000 lbs.
By more careful selection of cows of good milking
families, by better feeding, and by draining and
manuring the exhausted pastures, the yield of milk
and the profits of the dairy may be considerably
increased.

Profits on cattle-feeding are being augmented by
more careful breeding and handling. Well-selected
animals with two or three crosses of Shorthorn or
Hereford are easily fed at three years, whilst the com-
moner, plainer, heavier-boned, restless natives do not
come out until four or five. The better bred more
shapely animals with one-fourth less food reach
heavier weights, and realise 1 to 3 cents per pound
on the hoof more than the commoners. To this
more profitable standard the home-bred Ohio beasts
are being steadily raised. Good Shorthorn herds
throughout most States, annually distributing thou-
sands o( pure bred and graded bulls at prices varying
from #50 to £300, are increasing the beef-producing
capabilities of the great American herds.

Ohio does not breed nearly all the cattle she re-
quires to consume her heavy crops of corn. From
Cincinnati and Chicago, railed thence 1,000 miles from
the great western branches, are brought every autumn
thousands of three- and four-year old bullocks. They
are placed in large yards, 70 to 100 are usually seen
together, but they agree tolerably amicably. They

Cattle-feeding. 139

eat daily 10 lbs. to 20 lbs. of hay at 40^. per ton, as
much corn cobs and stalks as they can clear up, and
20 lbs. to 30 lbs. of corn or corn meal. A little bran
at 30s". per ton is sometimes given"; salt is placed
within reach, but roots are too scarce to be used.
The beasts are weighed in during October at 1,100 lbs.
to 1,300 lbs., and go out in spring at 1,600 lbs. to 1,800
lbs. Farmers who cannot buy bullocks frequently have
their yards filled, and their hay and corn consumed
by animals consigned to them by their more prosper-
ous neighbours. The cattle are weighed over to them
on the stockyard steelyards, and they receive 2\d. to
~$d. for every pound of gross weight gained. Good
beasts well managed are expected to make 4 lbs.
daily addition to their live weight.

Hogs are readily and cheaply reared, and fed
chiefly, on grass and clover in summer and in winter
in the yards amongst the cattle and finished off on
corn. They would need to be inexpensively kept, for
sometimes they realise very low figures. They fell
during 1878 and the first nine months of 1879 to #3
and even to #2-50 per 100 lbs. gross. In 1866 and
1867 they made 87. Their present value is about
#5 per 100 lbs. live weight. Prices are sometimes
lively ; following a sudden jump of sometimes
82 per 100 lbs. in the value of pork, live hogs will
run up too fast for the buyers. Well posted by
his smart paper, the seller is ever on the alert to
benefit by any rise. In every exchange room and
marketplace the latest quotations of the values of
all agricultural commodities are posted and eagerly
read and commented on, not only by merchants and

140 Agriculttire in Ohio.

farmers, but by drovers and errand boys. Through-
out America, alike in town and country, the young
idea is uncommonly precocious, and shows early
aptitude for business. On January 1, 1880, 1,974,868
hogs were enumerated in Ohio with the low
average valuation of 15^. per head. Being taxed,
however, according to their value, this is returned
as moderately as the conscience of the owner per-
mits. Ohio packs annually upwards of 100,000 hogs,
or i2-5 per cent, of the whole of the States. Of
this amount Cincinnati does one-sixth. Like so many
American cities, Cincinnati is a great and growing
entrepot for all descriptions of agricultural produce.
During twelve months she now receives about
1,000,000 hogs, 250,000 cattle, and 600,000 sheep.
The weight of the hogs slaughtered during five years
averages 217 lbs., or about the general average of the
States. They yield 37 lbs. of lard. Averaging 2\d.
per lb., each fat hog accordingly realises a trifle under
60s. Hog cholera has occasionally done even more
devastation than in England. During twelve months
to April 1877 it destroyed 15 per cent of the whole
hog crop of the States. The mortality was double that
in Missouri ; in Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, and
Illinois it was 20 per cent. ; Ohio fortunately got off
with a loss of 7 per cent. A somewhat analogous
complaint has sometimes decimated the poultry
yards.

Ohio has long had a high reputation for sheep.
With the exception of California and Texas, her
flocks are more numerous than those of any other

Merino Sheep. 141

State. Steadily increasing, they numbered on January
I, 1880, 4,595,462. Until recently most of the best
flocks were Merinos, cultivated exclusively for their
fine lustrous wools. Thirty years ago many were
largely crossed with Saxony sheep, contributing light,
fine wools. Subsequently the fibre was shortened
by infusion of Silesian blood. Latterly Spanish or
American Merinos, often from Vermont, have been
used, with the effect of adding to the weight both of
carcase and of fleece. The ewes clip 5 lbs., the
wethers 6 lbs. or 7 lbs. Some of the best managers
have received for years 40 to 50 cents per lb. for their
choice wool. The average price for ordinary clips is
about is. per lb. Many flock-masters still untidily
shear the unwashed wool. Some of the best Merinos
yield for one year's growth 3^ inches, and occasionally
3f inches, of wool. Some of Mr. Andrew M'Farland's
sheep have produced wool, the fibre of which,
equalling the best Saxony, was only i"i 250th of an
inch in diameter. A heavier fleece and more mutton
is now very generally aimed at and obtained by
crossing the Merinos and Merino grades with English
longwools and Oxford Downs. Many of these
crosses at two years old dress 60 lbs. to 70 lbs., or are
10 lbs. to 1 5 lbs. heavier than the Merinos. As in the
North-eastern States, some of the sheep in Ohio are
housed during the severe winter months. This is neces-
sary with Merinos kept in exposed situations. Such
flocks in consequence suffer from foot-rot. Extremes
of heat and cold telling on a somewhat delicate con-
stitution occasionally produce scrofulous abscesses

142 Agriculture in Ohio.

and tubercular diseases of the lungs, with anaemia, of
which one form is popularly termed ' paper skin.
Flock masters in Ohio, as in other States, are subject
to a loss from which British breeders are exempt.
Notwithstanding the tax upon 184,035 dogs, many
appear to roam in a semi-feral state, and kill annually
28,000 sheep, seriously injuring nearly 20,000 more.
Official statistics indicate a further mortality amongst
sheep to the extent of 16 per annum ; the mortality
amongst horses is 144, and amongst cattle 1 per
cent, per annum. Texas fever has occasionally been
introduced, usually amongst beasts from the Mexican
Gulf States forwarded from Chicago. The mortality
amongst the new comers has generally been serious.
Dry food has proved the best remedy. In these
cooler States the disease fortunately does originate
and does not spread.

Besides the sheep bred in Ohio, numbers are
brought from the West and from Canada for feeding
on grass and clover in summer, or corn and bran in
winter. These sheep, chiefly Merino grades, in the
fall cost two and a half to three dollars. Occasionally
early lamb is reared, but, although dropped in
January, chiefly house-fed, and disposed of in March,
only $d. or 6d. per lb. is said to be got for it — a price
which can scarcely be remunerative. In autumn
lamb weighing 30 lbs. to 35 lbs. per carcase is only
worth 4//. per lb., and veal 80 lbs. to 140 lbs. is selling
at 2\d. to yi. Some of the most useful mutton-pro
ducing sheep, having a look of the Cheviot, were said to
be homebred and probably descended from imported

Dullards Despised. 143

stock. The ordinary flocks are not winter-housed,
and do not produce their lambs until April ; the earlier
lambs are apt to suffer from cold and want of green
food. The amount of roots grown appears insuffi-
cient for successful sheep-breeding. Many of these
Ohio sheep-farmers declare, however, that they get
along ' considerably well.' They own the land they
farm ; twenty or thirty years ago most of them began
with a few dollars ; they have brought up families, and
many are well-to-do ; some with buggy and pair of
horses and a comfortable, well-built, nicely-appointed
house, of much the same style as would be occupied
by the 200-acre farmer at home.

Throughout the State the number of labourers to
the acreage is much smaller than at home ; a great deal
more systematic hard work is done by the farmer
himself and his family. Even the labourers work
with a refreshing heartiness satisfactory to observe.
No man worthy the name has time or inclination in
America to idle or trifle. In all classes there is a
vigorous determination to be up and doing ; even the
rural labourer appears similarly inspired ; the idler
and dullard is either drilled into better ways or thrown
out of the running. Wages vary from 4s. to 6s. per
day — the latter amount being given in busy seasons.
Regular hands are engaged for the eight or twelve
months at 12s. to \6s. a month, with lodgings and
board. Many farm men during the winter months go
off to the lumbering or timber business, which is a
great interest in Upper Pennsylvania and Ohio. Pro-
vision for education here, as elsewhere, is admirable ;

144

Provision for Education .

school grants have been liberally made ; even in the
more thinly populated districts a school and good
tuition is generally found within two miles of every
house. This parochial teaching throughout America
is gratuitous, but not compulsory.

H5

CHAPTER XL

AN AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITION IN MICHIGAN.

The Michigan Agricultural Society held their tenth
annual exhibition during the week beginning Septem-
ber 15, 1879, at Detroit, on the western banks of Lake
Erie — fifty years ago a village with less than 2,000
inhabitants, now a thriving city with a population of
125,000. The show-yard is fully a mile out of town
and covers 60 acres. In large, airy, well-lighted
wooden buildings, many slated and permanently kept
for the annual show, are collected attractions even
more numerous than grace the Bath and West of
England polyglot exhibitions — pictures by native
artists, china, porcelain, carpets and rugs, with skins
and furs, which are brought here in enormous quanti-
ties from Canada and the West, woollen and cotton
goods, specimens of the artistic walnut and oak furni-
ture for which South Bend is so celebrated, carriages
and waggons, which figure prominently at all American
county and State fairs, handsome nickel-plated stoves
for heating rooms and corridors, and kitchen ranges
wonderfully and economically fitted up by the Michi-
gan Stove Company, who employ 1,300 men. Differ-
ent counties of Michigan, which comprises 36,000,000

146 An Agricultural Exhibition in Michigan.

acres, and produced last year 31,000,000 bushels of
wheat, contribute interesting specimens of their special
agricultural, garden, and fruit produce. From Sagi-
naw are forwarded specimens of the salt which, over an
area of twenty-five miles, is found in abundant brine
springs from 800 ft. to 1,500 ft. deep, is pumped up,
evaporated in large hollow wooden vats heated with
steam-pipes, and distributed widely throughout the
country in bulk or in barrels at is. 3d. per five bushels,
weighing 280 lbs. Two million barrels are thus an-
nually disposed of. Messrs. Pingree and Smith import
into a large building some of their ingenious machinery
for making boots and shoes, and have a dozen men
and about the same number of women cutting out,
sewing, firmly securing the soles with brass wire cut as
a screw, and deftly finishing off some dozen varieties
of boots and shoes. In this temporary factory within
twenty minutes the measure of a lady's foot was taken
and a handsome boot made and ready for use. This
business has been established at Detroit thirteen
years, employs 400 operatives, and turns out daily
1,500 pairs, which are chiefly sold in the South and
West. Averse from crippling their customers, Messrs.
Pingree and Smith wisely denounce the very absurd
fashions of narrow toes and high heels.

Butter, cheese, and vegetables occupy several
sheds. The flower show is specially great in gladiolas
and asters. The fruit exhibition is particularly worthy
of commendation. Various local pomological societies
and many private persons forward collections of six
or eight different fruits, while numerous varieties of

Fruif. 1 4 7

common fruits are well illustrated. From one single
orchard, Mr. Bidwell, of Plymouth, sends 50 different
sorts of apples, and avers that he has other 50 not
here represented. On account of the excessive sum-
mer drought, which scorched up the immature fruit,
the Michigan apple crop is not so abundant or good
as usual. The sorts most prized are the Baldwin, a
ready cropper capital for household use ; the Red
Canada, a superior keeper, a basket of 1878 produce
being tabled in beautiful preservation ; the Golden
Russet and Rhode Island Greening, for dessert ; the
Wagner, for the western pioneers, as it begins to bear
in three years. Another beautiful'variety much grown
for autumn use is the Maiden Blush. Fifteen pence
a bushel is the present value of the best apples here ;
but by May Day they are usually worth double that
price. Prime pears cost <*>s. to 10s. a bushel ; those
of the finest colour and quality come from the northern
parts of the State ; the varieties most esteemed are the
Bartlett, Flemish Beauty, Duchesse d'Angouleme, and
the little Sheckels. The western shores of Erie pro-
duce the finest peaches : Crawfords, early and late, and
Old Majors being favourites. Grapes grow readily
almost everywhere ; in Munroe tons are made into
wine ; the Iona are regarded the finest flavoured ; the
Concord are hardy ; the Delaware are good, but small.
Plums of thirty varieties are shown from many northern
parts of the State. Tempting specimens of jellies and
preserved and canned fruits adorn the tables, and this
trade, as well as the consumption of fruit in the grow-
ing towns, still encourages the planting of orchards

L 2

148 An Agricultural Exhibition in Michigan.

In ever}- farmhouse fruit in its natural state and
cooked is also in daily use ; cider, however, is not
generally made ; but in seasons of great superabund-
ance large quantities of fruit are eaten by cattle and
hogs.

Along either side of two shafts, each 200 ft., are
mowers, reapers, and self-binders, shown in motion.
Although the Michigan Society this year awards no
premiums for such implements, Walter A. Wood's,
M'Cormick's, and other combined reapers and binders
were daily exhibiting their capabilities surrounded by
admiring crowds. A score of light portable engines,
from four to fourteen-horse power, were at work.
Several were adapted for burning straw as fuel : most
were suitable for wood fuel. The vertical construc-
tion is adopted by several makers, who declare that
by bracing up and supporting the boiler tubes they
have succeeded in combining durability with lightness,
handiness of setting, and low price. Among other
objects are windmills and the wonderful combination-,
of levers, screws, and hydraulic presses constituting the
house-raising machine which was so extensively used
in lifting so many edifices in Chicago. American
thrashing machines arc now generally made with win-
nower and folding straw elevator all in one. A ser-
viceable combination implement of this sort is turned
out by Messrs. Aultman and Co., of Canton, Ohio,
driven by an 8-horse engine, thrashing and cleaning
800 to 1,000 bushels of wheat in ten hours, delivering
the straw 20 to 24 feet from the machine, and costing
90/. Ploughs from many factories are here, short in

Machinery. 149

beam, mould board, and handles not extending 8^ to
9 feet in length, made to turn over a furrow usually
about 6 inches deep by 12 or 15 inches wide, and
costing, according to style and finish; from 2/. to 3/.
Ample margin of profit is obtained at these figures,
for one extensive manufacturer informs me that
machinery and subdivision of labour enabled him to
turn out a superior article for less than 10s. The
Gale ' Chilled Plough,' hailing from Albion, Michigan,
of which 20,000 are said to be made annually, and
which brought a gold medal from the Paris Exposi-
tion, has one of its several varieties, with a beam
of three wrought-iron rods ; by nuts screwed up cr
down on one or another of these rods more pitch or
land is given ; the single wheel is not attached to the
beam, but to the clevise. Numerous light, durable
horse-rakes are exhibited, weighing 200 lbs., several
with wheels 4^ feet high, with seat for the driver,
malleable steeled teeth, and costing 5/. The ' Farmer's
Friend Grain Drill,' manufactured for 26 years at Day-
ton, Ohio, appears to be largely used. It is made of
various sizes, delivering from nine to fifteen rows ; is
adapted for all descriptions of grain and grass seed,
regulates and registers the amount of seed per acre,
and has zigzag attachment so that half of the feed-
hose can be thrown out of gear. This light and
simple drill was awarded two medals at the Philadel-
phia Centennial and one at the Paris Exposition.
The same firm also make combined grain and ferti-
liser drills, for which, however, there has been hitherto
scarcely any demand in America.

150 An Agricultural Exhibition in Michigan.

The live stock, although this year perhaps unwisely-
restricted to exhibitors living within the State, com-
prises 500 entries of horses, as many of cattle, 700
sheep, 200 pigs, and a good many pens of poultry —
Cochins and Bramahs appearing most numerous — but
none shown either here or in market in the plump
good condition which characterises superior English
poultry. Horses are classified under nine divisions, as
thoroughbreds, horses of all work, roadsters, gentle-
men's driving horses, road, waggon, draught horses,
carriage and buggy horses, breeder's premiums for
roadster and thoroughbred stallions, breeder's pre-
mium for mares and geldings, and sweepstakes for
stallion, with six of his own get, which brought for-
ward half a dozen competitors. These classes are
subdivided as to age and sex ; 600/. is offered in pre-
miums. Several indifferent heavy draught animals
are shown — a description of horse which in Americte
stands in great need of improvement in style and
shape, and which will be much amended by crossing
with such useful, active Percherons as the five-year-
old shown by Mr. Hiram Walker, of Detroit, winner
of twenty-seven first prizes and a Paris gold medal,
and just arrived in this country along with two grey
and a black marc of the same breed. At present, in
Detroit and other towns, the railroads, coalmastcrs,
and manufacturers usually employ horses of the stamp
seen in the London omnibuses, and demur to the
economy of the slower, heuvicr-limbed sorts.

Thoroughbred and roadster stallions were more
numerous, and fully us good a muster as at an English

Trotting Horses. 1 5 1

county show. In a class of seventeen, Mr. E. H. Lyon,
of St. John's, stood first with a very strong, hand-
some, 16 hands, dark bay, showing very level good
action, and of Marquis and Messenger descent. Of
hunters, cobs, and other riding classes there are none.
The trotting horses, emphatically an American in-
stitution, are, however, in great force, exhibited in
pairs, in four-wheeled waggons weighing 60 lbs. to
100 lbs., or singly in racing sulkies of 50 lbs. to 75 lbs.
In some competitions speed entirely determines the
awards, and the prize winners, if ' good ones to go,'
are sometimes ' rum ones to look at.' However, at
Detroit the Judges sensibly took into consideration
symmetry, style, soundness, and manners as well as
speed. No Norfolk or other English horse comes up
to these American trotters in speed. We may demur
to a somewhat ungainly appearance and wide gait
behind, but they lay themselves down to their work
and tool along at an alarming rate. All the best run-
ning strains come more or less directly from the grey
thoroughbred Messenger imported from England in
the close of last century. By careful selection and
training speed steadily increases. In 1830 the maxi-
mum pace was 2*50 ; for many years before Flora
Temple's day 2*40 was the trainer's height of aspira-
tion ; now six cracks have done their mile in 2
minutes 15 seconds; and Maud S. at Chicago
covered the distance in 2 minutes iof seconds.

The prevailing shortcoming of most American
horses is the upright placing of the shoulder ; hence
it is rare to see the long sweeping action which dis-

152 An Agricultural Exhibition in Michigan.

tinguishes a first-class English hunter or carriage
horse. Judicious admixture with stout thorough-
breds, or with the best English roadsters, might,
however, improve the shoulder conformation, and
impart more level, all-round action, without interfer-
ing with the speed which in America is here so highly-
desiderated. All the horses, even the stallions, are
singularly tractable, are driven with snaffle bridles,
both in the show-yard and the streets. Many are
reined up with bearing bridles, sometimes passing over
their heads and thence to the hook on the pad. Al-
though often having hard mouths from hurried bad
bitting, and requiring full 56 lbs. tension to steady
them, they stand quietly hitched, or sometimes even
loose, on the road or street, in a way that could
scarcely be expected of high-couraged English horses
in good condition. Double teams of carriage horses,
owned and driven by the exhibitors, brought nine
excellent entries of well-matched nice steppers, several
of them worth £1,000. For a pair of strong, shapely,
dark bay stallions, which did their mile over the heavy
track, sodden with recent rain, within four minutes,
#3,000 was vainly offered. Several of the horses
trotting singly, notwithstanding the heavy state of the
course, covered the mile in 2 min. 30 sec.

In Michigan, as well as in the neighbouring States,
there are a considerable number of shorthorn herds.
Mr. Curtis, of Hillsdale county, and Messrs. Avory
and Murphy, of Port Huron, two of the oldest and
most successful breeders, arc not this year rej (re-
sented, but will doubtless again compete when the

Profitable Shorthorns. 153

lists are open to all comers. Mr. Brooks, of Brighton,
Livingston county, has descendants of some of the
shorthorns which his father upwards of thirty years
ago selected from Mr. Tanquery's. For himself and
the State Society twenty-five animals were bought in
England, but several unfortunately died on the
passage ; some of the remainder were unfortunate.
To make some restitution Mr. Tanquery subsequently
sent Mr, Brooks a young bull and two Gwynne
heifers. Good bulls, bred in Kentucky, usually by
Abe. Renick and Mr. Alexander, have kept up the
successes of this early good beginning.

Ten exhibitors of pedigree shorthorns have each
half a score entries, and some smaller herds contri-
bute lesser numbers. There were seventeen com-
petitors for the prizes for three-year-old bulls. For
the family group of a bull, cow, and three of her
progeny, there were eleven competitors, a larger
entry than would readily have been got together at any
British show. The first premium and the third were
awarded to Messrs. G. and T. Phelps, Webster,
Washtenaw county, who make also a sweep of many
of the class prizes, and stand in for the first place
with their four-year-old bull, Duke of Hillsdale, by
Duke of Wicken, bred by Lord Penryhn at Wicken-
park, Bucks, England. The second prize bull,
Mazurka Duke II., has more size and grandeur than
his successful competitor, and is, after Mr. Alexander's
23rd Duke of Airdrie, a Bates tribe much esteemed
both in England and America. Such facts testify to
the determination and zeal of American agriculturists

154 An Agricultural Exhibition in Michigan.

to improve their cattle and emulate British stock-
owners in producing profitable, early matured
animals. Without exception, the breeders of these
pedigree shorthorns are well satisfied with the busi-
ness they are doing. There is a good and growing
demand alike for young bulls and for heifers : fancy
prices are not often got, but yearling bulls are readily
sold at 25/. to 40/., and the pick bring more. These
sires are distributed far and wide ; some are carried
hundreds of miles west ; mated with the cattle of the
district, they produce the so-called grades which, at
the Michigan and other shows, and in the stock-yards,
constitute an increasing proportion of really good
cattle, and which in a moderately good heid, after
two or three dips of the improved sort, are scarcely
distinguishable from it. So great is the demand for
good red or dark roan young bulls for the Western
States, that many graded animals with only two or
three crosses are saved. One informant tells me that
he could sell ' cartloads ' if he had them ; that since
he used good shorthorn sires he has never had any-
trouble to dispose of his stock. He never takes
them to market ; the dealers hunt him up. He
makes quite the top figure ; has cash down and no
credit ; and is clearing out both bullocks and heifers
fat at about two-and-a half years old, the bullocks
averaging 1,300 lb. on the hoof, and worth 3^ cents
to 5 cents per pound. The best of these cattle will
dress 56 lbs. to 58 lbs. to the 100 lbs. live weight.

Besides shorthorns and shorthorn grades, the
Detroit meeting presents good specimens of Here-

Dairy Cattle — Sheep. 155

fords, Holsteins, and Channel Islanders. The pure
Herefords, although not making much pretension to
milk, are useful, thriving beasts, chiefly descended
from English-bred animals, or those brought from
breeders of repute in New York State, or from Mr.
F. W. Stone. Guelph, Ontario, long favourably known
as an importer and breeder both of shorthorns and
Herefords. The Holstein and Channel Island stocks,
although very well adapted for dairy purposes, do not
grow big enough or lay on beef quickly and kindly,
nor do they appear to mix satisfactorily with the in-
digenous sorts.

Sheep at the Michigan show, as elsewhere in the
States, are not so good as the cattle. The housing
of the flock throughout the severe winter in Canada
and various of the Northern States interferes with
their well-doing. Nowhere in America is mutton in
such demand as beef ; in most markets it is 2d. per
lb. lower. Sheep hitherto have been cultivated
almost exclusively for their wool. Merinos and Merino
grades are greatly in excess of all other breeds. In
Ohio, Michigan, and other States, English sheep
are, however being tried, and at Detroit there are
some good pens of Cotswolds, Leicesters, and Oxford
Downs. As at home, the first crosses, produced by
mating these improved sorts either with the indi
genous breeds or with Merinos, are particularly good ;
but it is difficult satisfactorily to proceed further. At
the Michigan fair, as at other such exhibitions, official
reports are prepared setting forth the weight and age
of all the prize animals, their mode of feeding and

156 An Agricultural Exhibition in Michigan.

other particular records, which afford valuable infor-
mation regarding the capabilities of different breeds
and sorts of animals, and the economy of the several
methods of feeding.

In this district sheep-breeding is carried on in
conjunction with cattle- raising, and the growth of a
limited amount of grain and fodder for winter feed
and a little wheat for sale. Mr. E. J. Hardy, of
Livingston county, who shows some of the best
Merinos at this State fair, has a useful farm, which
represents the general mode of proceeding among
the better class of successful cultivators. He owns
580 acres, of which 160 acres are wood. His flock
consists of 400 Merinos derived from Vermont, whence
from time to time he obtains fresh blood. Like many
of his neighbours, he hails from New England. He
has 200 breeding ewes ; they produce their first lamb
when three years old. The lambs are dropped
throughout April, sometimes as late as May ; unless
housed, they could not stand the earlier spring cold ;
150 to 180 is the annual crop. Twins are not com-
mon, and are not desired : one good lamb is declared
better than two poor ones. The ewes continue
breeding until they are seven or eight. Ewes and
bucks for stock are readily sold at r/. to 5/. The fine
fleece weighs ; 2 lbs. to 16 lbs. of unwashed wool — some
of the rams have given 35 lbs. ; the price, now steadily
advancing with other things, varies from \od. to \yi.
Along with the sheep Mr. Hard)- at present runs
four pedigree shorthorn cows and ten good grade
cows, rears his calves well, and sells the two-and-a-

Mr. Hardy s Farm. 1 5 7

half year bullocks, weighing 1,200 lbs. to 1,500 lbs.
Fifty to 100 acres of wheat are grown. The yield
varies from 20 to 30 bushels — this year it is 22 ; $1 per
bushel is the average price obtained for- it. Clover and
timothy grass, sown with the wheat, remain down for
three or four years, and are mown the first and some-
times the second year. The grass is sometimes
ploughed up early and a sort of fallow made. Indian
corn is planted from the 12th to the 25th of May, as
soon as risk of frost is over. One hundred bushels of
corn in the cob are a fair return. Oats follow,
drilled as early as possible in April, and producing 30
to 50 bushels. The farm is worked by himself, two
sons, three men in winter, and five in summer, the
helps receiving about 1/. a week, with board and
rations. Four or six horses, harnessed, of course, in
pairs, do the ploughing, overtaking each team ii to
2 acres a day. Mr. Hardy, with just pride, says
he has worked for all he has. His land fifty years
ago cost about 10s. an acre ; some has since been
added at 61. ; but house and buildings have been put
up, roads and fences made, and the farm is now
worth 15/. an acre.

The pigs generally are as good as can be seen at
any English show, although not exhibited in such a
state of helpless obesity. Berkshire are most popular,
numbering 60 pens. Fisher Hobbs's Essex breed is
also much appreciated. Suffolks and white Chesters
contribute many good entries, while Poland Chinas,
a less familiar breed, are distinguished by their
black and white colour, somewhat scooped jowls,

158 An Agricultural Exhibition in Michigan,

rather long fine noses, good frames, and lightness of
offal.

A few of the show-yard arrangements at Detroit,
as at other such agricultural gatherings, appear
capable of improvement. The want of catalogues
renders it difficult to find what one wants, and leads
to many things which one would gladly examine
being overlooked. Entries being made up to the
opening of the show, and animals and implements
forwarded apparently with little or no notice, there is
not time to prepare detailed catalogues. Another
proceeding which seems inexpedient is the grouping
together of each person's exhibits, so that except
when the objects are placed together for judging, it is
difficult for the enquiring public to estimate the
number of competitors or to gauge the relative merits
of the implements or animals making up the class.

The general exhibition arrangements at Detroit,
as elsewhere in America, are, however, conducted with
spirit and good effect. The presence of President
Hayes, his wife, General Sherman, and Staff, added to
the eclat of the proceedings. On the Thursday the
President gave an address setting forth the progress
made in this and other States. On Friday he drove
and walked through the yard, spending several hours
examining the more interesting objects and chatting
to many friends. Forty to fifty thousand people were
on the ground daily, but so judicious were the
arrangements of the active executive committee,
that not a hitch or accident occurred. American
agricultural shows present more variety and bustle

Capital Show-yard Arrangements. i 59

than corresponding exhibitions in the more sedate
mother country. With a licence costing a few dollars,
cheap jacks, itinerant doctors, acrobats, and jugglers
have their stands and their circle of admirers. Private
and other carriages by the score traverse most of the
wide avenues. Advertising, which is advanced almost
to the position of one of the fine arts, is pushed in the
most varied and telling manner, neatly got-up circulars
being distributed by officers in all manner of costumes,
as well as from carriages and balloons. A line of
railway runs into and through the showyard for the
delivery, unloading, and loading of implements and
live stock. Such helps to the ready movement of
heavy goods carried throughout the yard might have
been of signal service at recent Royal shows. Booths,
refreshment stalls, and vendors of fruit are ubiquitous
and numerous, but not a drop of intoxicating liquor
is sold in the yard. With their plates of beef and
pork, their tea, coffee, fruit, and lemonade, visitors of
all classes made, however, good cheer, and appeared
most thoroughly to enjoy themselves.

i6o

CHAPTER XII.

CHICAGO GRAIN AND CATTLE TRADES.

CHICAGO illustrates well the activity, enterprise, and
progress of a young American city. Fifty years ago
it was a fishing village, boasting of seventy inhabitants,
on the swampy edge of Lake Michigan. It has twice
been burned, and has twice risen bigger, busier, and
more bumptious than ever. The capital of Illinois,
the queen and metropolis of the West, the home of
500,000 people, the centre of a network of some six-
teen railroads, she attracts the growing agricultural
produce of the West, North, and South ; she draws
her supplies of grain and live stock for 1,000 miles.
By four great lines, as well as by lake and canal, she
cheaply transports to the eastern seaboard, 900 miles
distant, the varied produce she receives. Substantial
and handsome public buildings have been erected ;
fine wide streets with stone and brick buildings in
varied styles of architecture have been symmetrically
laid out ; two sumptuous parks have been enclosed,
planted, and intersected with carriage roads, trotting
tracks, and shady paths for foot-passengers. With
screw jacks and hydraulic apparatus, the houses in
some quarters have been raised many feet, and the

Water Supply and D?'aiuage. 1 6 1

levels of streets and their sanitary state improved-
Planked footways are elevated two to four feet above
the central roadways, which in Chicago, as in too many
other American cities, are often uneven and worn,
whilst in some of the second-rate streets no attempt
has been made at storing or putting any founda-
tion into the roads. Convenient tram cars run in
most cf the principal thoroughfares. Two miles out
from the lake shore the water supply of the city is
drawn and distributed by two engines of 1,000 horse
power. Admirable arrangements are made for the
early discovery and putting out of fire. Besides the
well-trained official brigade, there are squads of effi-
cient private firemen in connection with all the great
establishments. The main pipes of most of the new
buildings constitute one side of a ladder, which, al-
though not at all conspicuous, is serviceable for rescue
in case of fire ; but also appears to afford considerable
facilities for burglarious entrance of the upstair pre-
mises. With the adoption of our handy fire escapes,
which do not seem to be used in America, these fixed
ladders would be less needful. The sewage question
is a most important one in America, as at home, and
was for some years a puzzling problem here. By a
great cutting of several hundred feet, extending for
several miles, the streams which bore these polluted
waters are made to run what was formerly uphill, and
now discharge some miles distant into the Mississippi.
These costly improvements, some of which have not
always been judiciously or economically undertaken,
led some years ago to a heavy floating debt, which

M

1 62 Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

&

has, however, been extinguished ; the bonded debt
reduced to 13,000,000/. ; and the municipal expenses
are met by a rate of about 3 per cent, on the valua-
tion of property throughout the city. Considerable
complaints, however, occur concerning the inequalities
of the valuation lists, which, including real and per-
sonal property, exhibit an aggregate of £1 17.970,035.
Everybody in Chicago appears actively occupied,
earnest in his work, and bent on making money.
Gentlemen are at their business offices or in their
stores by eight, and some of them earlier ; and with
an hour, or often less time, for dinner, they work
steadily on until six or seven. As elsewhere through-
out America, telegraphs and telephones are in general
and constant operation. One firm sometimes receives
daily 500 messages, of which a considerable number are
from Europe. There are in Chicago upwards of 1,000
subscribers to the Telephone Company. The labouring
population is mostly steady and industrious. Lager
beer is the chief drink. Although there is more dis-
sipation than is good for the unfortunate victims, there
is much less than in most cities of the like size in
Great Britain ; and it will be a long time before half
the artisan and labouring population, as in Chicago,
live in their own houses. There is a large German
population, eminently industrious, but decidedly
Socialistic in their views, and so opposed to decent
Sunday observance that they have gradually secured
the opening, not only of museums and art galleries,
but of concert halls, theatres, dancing saloons, and
public-houses. Sunday afternoons and evenings in

Produce Exchange. 1 6

a

Chicago are accordingly the special seasons of most
festive merry-making. They are sometimes also
devoted to hard work. One Sunday evening, straying
out of the Grand Pacific — one of the biggest, most
sumptuous, convenient, and economical of hotels — I
found several hundred men at work, taking up and
relaying the wooden pavement of one of the principal
streets. Operations had commenced at dusk on
Saturday ; during the night the work progressed ad-
mirably, under the cheering influence of an electric
light at each end of the section under repair ; with
relays of workmen toiling uninterruptedly, several
hundred yards of new wood pavement, without hind-
rance to business, were ready on Monday morning.
Although we might dispense with the Sunday labour,
something of this promptitude of official action and
consideration for public convenience would be very
advantageous at home.

The Produce Exchange at Chicago is one of the
most stirring in the world. An immense amount of
business, real and speculative, is effected ; hundreds
of operators are ready to buy on forward delivery,
wheat, corn, canned meats, mess pork, or anything
which promises a rise. A wholesome arrangement
insists, however, that each purchaser on forward
delivery shall provide at his banker's a margin to
meet any drop in the value of his purchase. Just
outside the Mercantile Exchange is a large well-fre-
quented saloon, thronged by a still more speculative
crowd, where several auctioneers, throughout the long
day and well into the night, proclaim and sell the

164 Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

odds on English races, Manchester pedestrian com-
petitions, Paris cock-fights, chess tournaments, and all
manner of sport and gambling enterprises throughout
the world. Unsuccessful efforts have been made to
put down this wholesale public gambling. To do so
would, however, consistently necessitate some sweep-
ing alterations in the management of the Produce
Exchange, which it might, at present, be difficult to
arrange. The spirit of gambling, too rife throughout
young America, is further displayed in the offices,
found in Chicago and other cities, where a dollar or
other small amount can be invested in wheat, lard,
railway, or other stocks. On the chances of ' making a
pile,' shop boys, artisans, and many women last autumn
were goin^r in for speculations of this sort.

The general business of Chicago is great and
rapidly expanding. She received during 1879 about
1,333,333 tons of coal, valued at from \os. to 30J. per
ton. The 1,469,878,991 feet of lumber, and
700,000,000 roofing shingles, about half of which are
used in the city and suburbs, testify to the activity of
the building operations. Nearly 50,000,000 lbs. of
wool and upwards of 61,000,000 lbs. of hides are
annually despatched. One and a half million barrels
of salt are brought in for meat-preserving. Yearly
there is now made up and sent off 110,000 packages
of beef, 354,000 barrels of pork, 835,000,000 lbs. of
cured meats, 250,000,000 lbs. of lard, 50,000,000 lbs.
of butter.

The grain business of Chicago reaches large di-
mensions. She controls, buys, and sells yearly up-

Enormous Grain Business. 165

wards of 4,000,000 barrels of flour, 4,000,000 quarters
of wheat, double that quantity of Indian corn,
2,500,000 quarters of oats, upwards of 1,500,000
quarters of barley, besides rye and buckwheat. Be-
sides what is delivered by lake and canal, the rail-
ways bring in annually about 250,000 car-loads of
grain, each car averaging about 400 bushels. Of this
great amount of grain nearly one-half is brought for-
ward by two lines of railroad —the Chicago and
North-Western, and the Chicago, Burlington, and
Quincy. It is graded by sworn officials, red, winter,
and spring wheat being each divisible into three
classes, and rejected ; a large proportion passes
through the elevators and store-houses of the city; a
small amount is retained for home consumption ; about
one-half is forwarded to the manufacturing and com-
mercial Eastern cities, and for export by lake and
canal ; the remainder is transported by rail, the
Michigan, Central, and Lake Shore and Michigan
Southern conveying the largest proportion. Compe-
tition between the several railroads and the various
water routes secures cheap transport from Chicago to
the Atlantic seaports and to Europe, a fact which very
materially affects the price of bread in Great Britain.
During the last few years the transit charges have
been very moderate ; 100 lbs. of grain have been for-
warded 800 or 900 miles to the eastern seaboard for
an average of is. 2>d. by rail, and little more than half
that amount by water in steam-tugged barges down
lake and canal ; 100 lbs. of provisions are carried for
is. $d. ; McCormack's reapers, manufactured here,

1 66 Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

ploughs, and other machinery, are conveyed to New
York or Boston at about is. per ioo lbs. These
charges doubled represent the usual cost of forwarding
the goods on through bills of lading to the seaboard
and across the Atlantic to British ports. During 1879
freights for grain from Chicago to Liverpool varied
considerably ; in June they fell as low as 6s. per
quarter, but in November and December were doubled.
The freight of the large grain exports forwarded to
Antwerp during the winter was about 12s. per quarter.
The combination or ' pool ' formed by the leading
railway companies was inaugurated in June 1879, t°
secure more uniform rates, to discourage the special
charges hitherto so commonly made in favour of large
operators, certain sorts of traffic, and certain localities,
and to prevent the ruinous competition which has
frequently occurred between different lines. The
railway interests in America are powerful, they are
now well ' organised ; ' whilst the combination holds
together, ruinously low tariffs such as have sometimes
ruled will be impossible. But competition between
rail and water routes, improved transit facilities,
and the steadily expanding trade, render unlikely
any material or permanent advance on the present
moderate transport charges. Grain, as now, will pro-
bably continue to be forwarded from Chicago to
Liverpool or London at about \d. per lb., whilst
goods in cases or otherwise will come at less than \d.
per pound.

The grain business of Chicago could not be over-
taken with its present expedition and cheapness with-

Grain Elevators. 167

out the great elevators, of which there are now
upwards of twenty, with a storage capacity of
17,000,000 bushels. The first grain elevators in
America were built at Chicago eleven years ago by
Messrs. J. and E. Buckingham ; the plans adopted
have been tolerably closely adhered to ; and here, as
well as elsewhere in America, they effect enormous
saving in the handling of grain. They are generally
built on piles by the side of a lake, river, or canal, to
enable barges, and even vessels of considerable ton-
nage, to come alongside. They vary from 200 to
400 feet in length, 100 to 150 in breadth, and reach
1 50 feet in height. The ground floor is arranged for
the reception, unloading, and loading of the railroad
cars, in which the grain is almost invariably carried
loose. Outside is generally a wharf, against which
the barges are brought up. The foundations and
walls as high as the first story are of substantial
masonry, but above this they are generally of timber,
cased with slates. To lessen the risks of fire, and
limit if possible its destructive effects, brick walls are
sometimes carried up from the ground separating the
building into sections.

The interior of the building is mainly occupied
with a series of bins, which in a large warehouse
sometimes exceed 300 ; they are 10 to 15 feet square,
50 to 75 feet deep, hold 2,000 to 6,000 bushels, their
walls are made of six-inch battens two inches thick,
securely held together with nine-inch pins, strengthened
by a rod of iron passing across them, with a little
ladder in one corner for cleaning out, and hoppcrcd

1 68 Chicago Grain a?id Cattle Trades.

in the bottom, from which their contents are drawn.
These bins can be put in connection with one or
other of the ten or fifteen elevators which raise the
grain from the cars, or with the shoots which dis-
charge it into cars or barges. The elevation is
effected by india-rubber belts, on which at intervals of
13 inches block tin buckets are fixed with strong fiat-
headed iron screw-bolts. The belts taking less power
are preferred to the worms used in many English
mills. From the cars the grain is shovelled into
receivers through which the belt runs, and in ten to
twelve minutes the load of 400 bushels is moved by
one elevator. As it is passed along to the bin re-
served for it, it is weighed automatically. In some
warehouses the stuff, if desired, can also be winnowed.
The discharge of grain is effected even more rapidly
than its reception. From a shoot twelve or thirteen
inches in calibre, the grain rushes into the cars or
barges. Using several shoots simultaneously, 80,000
bushels can readily enough be shipped in a day.
This amount of work, involving in a considerable con-
cern the movement of several million bushels in a
year, is effected with a minimum of labour and ex-
pense. Engines of 300 to 400 horse power drive the
machinery ; the few hands employed adjust the ele-
vators and shoots to the different bins to be filled or
emptied, take the weights automatically registered,
and credit or debit the amounts run in or out.

Besides the earlier elevators put up by the Messrs.
Buckingham, Messrs. Munger, Wheeler and Co. now
have six at the depdts of the Chicago and North-

Cheap Handling of Grain. 1 69

Western Railroad, and Messrs. Armour, Dole and Co.
have four in connection with the Chicago, Burlington,
and Quincy Lines. That built last summer is large and
substantial, 425 feet long, 120 feet wide, 140 feet high.
The stream beside which it is placed has been dredged
so as to command 16 feet of water ; it contains 326
large and 72 smaller bins ; it has storage for 2,000,000
bushels ; it cost about 80,000/. On the double track
24 cars can be brought within the building, and, if need
be, might be emptied simultaneously by the 24 ele-
vators. There are 13 spouts by which cars can be
loaded, and nine to fill the barges at the wharves.
The charges for receiving the grain at these elevator
warehouses, storing it for ten days, and delivering it
again, is 1^ cents, per bushel. For every additional
ten days or part thereof the charge is \ cent. As a
deterrent to the forwarding of indifferent stuff, it is
charged at higher rates. If the grain when received
is condemned by the inspector as unmerchantable the
charge for the first ten days or part thereof is two
cents., whilst for each additional five days or part
thereof \ cent, is further added.

Mr. Charles Randolph, the obliging Secretary of
the Board of Trade, informs me that Chicago busi-
ness is expanding in all departments. Specie pay-
ments have increased confidence and circulated ready
money. Better cultivation and more money spent on
the farms are producing better returns. Land is ad-
vancing in value ; the poorer farmers are getting
out of debt ; those who have been hitherto paying
their way are saving money. The cost of wheat-

1 70 Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

growing in Illinois and adjoining States he gives as
follows : —

Rent of land worth ^5 bearing interest at 6 per cent

Taxes at 2 per cent.

Ploughing and seeding

Seed, \\ to 2 bushels .

Harvesting and stacking

Thrashing and cleaning

Delivery to railway station ,

1 18 6

The winter-sown variety in Illinois constitutes six-
sevenths of the wheat grown, and with fair cultivation
has recently reached 18 bushels an acre. This gives
2s. 2d. as the price per bushel or 16s. Sd. as the price
per quarter. Where 25 bushels an acre are reaped
the cost of production would be reduced to 12s. 6d.
per quarter. Taking 13 bushels the recent general
average of the whole of the States as the acreable yield
the price per quarter is advanced to 24s. Mr. Randolph
sees no reason to suppose that the cost of wheat-
growing will increase, nor does he believe, railroad pools
notwithstanding, that transport charges will advance.
Indeed, as the country becomes more closely peopled,
freight charges, both by lake and railroad, will be
reduced. Improvement of the lake and Canadian
water routes would reduce transport charges to the
seaboard. The exports of 1 879 have been tolerably
equally divided between the United Kingdom and the
Continent of Europe.

The Chicago stock-yards, four miles to the south-
west of the city, are the largest and busiest in the

The Stock-yards. 1 7 1

world. They are owned by an enterprising company,
were opened in 1865, and occupy 370 acres. They
have convenient access from 13 different lines cf
railroad. They comprise nearly 500 open cattle
yards, nearly 700 hog and sheep pens mostly covered,
300 chutes and pens, with houses and barns for the
storage of hay and corn. There are 1 5 of Fairbank's
scales, on each of which 50 tons of beasts can be
weighed at a time. In this stirring live-stock centre
are the business offices and premises of 200 firms,
and immediately connected therewith are 26 packing
houses, which slaughter about 2,000 cattle and 20,000
hogs daily. At the yard is published every day a
well-conducted stockman's journal and market bulletin.
There is a capital hotel with 350 rooms, built at a cost
of 20,000/., endowed with a good garden and a dairy
of 25 cows. The drovers, who receive $s. to 8s. a day
and are employed by the quarter, half, three quarters,
or whole day, are capitally provided for, have a bright
clean luncheon bar, ornamented with hanging baskets
and great pots of flowers, and opening into courts
beautified with shrubs and flowering plants. Three
artesian wells furnish a capital supply of water. The
annual receipts of live stock at this great centre
during 1879 amounted to 1,210,732 cattle, 6,539,244
hogs, nearly 500,000 sheep, 10,000 horses ; represent-
ing an aggregate value of 30,000,000/. sterling. The
numbers of the stock have doubled since 1872. With
the exception of 8,176 cattle and 2,321 sheep, all
these animals are delivered into the yards by rail.
Nearly half the cattle and sheep received and one-

172 Chicago Grain and Cattle Tirades.

fourth of the hogs are forwarded east alive or
dressed.

In these stock-yards occur admirable opportunities
of studying the diverse sorts and conditions of the
bovine race. Belonging to Mr. Walker and Mr.
Sharman and housed here, presumedly for instructive
contrast with less improved specimens, were on the
occasion of my visit September 1879, 16 fat three-
year-old shorthorns, most of them weighing over
2,ooolbs., one very good two-year-old shorthorn,
scaling i.Scolbs., a five-year-old scaling 3,500 lbs., two
grand massive Herefords, and several good Devons.
Outside in yards, many of them 60 feet long and 20
wide, with provision for food and water, amongst the
daily arrivals are lots of superior grades, showing the
ameliorating effects of several crosses of well-selected
Shorthorn or Hereford sires. Useful beasts are
forwarded from Minnesota and Iowa, where some
capital herds have been established. Strong-limbed
tolerable-looking steers come from Montana, where
the grass is good and the cattle grow big and strong,
but appear to have a tendency to get too far from the
ground and lack quality. Compact sires such as
could be picked from some well-bred herds in this
country or in Kentucky should, however, remedy
these shortcomings. Several good lots were pointed
out from Oregon — not so large, but with more of the
shapely form, levelness, and coat, distinguishing
ordinary Yorkshire or Lincolnshire beasts. Some
very serviceable lots were from Colorado, shapely
animals, of fair quality with two or three Shorthorn

. Western Cattle. 173

or Hereford crosses, generally three years old, worth
3^ cents, per lb., live weight reaching 1,000 to 11,000
lbs. and dressing 56 lbs. to the 100 lbs. But here, as in
other great Western markets, the large proportion,
especially during summer and autumn, are Texans —
rough, flat-ribbed, leggy, Spanish-looking subjects,
narrow in the back, open in the loin, usually with
immense horns, often of a yellow colour, weigh-
ing alive, or 'on the hoof as it is termed, 900 to
i,200lbs.

The cattle are all branded permanently and deeply,
the brand being made with a hot iron, when the
animal is a calf, and sometimes repeated annually.
Besides having the disadvantage of cruelly punishing,
this branding deteriorates the hide. A handy suffi-
ciently permanent mode of identifying animals stray-
ing widely over plain and prairie is a desideratum.
The bulk of the cattle are reared on the great plains
of Texas, amidst the beautiful valleys of Colorado, in
the parks and glades of Wyoming, or on the western
side of the Rockies in Oregon or Washington. By
far the larger proportion of the summer and autumn
supplies have journeyed over 1,000 miles, have pro-
bably been driven some hundred miles to one of the
stations on the Union or Northern Pacific railroad,
and loaded seventeen to twenty in a car. In transit
they are very well attended to, and are fed, watered,
and rested three or four times. Their travelling
expenses for 1,000 miles add about 30s- . to the value
of each beast. The stores in Chicago average id. to
2d. per lb. live weight. Thousands are purchased in

1 74 Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

the autumn by the farmers in the Mid and P^astern
States to be fed during winter, mainly on hay and
Indian corn. These corn-fed beasts, ripe and well-
matured, are forwarded to the winter and spring
markets. Useful fat beasts, 900 to 1,500 lbs, at
Chicago, vary from lid. to 2%d. per lb. live weight,
and produce according to their condition, from 50 to
60 lbs. of beef to every 100 lbs. of live weight.

Sheep from Colorado, Montana, and even from
the arable farms of adjacent States, show a great deal
of Mexican and Merino blood, and realise about the
same prices as the cattle. The cattle and sheep are
generally classified as 'shipping or export,' and
' butchers ; ' the store cattle are described as ' stockers
and feeders,' the lowest grades are ' through Texans,'
' common natives,' and ' scrubs,' averaging 700 to 900
lbs. live weight. The hogs are very good, vary from
150 to 300 lbs. and range in value from \\d. to 2\d.
per lb., and are classified under the several designa-
tions of choice packing, good shipping, selected heavy,
Philadelphia^, light bacon, singers with culls, keps
and graziers.

All cattle, sheep, and hogs are sold by live weight ;
from one to a score or more are run on to the
Fairbank's scales ; the seller endeavours to secure
their being first fed and watered. Officers of the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are
constantly in attendance to report upon and prevent
cases of cruelty or neglect. As hay is procurable at
40.y. per ton, and corn at is. Oct. per bushel, the
animals are fairly supplied with food. The stock-yard

All Animals Sold by Weight. 1 75

charges are is. per head for cattle and horses, and /\d.
for hogs and sheep. The salesmen, of whom there
are 100 connected with the stock-yards, charge is. for
commission on the beasts, and about 6d. on the sheep
and hogs. Consigners are much more satisfactorily
dealt with than they are at most British marts. Their
memorandum of sale sets forth the exact live weight of
the animals, the value paid, and the name and address
of the purchaser. Store stock and even milk cows are
all sold by weight ; the stores are generally one to
two cents, per pound less than the butchers' beasts.
Good grades, two to three years old, are generally
preferred for fattening. Both cattle and pigs have
steadily improved, especially during the last ten years.
The better selection of breeding stock, and their more
judicious management, continue to bring from the
great breeding regions of the West still increasing
numbers of more shapely and economical animals.

Too wide a margin often exists between the price
that the farmer receives for his cattle and sheep and
the prices that the beef and mutton are sold to the
British public. Profits are sometimes swallowed up
by unnecessary multiplication of middlemen ; waste
and expense are frequently incurred by slaughtering
in inconvenient private killing houses ; from the want
of cold storage chambers a great deal of meat during
hot weather is spoiled, whilst much of the offal is
also wasted or misapplied. Such losses injuriously
affect alike producers and consumers. The American
methods of slaughtering, storing, and distributing the
meat and offal are generally preferable to our own.

i 76 Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

<i>

At large public abattoirs, which are almost universal
in all considerable cities, and which commend them-
selves both from an economical and sanitary point of
view, the slaughtering is effected rapidly and cheaply.
Cold storage chambers ensure thorough cooling and
preservation of the meat ; the whole of the offal is
systematically made the best of. The abattoirs and
beef and pork packing establishments of Chicago
exhibit in successful operation mechanical appliances,
smartness, and systematic arrangement, much of
which might be advantageously imitated in this
country.

At the Union Stock-yards Mr. Nelson Morris has
a large establishment where upwards of a thousand
cattle are killed and dressed daily. Carcases, sides, or
quarters are distributed to the retail butchers of the
city. The canning and packing establishments take
700 to 1,000 carcases daily. Three or four car-loads
are despatched most days to Boston and other
eastern cities. Every week aboui 700 carcases are
forwarded to England, in winter in cloths, in summer
in refrigerating cars and chambers ; and, so carefully
cooled and managed is this Chicago slaughtered meat,
that it is often eaten in London a fortnight later in as
good condition as that killed only a day or two pre-
viously in the metropolis itself. For the different
departments of the trade various animals are used :
only the best pure breds or superior grades, weighing
when hung up 700 to 750 lbs., are sent over the
Atlantic. A proportion of these are also used by the
home butcher. For the canning business four-year-

Chicago Stock-yards. i yy

old Texas and Colorado bullocks, weighing net 450
to 500 lbs., are chiefly used. The beasts at Nelson
Morris vary according to quality, season, and supplies,
from \\d. to 2d. per lb. live weight ; for every 100 lbs.
of live weight they yield 52 to 60 lbs. of beef; the
price per lb. of the carcases is thus about double that
given for the live animal.

Communicating with a great common yard is a
series of ten pens into each of which a couple of
bullocks are driven. From a platform overhead the
operator dexterously drops his pole, armed with a
steel blade, which severs the spinal chord just between
the first and second cervical vertebrae ; the first
thrust almost invariably takes effect ; the animal
drops instantaneously dead. The quivering move-
ments sometimes seen have been ignorantly supposed
to evidence suffering, but are purely involuntary
muscular movements. So soon as the victim drops
he is fixed by the horns to a revolving chain passing
along the floor, worked by an engine, set in motion
by the movement of a lever, and dragging the
carcase out of the slaughtering pen some twenty feet
to the great shed, where he is dressed. The large
vessels of the neck are cut to allow thorough bleed-
ing ; the horns are promptly removed by a circular
saw worked by the engine and set in motion as re-
quired by a spring on the floor ; the skin is removed ;
the trees are applied in the usual manner and the
carcase strung up. Eighteen cattle are killed and
dressed in fifteen minutes. Seventy-five are some-
times turned into the cooling chambers in an hour.

N

iyS Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

Without laborious lifting or any heavy manual labour,
the carcases, from the sheds where they are dressed,
are swung along on wheels running on stout iron
rods overhead, and ranged in the cooling chamber.
The tongues are forwarded to the packing houses for
preserving ; the internal organs, carefully washed, are
converted into sausages ; the tallow is assorted, the
best of it, worth i\d. to ^d. per lb., goes for oleo-
margarine ; the second qualities are used for soap and
candle-making ; in eight large vats the heads, bones,
and refuse are digested and made into manure; the
blood is preserved for the same purpose ; the hides
are generally salted to ensure preservation, but here
as elsewhere there are loud complaints of the damage
done by the deep rude branding. The workmen
receive from $s. to 8s. daily. So promptly is every-
thing done, so handy are the arrangements, so syste-
matic the supervision, that the killing and dressing of
each beast is profitably effected at less than is.
Several hundred sheep are killed and dressed towards
evening, remain in the cool chambers throughout the
night ; the carcases, even in hot weather, thus
thoroughly cooled keep well, and are not liable to the
«recn decay which is so liable to affect the deeper
textures of our summer-killed, imperfectly cooled
British meat.

Messrs. Libby, McNeil, and Libby are the most
extensive and successful of the Chicago beef-canning
firms. They have been engaged in the business
nearly six years, and for five years have sent their
goods to British markets. They have large con-

Messrs. Libby, M'Neil, and Libby. 179

venient premises four stories high towards the south-
west of Chicago, where the meat is received from the
slaughter-houses, cooked, salted, canned and packed.
The tins and boxes for its transport are made on the
premises. In capacious cool cellars, where 20,000
packages can be stored, the temperature is maintained
at 350 to 400 by iced brine constantly circulating
throughout coils of galvanised pipes. Handy eleva-
tors connect the several stories. The railway cars
are brought to the sides and rear of the building.
Fifteen hundred hands are employed ; the men re-
ceive from $s. to \os. a day ; the girls and women
have \2s. to \§s. a week; everything is done by day
work, but each department is under thorough super-
vision and a full turn out of work is expected and got.
The cans of two, four, seven, and fourteen pounds are
made on the premises : 40,000 to 50,000 are turned
out daily ; about one half being of the 2 lbs. size.
The tin and also the lead for solder come from Great
Britain. Twelve machines are at work cutting and
blocking the tins. Ingenious devices are adopted
in their rapid soldering. To secure economical pack-
ing all the beef tins approach the square form. The
two pound tins cost 3^ to 4 cents ; the 14 lbs., 1 1 to
12 cents; the substantial deal cases in which four
dozen 2 lbs. cans are packed cost 17 to 18 cents.

Chiefly from Mr. Nelson Morris's slaughtering
establishment are received during the busy summer
and autumn months 900 carcases of beef daily.
During 1878 and 1879 the carcase price varied from
3^ to 4 cents per lb. Like most other commodities,

I So Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

s

it has during the last few months advanced in price.
In the great hall, cooled as above described, the
carcases are received, cut up, and distributed for dif-
ferent purposes. The hams pickled for thirty days
and dried are worth yd. to \od. per lb., and are
packed in barrels containing 220 lbs. The flanks,
generally boned, are salted, sometimes smoked, are
largely used in the lumbering and North-west States,
and are usually sliced for cooking. Beef in brine is
employed for ships' stores, keeps a few months, is worth
4</. to $d. per lb. ; but is not a very satisfactory or
increasing trade. The canning is the great and
growing business ; 150 tons of beef go daily for this
department ; all bone and gristle are removed ; 2 lbs.
of beef in the carcase are required to yield 1 lb. of
tinned meat ; a large proportion is put up as corned
beef. It is partially cooked in baths of which eighty-
two are usually in operation, each holding six barrels
of beef. In suitable pieces it is transferred to the
tins, which are wheeled to another set of baths, in
which they remain from two to seven hours ; and are
gradually cooked without any loss of the natural
juices or aroma. Air escapes through a puncture in
the lid. Removed from the baths, three men are
constantly occupied soldering this aperture in the tin.
A scrubbing machine and several alkaline baths
effectually cleanse the cans from grease, and econo-
mise the labour of about 300 girls by whom the tins
are papered and packed. Sample tins .ire taken
daily into the test room and examination made for
leakage or for evidences of faulty keeping. The

Beef -packing. 1 8 1

business rapidly extends. For nearly a year Messrs.
Libby, McNeil, and Libby have been unable to over-
take their orders. The canned corned beef is in chief
demand ; the 14 lbs. tins go for restaurants and public
institutions, but the largest trade is in the 2 lbs. tins ;
the beef is much preferred to the mutton, of which
only a limited quantity is put up. Besides the
articles mentioned, ox and pigs' tongues, ox tails and
cheeks, are also canned ; turkeys and chickens care-
fully boned are conveniently put up along with
tongue ; minced collops in 2 lbs. tins are in growing
favour in Scotland. A great quantity of capital
soups are prepared, and are coming into general use
not only amongst private families in England, but in
many of the great restaurants and hotels. The tallow
is carefully rendered and disposed of. The marrow
from the bones is tinned, much of it coming to
England, where it is used as a substitute for butter,
and for pastry making. All the refuse is preserved
for manure making. Although each pound of meat
averages only 4//. to 5^., the weekly takings amount
to about 15,000/. About one half the canned meats
are sent to Europe on direct bills of lading, at a cost
of less than one halfpenny per lb. for transport ; about
one fourth of the total output is consumed in the
United Kingdom.

Besides other packing concerns the Wilson com-
pany does a large and growing business. They
started in 1874; their works now occupy seven acres
in the west of the city ; they employ nearly a thousand
people; they preserve and put up daily the meat of

1 82 Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

"&

several hundred cattle ; in 1 879 they turned out
8,000,000 tons of meat.

Chicago is the great metropolis of hog-packing.
Two-thirds of the American hog-packing is done
in the west : 70 per cent, is overtaken in the six cities
of Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Milwaukie, Louis-
ville, and Indianapolis ; more than half are handled
in Chicago, where, as already stated, nearly 7,cco,ooo
hogs are annually concentrated and 5,000,000 are
slaughtered.

The business has quadrupled since 1872 ; it has
doubled since 1875. More pigs are killed in twelve
months in Chicago than in the whole of the United
Kingdom. Owing, however, to the diminished hog
crop of 1880, packing has been on a more moderate
scale than in 1878 and 1879.

Twenty-five firms are engaged in the trade, em-
ploying about 20,000 hands. The three principal,
disposing among them of 2,500,000 hogs annually,
are Messrs. Armour and Co., the Anglo-American
Packing and Provision Company, and the Chicago
Packing and Provision Company. The hogs selected
from western markets and from the adjacent stock
yards where 60,000 are sometimes pitched in a morn-
ing, are shapely, of good quality, well fed, but with
more lean meat than distinguishes our pigs. They
are Black Berkshircs and Essex, a white sort analo-
gous to our middle breed, and a useful China
with light offal, four consecutive good corn crops
have increased their numbers, improved their quality,
and also lowered their price, which in 1879 ranged

Hog-packing. 183

from \\d. to 2\d. per pound for live hogs. They vary
from 160 lbs. to 260 lbs. net weight ; the heavier are
killed in winter.

Hog-killing was wont to be chiefly confined to the
winter months, but with ice and refrigerating chambers
two-fifths is now done during the summer months
from March 1st to November 1st. The packing
business formerly consisted in pickling and putting
up the meat in barrels; now only 15 per cent, is
dealt with in this way, the great trade is in dry-
salting the bulk of the carcase and sugar-curing the
hams. Science and skill are brought to bear on
the several processes. Different cuts and modes of
treatment are adopted to suit the taste of various
markets. Quite recently Mr. Lorenzo Fagersten, of
the Union Stock Yards, has been experimenting with
boracic acid salts and especially with biborate of
soda, which proves so serviceable as a tasteless anti-
septic in the preservation of butter and other dairy
produce. He finds that the hams, before being sewed
up in calico, if moistened with the boracic solu-
tion, or better still if dusted with the dry salt, travel
without suffering so much from the green mould
which is apt to affect them, whilst a drop of the solu-
tion in the shank bone prevents fermentation and
souring of the marrow.

To do a big roaring business is the ambition of
these western packers. Their success is demonstrated
in their enormous output, which for the year ending
March 1, 1879, was valued at 14,700,000/.'

1 Twenty-Second Annual Report of Tradcand Commerce of Chicago,
by Charles Randolph.

1 84 Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

The results of the winter packing for the six
months to March 1, 1879, was made up of the follow-
ing products : —

lbs.

Middles of various cuts .... 235,000,000'

Green, dry, and sweet pickled shoulders . 60,000,000

Backs and bellies ..... 12,000,000

Singed bacon . ..... 1,115,125

Hams of various sorts .... 60,000,000

Barrels of pickled pork, 242,232 averaging

200 lbs. ...... 48,446,400

Barrels of pigs' tongues, 7,091 averaging

200 lbs. ...... 1,418,200

Barrels of l:ocks, 1,915 at 200 lbs. . . 383,000

Lard, 395,659 tierces containing 300 lbs. . 118,697,700
Grease, 9,683 packages varying from 300

to 500 lbs. each 3,873,200

Total products of winter packing . 540,933,625

This is, however, only the winter produce. The
summer manufacture adds two-fifths to this amount.
The grand annual total of Chicago's hog products
approaches 900,000,000 lbs. More than 60 per cent,
of it is exported to Europe ; nearly half the export
goes to the United Kingdom. The shipments have
recently increased at the rate of 20 to 30 per cent,
per annum. The daily despatch averages eight)' car-
loads of twelve tons each.

The general procedure in most of these great hog-
packing establishments is much the same. To one of
the largest and most flourishing, belonging to Messrs.
Armour and Co., I paid two visits.

Messrs. Armour handle 1,000,000 hogs annually
at Chicago, and have similar establishments at

Messrs. Armour s Hog-packing Premises. 185

Mihvaukie and at Kansas City, at each of which
upwards of 400,000 are slaughtered and packed.
From small beginnings in i860 their business has
steadily increased ; within six years it has doubled.
At the Chicago works at the stock-yards, 10,000 pigs
are frequently killed daily in summer ; 20,000 con-
stitute a full day's slaughtering in winter. Two
thousand tons of meat are sometimes despatched in a
single day from the railway sidings which are con-
veniently brought into the premises. The works
cover 14 acres ; the buildings are four stories high,
and are being constantly added to. In convenient
carpenter's, blacksmith's, and engineers' shops skilled
artificers are employed in repairs, alterations, and ad-
ditions. Throughout the works and to the city offices
telegraphic and telephonic wires are laid. There are
six lifts, and hydrants and fire hose are fitted at con-
venient points on every story. A trained fire brigade
is recruited from among the operatives, and a dozen
well-drilled steady workmen always sleep on the
works. The premises are insured for $1,000,000, the
annual premium on different parts of the works vary-
ing from 1 to if per cent. Gasoline, prepared from
oil stored in underground tanks, is used for the 700
lights requisite in the short but busy winter days.
Two thousand men are employed in summer, and
3,500 in winter. Everything is done by day work,
but all is so systematically and effectively arranged
that no man can shirk his duty. Incompetence or
idleness cannot be tolerated, for one man's trifling
might stay the work of hundreds. The wages vary

1 86 Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

£

from 6s. to 8s. per day of io hours for ordinary-
labourers ; but the butchers and skilled operatives,
numbering about 500, including the men who cut up,
attend to the salting, prepare the sausages, or other-
wise exert special skill, energy, and care, earn 10s. to
15^. a day. Wages are higher in winter than in
summer, and payments are regularly made every
Wednesday.

The raw material which keeps this great estab-
lishment moving is conveniently found in the con-
tiguous market, where 60,000 hogs are sometimes
pitched in a morning, and on one occasion last summer
the number ran up to 8o,ooo. On one of Fairbank's
standard scales, which will weigh 40 lbs. or 40 tons,
the purchased pigs are duly weighed. They are se-
lected for various markets and purposes from 6 to 1 8
months, ranging from 150 lbs. to 2 50 lbs. The average
weight of the summer pigs is 218 lbs., of the winter
246 lbs. Messrs. Armour have large pens and yards
where their purchases arc fed and watered until re-
quired. No fasting is practised as in England. The
grunter has his breakfast even if he is doomed before
dinner time.

On the afternoon of September 19, Berkshire and
Essex trying from 250 lbs. to 300 lbs. live

weight, were being driven along the ascent and over
the ' Bridge of Sighs ' into the third story of the
building in which the slaughtering is conducted.
About a score are enclosed together in a catching
pen. Around the victim's hind limb just above his
dew-claw a piece of chain with a tolerably large ring

Wholesale Hog-slaughtering. 187

at either end is passed. From a roller overhead is
lowered a chain, terminating with a hook, which is
deftly passed into the ring on the limb ; the long
chain is steadily wound up by steam. When the
pig's head is about five feet from the ground, another
hook, suspended from a wheel, is fixed into the ring
round the limb. This wheel runs on a stout 1^ inch
iron rail, which is carried onwards through several
large rooms for 100 yards, always at an incline, down
which the pig is carried by its own gravity. The hog,
astounded at being raised heels first from the ground,
makes little resistance, and is swung over the Avail of
the catching pen. With one sweep of a sharp short
knife the executioner severs the arteries and veins of
the neck, occasionally penetrating to the heart itself.
The blood flows through a grating into the premises
below ; every half minute the foremost of a row of
some six or eight, now perfectly dead, by the touch
of a spring is unhooked and plunged into a vat of
steam-heated water, where he remains for about three
minutes, and where nine or ten are immersed together.
Every thirty seconds, or oftener, at the lower end of
the vat, a great, curved, rack-like gridiron lifts a
smoking hog on to the table, along which passes an
endless chain, by which, fastened by the nose, he is
drawn among ingeniously conceived and accurately
working spring scrapers, driven by steam, and in-
vented by one of Messrs. Armour's chief engineers.
On each of seven cylinders are placed forty-eight
steel blades, and so exactly and effectually do they
work that in ten seconds the hoes' emerges from the

1 88 Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

machine thoroughly denuded of hair. Any slight
oversight is made good by handscrapers wielded by a
couple of men on each side of the bench. Necessity,
as usual, led to the discovery of this handy machine,
which saves the labour of ten men. The scrapers,
who were making S$ a day, struck. They thought
that at any sacrifice they must be retained. They
reckoned not that machinery could supersede their
laborious manual service, which at other places I
have seen done by eight or ten stalwart negroes,
usually working stripped to the waist. Here, as
everywhere throughout the works, perfect order and
cleanliness obtain. Vulcanized indiarubber hose
hang suspended over the table, and jets of water, as
required, are directed over the carcass, removing any
adhering hair, scurf, or dirt. Again the hog is raised,
this time by the nose ; steam, as before, doing the
lifting. Down the inclined rail he swings. Detained
for a few seconds over a bench, he is disembowelled,
each portion of his viscera being carefully separated,
cleansed, and set aside for use. The lungs, heart,
and liver are forwarded to the sausage department ;
the stomach, cleansed, also follows, to be used as a bag
in which to pack some of the sausage meat, of which
more anon. The intestines, stripped of fat, are
scalded and form cases for the sausages. From
England there have recently been enquiries for fresh
or carefully preserved livers which it is not generally
known, arc the chief ingredient in mushroom ketsup.
Over the next table the head is cut off, and removed
for the lard tanks ; the tongue, a dainty morsel pre-

Expeditions Treatment. 189

served in sweet pickle, is exported in barrels and sold
wholesale in London at ^\d. to d,\d. per lb, or nicely
cooked is done up in tins disposed of at gd. ; the ears
are canned for home use. Still suspended from the
iron rod, down a long passage, guided by a small
boy with a long pole, and round a corner into a big
cooling room swing along six hogs at a time. Here,
to insure thorough cooling, they are cleft down on
each side of the backbone, and again run along, still
hanging from the ceiling, and arranged in battalions
of several scores. The time taken to catch the hosr,
slaughter, cleanse, dress, and deliver him in this cool-
ing chamber, is fifteen minutes. When two sets of
executioners are employed double baths and two
sets of scraping machines are at work, upwards of
fifteen hogs are killed every minute and promptly
and systematically subjected to the succeeding
operations.

In the lofty cooling room, at a temperature during
autumn of about 400 F., the air kept in motion by
overhanging punkahs and blowers, the hogs hang
five or six hours. To hasten cooling they are then
divided down the back, the two sides only held
together at the neck, and are moved, still wheeled on
the iron rails, dependent from the ceiling into the
ice-chamber, which is 400 feet long and 200 feet wide,
located in the middle of the building, and maintained
at about 380 F. by a 20 foot stratum of ice stored
overhead. In this chilly atmosphere, darkened to
economise ice, with a boy stationed at every entrance
to insure rapid closure of the doors, the hogs remain

190 Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

about thirty hours. On the thoroughness of this cool-
ing depends the success of the whole operation of
summer hog-packing. Although in winter little ice
is requisite, the summer demand absorbs 3,000 to
5,000 car-loads, each containing about 14 tons.

Firm and dry, the carcass, still suspended on the
labour-saving rails overhead, is run to the door of
another long room, is separated into two sides, and
now for the first time is moved by manual labour.
By a strapping fellow each side is seized, carried a
few yards to a solid bench, where, with a powerful
chopper, with a blow that would astonish a Mame-
luke, the ham is severed ; as accurately the shoulder
and underlying ribs are cut off, leaving a rectangular
side of bacon. A gentler blow separates the feet,
which are canned, pickled, or passed into the lard
tanks. These skilful swordsmen, who never maul,
and cut to a hair's breadth, receive 14^. a day in
summer and 16s. in winter. The sides of bacon
have the backbone partly or entirely removed ; the
tender loin or fillet, being more difficult to cure, is
taken out, and sells readily for immediate use. The
sides of bacon, averaging about 56 lbs., are removed
on trucks to the salting house, thoroughly rubbed
with salt, the Canadian and Liverpool being pre-
ferred, and a very little saltpetre. Each side takes
up 2 lbs. to 3 lbs. of salt. In a dark, cool store-house
these sides arc piled to the number of 16 to 20, one
on the top of the other. After the lapse of a week
they are turned over and again rubbed. Occasionally
they go out in twenty days ; but if intended for long

Bacon and Hams sent to England. 1 9 1

keeping they require double that time. Every piece,
as it passes from the salting-house, is examined, a
tester thrust in to ascertain if any taint has acci-
dentally been incurred. It is then washed, scraped,
dried and packed. Large boxes, containing eight to
ten sides of bacon, or 500 lbs., are almost daily being
put up for European markets. Messrs. Armour have
large contracts with the United States Government,
and, at a push, 150 of these boxes can be put up in
an hour. Even in this country of cheap lumber these
boxes cost 56 cents, each. The bacon bought un-
packed goes at nearly a cent less per lb. Of those
sides of bacon and shoulders, which are treated in
much the same way, Messrs. Armour turn out yearly
upwards of 80,000,000 lbs. weight. So economical and
systematic are the arrangements, and so carefully is
the best made of everything, that the sides of bacon
and shoulders can with profit be disposed of, even at
the present enhanced price, at A\d. to $d. per lb. In
Liverpool and many other United Kingdom ports
large quantities of this bacon are purchased, washed,
nicely smoked, and disposed of at a handsome profit
as ' Prime Wiltshire ' or ' First-rate Yorkshire.'

In imitation of the British home-cured, singed
bacon is now produced. The hog is swung from the
slaughtering pen on to a hearth, where it is singed
among straw and wood shavings, and its pachyderm
rendered more tender. The belly pieces from smaller
hogs, pickled in great vats, constitute a growing trade.
Of this pickled pork 40,000 casks, each containing
200 lbs. to 300 lbs., are put up annually. These used to

192 Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

go chiefly to the lumberers, the sugar and rice plan-
tations, and the West India Islands, but now a great
demand has grown in this country, in France, and
in Belgium ; and of the carefully prepared New York
bellies worth 545-. to ^6s. per cwt., many tons are used
in London, served up with Ostend rabbits.

The hams are of especial interest, for a very large
proportion come to England of sizes and cuts to suit
various markets. They are sold under many aliases,
and are recognisable in Bond Street and other
fashionable London shops, where their Chicago
origin is not conspicuously set forth. Messrs.
Armour last year turned out upwards of 5,000,000 lbs.
of hams. Their London house alone received during
1879 nearly 300,000 hams, averaging 12 lbs. to 14 lbs.
each, and sold wholesale at about 6d. per lb. In a
sweet pickle, made with salt, sugar, and saltpetre, the
hams lie in vats for sixty to seventy days, and are
changed over three times. After trimming and
scraping some are hung for three days in the smok-
ing-room, amidst empyreumatic, antiseptic vapours
of maple sawdust, are sewed neatly in calico,
stamped, and packed thirty to forty together in a
box with a partition down the middle, to insure ven-
tilation and lessen the risks of bruising. In summer
for air they come in crates. The breakfast bacon —
the light bellies from pigs six or eight months old, in
handy, shapely pieces of 8 lbs. to 10 lbs. — is treated
much in the same manner as the hams, and, when
smoked, brushed, and cleaned, is transferred to a
packing-room, where each piece is rolled tidily in

Sa usage- making. 1 9 3

gray paper and sewn in calico by men who manage
the needle with cleverness that a seamstress might
emulate. In this department I saw twenty men
busy, but in winter 100 are often occupied. Each is
expected to put up 200 to 250 parcels for his day's
work ; the pay varies from 6s. to Ss. a day, but extra
money is given for extra work or for extra hours.
The breakfast bacon thus neatly sewn up for the
American market is brushed over with a solution of
chrome and riceflour to prevent access of flies ; but
the British public naturally object to this coating of
the yellow poisonous lead salt.

The composition and manufacture of sausages are
frequently a subject of suspicion and ridicule ; but
the materials and making here are above all doubt.
In five large vats the steam-driven mincers are con-
stantly reducing to a fine pultaceous mass portions of
meat, trimmings from the sides and hams, with the
heart, liver, and internal parts. From the usual
machines, 29,000 lbs. of sausages are generally put
up daily, and are readily cleared off by the pork
butchers, hotelkeepers, and others, at about 5 cents.
per lb. Extra work is often required from this de-
partment. Several descriptions of sausages are made
— liver, blood, and pork, Frankfort, which is partly
cooked and smoked, and keeps a week ; Bologna,
prized in Germany ; ' the lion,' which is chiefly sent
to France, and keeps a year. A new manufacture
has recently been begun. The soft parts of the
heads, cleansed and minced, are flavoured with salt,
pepper, and spice, chiefly coriander seed, carcfully

o

194 Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

cooked, canned in 2 lb. and 6 lb. tins ; are ready for
immediate use, or will keep ten years, and are be-
coming very popular under the names of collared
head or brawn.

The American hogs yield about 5,000,000 cwt. of
lard. The summer killed average 34 lbs., the winter
37 lbs. Messrs. Armour, buying hogs above the
average in condition, have a yield of fully 45 lbs. of
lard from their summer and 54 lbs. from their winter
hogs. In 50 tanks, heated by worms from ten
boilers, the fat and other refuse, melted during ten to
twelve hours, are drained off in different grades. The
first quality, made from leaf and trimmings, is recog-
nised as 'prime steam lard.' The intestines and
refuse yield a lower quality, known as No. 2 lard, a
large proportion of which goes to Europe. Some of
the bristles are conserved for brushes and for the
cobblers, but the bulk of the hair is sent to this
country in bales of 5 cwt., and, mixed with horsehair,
is used for stuffing railroad and other carriage
cushions. It is now worth 14/. per ton. The blood,
dried in revolving steam-heated cylinders, contains
about 14 units of ammonia, and is sold for #28 to #30
per ton to the sugar- refiners and manure manu-
facturers. For this latter purpose enquiry is now
made for 1,000 tons to be delivered in the Thames at
9/. \os. to 10/. per ton. The bones, after crushing
and passing through the lard tanks, and the refuse
from every department are dried, pressed to get rid
of grease and water, exposed for 15 minutes in a 25
foot steam-heated revolving cylinder, and constitute a

Messrs. Armour }s Preserved Meats. 195

valuable fertiliser, containing 8 units of ammonia and
21 of phosphates, sold at $\6 per 2,000 lbs., and in
growing demand among gardeners, nurserymen, and
cotton planters.

Whilst a big wholesale and export business is the
main concern with Messrs. Armour and Co;, it is
pleasing to find attention paid to the wants of their
numerous employes, their families and neighbours.
Adjacent to the office is a large shop, where hog in
countless forms is sold at little over prime cost, for
which a few oxen are also killed, and where the daily
takings sometimes reach 500/. As if this pork business
were not enough for one concern, Messrs. Armour have
recently been directing attention to beef, and are now
putting up compressed beef which contains all the
juices and is not hard or fibrous.

In the Chicago office, Mr. Phil. Armour presides
over the financial and business arrangements of this
growing concern. Like some other Chicago mer-
chants, he is usually at his office at 7 A.M., surrounded
with correspondence, telegrams, and cabled price lists,
while regularly every morning comes the statement of
the London bank account of the previous afternoon.
Telegrams from London, Liverpool, Belfast, Paris,
Antwerp, and other parts of the world come in all
day, often numbering several hundreds. Forty clerks
are fully occupied in this representative Chicago pig-
packing concern. Doing a big business, Mr. Armour
rightly declares that he can work for a small profit.
He says he has got rich by selling cheaply. He
insists on ready-money transactions, and makes,

o 2

1 96 Chicago Grain and Cattle Trades.

accordingly, no bad debts. To use his own expres-
sion, his agents go with the goods in one hand, and
get the money in the other. More than half their
production is exported, and of this export more than
half is taken by Great Britain. For sugar-cured hams
and fancy goods England is their chief and increasing
market. With through rates the produce is forwarded
to United Kingdom ports at three-eighths of one
penny per lb., and during the past two years tons
have been sent at half that figure. Occasionally Mr.
Armour has boldly obtained control of the bacon,
pork, and hams of the West. During the summer
of 1880 he has had on 'shows' and 'option'
40,000,000 lbs. of winter cut meats, and, squeezing
the rising markets, is understood to have made
500,000/. by this big corner on pork.

197

CHAPTER XIII.

THE RED RIVER.

The Red River Valley, extending for 350 miles from
Breckenridge to Winnipeg, is destined to be one of
the great wheat-producing regions of America. Its
southern extremity lies in the State of Minnesota ; it
passes north through Dakota and Manitoba ; nearly
one-third is within the Canadian Dominion. Narrow
at first, it widens to nearly 100 miles. It is bounded
on the east by a chain of hills, but on the west the
rise is gradual, the second ridge is as fertile as the
Savannah, and several valleys debouch into that of
the Red River. In a former era of the world's
history, this extensive basin was evidently a great
inland lake, within which was deposited with great
uniformity a bed of diluvium, now represented by 12
to 30 inches of black earth, rich in vegetable fibre,
friable, and perfectly free from stones, reposing on 50
to 60 feet of soft soapy argillaceous deposit, containing
vegetable debris, while underlying this is a bed of
gravel, amid which are small fragments of granite,
porphyry, and limestone. These facts are disclosed
by the wells which are sunk on many farms, and
which generally supply a rather brackish water, apt

198 The Red River.

to disagree with men and animals unused to it. This
extensive tract of level prairie is occasionally inter-
spersed, especially along the banks of the rivers and
near the numerous lakes, with plantations and scrub ;
more frequently it extends with unvarying monotony
for miles. The yellow and red prairie grasses are
relieved occasionally by a piece of stubble ; rarely is
Indian corn attempted ; oats and barley are only
grown for home use. At far intervals are seen simple
log huts, a few small ricks, or heaps of straw which
there has not yet been time to burn. The valley is
traversed by the Red River which is navigable as far
south as Fargo, and by the St. Paul and Pacific Rail-
road section completed in 1878, running parallel with,
and about 10 to 15 miles eastward of, the river.

At Fort Abercrombie in the southern part of the
valley the rainfall averages 16 inches, the temperature
of the three summer months is 71° : the three months'
winter average is only 8° ; the annual mean tempera-
ture is 40'34°. At Fort Burford in Dakota, west of the
Red River, at an elevation of 2,210 feet, the average
rainfall for ten years from 1868 is 1 2^36 inches ; the
heaviest rainfall, in 1872 and 1873, reached 20 inches.
May and August appear to be the rainy months ;
thrice during this decennial period the May rains have
measured 4 inches; in 1873 they reached 660 inches
and caused much flooding. In August 1875 and 1876
the August rainfall was respectively 3 and 3*95
inches.1

The United States, although famous for great

1 U.S.A. Agricultural Reports for 1S7S, p. 550.

The Biggest Wheat Farm in America. 199

undertakings, have not many large wheat-growing
farms. Throughout the Eastern, Middle, and even
the North-Western States the ordinary grain farmer
seldom possesses more than 200 acres. But at
Casselton, in Dakota Territory, in the valley of the
Red River, is a striking exception — a farm of 75,000
acres held by Mr. Oliver Dalrymple. Four years ago
this enormous farm was a portion of the far-reaching
prairie wilderness. No evidences of human life were
visible. Prairie fowls, snipe, jack rabbits, the prairie
squirrel or gopher were the inhabitants ; while wild
ducks and geese congregated in creeks or marshy
spots. A few years previously buffaloes and badgers
were common, and on many spots of the untilled prairie
their whitened bones still lie scattered. Some of the
directors of the Northern Pacific Railway had ac-
quired these lands and wisely appointed Mr. Oliver
Dalrymple their manager, with a half share in the
concern. Mr. Dalrymple brought to his serious task
a goodly experience, acquired in successfully farming
6,000 acres at Lake Elmo, near St. Paul, Minnesota.

On Friday, September 26, 1S79, the members of
the Royal Commission, Messrs. Read and Pell, and
a party under the guidance of Mr. James H. Drake,
assistant manager of the St. Paul and Sioux City
Railway Company, were most hospitably received bv
Mr. Dalrymple ; were driven for miles over this vast
prairie farm ; examined its dark, friable, alluvial soil,
perfectly free from stones, varying from 12 in. to 20 in.
deep, resting upon an argillaceous stratum rich in
vegetable remains; gathered information as to the cost

2oo The Red River.

of wheat production, and speculated on the perma-
nence of continuous wheat-growing. The arrange-
ments of this great farm are well considered and
systematically and effectually carried out. Minor
details receive more attention than on most farms of
ioo acres ; time and labour are even-where econo-
mized. On one of the subdivisions of the property
telephonic communication, at a cost of only 8300, is
established between the superintendent's office and
those of his foremen ; and this rapid and direct system
of control is being extended throughout the whole
estate. Substantial and economical wooden buildings
have been erected at suitable points, consisting of
houses for superintendents, sleeping and dining rooms
for the men, stables, granaries, and sheds for the
storing of the numerous and valuable machinery and
implements, with blacksmiths' and carpenters' shops.
Handy to the several buildings, wells, varying from
50 ft. to 80 ft, have been dug into the sand and gravel
bed which underlies the clay. On one farm avenues
of trees are planted out. A bookkeeper and two
clerks have constant occupation in keeping accounts,
checking off stores, arranging the vouchers without
which no payment is made, and attending to corre-
spondence. Amid such modern equipments and good
cultivation it is difficult to realise that this busy,
profitable settlement was six years ago lonely, barren
prairie.

This Dalrymple property cost from 40 cents to £5
per acre. There are no federal taxes ; rates, mostly
for school purposes, amount to 10 cents per acre. The

Mr. Dalrymiples Big Wheat Farm. 201

estate is partitioned into divisions of 5,000 acres, each
under the management of a divisional superintendent,
who has under him two foremen, one of whom, on horse-
back, accompanies his 15 or 20 teams to work, sees to
the ploughing or drilling, observes and reports as to
the behaviour of the men, the condition of the animals,
and the efficiency of the machinery. Each division
has two or more sets of buildings, and in connection
with the principal homestead of each farm are the
quarters for the men — large wooden barrack rooms,
comfortably warmed with stoves, where 50 men sleep
in busy times two in a bed. Hard by are the kitchens,
each with the capacity to provide for the wants of 100
men, presided over by the cook and his mate, who,
on requisition through the foreman, draw supplies from
the stores — flour for bread, puddings, and cakes, beef
which costs fresh fully ~$d. per pound, pork, bacon,
cheese, and butter, tea and coffee, and other good
things. But the stores, liberally provided with neces-
saries and luxuries, including some of the best butter
and coffee we ever tasted, wisely dispense neither beer
nor spirits. Three hot meals a day are provided : before
6 A.M., at noon, and at 7 P.M. ; meat, bread, puddings,
cakes, tea and coffee are supplied without stint.

All payments are made by the bookkeeper on
vouchers signed by the foreman. Men can draw their
money as they please. Some take it weekly ; a few
spend it at the beer saloons at Casselton ; others, more
provident, allow it to run on for weeks, or even for half
a year. The rate of wages varies with the season.
With board during the spring #iS a month (iSs. a

202 The Red River.

week) is given ; during harvest wages advance to
$2-2 5 a day ; during the thrashing season the rate
is reduced to $2 ; during the autumn months the pay
is £25 per month. Xo piecework is adopted, but so
thorough is the superintendence that full work is
obtained from both man and beast. There is no
difficulty in obtaining extra hands, amongst whom
are many Norwegians, Scandinavians and Germans.
During harvest and thrashing, which is done in
the field, as many as 600 men are frequently em-
ployed. Even with this great accession of labourers,
work proceeds systematically and harmoniously. No
rows occur ; brawling and fighting are extremely rare,
but when they do occur it unfortunately is usually on
Sunday. Dismissal for insubordination is scarcely
known. Men injured or sick from causes beyond
their own control are nursed and have medical at-
tendance gratuitously. Extra men in harvest and
during thrashing only receive pay for the hours they
labour. So soon as frost prevents ploughing, the
whole of the force on the farms are dismissed, with
the exception of the divisional manager and about ten
men, who each look after about 40 mules or horses,
feed and water them, and turn them into a yard for
a quarter of an hour's exercise night and morning.
Hard as such wholesale dismissal would be in Great
Britain, it is no hardship here, for these men readily
find lumbcrwork in the forests. It is obviously an
enormous boon thus to get rid of men whom the
farmer cannot profitably employ during the Uvc winter
months. Many an English wheat grower would

Improved Agricultural Implements. 203

gladly practise this retrenchment and send most of his
staff to other vocations during the short days and bad
weather of mid-winter.

Twenty thousand acres are already under cultiva-
tion ; 5,000 acres are broken up annually. The un-
cultivated portions are chiefly used in growing prairie
hay and grazing the milch cows. During autumn four
hundred mules or horses are daily engaged ploughing
the stubbles, or back-setting or cross-cutting the land
broken up from prairie during the early summer
months. The sod of ages is readily disintegrated ;
the prairie grass, previously cut short by the mowing
machine, is rotted. The stubbles are left of about the
same length as they are in England ; but since the
straw is burnt it would save expense, both in reaping
and thrashing, to leave a longer stubble and burn this
and any weeds among it before the ploughs went to
work. In one field we come upon nine double-sulkey
ploughs ; the ground being hard owing to a month's
dry weather, four mules are allotted to each. The
driver mounts comfortably, as on a reaping machine,
guiding his four-in-hand with reins. Instead of a
coulter, these ploughs, made by John Deer, Illinois,
and costing #60, have a cutting wheel. The working
parts are of steel ; the shares are sharpened every
third or fourth day. Each of the two ploughs turns
a furrow 15m. wide by 5m. deep. In another field a
dozen mule teams are similarly employed. Two and
a half acres are at present turned over by each team
daily ; but when the ground is softer fully three acres
are overtaken. The teams walk 17 to 20 miles daily,
turn out at 6 A.M., are in the stable and fed for an hour

204 The Red River.

at noon, and have four to five hours' work in the after-
noon. The fields are conveniently laid out in squares
of ioo acres. Some are fenced with oak posts and
two strands of barbed steel wire, which keeps back
cattle and horses, but not sheep and pigs, and has the
disadvantage of lacerating any animal coming forcibly
into contact with it. To prevent idly walking several
miles to work, the teams going and returning invari-
ably plough along the intervening fields, the twelve
teams each time they go out or return contributing a
broad strip of nearly 30ft. of ploughing.

The breaking up of the level prairie is neither
tedious nor costly. No stones or tree roots cause
breakage or delay. With the single hand ploughs and
a pair of horses, or three abreast if the ground is very
hard, a stout furrow, usually measuring 12 in. by 4 in.,
is turned. An acre and a half is easily overtaken in
the May or June day of ten hours. Mr. Dalrymple
estimates that the breaking up, allowing for wear and
tear of plough and sharpening of the steel shares,
which should last two seasons, costs him fully two and
a half dollars. The stubble and cross-ploughing are
computed to cost #175. Even in this newly-settled
country small farmers and others can be hired to do
the ploughing, furnishing a man and pair of good
horses at the cost of \2s. daily, and doing regularly
their \\ acre in a workmanlike manner.

Mr. Dalrymple and Mr. Dutton, one of his intelli-
gent and able divisional superintendents, both prefer
mules to horses on account of their hardiness, endur-
ance, equable temperament, and freedom from disease.

Mules Preferred to Horses. 205

With about an equal proportion of mules and horses
they have in four years used up 16 horses, but the
whole of the mules are still serviceable, excepting one,
which was accidentally injured. The mules are bought
chiefly at St. Louis, at five or six years old ; they are
16^ to 17 hands, weigh 1,100 lbs. to 1,200 lbs., are well
broken, steady workers, good-tempered and quiet,
and cost on an average #140 (28/.), while the transit
of 1,000 miles from St. Louis home puts about
#10 (40s-.) more on their price. Mules and horses do
not differ much in value, and are managed and fed
alike. They are housed in good lofty stables, accom-
modating about 50, standing in pairs in 9 ft. stalls.
Racks and mangers are used as at home. They are
tied by halters or head-stalls. The light harness,
used indifferently for plough and wagon, costs #23 for
each animal, and is expected to last ten years. The
feeding, carefully attended to by the stable ' boss,'
consists of 1 2 quarts daily of mixed home-grown oats
and barley, and 1 5 lbs. to 20 lbs. of prairie hay. During
winter the amount of corn is, of course, reduced, and
this five months' rest and some days' lighter labour
between seasons accounts for the good looks and con-
dition of the teams and their standing satisfactorily at
busy times 1 1 hours' work daily.

Towards the end of March the working staff are
again got together. The lumbering is finished up
and men are ready for farm work. A few of the
hands of former seasons return. The gang foremen,
selected for intelligence and promptitude, are ap-
pointed. The whole of the land intended for crop

206 The Red River.

has been ploughed in autumn ; the newly broken, as
indicated, has had a second furrow, which keeps down
weeds and insures more certainty of result. So soon
as the frost has left the first six inches of soil, which
is generally by April I, the seeding of the wheat
commences. Scotch Fife, a good, hard, thin-
skinned red variety, is used. The seed is selected
from the newly broken- up land ; if any cockle or other
weeds are observable, they are carefully winnowed
out. No dressing or pickling is adopted. During
autumn or winter, in if bushel lots, the seed for each
acre is bagged up. Whenever the weather permits,
seeding commences. The seed is distributed by
broadcast machines, ioo being at work daily for three
weeks. Two hundred sets of harrows complete the
operation, two or three turns being required, and Mr.
Dalrymple jocosely states that he orders it 'to be well
done, and then give one turn more.' Four harrows,
united by chains, work in a set, cover 20 feet, and are
drawn by four mules. In each harrow are 72 round
teeth; the set costs #14 to #15. Immediately after
wheat seeding, the oats and barley grown for horse
provender are put in.

No horse or hand hoeing, no weeding, or any
further expenses are incurred until harvest. Season-
able showers usually occur during June and July;
heavy dews restore part of the moisture removed
during the warm noontide. For four years the seasons
have been propitious. The drought during July 1879
occasioned, however, considerable apprehension.
1'rayers for rain were offered in the churches, while

Automatic Self-binding Harvesters. 207

English farmers were imploring fine weather. Another
week of scorching drought would have shrivelled up
the soft, milky ears : but the much longed-for rain
came seasonably. Drought is probably the chief
cause of uncertainty in the American wheat yield.
Hailstorms and tornados, abounding furthei south, are
unknown here. No wire worm, weevil, or fly interfere
with Mr. Dalrymple's crops ; mice and rats have not
yet made their home in Dakota ; sparrows, larks, and
rooks are equally rare. Grasshoppers did some injury
in 1876, probably diminishing the yield by three
bushels an acre ; but Mr. Dalrymple considers that
he is too far north to suffer much from the hoppers,
and believes that they cannot do much damage on
cultivated land, although why such marauders should
spare the cultivated crops is not very evident.

Harvest begins about August I, usually amid fine,
settled Californian weather. About 300 extra men
are engaged. One hundred and fifteen automatic self-
binding harvesters are busily at work ; 100 of these
are Walter Wood's, the remainder M'Cormick's. Both
are reported to do their work admirably ; no objection
is found to the wire binding. The grain is shocked,
and cutting is overtaken in 12 days. No time or out-
lay is expended in stacking. No barns or granaries
are required in this dry climate. Trusting implicitly in
fine weather the whole of the grain is thrashed from
the field, indeed sometimes the wheat is not even
shocked. Seventy-one steam thrashing machines made
by the Buffalo Company, and costing £600, with
thrasher, winnower, and straw elevator in one, are

2o8 The Red River.

placed at convenient points throughout the fields.
Ten wagons, each with a pair of horses or mules,
bring up the shocks and carry off the thrashed corn
in three bushel bags an average distance of two miles
to the railway cars. A gang of 25 men keep wagons
and thrashing machines steadily going, and deliver at
the station 1,000 bushels of wheat daily. An expert
on horseback superintends two or three harvesters or
thrashers, keeps everything in good working order,
promptly repairs any breakage, and thus loss of time
is guarded against. Each day the thrasher and
engine, which is partially self-propelling and costs
#800, is moved, so as to shorten haulage of the sheaves.
Every busy day, 50 railway cars, each containing 400
bushels, are loaded, and stand ready for despatch,
usually to Duluth, 254 miles distant, on the western
corner of Lake Superior.

The crops of 1879 and 1880 Mr. Dalrymple states
to be much the same as those of former seasons. They
average T5 to 20 bushels an acre of 60 lbs. to the
bushel. The natural weight is 59 lbs. to the bushel.
As usual the produce of the newly broken-up land is
best. The quality is fully as good as that of 1878.
When run once through the winnower at Duluth, it
will be graded No. I hard. Mr. Dalrymple usually
sells as fast as he can deliver, but in 1879, holding
for the rise, he had for some weeks the chief portion of
his crops warehoused at Duluth. The oats are re-
ported to yield 50 bushels to the acre and 38 lbs. to the
bushel ; last year 60 bushels were produced. The
barley did not do particularly well in 1879; but

Cost of Wheat Production. 209

generally runs 40 bushels. On each farm a few pota-
toes, cabbages, swedes, and other vegetables are grown
for home use and for the cows which are kept to
supply dairy produce ; but wheat-growing is the
great business of this great farm.

Now comes the important question of the cost of
production. Mr. Dalrymple furnishes the following
figures : —

$ c
Land valued at $12 per acre, interest thereon at

6 per cent. ....... 72

Taxes and rates . . . . . . . 10

Buildings, machinery, and teams, valued at $10,

interest at 10 per cent. . . . . . 10

Ploughing ... .....30

Seed . . , . ■ . . . . 1 50

Harvesting and thrashing . • . . . .30

Total cost of growing an acre of wheat . . 8 42

Mr. Dalrymple thus produces an acre of wheat for
less than #8.50, or 35^. 6d. per acre ; indeed, he asserts
that hitherto the actual cost has not reached $8, except-
ing in the case of the first year's crop, which the extra
expenses of breaking and two ploughings advance to
$11. For four years his acreable yield is said to have
averaged 20 bushels. On the basis of this calculation
the wheat would cost nearly 43 cents, or is. lod. per
bushel, or 14^. 8d. per quarter. On his own and other
suitable wheat-growing farms, in favourable seasons,
Mr. Dalrymple declares that the crop does not costmon;
than 35 cents per bushel. Sold, as it readily can be at
the railway station at Casselton, at 75 cents to 80 cents,
a very handsome profit is obtainable. This return

P

210

The Red River.

approaches the Dutchman's I per cent., which on
investigation proved to be a cent, per cent, return.

Forwarded to the United Kingdom, Mr. Dal-
rymple's wheat would further incur the following
charges, and the quarter of 480 lbs. would be landed
in Liverpool at 35^. 4^. For more accurate comparison
with our English wheat weighing 500 lbs. one twenty-
fourth would be added, bringing the cost to 37s.

Cost of production of 4S0 lbs. wheat
Elevator charges at Duluth ....

Freight to New York .....

Ocean freight ......

Insurance, incidentals, and commission on sale
Landing charges ......

Total cost of 1 quarter of Mr. Dalrymple's whea
(480 lbs. ) landed at Liverpool .

-

d.

14

S

I

0

9

6

6

0

2

0

2

2

Mr. Dalrymple's cheap production is, however,
exceptional. His superior management, and the
systematic manner in which the great business is con-
ducted, secure results which are not attainable gene-
rally even on the best land of the Red River. Taking
a considerable number of the best-managed holdings,
and averaging these for a series of years, the bushel of
wheat will be found to cost 50 cents instead of 55 cents,
or 2s. per quarter more than it is favourably figured by
Mr. Dalrymple. Even at this rate good profits remain
for the gn>\ver, and with the transport charges above
given, which represent a fair average of recent years,
the quarter of wheat (480 lbs.) can, with profit to all
concerned, be landed at British ports at tfs.

Important alike to producer and consumer, comes

How long will this Wheat-growing last f 2 1 1

now the question, will these crops and profits be per-
manent ? At Mr. Dalrymple's no symptoms of deter-
ioration are yet apparent. The land is clean ; neither
twitch, thistles, or docks appear. The chief weeds are
wild cotton, barn grass, a sorrel with 'a yellow flower,
and the Michaelmas daisies. The manure made from
the stables lies about in heaps, which it is not yet
thought worth while to apply. Excepting the small
quantity of straw used for littering the animals, the
whole produce of the 20,000 acres is burnt. The spots
on which these heaps burn show no obvious difference
from the rest of the field, indicating that the unassisted
soil still contains phosphates and potash sufficient to
grow full crops. How long the continuous corn-grow-
ing can be profitablypersisted with is somewhat difficult
to foretell. On similarly good land in various parts
of the country fields are pointed out from which, with-
out any restorative treatment, twenty consecutive
crops of wheat have been reaped, and neither quantity
nor quality as yet undergoes obvious diminution. Mr.
Dalrymple is, however, too prudent a farmer to draw
too long or deeply on the resources of his land. By
ploughing year by year an inch deeper he brings up
fresh plant food ; by growing at intervals probably of
four years, as he purposes doing, a crop of clover,
rolling it down and ploughing it in, he intends cheaply
to maintain fertility. By these means and by selection
and change of seed, as well as by an occasional crop
of oats or barley, Mr. Dalrymple's superior manage-
ment will doubtless secure a continuance of good crops
for many years.

p2

2 1 2 The Red River.

The fame of Mr. Dalrymple's success is bringing
settlers from Northern Europe, from England, and from
Canada to aid in developing the resources of the Red
River, There is less difficulty now than there was fi\ t
years ago, in disposing of lands. Where reasonable
judgment is used in making the selection, the untilled
prairie, somewhat wet and forbidding, when broken
up, proves a friable, deep, good soil, and both the soil
and aspect of many parts of this level country forcibly
remind one of the Cambridgeshire fens, the dikes,
however, being absent. Long lists might now be
made of successful cultivators. Mr. Dalrymple has
near Casselton, a nephew, who last year grew 1,800
acres of wheat, and another with a section of 640
acres, most of it broken up. Mr. C. S. Barnes has had
seven years' experience of the valley north of Glyndon,
where five years ago no wheat was grown. He has
this year grown 2,600 acres with an average of 15 to
20 bushels an acre, while on the poorer land he plants
oats which cast 50 to 60 bushels an acre. But,
perhaps, one of the strongest evidences of the exten-
sion of wheat -growing here is the fact that Mr. Barnes,
in the prosecution of his corn-factor business, has
during the last four years erected at various roadside
stations throughout this country as many as thirty
elevators, several of them worked by steam.

Mr. Iladwcn, of Wheatland, near Casselton,
Dakota, a near neighbour of Mr. Dalrymple, was born
near Lancaster, England. He farmed for many years
near Godridge, Canada, where he owns and lets a
farm of 16b acres. He came to prospect this country

Extended Settlement. 2 1 3

in 1876, bought 730 acres close to Fargo, at #25 an
acre, for which he is now offered #50, and also made
a larger investment of 6,000 acres at Casselton, paying
from #3.50 to #5. Of this he had 1,000 acres broken
up the first year, and within 12 months had 19,000
bushels of wheat for sale. He now lets his town farm,
receiving as rent one third of the produce, which has
averaged nearly 27 bushels per acre. On his Casselton
farm he has now 2,100 acres ready for planting his
third crop next spring. A number of other farmers in
the district have also done well. A blacksmith has
invested his savings in 540 acres, lying close to the
railway town of Fargo, and has had it for nearly three
years entirely under cultivation. Besides other good
stock he has a Percheron stallion, for which he paid
#2,000, and for the use of which he gets #20, and
has just completed a handsome two-storied house
with dining-room and drawing-room. His son has
300 acres, and in his spare time hires himself and
horses to plough for neighbours, receiving, according
to depth and whether the land has been previously
ploughed, from two to three dollars an acre.

The frontier towns and villages in this new region
of cultivation and civilisation exhibit wonderful illus-
trations of rapid growth. Fargo, now a flourishing
place with 2,000 inhabitants, in 1873 was a bare tract
of Indian reserve, from which white men were warned
off. From the Eastern States and Canada as well as
from Europe, people of all nationalities have come in.
Besides connections northward with Canada and with
St. Paul and Chicago, by the St. Paul, Minneapolis,

2 1 4 The Red River.

and Manitoba railroad, Fargo is on the main line of
the Northern Pacific, which is opened west to Bismark
on the Missouri, and is thence being pushed on to the
Yellowstone river, opening up a country rich in coal
and other minerals and bringing forward the cattle from
Northern Wyoming and Montana. In Fargo, built of
stone and brick, there are already three good hotels,
and another in contemplation ; rather too many bars
and drinking saloons ; a concert and ball room, where
recently a grand subscription ball was given for which
gentlemen's tickets were stated to be £25. There is a
court-house and two portly courteous judges, and a
provost marshal or commandant of police, all these
important officers holding their appointments from
year to year ; a successful daily newspaper, two corn-
merchants, a thriving school, while preparations are
being made for building churches. An Opera-
Comique is in successful operation, where the nights-
attractions consist in dramas, nigger and other songs,
and dancing. I can vouch for the fun and humour
and never-flagging spirit of the performances, for the
goodness of the singing, and taste and capabilities of
the orchestra. An imperturbable, irrepressible Irish-
man was represented as effectively as he could have
been at the Haymarket or Olympic. I do not wonder
that from an area of many miles the dark-visaged
farm-fellows with slouch hats, many with blue
guernseys, some lumberers in red flannel jackets, and
occasional Indians, and many half-breeds, congregate-
in large numbers to this opera-house at Fargo. In
the wide streets the population is busily occupied.

Wheat raised at Forty Shillings an Acre. 215

The immense and varied collections of agricultural
implements are strikingly indicative of the breaking
in of new lands. The light waggons are drawn by
horses, mules, and oxen, but the ox teams are rather
the most numerous.

But Fargo is a metropolis compared with the
'primordial cells' of towns budding at roadside
stations, some in more advanced condition boasting of
a hotel, beershops, dry goods store, post-office, and
even a bank. Occasionally more imposing houses
with at least two public rooms are noticed. Ploughs,
reapers, and other implements lie at the stations, in-
dicating more extended settlement, presaging more
food for man and beast.

At this autumn season the land generally is dry,
or only wet in the hollows and so easily broken up
that teamsters can be hired who will bring horses
and ploughs, pitch their tent, and turn up the \ irgin
soil 4 or 5 in. deep at less than #3, or 12s. per acre,
overtaking 3 to 4 acres daily with the double plough on
which the man rides. This should be done in June ;
two or three months later the sod will have partially
rotted, and cross-ploughing or back-setting is under-
taken at a cost of 8s. The land remains thus roughly
set up throughout the winter. So soon as the weather
permits, often indeed while the deeper soil is still ice-
bound, the seed, of which a bushel and a half is allowed
to the acre, is sown. It comes up in a few days, and
requires no further labour or expense until harvest,
which begins early in August ; is rapidly overtaken,
and costs, with thrashing, about #3 per acre (12s.)

2 1 6 The Red River.

The whole expenses of raising even the first crop of
wheat, in this locality hence do not exceed 40s. an
acre, and subsequent crops do not of course require
the expensive preliminary ploughing. The yield
varies somewhat; but many wheat-growers with whom
I have talked declare that they got over 20 bushels an
acre, and on an average of years can count on making
on the spot 75 cents per bushel or $ 15 an acre, and
thus secure a profit of $$, or fully 20s. an acre.

Four years' experience of the country having been
satisfactory and many farmers having done well and
made money, settlers are coming in rapidly. Near
the stations quarter claims of 160 acres are taken up,
for which payment is made of #3 to £10 according to
proximity to the railway or other circumstances. On
favourable terms another 160 acres can be had under
a homestead claim, and another equal portion will be
given the claimant free of all except land office fees of
about 15 cents an acre, if he plants on 160 acres ten
of trees, and takes care of them for five years.

Mr. George C. Reis, a successful ironmaster from
West Pennsylvania, has located himself pleasantly at
Edna. Since taking possession in April he has built
a capital house barn and premises for 32 horses,
has 1,000 acres broken up and cross-ploughed ready
for wheat next April, and from his hall steps can
count fifty houses or cottages, while on his first visit
to Edna twelve months ago, as far as the eye could
reach, only five buildings of any description could be
seen. Assured!}', the wastes are being peopled.
I have repeatedly seen the bullock teams trudging

Extended Railway Communication. 2 1 7

along over the prairie, the wagon laden with the
tent, ploughs, a few handy tools, some simple fur-
niture, and mounted aloft the wife and children,
while the procession is usually brought up by one or
two cows, and sometimes by a few pigs. Like a good
man of business Mr. Reis determines not to depend
upon one resource, however promising. He intends
growing cattle as well as wheat, and has his hay of
prairie grass stacked upon pillars and raised sufficiently
from the ground to allow the cattle to draw under-
neath and take advantage of shelter from the winter
blasts. West of Edna, the Grandin Brothers have a
large wheat farm, but they also divide their chances
by a heavy investment in a cattle-ranche at Mayville.

Forty miles north of Fargo, the Red River receives
an important tributary — the Goose River — which runs
north-west through a very fertile country, into which
many Norwegians have recently penetrated, where
weeds 10 ft. high spring when the soil is stirred, where
the luxuriance of the first wheat crops frequently
causes them to be much laid, where $8 cover the
total cost of an acre of wheat, and whence in wagon
teams the grain is often wearily brought seventy
miles to Fargo. But this serious disadvantage will
shortly be remedied by the branch railway which the
Northern Pacific purpose pushing north from Fargo
along the west bank of the Red River. The St. Paul
and Manitoba Company also contemplates a line from
Crookston passing over the river and proceeding
north-west to the Pembina Hills.

Seventy miles north of Fargo on the Red Lake

2 1 8 The Red River.

River, about sixteen miles from where it flows west
into the Red River, is ' Crookston, founded four years
ago. Here, a few years previously, amid the pleasant
woods, were buffaloes and wolves, and they still abound
fifty miles higher up amid the pine forests towards
the Red Lake. It is expected that this timber will
shortly be handled and brought down the stream to
Crookston, where a dam could be erected, an old river
course used for the tail water, and sawmills put up.
Three years ago Crookston was the terminus of the St.
Paul and Manitoba Railway, with four houses ; now
there are two streets, many wooden and some good
substantial stone houses, and a population of 1,500
souls. A good school-house in the autumn of 1878 was
erected to hold 120 pupils, but the schoolmaster, who
had been in office a year, informs me that he is already
overcrowded, with 200 children on his attendance roll.
Three churches are organised and about to be built.
Two bishops have already been down to look after
building locations. Last winter is described to have
been cold but dry. The schoolmaster, who had for-
merly wintered nearer the Atlantic, states that he pre-
fers the bright winter sunshine of Dakota, which con-
tinued during ioo days and prevented any incon-
venience being felt even when the thermometer went
down to — 300 Fahr. A grain elevator and crane are
put up ; the sidings are overcrowded with agricultural
implements ; all summer the railway vans arrive
with new citizens, their families and baggage. Near
the town the land has been taken up chiefly in quarter
lots of 160 acres.

Dining Stations. 2 1 9

Warren, the dining station on this road, dates from
the summer of 1878, but has not yet advanced beyond
the wooden hotel with two dining-rooms and half-
a-dozen cottages, one erected at a cost of 15/. owned
by an old lady born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, with expe-
riences as a settler in Australian goldfields, and now
owning several town lots at Warren, while her two
sons and a daughter have pre-emption and homestead
lots not far distant. In anticipation of extending cul-
tivation, two grain elevators are already erected. On
several occupations thrashing was done, and engines
were moved readily by a pair of horses or oxen, the
engine helping the moving. Several farmers assure us
that their yield of wheat this season varied from 30 to
40 bushels per acre ; while their potatoes, which were
sound and good, reached 300 bushels. A prairie fire
was seen, but the previous night's rain and light wind
prevented its extending far. The rough prairie grass
in many places had been cut and cocked for winter
fodder ; mowing machines evidently were in general
use, but near St. Vincent, on the Canadian frontier,
an apparent new comer was at work with his scythe.
Proceeding north and entering Manitoba, the soil be-
comes heavier and wetter. Scrubby willow and aspen
are the only apologies for trees. An occasional span
of prairie fowls or a hawk were startled by the train as
it leisurely proceeded through the prairie wilderness,
where frequently the eye would vainly scan the land-
scape away into the far horizon without discovering
evidences of human habitation.

Lone and sparsely occupied as the Red River

2 20 The Red River.

valley still is, it has immense capabilities. Including
its upper third lying within the Canadian Dominions
and constituting a portion of Manitoba, the valley, as
has already been hinted, might alone provide the
bread stuffs which Great Britain at present requires
to import.

The valley, as already mentioned, is 350 miles
long ; comprising the Goose Lake and other valleys
with which it communicates, and including its second
western slopes, which are as good as any part, it may
be stated to be 100 miles wide. Supposing that only
one-half of this immense area were in wheat, and
taking the yield at only 10 bushels an acre, there
would be a total annual produce of 96,000,000 bushels,
or 12,000,000 quarters. But such calculations are
based upon certain somewhat unlikely conditions.
The Red River soils, although deep and good, cannot
go on yielding wheat indefinitely without the return
of the more important elements of fertility. Ten or
twelve years' continuous corn-growing even on the
best of virgin soils causes such exhaustion that the
reduced, starved crops will not pay. Deeper and
more careful culture may postpone but cannot
avert the day of reckoning. Clover crops and
stock-feeding insure more permanent corn-growing.
It is doubtful, however, whether stock-farming is
likely to prove remunerative in most parts of the Red
River Valley. The long, cold winter must add greatly
to the expenses of stock raising. Still another dis-
advantage presents itself. The land, especially in the
lower and upper portions of the valley, is wet. In

The Red River Valley. 221

1859 and again eight years later, the country, especially
about its southern extremity towards Breckenridge
and Fargo as well as around Winnipeg, was for
months under water, and such inundations may
recur, interfering not only with stock rearing but with
corn-gfrowincf-

CHAPTER XIV.

MANITOBA.

NORTH over the Canadian frontier are valleys as
fertile and prairies as extensive as those of the Red
River, some of them scarcely yet opened up for culti-
vation. Wheat of fine quality is grown in the Atha-
basca and Peace Valleys, which, although north of
latitude 550, are stated to have a genial climate,
and produce flowers and fruits in as great perfec-
tion as localities many hundred miles south. The
Peace River Valley is estimated to have an area of
100,000 square miles. The North and South Sas-
katchewan, which with rapid flow run a thousand
miles from the Rocky Mountains into Lake Winnipeg,
are described as traversing immense areas of alluvial
soil, while along their banks are beautifully-sheltered
well-watered spots adapted for stock-raising. Five
hundred miles west of Winnipeg is the Prince Albert
settlement, established about three years ago, now
numbering 600 inhabitants, busily engaged in mixed
husbandry, but in such a remote region sensibly devot-
ing special attention to the raising of cattle, which,
amid abundance of good grass, can be produced at
little more than the cost of herding, and can tolerably

Great Wheat-producing Ai'eas.

~-3

comfortably carry themselves to market. Starting
also in the Rocky Mountains and likewise pursuing
an easterly course, and discharging its waters into
Lake Winnipeg, is the Assiniboine, which with many
important tributaries, waters, especially -on its northern
aspect, an enormous tract of good country, which might
absorb thousands of settlers, and when opened up, as
is being done, by the Canadian Pacific Railway, and
the often discussed lake, river, and canal system,
might export millions of bushels of wheat. On the
authority of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, it
is estimated that the total wheat area of the North-
West is about 380,000 square miles. The cheap land,
one great element of this country's greatness, is here ;
the cheap transport, so necessary properly to utilise the
cheap land, is being gradually secured.

At St. Vincent on the southern confines of Mani-
toba on the Canadian frontier, seventy-five miles
south of Winnipeg, the good car Mineopa, so oblig-
ingly placed at our disposal by the managers of the
St. Paul and Sioux railroad, and which for a fortnight
was our comfortable home often by night as well as
by day, was transferred to the line of the Canadian
Pacific. Whilst this was being effected, prospecting
in the neighbourhood of the station, we met several
Indians. Some of the old ladies, rather forlorn and
dilapidated in appearance, rigged out in garments of
very motley description, were disposed to be friendly,
and by unmistakable signs expressed anxiety to have
something to drink. They looked as if they not
infrequently wanted food as well as drink. They are

224 Manitoba.

reported to be harmless, although apt to help them-
selves to anything movable inadvertently left about.
The men are not fond of work, and any small amount
of tillage which is overtaken around their huts is done
by the women. Almost all are stipendiaries either of
the Canadian or United States Governments, receive
five dollars a year, and draw doles usually on the ap-
proach of winter in the form of flour, pork, a few clothes
and blankets.

At a steady pace of ten or twelve miles an hour,
over the rudely constructed line of the Canadian
Pacific, innocent of ballast, with oscillations and bump-
ings sufficient to produce sea-sickness and bring
passengers to their knees, we are carried to St. Boni-
face, an old French colony on the right bank of the
river immediately below the confluence of the Red
and Assiniboine rivers. St. Boniface, founded in 1 8 1 8,
curiously still maintains its French character, appear-
ance, language, and religion, and has a handsome
Roman Catholic cathedral with a fine organ, several
schools, and a convent and hospital.

The Red River, which here is as wide as the
Thames at Westminster, is to be spanned by a bridge,
when the authorities manage to agree upon the best
point to build it. Now it is crossed by a steamer
which carries carriages and horses as well as passengers.
Immediately opposite to St. Boniface are Fort Garry
and Winnipeg. The fort, with several stores and 500
acres around, belongs to the Hudson Bay Company,
which by charter from Charles II. long exercised
plenipotentiary authority throughout the great north-

Farming around Winnipeg. 225

west, governed well its vast domains, and treated its
Indian and indeed all its subjects fairly. Agricultural
development was not the business of the company ;
but it fostered a great trade in furs and skins, and
prospected and opened up the country. When the
charter grant expired in 1 869 the great domains were
secured by Canada, which paid the Hudson Bay
Company 300,000/. and allowed it to retain her trading
stations, 50,000 acres of land around them, and one-
twentieth of the remainder of the land. As settlement
extends the wild animals which sustain the trading
business of the company diminish, but the great land
estate proportionally increases in value. Judgment
and tact will be requisite to develope this property.
Hitherto the best has not been done with the 500 acres
around Fort Garry. No sufficient effort has been
made to dispose of it for town sites.

Contiguous to Fort Garry, and north of it, is the
newer city of Winnipeg, in 1 870 a poor village of 300,
now mustering 7,000 tolerably prosperous people. It
is nicely set out with its principal streets 132 feet wide,
with three small parks, which will be serviceable when
population becomes more closely packed ; a trotting
track and rifle range, two flour mills, a distillery, and
some good stores. A comfortable club house was
founded in 1874. Several hotels and twenty-three
drinking saloons, each pay annually #240 for their
licence, which is liable to forfeiture in case of miscon-
duct. The town-hall, churches, and most of the best
shops and houses are built of pleasant primrose yellow
bricks made from the underlying clay. The soil is of

Q

226 Manitoba.

more tenacious staple than in the upper portions of
the Red River Valley. Door scrapers, apparently un-
necessary in other districts, are universal here. Facil-
ities of transit are the great desideratum. Coals,
much needed in a locality where the thermometer
falls frequently to — 400. Fahr., cost 3/. \Os. a ton.
Timber, which is chiefly forwarded from Minneapolis,
reaches 25^. to 35^. per 1,000 feet. Provisions gene-
rally are dear. Wheat, however, owing to indifferent
means of transport, is 1 5 cents a bushel less than at
Fargo. Difficulties occur as to the direction of the
projected line of the Canadian Pacific, and as to the
suitable site for the much-wanted bridge over the river.
Useless surveys are made for which the Government
or somebody has to pay ; the railway enterprise is
weighted with a host of officials who appear to hinder
instead of hastening the work. Jobbery, nepotism,
and party politics also retard railroad and general in-
dustrial progress.

The heavy clay land which extends for many miles
around Winnipeg is generally wet. Most of it is
wisely left in grass. Oxen are chiefly used both for
ploughing and road work, and cost #120 to #160 per
pair. Horses and good mules, weighing 1,000 lbs.
to 1,100 lbs., reach nearly double that price. Cows are
in good demand at $25 to #30 ; they arc usually small,
of shorthorn and Jersey grades. Oxen are generally
bought by the butchers at 9 to 10 cents for the dressed
carcase sinking offal. The sheep are not numerous,
are narrow and poor, with a good deal of Merino
character, and are worth #3 to $4. The hogs are

Six Months sharp Winter. 227

not generally so good as those met with farther
south.

Five years ago the resources of Manitoba were so
imperfectly developed that the wheat, beef, and pork
requisite for the western military posts, for the police
and Hudson Bay stations, for the thinly-scattered
hunters and settlers spread over the Riding Hills, and
extending onwards towards the Rocky Mountains,
were in great part forwarded to Winnipeg from the
east. Now the 200 bullock teams which start thence
in spring for their 1,000 miles' journey north-west to
collect the furs, as well as the boats, many of 60 tons
burden, which ascend the great rivers on the breaking
of the ice towards the end of April, are mainly laden
with wheat and flour grown and ground in the province,
aud with home-reared beef and bacon.

Five miles from Winnipeg, at the Scotch colony of
Kildonnan, founded forty years ago, are about 1,000 in-
dustrious agriculturists occupied in mixed husbandry,
few of them with more than 160 acres, but all prosperous
and contented. The land, a few years since, exhausted
by wheat-growing, has lately been better managed,
and, although not clean, grows 25 bushels of wheat and
double that amount of oats. The hard yellow corn
preferred by the distillers is successfully produced.
Potatoes do admirably in the friable loam, swedes and
clover flourish. The annual rainfall, including melted
snow, is about 25 inches. The highest summer tem-
perature is 950, the lowest winter cold is — 40°, which
proves sometimes rather trying, and the keen frost
is apt provokingly to extend into April, preventing all

Q2

228 Manitoba.

agricultural work. On April 18, 1880, some of my
friends crossed the Red River on the ice and ten days
more elapsed before ploughing or wheat-sowing could
be begun. The severe prolonged winter is quickly
followed by a short, hot Norwegian summer ; grain,
fruit, and flowers, such as are familiar in England,
flourish and come to perfection.

At Selkirk, a rising town on the Canadian Pacific
line, where it crosses the Red River, twelve miles
north of Winnipeg, the railway cuttings are furnishing
capital lime-stone rock and brick earth and shingle,
all of which are being freely used for building pur-
poses. North of Selkirk, which stands high, and
descending towards the lake, the country is not of
much agricultural value, being chiefly divided between
wood and prairie swamp. Here and around Shoal
Lake, twenty miles farther north, many of the best
farmers are young men from Ontario, who, although
sorely tried by two wet seasons, are contented, gene-
rally doing well, and not finding the long cold winter
more trying than in their former home. Besides full
crops of grain, turnips grow well, producing 700 bushels
an acre, while 300 bushels of potatoes arc produced
often with the small trouble of cutting the prairie turf
partially with a stock axe, introducing the potato set,
and again firming down the turf with the foot. Eighty
miles south of Winnipeg, on each side of the Red
River, are the settlements of the Mennonites, German
Quaker emigrants from Russia, which they leave in
large numbers mainly to escape the conscription, so
irreconcilable with their principles. In this Red

The Assiniboine Valley. 229

River settlement 8,000 of these thrifty, industrious
people are collected. They have not, however, been
very fortunate in their location ; the land is sadly in
want of draining; and their wheat yield has conse-
quently dropped to 10 or 12 bushels. * Wheat-growing
is at present their principal occupation, but it would
be well if they were encouraged to multiply their re-
sources. It can never answer to have all the eggs in
one basket.

A much richer country opens west of Winnipeg,
extending along the northern bank of the Assiniboine,
peopled chiefly by English and Scotch half-breeds,
descendants of the pensioners sent out by the British
Government in the days of the Hudson Bay Company.
This race furnishes more industrious, painstaking far-
mers than the French half-breeds, who show more of
the restless wandering spirit of the Indian, who make
good trappers and hunters, and who become more
numerous about Baie St. Paul, so famous for its rich
green, English-like pastures. Westward, to Portage la
Prairie, 75 miles from Winnipeg, the country is a fine
rolling prairie, the soil lighter, more kindly and pro-
ductive than about Winnipeg. Good crops of wheat,
oats, and barley are being harvested during the last
week of September. The yield of wheat on the best
farms reaches 35 bushels of 60 lbs. Barley, which is
often put in as late as June, yields 35 to 40 bushels of
38 lbs. Oats cast 60 to 70 bushels of 34 lbs. Potatoes
produce 300 to 400 bushels. A good deal of Hungarian
millet is grown for fodder. Labourers with board get
#15 a month, and #1*50 to #2-50 is given in harvest.

230 Manitoba.

Even thus far north are abundant records of crops
destroyed by locusts, hatching early in May, becoming
winged, taking flight, and beginning their destructive
attacks in the end of June or early in July, and clear-
ing every green crop before them. Great losses were
thus sustained in 1874 and 1875. Land varies much
in value ; for some well-placed holdings near river
frontage $20 an acre is asked, but similar land farther
back from the river can still be got at one fourth that
price. Taxes, chiefly for school purposes, range from
10 to 30 cents an acre. Messrs. Read and Pell in
their report mention, ' that a great portion of the land
here is held by speculators and companies, and there
is quite a rush of farmers' sons to the west to acquire
land under homestead law and the right of pre-emp-
tion to the further quantity of 160 acres. The result
is that instead of all the land being developed in this
neighbourhood, three-fourths will remain as prairie
until the far west is settled. The singular mixture of
dirt and discomfort in the dress of the farmers and
in the house and surroundings was enough to astonish
anyone who was assured of the good and affluent
position of the owners.'

The Lieutenant-Governor of the State, M.
Cauchon, who, three years ago, came to Winnipeg
from Quebec, is well satisfied with the condition and
progress of this youngest province of the Dominion.
Both the Governor and his son are extensive farmers*
The town which has sprung up around Fort Garry,
he informs me, contained only 700 inhabitants
in 1 87 1, and has now ten times that population.

Sa les of Land and of Produce. 231

During the year ending October 31, 1876, 154,003
acres of land were disposed of at the Dominion Land
Offices, at Winnipeg. During the year ending October
31, 1878, 682,592 acres were granted, bringing the
total area of lands disposed of in Manitoba to fully
2,000,000 acres. The province is gradually becoming
self-supporting so far as concerns the chief necessaries
of life, though imports of foreign goods are rather dim-
inishing, and for the year to June 30, 1878, stand at
81,171,105 ; while the exports, steadily creeping up,
are valued for the same period at 8725,898.

Bishop Tache, the Roman Catholic archbishop of
this great domain, has resided for thirty-four years at
St. Boniface. During many years a missionary
amongst the Indians, he travelled much and gathered
the valuable information set forth in his work ' Seventy
Years of Missions in the North-west of America.' His
experience, discretion, and large-heartedness have
gained him great influence, not only amongst the com-
munity, where he has ruled as archbishop for twenty-
seven years, but throughout the whole province and
amongst his old friends the Indians. He has greatly
helped to forward the cause of education, has several
schools under his own special care, and was zealous in
the establishment of the University of Manitoba, which
represents the Episcopal College of St. John, the
Roman Catholic College of St. Boniface, and the
Presbyterian College of Manitoba. These bodies,
wisely working in harmony, with other powers relating
to education, grant degrees in arts, science, law, and
medicine.

232 Manitoba.

No one knows the country better than Archbishop
Tache. He tells me that for growing wheat, oats,
and barley an immense proportion of the land is as
well adapted as any he knows in England, France, or
Germany. What the country mainly wants, and is
now gradually getting, is cheaper and more accessible
communication by land and water. The Archbishop
aptly illustrated the need of improved transport by the
history of his cathedral bells, which some years ago
came from London and were landed at Montreal. In
their tedious transit by river, lake, and canal, they had
to be transferred thirty-seven times. Unfortunately
the belfry was shortly burnt ; the fragments of melted
metal were, however, gathered up and forwarded to
London, the bells were recast and again hang in St.
Boniface tower, after being again subjected to thirty-
seven portages on each of their journeys. Good
national schools, supported by liberal land grants and
where education is provided gratuitously, are rising
throughout the province. The different nationalities
agree very well. The Archbishop reports the Irish to
be steady and very fair settlers, but the young
Canadians frcm Maine and New Brunswick, accus-
tomed to farmwork and inured to cold winters, consti-
tute the best pioneers and farmers. The communistic
Germans, who infest Chicago and are met with farther
south, are not numerous here. The high price of coal,
often bringing #18 a short ton, his Grace justly observes,
is a sericus evil in the cold winter season ; but wood is
cheap, and coal abounds on the Saskatchewan and

Produces Wheat of Fine Qziality. 233

also south-west on the Yellowstone, and will prove a
great boon when worked and deported throughout the
country.

Mr. J. W. Taylor, United States' Consul at Win-
nipeg during the last thirteen years, and with previous
extensive experience in various parts of America, con-
firms the generally entertained opinion that the quality
of the wheat improves as the northern limit of its cul-
tivation is approached, and declares that the spring
wheats grown in Manitoba will always bring five to
ten cents a bushel more than those raised 200 miles
south. Minneapolis millers, anxious to secure wheat
rich in gluten, he adds, are sending their buyers to
Winnipeg, and in order to avoid the 20-cent duty
levied on each bushel used in the States, are carrying
it south in sealed wagons, grinding it in bonded mills,
and exporting the patent flour to England.

Lord Beaconsfield recently extolled the resources
of this portion of the Canadian Dominion. The
amount of good land awaiting cultivation is certainly
enormous. The whole of the tenants of an English
county might be translated to the Assiniboine
Valley, and supplied with the same acreage which
they farm at home without appreciably reducing its
great tracts of fertile land. The inducements offered
by the Canadian Government are sufficiently attrac-
tive ; even the railway lands can be bought upon
favourable terms. But prudent, thoughtful emigrants,
as already hinted, with reason, find serious drawbacks
in the want of cheap, convenient transit. Their pro-

234 Manitoba.

duce cannct be profitably disposed of. Wheat is often
ten cents a bushel lower on the Canadian side than
ioo miles south in the States territory. Coals at
Winnipeg and throughout the district cost, as above-
mentioned, SiS a. short ton. Lumber for house build-
ing and other work is one-third dearer than it is 300
miles farther south. All household requisites are high.
Until these disadvantages are removed by increased
and extended railway facilities, this desirable region
of Canada cannot be peopled and developed as it
should be.

The enormous area of land both in Canada and
the United States which, as I have endeavoured to
show, is suitable for wheat-growing, its wide geographi-
cal distribution, its varied conditions of climate, lessen
materially the chances of widespread failure, and justi-
fy the belief that for many long years no apprehension
need be felt as to the abundance and cheapness of
bread. Allowing for the exhaustion of land by con-
tinuous wasteful wheat culture, the fresh virgin soils
will still last for several generations. On this conti-
nent, certainly not one-seventh of the land available for
wheat-growing has yet been cultivated. Nor with the
area of cultivation extending westwards will the cost
of the wheat even when brought to Europe necessarily
be increased. Cheap machinery and cheap transit will
probably counterbalance this disadvantage. Cheap
land and cheap transport are the two important factors
which enable America profitably to make good the
food deficiencies of European countries. Her capa-

Enormous Area for Wheat-growing. 23-

bility to continue, or, if necessary, to increase, her
exports of breadstuff's is undoubted She now ex-
ports on an average one-third of the wheat, but only
one-seventh of the maize, she grows.

236

CHAPTER XV.

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

St. Paul, the capital of the State of Minnesota, is
one of the most charming and prosperous cities in
America. Its terraces of handsome stone houses rise
along the left bank and elevated bluffs of the Missis-
sippi. From many a commanding position the undu-
lating wooded country, the beautiful valleys, the
grand sweeps of the great Father of Waters, present
a magnificent, almost matchless panorama. Around
St. Paul are many famous haunts of the Indians, who,
with a spirit of poetry often seen in savage tribes,
have a strong appreciation of the picturesque and
beautiful. St. Paul repeats the story of many Western
towns. It has grown and developed with wonderful
rapidity. In 1849 it had 30 inhabitants, now it
has 50,000. Its aggregate annual trade is stated at
tV44,oco,ooo. It is the centre of a growing network
of railways. Its elevated position and fine climate
attract many visitors, especially from the relaxing
warmer Southern States. Limestone rock of beauti-
ful quality and of three shades of colour in grand
blocks is readily got out of the cliffs and ridges on
which the town is built, and, used alike for public

Its Extending Business. 237

and private dwellings, gives a solidity and freshness
which wooden or brick-built towns never possess.
Villas as sumptuous and inviting as those around Kew
or Richmond abound in the well-laid out avenues and
extend into the suburbs.

Concurrently with this material growth educa-
tion and culture have been well provided for.
Churches and handsome public schools, quite as im-
posing as those of the London School Board, are
numerous. But the cost of erection and maintenance
fortunately come only in part out of the pockets of
the ratepayers. One-eighteenth portion of the lands
of the State has been set aside for educational pur-
poses. The proceeds of lands sold are invested on
bonds, and the interest divided amongst the public
schools of the State in proportion to the number of
their scholars. This endowment at present suffices
to meet several weeks' schocl expenses. The balance
required is made up from the one mill tax, and from
the direct tax on the property of the district. The
increasing value of the school lands will however, by-
a'nd-by, reduce the proportion to be drawn from taxa-
tion. Gratuitous education is given to every child ;
more advanced culture is also provided. A State
University was eight years ago inaugurated near
Minneapolis, five miles from St. Paul, where the
President, William W. Folwell, LL.D., and twenty
professors and tutors, give gratuitous instruction in
literature, art, and science to nearly 400 students of
both sexes, and of ages varying from fifteen to
twenty-one. There are special curriculums for arts,

o

8 St. Paul, Minnesota.

for agriculture, and for mechanical science. On the
occasion of our afternoon visit, a lecture on elocution
was being given, other students were at geometric
drawing, another class were busy at chemical analyses
and investigations in the well-equipped laboratory,
while small children, apparently from some junior
school, without hindrance, were sauntering in an
orderly way through the natural history museum, rich
in elks, moose deer, and other western fauna, and un-
restrained by college don or janitor. Another lot of
plainly clothed youngsters were strolling in the con-
servatory and botanical museum, and evidently en-
joying and making good use of their rights as citizens
of the Great Republic.

On Saturday, the chief market day, the wide
streets of St. Paul are thronged with buggies and
waggons often to the number of four hundred ; wheat,
hay, vegetables, and other farm produce are brought
in ; lumber and stores are the homeward carriage.
The teams are chiefly active horses of the stamp of
a London light omnibus nag, and weighing 900 lbs. to
1,200 lbs. Some of the farmers have driven in twelve
miles ; more distant visitors have usually arrived by
rail. Factors collect and despatch from St. Paul
large and increasing quantities of wheat. Besides
home supplies 2,000,000 quarters annually pass
through the elevators for transhipment. By one
railway 1,000 cars of Indian corn are forwarded from
Omaha via St. Paul to Duluth at the moderate cost
of eight or ten cents a bushel, the cars loading back
with lumber. A large number of cattle grazed and

Mi 'n neapolis. 239

fed throughout the State are railed to Chicago and
New York, and during the past ten days three special
trains, each containing 400 to 500 compact, useful,
well-fed beasts, have been unloaded, fed, watered,
and rested in transit from Northern Wyoming or
Montana, where, at a cost of £3 or £4, they are
picked up, quietly driven, grazing by the way, to
Mandon or Bismarck, there loaded and forwarded by
the Northern Pacific to Chicago, a distance of upwards
of 800 miles, at a cost of about $y2$ or 13s. 6d. This
is a comparatively new source of cattle for the eastern
markets, and with the railway facilities is likely to be
greatly developed.

Driving north eight miles over beautiful undulating
downs of light sand and limestone soil, grazed by
useful dairy cattle, with varied view of water, wood,
and hill, Minneapolis is reached, famous for its great
water-power flour mills. Between the two cities,
which it is said will in twenty years expand and merge
into one, there is ample choice of drives : one by the
Mississippi banks is specially fine, and another, 60 ft.
to 90 ft. wide, where not already fringed with timber,
is being planted as a boulevard, and laid out in park-
like fashion with racing and driving tracks and broad
walks for foot-passengers. Here, on a capital Rotten-
row of the far west, numbers of horsemen and horse-
women turn out in the fine autumn afternoon, and
help to illustrate, as so much else does, that here in
the centre of the American continent, where, within
the memory of many inhabitants, Indians, elks, and
buffalo roamed the wood and prairie, there have

240 St. Paul, Minnesota.

rapidly grown prosperity and culture undistinguish-
able from that of many English towns dating from the
Norman Conquest.

The State of Minnesota comprises 53,459,840
acres : it approaches the size of Xew York and
Pennsylvania together ; it has two-thirds the area
of the British Islands. One-third is occupied with
timber, which abounds in the north-east, where the
country is hilly and rugged and the soil thin and
poor, yet capable of growing good oak, elm, and
pine. Another belt of timber extends from St. Paul
towards the south-western portion of the State.
There are 7,000 lakes, most containing fish, the shal-
lower frequented by wild ducks and geese, their bright
clear aspect fully justifying the title of ' Minnesota,1
or ' the sky-tinted waters.' In a primeval state these
waters have generally overspread this and adjacent
States, and on the Lower Silurian in the eastern parts
of the State, and on granite and porphyry in the
west, have deposited beds of limestone and cretaceous
clay on which arc imposed a diluvium of one to four
feet of fertile loam. On many elevated positions
huge boulders of blue granite, gravel, and rocks of
foreign material have been deposited by glaciers. The
level prairie surfaces, often extending for a stretch of
many miles in every direction, are interspersed with
more rolling country, and arc drier and cut up by
fewer ' slews ' or gulleys than are met with in the Red
River or Assiniboine valleys. These prairies are
kept bare of trees by frequently recurring fires, which
occasionally in spring, more frequently in autumn,

Prairie Fires. 241

devour every green thing. When they gather force
and are impelled by a steady breeze, they advance in a
V-shaped form at the rate of a mile in three or four
minutes, the flames towering fifty feet, and extend-
ing two or three miles wide. These 'fires sometimes
destroy houses, barns, and hay-ricks, sacrifice human
lives, and leave on the blackened prairie the roasted car-
cases of animals unable to escape from the devouring
element. The prairie traveller, always provided with
a box of matches, when he sees the conflagration ad-
vancing, sets fire to the dry grass about him, and thus
speedily clears a space on which he stands scatheless
whilst the wall of flame turns aside. To protect
homesteads, hay or corn ricks, or young trees from
such danger, the land around for several yards is
ploughed. Trees eight or ten years old stand the
scorching. Rivers and lakes along their southern
and eastern shores usually escape the fire, which
travels with the prevailing north or north-westerly
winds. These recurring fires get rid of coarse grass,
continually furnish valuable plant food, and improve
the herbage.

The extreme winter cold is probably the chief
disadvantage of life in Minnesota ; but although the
thermometer sometimes falls as low as — 4odeg., the
atmosphere is dry and clear, the sun shines, and if
care is taken that the ears are not frosted and one
can move briskly about, there is less discomfort than
in damper Eastern climates with the temperature
60 deg. higher. Keen cutting winds occasionally
drive across the prairies ; there is seldom much snow

R

242 St. Paul, Minnesota.

— more would be acceptable. The summer heat in
the shade reaches 90 deg. ; 22 in. to 28 in. is the rain-
fall reported in various seasons and localities.

Farming in Minnesota is more diversified than in
many other States, either to the north or south. As
in Dakota and Manitoba, wheat is grown ; the spring
varieties are almost invariably preferred ; the hard
winter and sparse protection of snow prevent the
successful planting of winter wheat. The ample crop
of 1877 produced, according to the United States
official returns, upwards of 33,000,000 bushels, or an
average of 1 85 bushels an acre: but the scorching
summer of 1878, and the dry spring of 1879 reduced
the average of both these years. Although some
successful managers secured 20 bushels per acre, a
good many, unfortunately, had to content themselves
with eight or ten. More generally satisfactory results
were secured in 1880, and with the widening area of
cultivation upwards of 42,000,000 bushels of wheat
are now annually produced in Minnesota.

Indian corn, although not so largely grown or so
luxuriant as in Nebraska, Southern Iowa, or Missouri,
thrives capitally and pays well. The State is credited
with 17,000,000 bushels in 1878, which is an average
of 30 bushels an acre. Still larger returns have been
obtained from the extending cultivation of 1879 and
1880. Probably three-fourths of the corn-crop is
wisely consumed at home in the feeding of cattle and
hogs. Half a million acres are devoted to oats.
The yield is officially stated at 335 bushels ; the
produce does not, however, usually weigh over 32 lbs.

Ca ttle- rea ring a nd Feeding. 243

a bushel. The cultivation of barley is extending
both for malting and for feeding. In many districts
linseed is being tried, but although profitable use
can be made of the seed, the fibre is not yet readily
disposed of. Sorghum is grown in -many counties,
and yields an abundance of rich syrup, producing
readily crystallisable sugar. For the preparation
and refining of this sugar a manufactory has been
established at Farribault, 40 miles south of St. Paul.
Potatoes and other vegetables grow well.

Within the last few years cattle are being reared
in increasing numbers, of improved quality, and with
satisfactory profit. The chief difficulty and expense
is providing a really useful bull. The cows run on
the prairie or among the shaded shrubs. Water is
abundant, and where lakes and streams are not
accessible, a well of 20 ft. to 50 ft. reaches a good
supply. No provision generally is made for roots or
green crops to carry the stock over the winter ; but
hay is cut and cocked at the cost of $V2$ per ton, and
is brought in for the stock as they require it in winter.
In many districts hay well saved can be delivered to
the farmers' stables at #2-50 to £3 a ton of 2,000 lbs.
As three tons of this useful blue-joint hay, and 3 lbs.
or 4 lbs. of corn, worth one-halfpenny a pound, will
keep in improving condition a two-year-old beast
throughout the four or five months of winter, some
estimate may be formed of the moderate cost of
stock-rearing. The summer feeding entails even less
trouble and expense. A lad at $6 or 08 a month
will take charge of 50 to 100 cattle on the prairie,

R 2

244 ^. Paul, Minnesota.

on one's own farm, or graze them over unoccupied
Government school or other lands, where the only
fault of the grass is its luxuriant abundance, occasion-
ally altogether concealing the stock grazing among
it. For the privilege of such pasturage over the un-
occupied lands of absentees rent is seldom asked or
offered. One successful stock owner showed me,
however, several Government sections which he rents
for one cent an acre annually, and without any restric-
tion as to mowing and carrying the hay on to his own
land adjacent.

Sheep as yet are not much cultivated, are generally
more or less of the Merino character ; wool rather
than mutton is still desiderated ; the confinement of
the stock during the long winter, and their restriction
during that period to dry food, somewhat interfere
with thriving. With cheap sheds, more yard room,
a few roots or cabbages, which grow capitally,
mixed with the hay and corn, and some attention
to their feet, there is no reason why sheep should not
answer well. Hogs are not so numerous as in the
more purely corn-growing States of Iowa and Mis-
souri, but are generally good. Indeed, I have not
seen a thriftless bad pig since I landed in America.
Horse breeding is receiving attention, and much need,
for the horses are neither as big, shapely, nor as pro-
fitable as they should be.

The prosperity of Minnesota has been mainly
fostered by the extensive and energetic development
of her railways. The Mississippi, navigable for 90
miles above St. Paul, was originally the great highway,

Extension of Railways. 245

and still proves useful for the moving of lumber and
some heavy goods. In 1862 the State had but 10
miles of railway ; now she has 3,000 miles, and is
laying down upwards of 300 miles annually. Through
the level prairie, without any heavy cuttings or
embankments, with only low wooden bridges, such
lines are constructed and equipped at about 3,000/. a
mile. The St. Paul and Sioux City and other enter-
prising lines do not always wait for the march of
population westward ; they obtain from the State a
grant of every alternate section of one square mile or
640 acres for ten or twenty miles on each side of their
approved line ; they push their railway into the new,
scarcely inhabited, country. There are no heavy
Parliamentary expenses, no litigation with captious
owners objecting to severance of their estates, not
even a sportsman puts in a plea for the disturbance
of game. Within six or eight months a line of 50
miles is often surveyed, staked out, and built, the iron
rails laid, station houses put up every six or seven
miles, and a steady fellow appointed, whose principal
work for some time is in his garden. But as emi-
grants follow along, the man's importance and income
speedily increase. He has a small percentage on the
business done ; he has something for showing the
railway lands, which are soon picked up at prices
varying from $4. to $S an acre. Those three or four
miles back from the railway are obtainable at less
money. In Minnesota, the Government lands have
almost all been taken up under homestead, pre-emp-
tion, or timber grants, and the various railway com-

246 St. Paid, Minnesota.

panies are hence the chief parties from whom good
accessible lands can now be obtained. The price of
land, as might be expected, varies considerably with
its situation and other circumstances, beginning as
low as #3 an acre. It is, however, steadily rising.
Near railway stations, even 100 miles from St. Paul,
a great deal bought or pre-empted at #1 or $2 an
acre is now worth #10, and where buildings have
been erected, trees and fences planted, and other im-
provements made, even purely agricultural sections
sell for #20 to #25. Although a large proportion of
the State has already been disposed of to settlers,
speculators, and others, and although a considerable
area is usefully occupied for grazing, not one-tenth
has as yet been brought under cultivation, and of that
cultivated portion certainly not one half receives the
ploughing and other labour requisite to produce the
best returns. The deep, good, easily worked soil
which is so widely distributed in this State only needs
more labour, capital, and steady industry to increase
its production both of bread-stuffs and of meat.

Market-gardening, which flourishes on the light,
friable loam around St. Paul, is pursued chiefly by
Germans, who have recently been paying £30 to £40
an acre, and generally cultivate five to ten acres.
Some have advances to about half the value of their
purchase, accommodation for which they have to pay
10 per cent. Most of the smaller farmers also grow
the commoner vegetables for sale in St. Paul and
Minneapolis, succeeding particularly well with potatoes,
which produce 200 to 300 bushels an acre, and sell at

Cheap Pasture for Cows. 247

about 25 cents per bushel, with cabbages, which bring
4 cents or 5 cents per head, and with onions, which
fetch 35 cents per bushel. There is nothing special
to note in the management of these vegetables.
These vegetable growers as yet are, however, the
only farmers who appreciate the value of manure
and find time to apply it. In the west it is still gene-
rally regarded as a waste product, to be got out of the
way as cheaply as possible. When it accumulates
several feet high around the buildings, a stream is
sometimes turned on to carry it away, or the hovel
itself may be moved. If the manure is carted, it is
generally to fill up some hole or make a road.
Wheat straw sells at #3 to $4 a ton in St. Paul, but a
few miles out it is valueless and thousands of tons
are annually burnt throughout the State. When the
paper mills which are in contemplation in various
districts are in full operation, straw may become of
some value independently of its agricultural uses.

Owing to the abundance of common lands and
grazings in the woods or on unoccupied prairie land
rent free or at nominal rates, many cows are kept in
the neighbourhood of St. Paul. They are seen in
herds often numbering 100, and are looked after, as
the law insists, by a lad. Some are turned out with
their calves at foot. Many are decorated with a bell
hung round the neck. All are brought in and distri-
buted to their owners at night. Milk sells at about
lod. per gallon. Butter is of good quality, usually
made rather salt, and worth is. to is. ^d. per lb.;
cheese is rarely made. All the considerable dairy

248 St. Paul, Minnesota.

folks have ' spring houses,' usually built of stone,
situated on some stream or lake, sheltered by a few
trees, with the water flowing through rude clay, stone,
or iron tanks, in which the tins of milk are placed so
soon as drawn from the cow. All these people are
comfortable and well-to-do. Their common history
is ' ten or twenty years ago they had nothing.' Now
they own, often without encumbrance, their land and
what it carries.

Writing of corn and cattle, of land, its capabilities
and its value, I cannot stay to describe this beautiful
and varied country : the woodland drives by the
banks of the Mississippi ; the crystal bays of Minne-
tonka Lake, on which four large steamers carry ex-
cursionists ; the delicate, lace-like tracery of the
Minnehaha Falls, or the grand commanding position
of Fort Snelling, built in 18 19, 70 ft. above the meet-
ing of the waters of the Minnesota and Mississippi,
famous in many an Indian campaign, and now the
chief United States fort of the North-west. Beyond
this are wonderful upheavals of the displaced sand-
stone and limestone rocks. At Mandota, hard by,
General Sibley forty years ago built the first private
residence in the country, having no white neighbours,
excepting in the fort, for 300 miles. No one has
been more intimately concerned in the progress of
this State than General Sibley, who informs me that
his love of wild sports brought him here in 1834. As
head of a great fur-trading company, he travelled
widely over the North-west, with a faithful white
servant ; he lived much among the Indians, receiving

Game Laws. 249

from them uniform kindness, often supplied with the
best their slender resources could furnish. In his
hunting expeditions he constantly encountered herds
of moose and buffalo. With Indian troubles looming,
he was rightly regarded the fittest man to command
at Fort Snelling, and more recently he was elected
the first Governor of Minnesota.

Although the elk, buffalo, and other big game have
retired before the advance of colonisation, there is
still abundant sport in the woods and on the prairies,
and from trains, from carriages, and when on foot, we
have raised countless prairie chickens, grouse, quails,
golden plovers, wild ducks and geese, great sand-hill
cranes, weighing 20 lbs. and fat as turkeys at Christ-
mas, with rabbits and hares, the latter oddly termed
Jack-rabbits. A sportsman desirous of striking into
new but pleasant quarters for either shooting or fishing
might do much worse than come to Minnesota. He
can reach St. Paul within 1 5 days from London, and
at a moderate cost of ^"25. Solicitous to preserve
good sport, Minnesota, in common with other States,
has enacted game laws. There are no penalties
against shooting or trapping on other people's land.
The sportsman can shoot or fish where he lists. The
small owner or tenant has himself to blame if any
damage is sustained from game ; but a close time is
rigidly prescribed, and infringement of its provisions
is punished by fine or imprisonment. It is unlawful
to kill or traffic in the subjoined descriptions of game,
excepting during the following periods : — Woodcock,
July 4 to November 1 ; prairie chicken, August 15

250 St Paul, Minnesota.

to October 1 ; quail or partridge, September 1 to
December 1 ; ruffled grouse or pheasant, September
1 to December 1 ; aquatic fowl, September 1 to May
15 ; elk, deer, &c, November 1 to December 15 ;
brook trout, April 1 to October 1.

Two farms visited in the neighbourhood of St.
Paul afford some idea of the farming of the locality.
Mr. Smith, of the Meadows, owns 300 acres three
miles from town ; 140 acres were bought in 1867 at
£20 per acre, but subsequent and more recent ad-
ditions have cost from #25 to £40 an acre. The
land is undulating, and was chiefly underwood and
scrub, which has been grubbed at a cost of S20 an
acre with $5 for clearing off the timber and £5 for the
first ploughing. These items forcibly set forth the
expenses of bringing woodland under thorough cultiva-
tion. About £10 an acre was however realised by the
sale of the wood. The farm is enclosed and conve-
niently subdivided. Before it was enclosed 500 cattle
occasionally strayed over it, devouring everything
almost as closely as the locusts did in some districts
in 1874 and 1875. Draining a few springy, wet places
has been effected with 3 in. pipes placed 4 ft. deep.
Eighty acres are still in wood, with a lake of ten
acres, which it is proposed to drain. A stable and
cattle shed, with a barn overhead, has been built of
stone and timber, 100 ft. long and 50 ft. wide, covered
with wooden shingles, or thin slips of wood cut and
put on like slates. The building, which is 48 ft. to
the eaves, is divided into two stories ; the lower,
eight feet high, partitioned the long way, allows four

Mr. Smith, of the Meadows. 2 5 1

rows of cattle to be tied up. Accommodation is said
to be provided for no animals; but such a number
would necessitate close packing. The upper barn
portion will store 200 tons of hay, with bran and
meal, and through convenient hatches and shoots, and
with very little manual labour, the horses and cattle
below are fed. A well 20 ft. deep is sunk in the
middle of the shed, and with pump and iron piping
the water is conveniently distributed. A very nice,
well-finished dwelling-house of wood, with ten rooms,
has been erected at a cost of #2,000. Around the
house evergreen shrubs have been planted, and
several hundred apple trees, but many of these have
perished from frost.

Mr. Smith frankly confesses that he would have
had a much better return for his labour and capital
had he gone to a western prairie, where, without
clearing expenses and expenditure of time, he might
at once have stuck in his ploughs ; but with a liberal
education, and anxious to attend science and other
lectures at St. Paul, he preferred to remain near the
town. The increased value of his estate, which
would now sell for $60, would, however, repay outlay.
About 100 acres are still under the plough, and 120
are in grass. The crops are good. On the newly-
broken land Indian corn is first taken, producing 50
bushels of shelled corn, which is used for the stock.
Wheat follows, sown in spring, and leaving 15 to 25
bushels an acre. Potatoes have occupied a variable
but considerable breadth, do well on the peaty loam,
help to clean the land, get rid of the prairie grasses,

252 St. Paid, Minnesota.

and bulk 250 bushels. Portions have been sown with
oats, yielding 40 to 50 bushels an acre. No very de-
finite rotation is followed, but Mr. Smith is gradually
sowing most of his land with clover and Timothy,
intending, for the present at any rate, to let it
remain permanently, graze it with cattle, or cut hay
and sell it in St. Paul for #5, which can be got for
good samples of ' tame ' grass, as the cultivated variety
is aptly termed. The stock of the farm, reduced by
recent sales, consists of seven horses, four two-year-
old colts, five cows, about twenty cattle of various
ages, and some good pigs ; but there are no sheep.
Four labourers are regularly employed at a cost of #1
a day for each, excepting in harvest, when rates
are doubled.

Mr. Sam Deering, of Bluffdale, a mile from St.
Paul, is a capital specimen of a Western settler. He
came to his present abode as a tenant thirteen years
ago with a waggon drawn by four bullocks, followed
by seven small cows, and containing a poor stock of
goods. By thrift and industry he now owns his 75
acres, has built good barns and premises, and is
master of 120 good cattle, of which about 25 are
superior pedigreed shorthorns. He has seven useful
Gwynnc cows and heifers ; the older ones bought at
Mr. Gibson's sale — one, Miss Gwynne, roan, of April
1873, following 2d Duke of Oneida, from Atlantic
Gwynnc, purchased by Lord Lathom at the famous
New York Mills sale. Besides these are an old
Princess cow and her smart roan heifer calf, and
several prize-winning sorts of less notable pedigree.

Successful Shorthorn Breeding. 253

Bull calves are sold readily at 25 to 50 guineas. The
young stock are from the deep, massive, useful 3d
and 5th Marquis of Oakland, the best of these two
from a Gwynne cow sent to an Ardrie Duke. From
the grade cows, now three and four times crossed with
the shorthorn, the bull calves, no matter how promis-
ing, are wisely sent to the butcher whenever they are
worth $ 1 o or $ 1 2 ; a few heifer calves when two or three
weeks old are disposed of to breeders at $25 to #30.
The stock are well kept ; none are forced, but all are
doing well. Mr. Deering sensibly insists that nothing
pays unless done well. Several ten-months heifers
the useful steelyard shows to weigh already 700 lbs.,
and they are steadily gaining 100 lbs. a month. The
cows are expected to produce 24 to 25 quarts per
day ; several calved six months are still giving 1 5 to
16 quarts ; the milk is chiefly sold new at St. Paul
for 5 cents a quart. The cows, mostly good grades,
are milked at 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. So steady is the de-
mand (or the milk, even of 70 cows, that little butter
is made. The annual milk sales reach #7,000 ; the
sales for stock hitherto have been irregular, owing to
the herd being steadily increased, but it has lately
averaged #3,000 ; and as the pedigree shorthorns
increase and more young bulls are sold at advancing
figures, higher averages will be reached. Natural
and artificial grasses constitute the chief food in
summer, the heavier milkers receiving, however, a few
pounds of bran and corn. Besides the farm of 75
acres, some common and woodland afford grass during
summer. From November until March the chief

254 St- Paul, Minnesota.

food of the cattle is Indian corn — sown after the
middle of May, put in thickly on land well manured,
and producing the biggest crop of stuff I have yet
seen in Minnesota. Reaching 6 ft. high, and thickly
covering the ground, there seemed to me to be five
tons of valuable fodder on every acre. On this corn,
given in the straw, the cattle of all ages — the short-
horns as well as the grades, the milkers as well as the
feeders — thrive equally well. A small quantity of
clover (which, being also manured, yields fully three
tons for the first cutting) and some prairie hay are
also used. Eighteen tons extra of hay were pur-
chased last winter, costing £3 delivered ; but the
chief extraneous food is bran, of which 200 tons are
used, costing S375, or 15^., per ton of 2,000 lbs. I
do not anywhere remember 75 acres of land pro-
ducing such heavy crops of fodder and contributing
so largely and profitably to feed 120 cattle and nearly
as many hogs. What Mr. Deering has done others
surely may do.

:0D

CHAPTER XVI.

THE MINNEAPOLIS FLOUR TRADE.

THE head-quarters of the manufacture of American
patent flour is Minneapolis, the twin capital of the
fertile State of Minnesota, where the mighty stream of
the Mississippi pours over a precipice 50 ft. high,
constituting the Falls of St. Anthony. They were dis-
covered on July 3, 1680, by the Jesuit father Hennepin,
named by him after St. Anthony of Padua, and de-
scribed in his journal as ' a huge cadence of water.'
Originally they were several miles lower down the
river, and have been gradually receding for thousands
of years, steadily wearing away a bed of blue limestone
about 30 ft. thick which rests upon a soft sandstone.
They have reached within 1,000 ft. of the upper edge
of the limestone strata. To make the best of the
ceaseless motive power and prevent further recession
of the falls, the water is now carried over an im-
mense apron or inclined plane constructed of heavy
wooden crib-work filled with stone, and the whole
floored over with timber. As there was great danger
of the entire falls being undermined and swept away,
the water having found a passage under the limestone
bed, a subterranean concrete wall has been erected

256 The Minneapolis Flour Trade.

entirely across the river and about 50 ft. into each
bank. This wall is about 100 ft. back from the brink
of the fall, and fills a chamber cut in the sandstone
commencing at the bottom of the limestone and
going down 38 ft. into the sandstone. This work was
done by the Government of the United States under
the direction of Col. Farquhar, U.S. Engineer Corps.
The total fall within one mile is about 75 ft. The
head and fall at the Washburn Mills about 300 ft.
below the falls is 40 ft. A short distance above the
falls the Minneapolis Mill Co., which controls the
water-power, has erected a dam 14 ft. in height,
which turns the water into a canal 60 ft. wide and
14 ft. deep, which runs parallel with the river, and on
either side of this canal most of the flour mills are
erected, while upon the dam seven saw mills are also
situated with a daily capacity to turn out 500,000 ft.
of sawn lumber, distributed hundreds of miles to
build settlers' houses and supply the wants of States
less bountifully provided with timber.

Still more widely distributed is the flour ground
by twenty-five mills, varying from three to eight
stories high ; their floors computed to occupy an
area of one and a quarter million feet, and filled with
superior modern machinery. This milling enterprise
has grown rapidly. In 1873 there were but twelve mills,
not worth more thon #50,000 each ; now there arc
twenty-five valued at a low estimate at #75,000. Four
have been built during 1S79. Largest of all is one
just constructed by ex-Governor Washburn, which
has a daily producing capacity of 3,000 barrels. The

Extending Milling Enterprise. 257

Washburn A mill has recently been completed and
fitted up with 30 run of stones, 40 sets of rollers, and
superior machinery and appliances at a cost of
$350,000. With the Washburn B mill it has a daily
producing capacity of 2,000 barrels of flour. The
Washburn mills gained the first prizes for the finest
flour exhibited at the great milling convention at
Cincinnati in 1880. Among the other big concerns are
the Crown Roller Mill, belonging to Messrs. Christian
Brothers and Co., with a daily output of 2,400 barrels,
and the several well-arranged mills of Messrs. C. A.
Pillsbury and Co., who turn out 1,800 barrels a day,
and whose brand secures the highest market quota-
tions on either side the Atlantic. The Messrs. Pills-
bury are constructing another handsome well-appointed
mill with a producing capacity of 3,000 barrels a day.
In i860 Minneapolis turned out annually 30,000
barrels of flour. Her present producing powers
would almost enable her to do this in two days.
W7ith a little extra effort she could nearly manage to
furnish the 12,000 sacks (of 280 lbs.) which are said to
be consumed daily in London. Her actual daily
turn-out when all the mills are working is 12,000
barrels. She ground in 1879 upwards of 1^ million
barrels, and of this large produce nearly one-third
(442,598 barrels) was exported. The only other
place where anything approaching to this business is
overtaken is St. Louis, where the flour produce of
1879 was upwards of 2,000,000 barrels.

The Minneapolis millers have formed an associa-
tion through which all purchases of wheat are made

S

258 The Minneapolis Floar Traae.

which employs agents in various parts of the country,
and distributes the supplies as required to the different
mills in proportion to their run of stones or rollers.
Settlements are made once a week. Every mill is
provided with its elevators, so that the cars, containing
400 bushels, all loose, are brought up, unloaded, and
are ready for despatch in fifteen minutes. The grain is
usually winnowed several times, run through a smut
machine, passed down a shoot, in which powerful
magnets retain any portions of wire, nails or other
metal, which, besides injuring the stones and rollers,
are also a fertile cause of explosions, such as that
which in May, 1878, destroyed Ex-Governor Wash-
burn's large mill and killed fourteen persons. Flour and
dust in a confined atmosphere are found to be almost
as explosive as gun-cotton, and hence a spark or
light often does incalculable damage. Even the
running of the empty stones sometimes suffices to
strike the fatal spark. Down copper tubes, enclosed
in a jacket containing steam, the wheat passes to dry
and toughen the skin and facilitate the separation of
the bran. Between slack rollers the wheat is cracked
that the bran may be separated with as little flour as
possible attached to it. The stones to which it passes,
unlike those which grind the soft winter wheats, are
run at low speed. Using hard spring wheats, slow
movement is found to produce the best quality of
flour. The stones, as at home, are dressed with the
diamond machine and hand-picked ; but the dressing
is generally better done Ly fewer hands at lower
wages, while sharpness is maintained by the use of

Hungarian or Patent Flour. 259

solvents. From the stones the ground wheat is
thrown on to the silken bolting cloths, which carry
over their farthest end the husk or bran, discharge
into other hoppers the tailings and middlings, in
another channel run off the cheaper, bakers' flour,
which has occupied the central layers of the grain,
while the germ, situate close to the hilum and con-
taining oil, which discolours and spoils the flour, is
also separated as an oily flake and made into the ' red
dog ' — the lowest quality of flour.

But at Minneapolis and many modern American
mills where spring wheat is used still further separa-
tion and reduction are effected. The middlings are
run repeatedly between stones, iron or porcelain rollers,
and through the silk bolting cloths. These processes,
first adopted in Hungary, and hence called the Hun-
garian process, are repeated four times, and in some
mills as many as twelve times. From these repeated
reductions of the middlings, which constituted the
layers of the wheat berry immediately under the
bran, and which until recently were almost classed
with the refuse, are made the finest qualities of tin
highly albuminoid or patent flour. This flour has
not hitherto been sufficiently appreciated in England.
It has, however, much greater strength than the
ordinary bakers' flour ; it takes up more water ; it
makes lighter bread ; a barrel of 196 lbs. makes 140
loaves of 2 lbs , while the same weight of ordinary
bakers' flour turns out about 125 similar loaves.
Forty-five per cent, of patent flour is sometimes taken,
but this large amount reduces unduly the quality of

260 The Minneapolis Flour Trade.

the other grades, and most millers are satisfied with
35 to 40 per cent, of patent. The better qualities of
spring wheat, graded Nos. 1 and 2 hard, produce
the heaviest yields of patent flour. Preference
is given to grain grown on tolerably fresh, un-
exhausted soils, and in a favourable, rather dry season.
Both ex-Governor Washburn and Mr. Pillsbury,
howrever, assure me that, with their improved ma-
chinery and repeated purifications, although the yield
is not so great, they can now turn out of No. 4 wheat
as good flour as was formerly made from No. 2.
They believe that milling will still prove profitable
when properly managed in America, provided wheat
can be bought for what it is worth to ship out of the
country, and has not its value artificially enhanced,
as it has been during the last two years, by rings.

Very notable in these new mills is the extreme
solidity of the whole structure, the absence of vibra-
tion, the abundance of air and light, the introduction
of air between stones and rollers, and, by a powerful
suction draught on the top story, the effectual rid-
dance of the dust,so disagreeable and, as alreadystated,
so dangerous in most older mills. In the upper part
of the Washburn Mills are simple and ingeniously-
constructed chambers, into which is received from
the stones and cleaners the up-draught of dust-
laden air, which deposits its burden on flannel
webbing, which is swept and cleansed from time to
time. The ubiquitous handy lifts rendercommuni-
cation easy between the several floors, but increase
the risks of fire spreading. The large amount of

Ex-Governor Washburn's Mills. 261

timber used in all American mills also greatly in-
creases their liability to destruction by fire ; while,
placed near together, as most of the Minneapolis
mills are, a serious conflagration would be alarmingly
prone to spread. The precautions against fire are,
however, admirable ; cisterns of water, hydrants, and
hose are on every floor : the men are well instructed
and drilled, so as to act promptly in case of emer-
gency. Patent safety gas lamps, enclosed in crystal
globes, are always kept with a speck still burning, so
that, without opening the lamp or the use of a naked
flame, the light can in an instant be turned up.

An increasing proportion of flour is exported in
sacks, which cost from 12 cents to 16 cents, according
as they hold 140 lbs. or 200 lbs. The smaller being
half the weight of the English sack, are preferable
on account of facility of movement. In sacks, the
flour is easily and cheaply packed both on car and on
shipboard. The sack, moreover, costs less than one-
half the price of the barrel. In sacks, moreover, the
full weight of flour is likely to be insured. In the
barrel, however, which costs 42 cents to 44 cents, and
weighs 20 lbs., the flour is less likely to be injured by
being placed in a dirty car or by sea water ; while the
stamped paper linings of Mr. W. H. Bailey of Sioux
Falls Mills, if used, at a trifling cost per barrel, not
only aid in preserving the flour, but prevent the com-
mon fraud of refilling barrels bearing a superior brand
with flour of inferior quality.

For the water privilege the Minneapolis mills pay
#1,260 for every nine run of stones, but some of the

262 The Minneapolis Flour Trade.

older concerns have more favourable terms. Many large,
well-situated English steam mills do not pay much
more for their motive power. Coals at 6s. to ~s. per
ton are estimated to put 2s. on each quarter of wheat
ground. Alike in a well-placed English, as in a
similarly favourable circumstanced American mill,
the total expenses for rent, interest on capital, water
or steam power amount to about 2s. on each barrel
of flour (196 lbs.).

British millers and bakers anxiously inquire whether
these improved American processes pay. A few figures
may afford experts the basis for their calculation.1
At Minneapolis it appears that 285 lbs. to 300
lbs. of No. 2 spring wheat, weighing 62 lbs. per
bushel, are required to make a barrel of flour.
About 50 per cent, of this flour is the ordinary

1 More exact figures regarding wheat grinding were furnished by
Messrs. Pillsbury and Washburn to Mr. Robinson Greenwood of
Blackburn, England, who accompanied Messrs. Read and Pell and
myself to Minneapolis. The subjoined statement was published in the
Report of the Royal Commissioners. The prices quoted were those
current in October 1879 : —

Messrs. Pillsbury

196 lbs. flour at

Currency
dols.

• 5'55

£ s. d.

Sterling.
[ 3 1}

£ *.. d
Sterling

94 ,, offal .

24

I O

579 " 4 i£ 1 4 «i

300 lbs. wheat, at 98 cents

per bushel 4-90 10

~3 8*

This shows a profit for grinding and expenses of $s. &§a. per barrel
of 196 lbs.

Cost and Profits. 263

bakers' qualities ; about 40 per cent, is the patent,
worth about 30 per cent, more than the bakers' ;
about 10 per cent, is 'low grade,' sold at about half
the price of the bakers' flour. Besides about 10 lbs.
of waste, in the making of each barrel of flour, there
is about 80 lbs. of bran and offal, worth \od. to Is., or
sold at the mill at $5 to #5.50 per ton of 2,000 lbs.
This low price of the offal is one of the American
miller's disadvantages, which he has hitherto vainly
sought to remedy by condensing the bulky bran into
a portable form and thus profitably forwarding it to
British markets, where it would be worth about five
times the price it brings at Minneapolis. The trans-
port of the flour to European markets, whether in
sacks or in barrels, is, however, effected through

Messrs. Washburn.

Currency

dols. £ s. d. £ s. d.

Sterling. Sterling.

196 lbs. flour at . . 5-55 1 3 i^
79 ,, offal . . -20 10

575 ' 3"? 13 "2

285 lbs. wheat, at 92 cents

per bushel . . 4*17 18 2^

5 9

This shows a profit of 5^. gd. for grinding and expenses per barrel
of 196 lbs.

Flour is reckoned as under : —

Dollars. £ s. a

40 per cent, patent at #7 . . .280 11 8

50 ,, Bakers' at #5 . . . 2-50 10 5

10 „ Red dog #2.50 . . -25 1 ok

5-55 1 3 *i

264 The Minneapolis Flour Trade.

bills of lading on terms very favourable for the
American miller. By several routes the barrel of
flour can be transported from Minneapolis to Liver-
pool, London, or Glasgow at $s. to ^s. 6d.

The larger conveniently situated British mills
have, however, nothing to fear from American com-
petition. They purchase their wheat in a much
wider market. The supplies of the whole world are
on offer to them. Wheat off the coast is usually to
be purchased on relatively easier terms than it can
be bought from the farmer who has grown it or
merchant who has stored it. The transport and
insurance charges are about the same as those which
the American miller will have to pay upon his flour.
But the British miller of means has a further advan-
tage. Many cargoes off the coast are for immediate
sale ; money has occasionally been advanced upon
them ; their sale being usually imperative within a
few days gives the purchaser an advantage which
may be estimated at about is. per quarter. The
Americans have no monopoly of improved machinery.
The ingenious and important improvements recently
made by American millwrights and engineers are not
confined to America. In many modern British mills
these improvements are introduced. On two of the
largest Lancashire mills American artificers are now
at work perfecting and modernising the machinery
and arrangements. As with wheat and meat, Ameri-
can competition in flour notably keeps down prices.
British millers have to work for smaller profits.
The business passes into the hands of larger capi-

American and British Competition. 265

talists, who work it systematically, and who, with a
big turn-over, can afford to do with narrower profits.
When the English market is dull and glutted with
American flour, the British miller often buys largely,
and makes handsome profits at the expense of his
American confi-ere. Like his New World compe-
titor, he has his wheat delivered on his premises by
barge or rail. Being in bags, it is hauled up by
cranes. Elevators are not used so frequently as they
are for the loose grain in America. The grinding is
done cheaply and effectively. By judicious mixtures
of various wheats better results are usually obtained
than where one sort onlv is used. The bakers say
that in purchasing from the best English mills they
have hitherto got a more uniform and reliable article
than when they bought American flour. The British
miller, brought into personal contact with his customer,
moreover, better understands and supplies his wants ;
and, lastly, he has the advantage over the American
miller in realising four times the price for his offal.

To the British public it probably matters little
whether the staff of life is imported as wheat or
as flour. The chief anxiety is to secure plentiful
and cheap breadstuffs, and never was there better
prospect of such plenty and cheapness. The British
wheat-producing capacity is limited. On many
British farms it is greatly more profitable to grow
other produce, especially of a more perishable descrip-
tion and which cannot be so readily brought from
abroad. Between one-third and one-half the wheat
annually required in the United Kingdom must now

266 The Minneapolis Flour Trade.

be imported. Other countries, notably our colonies
and the United States, can fill our deficit. For
many years to come America from her surplus can
supply not only the wheat we need, but various other
agricultural produce. She has a vast extent of cheap
good land. In the great trans-Mississippi zone,
where nearly half the wheat of America is now grown,
not one-fourth of the land available for wheat is yet
cultivated or even occupied. Throughout these regions
wheat, as has been demonstrated in these pages can
be profitably raised at 22s. to 25^. a quarter. In
many older States and on most farms a little more
care in cultivation and in the selection of seed would
profitably secure an increment of several bushels per
acre over the present meagre 12 bushels — the acre-
able wheat average of the United States. Recent
enhanced prices have greatly extended the wide area
devoted to wheat alike in Canada and the States.
With anything like favourable seasons, America will
have bigger surpluses than ever to dispose of. Hither-
to she has spared one-third of her great yield, or
upwards of 18 million quarters. Future crops will
doubtless provide still more if it is needed. The
transport charges on the American continent and
across the ocean add 50 per cent., and sometimes
more, to the first cost of these cheaply-grown bread-
stuffs. Any permanent or considerable rise in these
transit rates would obviously affect the price of bread
in England. But such rise wili be counteracted by
the introduction of improved machinery and appliances
in the several modes of transport, by competition

Moderate Transport Charges. 267

among carriers by land and sea, by augmented trade
insuring the loading of ships and cars going west as
well as returning east, by the reduced wages and ex-
penses induced by amendment or removal of the pre-
sent costly duties which the United States levy on all
imports. These considerations favour the conclusion
that the present moderate charges are very unlikely
to be advanced. A quarter of wheat (480 lbs ) is
now carried on through bills of lading 1,200 to 1,400
miles by railway cars or barges and 3,000 miles over
the ocean to British ports for about \^s. For 2s. 6d.
landing, dock, and other charges are met. With a
living profit to all concerned, American wheat can,
therefore, be landed in the United Kingdom at 40^.
to 42s. per quarter, and with tolerably favourable
seasons and without the disturbing influence of Ameri-
can rings, or exceptional conditions, this price is not
likely for any long period to be exceeded.

268 Lumbering and Prison Life.

CHAPTER XVII.

LUMBERING AND PRISON LIFE.

Stillwater is sixteen miles north-east of St. Paul,
on the confines of Wisconsin, beautifully situated on
the St. Croix River, which joins the Mississippi twenty
miles below St. Paul. It is one of the most important
and thriving cities of Minnesota, has a population of
8,000, is the capital of the lumber trade, and is
notable for its saw mills, its flour mills, and its State
Prison. The city has grown within thirty-two years,
has handsome churches and four sumptuous schools
supported in part from the lands set aside for the
purpose by the State, and furnishing capital gratuitous
education ; a public library and court-house, hotels,
an opera-house just completed, and intended to accom-
modate 1 ,ooo people. There are good stores and shops
built of Minnesota stone or of brick, the usual park
and pleasure grounds, and the carefully laid out mile
trotting track. From the precipitous cliffs, 1 10 feet
above the river bed, stretching away beyond the
lower town, are numerous villas, and a far-reaching
magnificent view of the windings of the silvery St.
Croix, of a picturesque undulating country, and of
dense imposing woods. A pontoon bridge spans the

Stillwater, on the St. Croix. 269

St. Croix, which is here about one-third of a mile
wide ; the central part swings out, making an opening
of 300 feet for the passage of vessels or rafts. The
river supplies capital fish — pickerel and pike, including
the peculiar wall-eyed variety known as jack salmon,
bass of three colours, the flat sun fish, sturgeon, and
white and red trout, in the summer afternoon rising to
the flies, and many of them 2 lbs. to 3 lbs. in weight.
The ' forest primeval ' around the town has been
felled, much of the undergrowth burned ; a younger
less vigorous timber arises, different from the original,
principally consisting of a scrubby oak and poplar.
The soil generally is light, consisting of gravel and
sand. On the untimbered spaces and on cleared land
farming has grown during the past twrenty years.
Owing to the improved demand for agricultural pro-
duce 3,000 to 4,000 acres of ' wild land,' during the
last two years, have been broken in for crops. The
farms average 150 acres. Corn growing, stock
raising and dairying are pretty equally prosecuted,
Stillwater itself absorbs the agricultural produce of
the district. On the common land about the town
many of the citizens keep their own cows. Within
an area of two or three miles land is worth 5*50 to
$100 per acre. In Stillwater beef sells at 6d. per
lb. ; poultry by weight makes the same price ; milk
is 2\d. per quart ; potatoes, is. ^d. per bushel.
Wheat generally sells at nearly 4^. per bushel, it
is not considered to pay at less than 3^. ; bakers'
flour is worth about 20s. to 25^. per barrel of 196 lbs.;
oats cost is. $d., Indian corn is. 6d. per bushel, hay

270 Lumbering and Prison Life.

36s. to 45-r. per ton, coal being 21s. per ton. A cord
of fire-wood, 8ft. long, 4ft. wide, and 4ft. high, costs

$4-

There are three flour mills at Stillwater, one
erected as far back as 1856, now possessing eight run
of stones, eleven sets of porcelain rollers, and two sets
of iron rollers. Besides the supplies sent in by neigh-
bouring farmers, 2,000 to 3,000 quarters of wheat are
brought from a distance for grinding. The wheat of
1879 is reported better than that of the previous year,
and as thin in the skin and producing flour of as
much strength as the superior crop of 1877. Five
bushels are used to produce the barrel of 196 lbs. of
flour. About 30 per cent, of patent flour in two
grades ; 60 per cent, of bakers' or shipping flour ; and
10 per cent, of a still lower grade are produced. In
the manufacture of the patent flour the middlings are
subjected to four reductions. There is a fair local
demand for the bran at #5 to #5.50 per ton. Neither
farming nor milling are, however, at Stillwater as im-
portant interests as lumbering.

For three hundred miles north by the banks of
the St. Croix, and away to Lake Superior, are great
forests, mainly of pine, oak, and poplar. Timber
merchants and speculators purchase from the State
great tracts of these forests at a cost very slightly if
at all exceeding the value of the standing timber.
The trees that will pay for transport are marked
during the summer or autumn, and are sometimes
barked for a couple of feet from the ground a year
before they are felled in order to arrest circulation of

Booming the Logs. 271

the sap, and more quickly season the timber. To-
wards late autumn the lumberers are sent into the
woods, build their log huts, lay in their stores of pro-
visions, and proceed to cut down the trees marked
for them. Faulty and worm-eaten timber is not re-
garded worth moving ; every tree as it is felled is
marked with the cabalistic sign of its owner. Along
the hard frozen snow or ice they are readily rolled and
dragged to the nearest stream. Mr. E. W. Hurant,
of Stillwater, informs me that timber standing in the
forest is worth #1.50 per 1,000 feet ; it costs #1.50
to #3 to drag it out and place it on the stream one to
three miles distant ; and about #1.50 to deliver it to
Stillwater. Brought down to the water, the trees are
rafted, the raft frequently being 300 ft. long, and 30 ft.
to 50 ft. wide. When deeper wider water is reached
several rafts are united. In convenient shallow por-
tions of the great rivers, as on the St. Croix, a couple
of miles above Stillwater, booming of the logs takes
place. Upwards of a hundred million feet of logs are
here boomed at a time. Some three hundred lum-
berers, usually picturesquely dressed in red flannel
shirts and blue serge trowsers, with long poles separate
the logs belonging to perhaps three or four hundred
different owners. Springing from log to log with the
unerring precision which practice alone can give,
finding firm footing on the bobbing, rolling trees, each
man selects and brings together the brands of pro-
bably a score of owners. Down the St. Croix and its
various tributaries two hundred million feet of timber

272 Lumbering and Prison Life.

sometimes come in one season, much of it is bound
direct for Quincy and St. Louis, but nearly one-fourth
is worked up at Stillwater. The timber in the rough
is worth $\o to #12 per 1,000 feet.

At Messrs. Seymour, Sabine, and Co.'s saw mills
120,000 to 150,000 feet of timber are cut in one day,
and 200,000 feet when the mills are running day and
night. A stout platform, 120 feet long, with parallel
rails, connects the saw mill and the bed of the river,
and has a dip of about 20 feet. Down these rails,
lowered by a great chain, a low car is run, is passed
under the floating tree, which is wickered to it, and
drawn steadily up the incline. The touch of a spring
raises and guides great levers, which, with human-like
precision and superhuman power, deposit the tree on
the saw table, and adjust it as if it were a nine-inch
batten. Circular saws square it, the outside slabs are
automatically run out of the way. Without loss of
time, with the slightest manual interference, but with
the help of the levers by the side of the table, the
squared log is removed to the upright saws of which
12 or 15 are constantly at work. Planks, battens, and
boards are rapidly turned out. About half the refuse
and sawdust, on endless webs, are run to the furnaces,
which supply the motive power which drives the two
120-horse-power engines. The refuse not thus used
is ground, and stored in large heaps for winter fuel.

The contiguous saw mills, belonging to Messrs.
Schiclcnburg. Ralcker, and Co., also produce a large
turn-out, and exhibit admirable labour-saving appli-
ances. Every day, logs, to the number of 800 to

Timber Cleverly Handled. 273

1,000, averaging 200 feet apiece, are cleverly raised
from the river on strong toothed wheels, fixed on the
endless chain which runs down the platform bridging
the space between the saw mill and the water, and
extending for some distance into the river. Over
these formidably toothed wheels the log is guided, is
caught and steadily held by them, is carried up into
the mill shed, 130 feet from the river, making an ascent
of about four inches in the foot. Whilst the chain
moves upwards with its heavy creaking burthen, a web
in the trough underneath moves in the reverse direc-
tion, and carries down into the river portions of bark,
which the firmly-gripping wheel teeth tear off, and
which, without this provision for its removal, would
block the raising tackle or carry into the shed a great
amount of rubbish. Deposited on the saw table,
adjusted by the great levers, which start up and work
like human arms, but more powerfully and untiringly,
the tree is squared between circular saws, moved to a
turn-table, on which it is deftly directed at right angles
toward the upright saws, which reduce it to the
desired planks or boards. Two trees, each 3ft. to
4^ft. in diameter, are cut up simultaneously, by two
sets of saws. The two lots of fifteen to twenty boards,
by another set of handy levers, are rolled together, and
wickered with a rope at each end. The ordinary
hands employed in the mills have #35 per month.
The men who file the saws have #5 to $6 per day, but
find a lad to help them.

In making the roofing shingles so largely used
throughout America, the dressed logs are cut into

T

274 American Lumbering and Prison Life.

blocks about 18 inches by 9 inches. These are
carried automatically against rapidly revolving cir-
cular saws, which slice the tough wood as if it were a
turnip. Down a hopper, into a lower chamber, the
stream of shingles is delivered, and they are then
edged, squared, tested, and bunched with hoop iron.
They are usually made 1 5 inches long, 4 to 6 inches
wide, 5-i6ths thick ; they cost $2 per thousand ;
1,250 cover one square, i.e., 100 square feet. Laths
of various sorts and sizes are made. Planing, tongue-
ing, and mortising machines are at work; ledged
doors, 7 feet by 3^ feet, are turned out for £1.25.
All the machinery is carefully covered in, and acci-
dents are very rare. From these mills the timber is
sent by rail and river often for 1,000 miles. The
sawn stuff, in deals, battens, and boards, with lath,
shingle, and lighter articles above, are made into rafts,
often containing a million feet, and despatched fully
700 miles down the St. Croix and Mississippi to St.
Louis, or still a thousand miles farther to New
Orleans. Steam tugs are generally engaged to drag
the raft, which usually takes twenty days to reach
St. Louis. On their floating home, the men in charge
generally erect their tent or hut.

The State Prison at Stillwater is a good specimen
of an American Penitentiary. Five to six hundred
male delinquents are placed here. Those committed
for one year and life sentences are not separated ;
and, it is stated, no disadvantage results from the
confinement of those committed for such variable
periods. The penalty of death being seldom inflicted

Stillwater Penitentiary. 275

in the States there is a considerable number con-
victed of murder, amongst them a pleasant intelligent-
looking fellow, a warder in the Hospital, and three
brothers of good birth and deportment, who robbed
a bank, boldly intimidated several considerable
villages, whilst they harried the principal houses, shot
several who endeavoured to resist their marauding,
and for some weeks terrorised a large neighbourhood.
Within a twenty-foot wall, where sentry boxes are
placed at various points, and where warders day and
night mount guard, with loaded rifle, the substantial
stone prison is built. The cells are in three stories,
the two upper entering from cast-iron galleries reached
by iron staircases. The cells on the ground appear
rather cold and damp, but, on the whole, are tolerably
comfortable. The passages and cells are warmed
with hot-air pipes ; the chapel, hospital, and kitchens
seem well arranged.

About the stone prison house are less substantial
buildings and sheds for machinery and workshops,
where thrashing and winnowing machines elevators,
and barrels are manufactured. This industrial de-
partment is in the hands of Mr. Sabine, whose saw
mills have just been described, and who furnishes
machinery and appliances, and pays the prison autho-
rities is. 1 id. daily for every man who turns out to
work. This arrangement has been in operation for
some years, and will still continue. It goes a good
way towards making the penitentiary self-supporting.
In the carpenters', blacksmiths', painters', and other
shops, the convicts have active healthy labour, which

T 2

276 American Lumbering and Prison Life.

for robust subjects is preferable to the shoemaking,
tailoring, brushmaking, and comparatively sedentary-
occupations chiefly pursued in our prisons. Associ-
ated with the convict hands, helping to train them,
and maintaining a regular and high character of work,
are 250 artisans who come into the penitentiary daily.
This association of the criminal classes with those un-
stained by crime, the active busy life, the training in
useful work which can be profitably pursued when
freedom is regained, the good conduct earnings which
often amount to 10s. per month, must exert an ameli-
orating influence on most characters, and prevent
relapses into crime. With more extended scope for
labour and less keen industrial competition, private
traders in America do not suffer as they might do in
this country from such employment of prison labour.
Warders perambulate the workshops, the convicts
are forbidden to leave their benches or duties, talking
is interdicted, the men are orderly and respectful,
insubordination and attempts at escape are rare, but
occasional malingering occurs.

The ample supplies of cheap timber are a suf-
ficient guarantee that only the best material is used.
Throughout the works a great deal of labour-saving
machinery is employed. Besides ordinary vertical and
circular saws are saws working at various angles, and
employed for notching. The tough ash axles are cut
and blocked by machines, doing the work better and
quicker than the twenty men they have superseded ;
they are shod with a cast-iron thimble, on which the
wheel runs. Twenty thousand to 30,000 feet of

Labour-Saving Appliances. 277

planing, tongueing, and grooving are sometimes done
daily. The oak used for the framework of the
machines have their four sides planed at one opera-
tion. Axles and other parts are bored sometimes
with seven holes simultaneously, and with much more
accuracy than could be done by hand. The iron
beaters for the thrashing machines similarly have
eleven holes drilled at once. Numerous mortising
machines are constantly at work. The wheel making
is well and substantially done ; nearly a hundred are
tired in an hour, and a rivet is put on each side of
every spoke. The thrashing machines, designated
' The Minnesota Chief,' almost every portion of which
is machine-made, are carefully put together. The
adjustment of the blast lor winnowing each descrip-
tion of grain is well managed from the outside.
The larger machines thrash 1,000 bushels in twelve
hours. With horse power complete they cost #650 ;
without horse power the price is #500 ; they are
usually driven by a ten-horse portable engine, which
may be bought for #1,400. Six or seven thrashing
machines are tested and turned out on an average
every day ; and about the same number of winnow-
ing machines and elevators, which, with about half
the reach of the best English machines, cost about #80.
A thousand flour barrels are machine-made daily,
have seventeen oak staves ; the champering and
crozing are done in the same operation. The barrels
are sold at about is. qd. each. One of the most
novel and interesting of the many arrangements con-
nected with the Penitentiary is an exhaust tube 3ft.

278 American Lumbering and Prison Life.

by 2ft., which runs 1,300 ft. from the saw mills on
the river edge, over the prison walls and up to the
wood yard. Up this tube the refuse timber from the
saw mills, broken into small pieces, is drawn by a huge
fan, at the rate of a ton and a half an hour, and con-
veniently deposited in heaps for winter fuel. In the
Old World Penitentiary, labour is a drug, and idle
unprofitable service has often to be allotted to the
uninterested inmates. Here, at Stillwater State
Prison, there is as much activity and energy as in any
free industrial private enterprise. Labour is as care-
fully economised, heavy toil is lessened by ingenious
appliances, and production is multiplied and cheap-
ened by the employment of the best machinery.

279

CHAPTER XVIII. '

SOUTH-WESTERN MINNESOTA.

The president and directors of the St. Paul and
Sioux City Railroad graciously placed one of their
saloon cars, handsomely decorated with the Union
Jack, the Stars and Stripes, with fruit, grain, and
other industrial trophies of Minnesota, at the disposal
of the Royal Commissioners, Messrs. Read and Pell,
of myself, and Mr. R. Cox, of Edinburgh. Accom-
panied by Mr. Horace Thompson, president of the St.
Paul Bank and of an important section of the line,
whose recent untimely death has proved a great loss
to this country, by Mr. A. Young, commissioner of
emigration, and several other gentlemen, and in charge
of Mr. James H. Drake, the able and energetic secre-
tary of the railroad, we started on Monday, October
6, for a week's survey of South-western Minnesota.
Flying ' wild,' or ' special,' liberty was given to pro-
ceed along the main line and branches over full 600
miles of road, to stop when and where desired, and to
use the carriages, as we freely did, not only for a tower
of observation, but as a hotel on wheels, where at
night twelve comfortable beds were frequently made
up. Thus sumptuously provided, we had admirable

280 South-Western Minnesota.

opportunities of seeing the country pleasantly and
rapidly. Steaming from under the rocky bluffs of St.
Paul, bridging the grand Mississippi, winding along
her beautiful banks, a wood country is shortly
reached, extending north and south for about 100
miles, through which for 40 miles our well-appointed
light train bowls along, travelling south-west. Amid
an aftergrowth of smaller stuff are still standing noble
specimens of ' the forest primeval' Some have their
death-warrant run round the stem 2ft. from the
ground. A circle of bark being gouged out, the tree
slowly dies, and the timber, when felled 12 or 18
months later, has become fairly seasoned. Besides
trees familiar to English eyes are quantities of the
rapidly-growing, moisture-loving cotton wood, a sort
of black poplar, and the tamarack, which, although
not of large growth, is prized for its toughness, and
is used for fence posts and railway ties. Such supplies
of wood prove valuable in a country where coal is
not yet largely worked and the winters are long and
cold.

In the open places in the woods and in rich
marshy flats by creek or river large quantities of hay
are cut, are cheaply collected into ricks, which, as in
the English fen countries, stand until the ground is
firmly frozen and transport is cheap. Such hay is
cut usually with machines, and got together with
rakes and elevators, at a cost of £1.50 to $2 a ton, and,
delivered in St. Paul, sells during the winter at $4 to
#5 per ton. Whether in the woods or in the more
open prairie cattle are kept. They are becoming

Shakopee Railway Shops. 281

yearly more numerous and of better stamp ; and in
the sunny, bright October day, with the thermometer
at 750 in the shade, are standing in picturesque
groups to the middle in many a lake and stream.

On the edge of the big woods we pull up at the
thriving town of Shakopee, where during the previous
week a serious fire had occurred. A telegram was
sent to St. Paul for an extra fire engine, which was
run from the offices on a railway truck, a railroad
engine attached, and within an hour of the despatch
of the message the fire engine was doing good work
at Shakopee, 38 miles distant. The railway company
has some engine shops here, and, driven by steam,
lathes, punches, with other machinery, are working
noiselessly. No British machinery of this sort is met
with west of Philadelphia. The artisans are receiving
10s. to 1 1 s. a day. Societies which are formed among
the workpeople wisely restrict their duties to benefit
purposes only. Strikes are unknown. Wages have
advanced steadily and naturally with increased
business. The societies give $20 to $30 at the death
of their members, but no provision is made for the
death of wife or children. Coal at present is chiefly
brought from Pittsburg, and costs in large quantities
#3.50 per short ton, but will be cheaper when the rail-
way is pushed through, as it will shortly be, to the
useful coalfields 150 miles south, at Fort Dodge.

The next important stopping place, 75 miles from
St. Paul, is St. Peter, a town of 3,300 inhabitants,
with, wide streets symmetrically laid out and trees
planted and protected by the side of the wooden

282 South-Western Minnesota.

footways ; two large handsome school-houses, forming,
as usual, the most prominent of the public buildings ;
a public library and book club, with numerous
churches — for even here the Scandinavian population,
which muster strongly, insist on having their par-
ticular dogmas duly represented. The land is light
and sandy ; the prairie rolling ; the grass cropped
short by cattle : the country has much of the appear-
ance of the Sussex Downs. On the common lands
which rise behind, cattle of the townspeople are
herded. A mile further over the ridge the land is of
heavier staple — a fine friable loam, 2ft. deep, growing
1 5 to 20 bushels of spring wheat, and although not
manured, still shows no visible deterioration. Corn
is, however, more certain ; from 35 to 50 bushels are
produced, and this secures the keeping of cattle and
pigs, which are not affected by the locusts and drought
that sometimes victimise the wheat crops of this and
adjacent States. The dry, down-like lands are
suitable for sheep, which in winter are yarded and fed
on hay and corn, usually given unthrashed. There is
no reason why flock- masters should not grow a few
mangel and cabbage to diversify the dry food and
insure the better thriving of the flock. Good land is
with difficulty procurable within two miles of the
town at #40 an acre. A quarter section of 160 acres,
a little beyond that radius, on which a good stone
house and farm premises have recently been built, is
on offer at #30 an acre. As is almost invariably the
case, the farmers own the land they cultivate ; but
here were 50 acres rented at gi.50 an acre, the tenant

St. Peter Lunatic Asylum. 28

■j

paying taxes. A few farms are run on shares, the
owner, in addition to the land, sometimes finding half
the seed, and contributing one-half towards thrashing,
each party taking half the wheat, corn, and oats
grown. Here, as elsewhere, are complaints that
assessments are made annually, and . that improve-
ments barely completed, and for which there has been
no opportunity of obtaining any return, are fully
charged.

Two miles from St. Peter is one of the State
asylums for the insane, commenced in 1867, and
finished two years ago, costing, with furniture and
appliances, 120,000/., capable of accommodating 600
patients, and occupied by 520 persons of both sexes
and various stations in society. Early in 1881 this
handsome structure was unfortunately burnt to the
ground. Throughout America private asylums are
very properly discountenanced ; the State asylums
provide gratuitously for all classes ; and here are re-
presentatives of all nationalities, their various languages
and idiosyncrasies considerably increasing the difficul-
ties of medical officers and attendants. As at home,
drink proves the cause which most commonly carries
patients to such institutions ; but the lone dreariness
of some of the sparsely-peopled western regions
proves a common cause of melancholia. The wards,
dining and sleeping apartments are particularly com-
fortable. Among the cases promptly sent to St.
Peter a satisfactory proportion of cures is reported.

The asylum has a good farm of 4 10 acres, lying well
sheltered under the bluffs, managed by the physician,

284 South- Western Minnesota*

details being carried out by his bailiff, an energetic
emigrant from the north of Ireland, who has a high
opinion of the capabilities of the farm, and declares
that he has never failed to raise 60 bushels of 32lbs. of
oats, fully 50 of Indian corn, and 150 bushels of first-
rate potatoes. The 30 milk cows are useful. A
superior well-descended short-horn bull is kept, and
calves are reared. Several bullocks, three years old,
brought in for three months' feeding, weighed i,65olbs. ;
100 hogs are bred and fed. The stone-built granaries,
stables, and other premises are well and strongly con-
structed. Some of the feeding cattle are kept in the
second story. By lifting a hinged plank in the floor
all debris is twice daily swept down into the pig yard
beneath. Water is distributed in iron pipes from a
pump worked by wind. The manure is utilised in
the capital gardens mainly cultivated by the patients.
The drainage of the asylum irrigates the meadows a
quarter of a mile below the terraced gardens.

Ten miles from St. Peter is Mankato, a prospering
town on pleasant rising grounds, with hanging woods
sheltering it from the north-west, the Minnesota river
running below and affording convenient water trans-
port, which has, however, been little used since the
railroad was made. The soil is light and easily
worked, and numbers of small farmers from the neigh-
bourhood express themselves fairly satisfied with
their position, although generally complaining of the
disappointing yield of the wheat crop of 1879, which
barely pays its way even at the low valuation of £S
(32s.), stated to be the cost at which an acre is grown.

Moderate Cost of Living. 285

Those who get the recent current rate of 80 cents for
No. 2 spring wheat will not, however, be losers with
the 10 bushels which they average. Although the
spring was disastrously dry, oats and corn have done
better than wheat, and cattle as elsewhere have paid.
The Roman Catholic church and school stand con-
spicuously on the hill ; two other schools, each
capable of accommodating 300 children, are in different
parts of the town ; a normal school with an efficient
preceptoral staff, capital lecture-rooms, and appliances,
attracts 100 young people of both sexes, who have,
as at home, a two years' curriculum before they
obtain their certificates. Several capital dry-goods
stores have a frontage and style more imposing than
are met with in many English towns of four times the
size and ten times the age of Mankato. In some of
the grocery stores were Harvey's and Lea and Perrin's
sauces, Cox's sparkling gelatine, and Colman's mus-
tard, despite the 30 per cent, duties which handicap
these ubiquitous luxuries. Beef and mutton sell at
six to seven cents per lb. ; poultry, #1.50 per dozen ;
milk at 4 cents a quart ; eggs, 3 to 10 cents a dozen ;
potatoes, 25 cents per bushel ; hay, $3 to #5 per ton ;
Indian corn, 20 to 25 cents per bushel.

Mr. R. D. Hubbard has completed a most sub-
stantially built flour-mill, with twelve run of stones, a
capacity to turn out 500 barrels of flour daily, and all
the modern appliances for producing a superior article.
For cleaning there are two large separators and a
smaller provided with magnets to remove iron nails
and any portions of wire used in binding the sheaves.

286 South-Western Minnesota.

Steam -heated chambers warm and toughen the grain
to prevent its breaking. It is crushed between stones
or rollers. The stones are still dressed by the old dia-
mond machine ; iron and porcelain rollers are also
employed ; the oleaginous germinal centre is carefully
separated by silk screens. The crushed grain is
ground, the bran stripped off, the flour bolted, separ-
ating middlings and leaving about 58 per cent, of
bakers' flour, worth $6 to #6.50 in New York. The
repeated reduction some four times over of the
' middlings ' produces the valuable patent flour, which
here constitutes about one-third of the produce, worth in
New York $ 7.50 to $ 8.50. The clean middlings put
through the purifiers leave about 7 per cent, of an in-
ferior flour which is worth about $ 5. The bran at the
mill realises $ 5, the finished middlings $ 12, the shorts
$ 7 per ton of 2,000 lbs. Although 1,000 miles from
the Atlantic seaboard, Mr. Hubbard has enterprisingly
laid out #80,000 on this new mill. His machinery is
driven by a 200-horse power horizontal engine, with
5 ft. stroke and 2ft. cylinder. The waste steam is
utilised to pump water for the mill at the rate of 400
gallons a minute, and, more important still, to drive
a larger pump which raises 2,350 gallons a minute for
the town, which, besides, has two artesian wells. The
wheat graded No. 2 spring hard is bought at 75 to 85
cents per bushel of 6olbs. ; 4f bushels weighing i85lbs.
are required to produce a barrel of flour (io,61bs.) ; a
through freight transports the barrel from Mankato
to Liverpool for Si./S, or 7s-, while one cent more
delivers it in London. British millers from these

Mankato Brewery. 287

figures may form some conclusion as to the sort of
competitor they have to cope with here in South-
western Minnesota.

Mr. Hubbard has also a linseed mill, which uses
up the linseed grown tolerably freely in the neighbour-
hood. At a small cost of labour, 10 to 20 bushels of
linseed are got per acre. There has hitherto been
small demand for the flax fibre. The linseed averages
4s. a bushel. There is nothing special in the mode of
manufacture : the seed is generally screened ; for
containing the steamed pulp, long-wool cloth bags
are regarded almost as good as the more expensive
camel-hair bags. One bushel of linseed yields two
gallons, or 1 5lbs., of oil, worth about 2s. 6d. a gallon,
and 4olbs. cake, which, although pure and good, is here
worth only $21, or 4/. 4s., per short ton. It is care-
fully packed for the eastern markecs and for Liver-
pool and Glasgow in bags containing 362lbs.

Mankato further possesses a brewery and a communi-
cative German brewer, Mr. Bierbauer, who purchases the
six-rowed barley of the country, which would be graded
as No. 3, weighs about 34lbs., and costs 35 to 40 cents a
bushel. Two and a half bushels of this barley make a
barrel of 3 1 gallons of beer. On this is paid a duty of $1
(4s.), which is not, however, due until the barrel is
sent from the brewery or sold, when it must have the
dollar stamp, with which the brewer must provide
himself, gummed over the spigot-hole. Beer of what-
ever strength pays the same duty ; no duty is paid on
malt ; no interference occurs and no duty is charged
on brewing small quantities of beer for home use.

288 South- Western Minnesota.

Beer sent out for sale without the dollar stamp sub-
jects the sender to a fine of #300. A deduction of j\
per cent, is allowed on the stamps. Brewers manu-
facturing over 500 gallons annually pay besides a
special tax of #100 ; those manufacturing less than
500 hundred barrels are charged £50. For the sale
of beer a #20 licence is required, and $2$ for a spirit
licence. Round the bung-holes of both the larger and
smaller barrels there is fixed a light iron casing, which
prevents splitting.

Sorghum saccharatum is grown in this neighbour-
hood and yields a rich syrup. Mr. T. E. Reeves, of
Le Ray, is stated to have got 400 gallons of syrup per
acre. He and his neighbours are now busy crushing
and refining. Mr. Reeves is turning out from his mill
60 to 100 gallons daily, expects to run 4,000 gallons
before the season is over, and considers that amber
syrup in suitable circumstances will yield double the
acreable return of wheat. The sugar crystallised
from the syrup is bright and good. A sugar refinery
is talked of at Mankato.

Eighteen miles east of the town, at Janesville, is
Messrs. De Graff and Hopkins's stock farm of 2,300
acres, of which 350 are under cultivation, and where
a Clydesdale and several superior Hambletonian
trotting-horses are kept, as well as a number of pedi-
gree shorthorns and Jerseys, with some superior Cots-
wold and Southdown sheep and pigs, a collection of
well-bred animals which should materially raise the
character of the live-stock of the district.

South of Mankato is Blue Earth county, through

Extension of Herefords and Shorthorns. 289

which the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad surveyed
a line in the spring of 1879. In six months after its
commencement, nearly forty miles were finished to
Winnebago, and in little more than a year a further
extension will be made to the coal-fields of Fort
Dodge, where coal can be put upon the cars at about
gs. per ton. At Winnebago the Southern Minnesota
railroad has also a depot. The land, much of it
settled ten to fifteen years ago, is rich, deep, and full
of vegetable fibre ; the river banks are well wooded ;
the prairie stretches away north-west full 500 miles
towards the Rocky Mountains, still affording location
for some generations of settlers. The farms vary
from 160 to 320 acres, are generally well laid out and
enclosed, frequently, with the barbed wire fixed on
maple posts so apt to lacerate stock running against
it. An English colony of good farmers is established.
Land is all taken up, and is worth £40 to #50 an
acre. Mr. Sherman, of New York, has 2,000 acres
under capital cultivation. Messrs. Shaw and Bullis,
who came out six years ago, went in for Hereford cattle,
have a herd of 60 Pale Faces, and find a good demand
for the young bulls. Four miles distant is the farm
of Mr. Latimer, who, besides his arable sections, has
1,000 acres of well- watered grass, creeks, and timber
bottoms, where he successfully keeps shorthorn graded
cows, and has recently purchased a useful Percheron
horse. From Winnebago, where twenty-five years
ago the only live stock were antelopes, gophers, and
prairie fowl, there has this season been forwarded

U

290 South- Western Minnesota.

direct to New York 170 carloads of useful fat cattle,
and their production is everywhere on the increase.

Twenty miles west of Winnebago is Fairmont,
seven years ago containing not a dozen houses, now
a town of 1,000 people, the head-quarters of an
English settlement, with substantial public buildings,
a grist mill driven by wind erected at a cost of #10,000,
and a cheese factory which uses the milk of several
hundred cows, extracts on an average lib. of cheese
from the gallon of milk, and does the whole work at
a cost of 1 cent per lb.

About Winnebago, eastwards in the Fairbault
county, and indeed in many localities throughout
Minnesota, Iowa, and adjacent southern and western
States, the cultivation of amber cane sugar is steadily
extending. There has long been a considerable
domestic manufacture of syrup from maize ; but the
sorghum saccharatum, or amber cane, is now
deservedly preferred. It contains nearly as much
sucrose as the sugar cane itself. It succeeds in a
cooler climate and on a drier soil. In South-western
Minnesota, 8,000 acres are now devoted to it. Sandy
loams, whether prairie or timber, are chosen ; properly
matured unhybridiscd seed, as soon as spring frosts
are gone, is deposited in drills on thoroughly stirred
land. The plants are harrowed while they arc coming
up ; like Indian corn, they should be worked with the
horse hoe and plough repeatedly. The canes reach
nine to eleven feet high ; as they approach maturity
they are apt, especially in a wet season, to shoot, and
any suckers require to be lopped off, for the un-

Cost of Amber Cane Sugar. 291

restricted growth of wood will often take 50 per cent,
from the yield of sugar. The cost of growing amber
cane is about the same as that of wheat : the harvest-
ing, crushing and crystallisation of the sugar is more
than double the expense of the field culture. Mr.
Charles Eustis, who raised 40 acres in i88o, gives the
following estimate of the cost of growing an acre of
amber cane :—

$

Ploughing . . . . . . . 1*25

Harrowing ....... 50

Planting ........ 50

Hoeing by hand . . . . . .175

Cultivation ....... 2-oo

Harvesting ....... 4-00

Incidentals ....... 1 -oo

#ll-oo

A gentleman near Fairbault, who has had six
years' experience of amber cane, gives the following
estimate of the cost per acre in English money : —

s. d.
Ploughing .......60

Harrowing .......10

Marking .......07

Planting . . . . . . . 1 S

Rolling ........10

Seed ........ 1 3

Hoeing ........ 12 o

Cultivating .......So

Stripping 46

Cutting ........60

Carriage two miles to mill . . . .120

£2 14 o

Crushing the canes, preserving the quality of the
u 2

292 South-Western Minnesota.

readily fermentescible syrups and crystallising out
the sugar prove costly operations, and are not always
satisfactory, when conducted rudely on the small
scale. An acre of canes weighing about 10 tons are
crushed for about 60s. to 66s., this cost being toler-
ably equally divided amongst labour, fuel and interest
on, or tear and wear of, machinery. In the neighbour-
hood of Fairbault, where thirty farmers are now
successfully growing the amber cane, Dr. James
Wilhelm has established a refinery with powerful
crushing rollers, appliances for the preservation of
the syrup, steam-heated pans with the heat under
perfect control, where the whole of the operations can
be effected with a minimum of waste and expense.

Under proper management the acreable yield of
syrup ranges from 1 50 to 200 gallons, worth about 2s.
per gallon. The lesser produce would realise a gross
return of 15/. an acre; allowing 5/. for expenses of
cultivation and crushing, a profit would remain of 10/.
an acre. In many instances as much as 3s. per gallon
is obtained for fine syrup. An acre of amber cane
properly treated yields i,OOOlbs. of crystallised sugar,
and about one-half that amount of molasses, which,
like the seed of the cane, proves useful food for cattle
and sheep. Dr. James Wilhelm for several years has
been investigating amber cane ; he finds the amount
and variety of sugar vary considerably in the plant in
different stages of growth. Early in August the
sorghum contains only six per cent, of cane sugar, but
more of grape sugar : the latter, however, diminishes,
and when maturity is reached in September, the cane

Profitable Growth of Amber Cane. 293

sugar has advanced to 10 or 12 per cent. From every
gallon of good syrup 61bs. of superior well crys-
tallised sugar is obtained. On suitable land and in
fitting climate the growth of amber cane sugar must
develop into a great and profitable industry, and
might supply a large proportion of the .sugar now im-
ported from the West Indies and other sources and
for which the United States at present pay annually
17,000,000/.

294

CHAPTER XIX.

PRAIRIE FARMING IN MINNESOTA.

WlNDOM, in Jackson county, 150 miles south-west of
St. Paul, is a town of 700 inhabitants, with a smart
park laid out with trees — always pleasing in a prairie
country — several busy stores, two railway stations, and
a capital hotel, capable of accommodating thirty or
forty people. As is very general throughout America,
the townspeople sometimes, even with their families,
board and even live at these hotels. Catering for the
public is hence in small towns much better done in
America than in England. At the refreshment
stations even in remote western localities, and at these
smaller hotels, on innumerable little assiettes at every
meal, a varied and good repast is set forth, consisting
usually of fish, several sorts of butcher's meat, and
fowl, costing, of course, less than half what they do at
home, usually fairly cooked, although frequently one
hears the order : ' As rare as you can, and the gravy
red,' while the beef sometimes proves refractory.
Innumerable vegetables — potatoes, common and
sweet, perhaps whole, and mashed, corn, beans, toma-
toes, &c. — are presented. ■ Pastry, puddings, and ice
follow without stint ; several descriptions of bread, of

Bar den- Bar den. 295

wheat or corn, are offered, with tea, coffee, and abun-
dance of good milk, a glass of which is ordered even
at dinner much more frequently than wine or spirits.
At such hotels and refreshment rooms these meals
are charged at the rate of 2s. to 3.?. each. Drinkingr
if done at all, and it is rare among the western farm-
ing population, consists in a ' straight tip ' of spirit
before sitting down to meals, or of a ' nip ' after
supper.

Twenty miles north-east of Windom, near St.
James, is Barden-Barden, on the line of railroad, with a
convenient private siding close to the house. Here
Mr. R. Barden, son of a New York State farmer, him-
self a wheat buyer as well as a farmer, has 2,100 acres,
1,400 being under crop. The farm was bought three
years ago at $6 to $7 an acre. Three crops have been
reaped, barns and stables have been built, and com-
mencement has been made of a three-storied stone
house. 150ft. long by 60ft. wide, in the excavated
basement of which Mr. Barden purposes to feed in 3ft.
stalls 200 cattle. Overhead, conveniently entered from
a bank rising on one side, calves and yearlings will be
accommodated, while the top story, which can also be
reached by carts along a winding ascent, will be
devoted to hay, roots, and grain, which will be sent
down to the mangers by shoots. From a well 30ft.
deep, worked by a windmill, water will be forced to a
tank in the top of the building, whence it is conveyed
throughout the stalling.

Mr. Barden believes that the management of land,
generally successful in England, must be successful

296 Prairie Farming in Minnesota.

here. He approves of diversity of cultivation and
rotation of crops ; twelve or fifteen years' continuous
wheat growing without manure would exhaust, he
believes, the fertility of most land. With part of his
wheat he purposes sowing clover and Timothy grass,
which will be cut for hay or grazed, and after one year
ploughed up. The newly broken prairie allowed to
remain longer in grass is apt to run to weeds and
coarse herbage. Curiously, however, both horses and
cattle appear to be fonder of the natural prairie hay
than of that made from clover and sown grasses.
About 800 acres are prepared for wheat which is spring
sown ; I^ bushels is a sufficient seeding. The total
cost of the raising of an acre of wheat is stated to vary
from £9 to Sio, or i&s. to 40^. The average yield is
20 bushels ; but, owing to the long spring drought, the
crop of 1879 had not generally yielded more than 12
bushels at Barden. A hundred acres are devoted to
corn, which costs about $J or 2Ss. an acre, and yields
50 to 60 bushels of shelled grain, worth 20c. to sell,
but still more to use for feed. A hundred acres of
oats make an acreable return of 60 bushels, weighing
about 34-lbs. Barley grows about 50 bushels of 361bs.,
but owing to the heavy dews gets more discoloured
than our English barleys. Unlike most farmers here,
Mr. Barden takes good care of his manure, and carts
and spreads it on his land almost daily.

With convenient lakes and streams on his farm
and considerable adjacent ranges of claimed but un-
occupied Government and other land, which are
grazed for nothing or for the moderate acknowledg-

Improving Shorthorns. 297

ment of 1 cent an acre, Mr. Barden is wisely avail-
ing himself of the opportunity of rearing stock.
He has already 150 scrub cattle, more than half
of them useful, profitable dairy cows, and purposes
raising his herd of cows to 200. The cream of his
cattle are 20 shorthorns, several bought at Colonel
King's sale, at Minneapolis, and including the massive
Rosedale from Lady Pigot's herd, unfortunately not
likely to be of further use ; Harriet Bates after 14th
Duke of Thorndale, Emma Rose, a good four-year-
old, from a Rose of Sharon cow, Australia 16th from
Arizina, and other useful shorthorns. From the Rose-
dale cow, after 2nd Duke of Hillhurst, is a three-year-
old roan bull, styled Rosedale Duke, with good flesh
and hair. But the premier is a long deep stylish sire,
Duke of Rutland, roan, nearly three, bred by Mr.
Gibson, after 22nd Duke of Airdrie, dam by 3rd Duke
of Airdrie, from a superior specimen of the Bell Bates
tribe. Using these two sires, selecting his best grades,
and steadily multiplying his shorthorns, Mr. Barden
trusts speedily to have 200 cows, to rear annually 200
calves, to feed at least 100 steers, which at 2\ years
should make i,30olbs. to i,50olbs., according as they
are grass or corn fed ; and for which he trusts, as is
often done elsewhere, to secure 2c. or 3c. a lb. more
than is given for commoner qualities. At Barden, as
in other herds, large numbers of cattle of various sorts
and ages are run together. In one large yard into
which during the summer and autumn they are driven
at night, and where they remain without feeding for
10 or 12 hours, Mr. Barden has cows, heifers, and

298 Prairie Farming in Minnesota.

suckling calves to the number of 300 ; but they
certainly agree well enough together. The weaned
calves also appear to be run in big lots of variable
size and strength, and would certainly thrive better if
distributed in several smaller yards. More fortunate
than British shorthorn breeders, Mr. Barden states he
has no difficulty in selling his bulls when a few months
old at £100 to £200, which, relatively to the cost of
rearing, is equivalent to 100 guineas in England.
Prices for young bulls of good lineage are said to be
higher than they were two years ago. No bulls from
graded cows are kept. The herd law is very properly
stringent as to bulls being allowed to stray. Any
Texan or underbred brute found at large can be taken
up and ' altered.'

Mr. Barden has a taste for horses as well as for
cattle. He has a useful, active Clydesdale and a
number of fashionably descended trotting-horses of
Hambletonian and Squales lineage ; but owing to
strangles having recently run through the stable, the
foals and yearlings are not in showing trim. For these
well-bred youngsters capital lofty, well-aired boxes are
provided, 12ft. by 10ft, with approved spared parti-
tions, iron rack and manger, and doors running on
an iron rod overhead, no post or projecting object
obtruding to tempt an idler to bite and crib.

As yet Mr. Barden has no sheep, but he purposes
starting a flock, probably of the ordinary Merino
graded stock of the country, and crossing them with
Leicester or other well-established English breed.
He has nearly 100 Berkshire pigs. The only purchased

Labour Abundant. 299

food used is bran, of which the annual consumption
is about 100 tons, the price delivered at the farm
being a trifle over $4.. The corn and oats grown are
all used at home, part being thrashed, most given in
the sheaf.

Hitherto Mr. Barden has got a good deal of his
work done by small farmers, who undertake almost
any agricultural work. A man and a pair of horses
can be hired at the rate of is. an hour. Ploughing has
cost about #1.25 to #1.50 per acre, a furrow of 14m.
by 4m. being turned over with two or three horses ;
two and a half to three acres are generally well
ploughed every day. With an eight-feet broadcaster
10 to 12 acres are sown and about 14 harrowed over
once. Unlike some other managers, Mr. Barden dis-
approves thrashing out his crops from the shocks in
the field. It entails, he considers, a great deal of
labour when the cost is at its highest ; it increases the
risk of injury from bad weather ; it retards for ten
days the men and horses getting at the ploughing of
the stubbles ; while it diminishes the value of the
fodder for the stock. For thrashing wheat he pays
four to five cents per bushel, the machinist finding
three men, water, and fuel ; the eight-horse engine and
thrasher are capable of doing up 600 or 800 bushels
a day. The average price of wheat delivered to the
siding on the farm in 1878 was 70 to 75 cents; in
1879 and 1880 it has been fully ten cents higher, but
the higher price has not paid for the diminished yield.

At present Mr. Barden employs twenty farm
horses, several boys, but only ten men, who receive

300 Prairie Farming in Minnesota.

S16 to $17 a month with their lodging and board,
and are engaged from March 1 until farm work ceases
in the end of October. About half the men will be
paid off during winter ; the remainder will receive £12
a month. Even with all the advantages of labour-
saving appliances, and without any of the chaffing,
root-cutting, mixing, or cooking which occupy so
much time during winter on an English stock farm, it
must take five good smart fellows and the manager's
sagacious planning properly to feed and attend to 400
cattle and 100 pigs. Certainly both farmers and
agricultural labourers work here with an energy, will,
and purpose now rarely seen in the old country.

Driving with Mr. Barden over the prairie, flocks
of wild duck and geese were raised from the small
lakes ; a sandhill crane was quietly fishing for its
afternoon meal and flapped slowly away, apparently
assured that we were unprovided with destructive
weapons. By the side of Bingham Lake we came
upon a herd of 40 useful cattle of all ages, belonging
to a homesteader of 160 acres reared in New Bruns-
wick, and a resident by this lake side during the last
eight years. Unhampered by primogeniture or entail,
Mr. Parsons had 12 months ago given his daughter
and one-half of his estate to a steady young fellow,
who has built on his dower a log house of two rooms
and the indispensable underground cellar, has some
tolerable corn potatoes and a few young cattle, and
has been earning some hard cash by ploughing for
Mr. Barden. Neither Parsons nor his son-in-law are,
however, satisfied with the year's yield of wheat. They

Industrious Homesteaders. 301

have between them upwards of 60 acres, but owing
to the dry spring they will not get more than seven
bushels an acre. Corn and potatoes have answered
better. Some two-year-old steers have been sold for
£15, which, although a small price, represents an out-
lay of little more than the wages of the lads herding
them on the adjacent prairie and cutting for them
from the same free land a few loads of hay for winter
use. The poor yield of wheat has told in another
way against Parsons's prospects. His thrashing ma-
chine has earned little money ; the active wife cannot
yet have the new house and smart furniture which were
promised when times mended. But although the
house is poor, the mistress is tolerably comfortable
and independent. She and her family enjoy most
pleasant, healthful surroundings ; with flour from the
neighbouring mill, and home-made yeast, manufactured
from potatoes, hops, sugar, and ginger, she makes light,
beautiful bread, the like of which we should thankfully
have on many a London table ; milk, butter, and eggs
are plentiful. Things are admittedly brighter than
they were during the 'hopper ' visitations of 1874 and
1875. The cattle and pigs are growing into money,
if the crops are not. Two sharp boys are at a good
school not two miles distant, for in this, as in most
Western States, wherever there are fifteen children
over six years of age, school buildings and a qualified
teacher must be provided at public expense.

From our comfortable head-quarters at Windom,
some of our party made a diversion in favour of
grouse, prairie chicken, ducks, and wild geese, which

302 Prairie Farming in Minnesota.

abound on the numerous lakes ; while others, anx-
ious to see more prairie farming, drove eight miles
through rather a bare rolling country to Heron Lake,
where Messrs. Thompson and Kendall have a farm
of 5,000 acres, fully half of it reduced within two
years to cultivation. The land is a strong loam, with
the usual abundance of organic matter, the accumu-
lation of successive crops of prairie grass ; 2ft. to 3ft.
down is the yellow argillaceous subsoil. Three years
ago the land cost $4 to $7.

On prairie broken early in spring flax and buck-
wheat were put in during May — an old English pre-
paration for wheat. The flax yielded only five bushels
an acre, but as the seed made a dollar a bushel it
more than paid expenses. Buckwheat proves capital
feeding for horses and hogs, and is used during winter
for cakes, which appear on almost every American
table ; but the crop was disappointing, owing to a sharp,
early September frost. The flax and buckwheat
stubbles, free of weeds, with the prairie sod well rotted,
were on October 8 being turned up by two sulky
ploughs, each drawn by three horses, the foremost
ridden, as usual, by the driver, the second following
without any guidance, excepting that at the end of
his mile furrow the driver, after turning and entering
his own plough, sprang off and turned in the second,
which followed promptly alone. This is not a regular
proceeding even in a country where labour is carefully
made the most of, but is only an occasional economy
when the driver is temporarily absent ; but it testifies
to the determination to keep moving.

Mr. Kendall's Successful Management. 303

On we go to another field where fourteen of
* Cassidy's Chill Plows,' drawn by three horses abreast,
with the drivers riding, come down like a battery of
artillery, turning over each a capital regular furrow
1 5 in. wide by 5in. deep. In the soft, easily- worked,
stoneless soil a land-side is dispensed with. The
axle towards the land wheel is curved so that the
wheel goes at an angle of about 60 degrees. Care is
taken that the far-away fields are first ploughed, and
the teams carry a furrow almost from the stable
out, and bring another back as they return for their
hour-and-a-half rest at noonday, as well as at night.
Two and a half to three acres is the daily work of
each plough. The 60 horses from the beginning of
March receive about 24lbs. each of oats daily, or some-
times have an equal weight of corn substituted for
the oats. Thirty big three- and four-year-old bullocks
have been broken, and work capitally in pairs.
Spring wheat, sown in March, is at present the chief
product of the farm : it is harvested in July ; the St.
Paul harvester and self-cord-binder was last year
chiefly used. With eight of these machines 2,130
acres were cut ; the cord did admirably, there was
never any hitch or slipping ; even now, in examining
the sheaves, they will not give way at the knot ; a
couple of mechanics from the works remained through-
out harvest, to prevent any risk of breakdown or stop-
page. Mr. Kendall, who has had much experience of
both wire and cord self-binders, much prefers this
cord machine. The two machines are the same in
price. The cord itself is cheaper than the wire, and

304 Prairie Farming in Minnesota.

if made lighter, as it might be, would be reduced to
about is. per acre. The corded sheaves do not re-
quire to be unbound for the thrasher. The cord is
less apt than the wire to damage the machine, and
cannot, even if eaten with the fodder, seriously injure
the cattle.

Over several fields we drive to see the work of the
Minnesota Chief thrasher with attached winnower and
elevator, made at the convict establishment at Still-
water, costing $525, capable of thrashing out readily
1,000 bushels a day, driven by a 10-horse portable,
fed with flax straw, the extra capacity of furnace
required for the bulky fuel being extemporised by in-
troducing within the furnace door a six-foot iron tube,
into which the straw is packed, dried, and is pushed
into the furnace. The produce of 36 to 40 acres is
thrashed daily ; 16 men, a pair of horses, and two
teams of oxen do the work, including drawing water
and taking the wheat to the granary, at a cost fre-
quently within 60 cents an acre ; but where weeds
are numerous, sometimes entailing double that outlay.
Mr. Kendall has a number of convenient portable
wooden granaries, holding 1,800 bushels, moving on
runners, costing #50, with ventilating tubes passing
up from the floor, which is raised six inches from the
ground. These granaries, much resembling the
shepherds' huts used in many parts of England, would
be still more handy for movement if their dimensions
were reduced so as to hold 1,000 bushels, or one day's
thrashing.

The cost of growing an acre of wheat is closely

Cost of an Acre of Wheat.

P5

calculated by many Minnesota farmers. Some
absentees hire the whole of the work, including
ploughing, seed and seeding, harvesting and thrashing,
with delivery of the grain to the station, say, three
miles distant, and get all fairly well done at $S to $8'50
(32J. to 3 5-r.) per acre. This does not, however,
usually include interest on capital expended in the
purchase of the property, or in permanent equipment,
or taxes — items which cost fully a dollar or a dollar
and a half, and which thus represent the acre of
wheat to cost $10 or 40s. This closely agrees with
the following detailed figures supplied by Mr.
Kendall : —

Interest on cost of farm $6 per acre at 8 per cent.
Interest on buildings, roads, fences, &c, $5 at 10 per

cent. .....

Taxes ......

Wages of man ploughing 2h acres daily
Board of man .....

Pair of horses at 45 cents per day
Seed 1 1 bushel .....

Wages and board of man sowing 35 acres daily and

harrowing 12 acres
Interest tear and wear on teams valued at $300,

ness at $25, ploughs $45, harrows $50, sowing

machine $100 at 25 per cent.
Cord or wire for binding .
Wages and board of men and horses hai vesting 15

acres daily .......

Interest and tear and wear of harvester #250
Wages and board of men shocking and stacking .
Thrashing .......

Wear and tear of thrasher $525 and of engine $1,000.
Wages of stablemen attending horses .
Incidentals, foremen's wages, &c.
Freight of grain to market

Total cost of an acre of wheat
X

•So
•10
■28

•'5

•21

1-50

•02

•50

•10

•58

•86

ii5

•20
i-oo
1-30

9-96

306 Prairie Farming in Minnesota.

Regarding the foregoing careful estimate, Mr.
Kendall remarks all board and wages are figured at
actual cost taken from the books. Men's wages are
#18 a month, with board, excepting in harvest and
thrashing, when they are $2 per day. A man's board
costs 15c. daily; a pair of horses, 45c, which pur-
chases i\ bushel of oats at 25c. per bushel, and hay
at 5'3 per ton. Interest is figured at 10 per cent., but
tear and wear of horses and most machinery is charged
at 25 per cent. This does not apply to the engine,
which is used during ten months for sawing and other
work independently of the farm. Estimating the
yield at 15 bushels an acre, which is within the
average of the district during the past five years, the
bushel would be delivered at St. Paul or Minneapolis
at 66 cents (2s. gd.), or 22s. per quarter of 48olbs.
With a yield of 20 bushels, easily secured in favour-
able seasons, the cost price, leaving a fair working
profit on the transaction, would be 50 cents, or 2s. 6a'.
per bushel, equal to 20s a quarter. Freights vary
somewhat according to route or season, but South-
western Minnesota is well off for competing lines of
railways, and 1 $s. commands a through rate over
1,300 miles of railway and 3,000 miles of ocean ;
marine insurance, commission, and brokerage take
about is. ; shrinkage and dock dues swallow fully
2s. ; but, allowing for all charges, Minnesota wheat
can be sold at British ports with a profit to all con-
cerned at about 40s. a quarter.

Although wheat has hitherto been the principal
produce of the Heron Lake Farm, it is wisely deter-

Landlords and Tenants Farming. 307

mined to multiply resources. Oats are encouraging ;
one piece last year produced at the rate of 70 bushels.
Five thousand bushels of swedes are grown for calves,
sheep, and pigs, and this area is to be extended.
Clover and Timothy are to be laid down as a good
preparation for wheat and a means of keeping more
live stock. A smart useful black Clydesdale, with
good back and joints, clean in his legs, and weighing
i,56olbs., has been imported. His service fee is $10,
or #15 if a foal is ensured. Several Gwynne and
other useful shorthorn cows have been purchased.
Two hundred ewes of native breeds with a good deal
of Merino character are being crossed with Cotswolds.
The hogs are good Berkshires.

Messrs. Thompson and Kendall, desirous to com-
pare the results of large and small farms and of
farming by landlord and by tenant, on each of t\vo
lots of about 150 acres have built a house of four
rooms, a stable, and granary, and let each on lease
for five years to an American family. The owner
pays taxes and insurance, does the first breaking-up,
finds half the seed, requires that half the land shall
be in wheat, and that he shall receive half the grain
produce as it comes from the thrasher. One of these
farms has this year produced from 41 acres 3,136
bushels of oats, worth 25c. a bushel ; from 1 1 1 acres
1,165 bushels of superior No. 1 wheat, weighing 62lbs.
With the advance in price, the wheat, at a dollar, will
fully pay expenses ; while the oats will leave a hand-
some profit. The other tenant is also prospering.
In his spare time he has done for Mr. Kendall 45

a

08 Prairie Farming in Minnesota.

days' team work, which earns him S3 a day ; his
thrashing has been overtaken at a reduced rate of 3c.
per bushel for wheat, and i^c. for oats ; while he has
1,500 bushels of oats for sale. These tenants may be
regarded to have done fairly, inasmuch as neither had
any capital. Both have lived comfortably, and main-
tained their families during 18 months at Heron Lake ;
and, notwithstanding the poor wheat crop, each has
made about 100/. out of his labour and his two crops.
Under this share system, which is practised to a
limited extent in many parts of America, and which
bears close analogy to our much-becalled plan of
renting, an industrious man with 120/., if set down on
a fairly good arable district, may lease 150 acres of
land, purchase horses, implements, and household
furniture, and have sufficient to keep himself until
his crops are reaped and his pigs fed and killed. His
probable expenditure would be as follows : — Pair of
horses, 25/. ; plough, 4/. ; harrows, 1/. \os. ; harness,
5/.; wagon, 15/.; small tools, 3/.; cow, 4/.; three
pigs, 1/. 10s. ; furniture, 20/.; maintenance, say, 20jt.
a week for 26 weeks, 26/. — total, 104/. His landlord
would probably give credit for the seed ; the broad-
caster here generally used could be hired, or the grain
hand-sown ; the use of a reaper could also be obtained,
or, if the crop justified, paid for out of the produce.
Without outlay for purchase of land, or for building
of a house or premises, with a limited capital, a steady
energetic man has thus the opportunity of satis-
factorily going into farming, of becoming acquainted
with what may probably be a new country to him, and

Willow Lake. 309

acquiring experience which will be of much value when
he makes a purchase of land on his own account.

T. Moore has settled in comfortable quarters ad-
jacent to Messrs. Thompson and Kendall. Having
been two years in the United States Navy, he got his
homestead patent for 160 acres, after two instead of
five years' residence, and on payment of trifling office
charges. He is a sharp active fellow with a good
house and premises, has three horses and two foals,
three cows and twelve young cattle, and the usual
good hogs. He grows 50 acres of wheat, 10 of corn,
20 of oats, 10 of barley, and 20 of clover and Timothy.
He manages this himself with the occasional aid of
one man ; but his farming is untidy, his land foul,
and his implements, of which he has a good selection,
as is generally the case, are lying about exposed to
wind and weather, without even a cheap shed or
covering of straw to protect them. During the seven
years he has been here his best yield of wheat has
been 32 bushels in 1877; his worst, five bushels in
1875, when the hoppers were so destructive. Now
that the country is more generally cultivated there is
not, however, much chance of their again doing such
serious damage.

Twelve miles drive over rolling prairie brought us to
Messrs. Thompson and Schurmeier's farm of 640 acres,
beautifully situated at the head of Willow Lake, a mile
long and half a mile wide. Although the land has
only been occupied 18 months, the two young farmers
have a capital house and stabling, are themselves put-
ing up shedding for 230 half-bred Merino ewes, pur •

310 Prairie Farming in Minnesota.

chased at #3 each in February ; the wool was sold
at #320, the flock was increased to 400, and thus
promises to pay even for the expensive and rather
unnatural three months' confinement in yards neces-
sary on account of the severity of the winter. Hay,
which has been got together at a cost of $2 per ton,
and bran, bought at #4, constitute the winter fare
both of sheep and cattle. Before another year roots
and cabbage will be provided. Five-and- twenty use-
ful graded shorthorns of different ages are on the
prairie by day and in the yards at night : a big grow-
ing shorthorn yearling is on service, and there are
some capital sties of Berkshires. Half the farm has
already been broken up, and borne wheat. The set-
tlers on the dark alluvial soil which surrounds this
lake are prospering, and Mr. Barrington, a brother of
the Mayor of Dublin, has just taken up several sec-
tions on the lower margin of the lake and purposes
settling with his family.

One hundred and sixty miles south-west of St.
Paul, in the midst of a capital game country, is Heron
Lake Junction, where the traveller and sportsman
will find a capital hotel. From this point the Black
Hills Branch of the St. Paul and Sioux City Railway
is carried thirty-three miles to Woodstock, and is
thence to pass through the Indian pipestone country,
where the easily-cut and readily-polished ferruginous
metamorphic clay lies in beds about a foot deep
between intervening layers of quartzite. The Indians
believe the soil to be coloured with the blood of their
forefathers, visit the spot once a year, and reverently

Western Land Increasing in Value. 3 1 1

carry off supplies of the pipestone to be carved into
various ornaments. Down this line will by-and-by
be brought a portion of the varied mineral wealth of
the Black Hills and the cattle reared in increasing
numbers on the bluffs and valleys of the Dakota
river. Five miles west of Heron Lake "Junction, the
town of Dundee is rising ; and a few miles south, on
the Southern Minnesota Railway, is Airlie, where
Lord Airlie, I am informed, has property and has
contributed handsomely towards town improvements.

Throughout these Western States lands are fre-
quently pointed out belonging to Englishmen, who,
to counterbalance the depreciation unfortunately going
on in land property in England, are investing in
desirable estates in America, which are destined to
advance in value as railways and emigration spread
westward. A quarter of a century ago settlers from
the older States and from Europe were buying farms
in Illinois and Ohio at #5 to $10 an acre. Although
contemptuously said to be ' played out ' and not
always producing as much wheat as they did when
first brought under cultivation, these lands, never-
theless, are selling at from #25 to $40 an acre, and
some of the sellers are reinvesting in Minnesota,
Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, or Kansas, confidently an-
ticipating good interest on their investment and
labour, and a similar steady increment in the value
of their property. Of such promising investments
there is an abundance throughout these Western
States.

In the State of Minnesota alone on the 1st of

312 Prairie Farming in Minnesota.

January, 1879, the official records reported upwards
of 10 million acres unsurveyed and unoccupied be-
longing to the United States. Three million acres of
surveyed lands belong to the United States, and
about the same quantity is owned by the State of
Minnesota. For these the appraised price is #2-50 per
acre for lands situated within railway limits, and $V2$
for those without the 20-mile limits. A considerable
proportion of the most desirable of these State lands
has already been taken up under pre-emption, home-
stead, or timber Acts. Nearly seven million acres
are still in the hands of the five competing railway
companies, who have conveniently ' gridironed ' the
State of Minnesota with iron roads. For 10 and
occasionally for 20 miles on either side of their lines
they have received each alternate section of a square
mile, and these sections they are disposing of at prices
varying, according to eligibility, from $$ to $\o.
Credit may be taken for payment, which may usually
be made at the rate of Si or $2 per annum, 7 per
cent, being charged on the deferred payments.

Some idea may be obtained of the undeveloped
food resources of America when it is thus recorded
that in this one State alone there are still about
20 million acres of unoccupied lands, while in several
other States and Territories an equal or greater
extent of unclaimed lands is to be met with. Here
in Minnesota is an ownerless, unoccupied tract two-
thirds the extent of England. Supposing one-fourth
of this area were in wheat and produced only 13
bushels per acre — the average yield of the State

Bishop Ireland 's Settlements.

Jls

during the last two unsatisfactory years of drought
— there might here alone be grown 74 million bushels
of wheat, or rather more than half the wheat exports
of the United States !

Close to the railway, ten miles beyond Dundee,
on a pleasantly rolling prairie, by a pretty lake-side,
the zealous Roman Catholic Bishop Ireland is plant-
ing the township of Avoca. Seventy thousand acres
have been bought from the State, and from the St.
Paul and Sioux City Railway Company. The first
pioneers arrived twelve months ago. Now there are
30 families, some still in tents ; but a chapel, school,
and store are built. Neither here nor in any other of
Bishop Ireland's townships are any intoxicants
allowed. ' Railroad,' ' Park,' and ' Grand Avenues '
are staked out ; thirty town lots, 22ft. by 150ft., are
sold for shops ; some residential lots of 66ft. by 165ft.
have been also disposed of. The plans and site for a
good hotel are fixed on, the Bishop with liberal spirit
determining that his hotel-keeper shall be a Pro-
testant. A park is reserved running down several
hundred yards to the margin of the lake, about two
miles long, around which it extends, and water is
abundantly supplied from the lake and from wells
20ft. to 30ft. deep. Father Koebrel, who concen-
trates in his own person the functions of priest,
mayor, architect, and surveyor of the new colony,
expects within a year to have a hundred families
comfortably housed. Some of the people are recently
from Ireland, but most are from Canada. Several
houses are finished and occupied ; a dozen are in

314 Prairie Farming in Minnesota.

course of construction, most of them of two stories,
measuring 24ft. by 16ft., with three rooms above and
the same number below. Inch boards ready dressed
cost £16 per 1,000 ; doors and window frames come
ready to be put in ; wooden shingles are used for
roofing. The contract price for the artificers' and
labourers' work is S3 3 ; the total average for the
completed house is $2$o.

The Black Hills Railway, begun in the spring of
1879, before autumn extended 45 miles from Heron
Junction, and is destined to be pushed along north-
west 400 miles through the prairies, so recently the
hunting-grounds of the Dakota Indians, over the
Dakota river towards the Missouri, to tap the mineral
riches of the Black Hills. Ten miles north of the
railway runs the old Dakota track, along which are
numerous settlements, and where wheat has been
grown for twenty years consecutively on the same
good soil.

Back we run to Heron Junction, where, although
900ft. above St. Paul, the land appears rather wet,
but the sedgy lakes afford good lodging for wild fowl,
and eighteen miles down the main line we reach
Worthington, a place of 700 inhabitants, colonised
from Oberlin College, Ohio, and determinedly up-
holding the Maine Liquor Law. Close by the rail-
way is a flour mill, where the fuel used is hay and
rushes, part of it cut during winter by running the
mowing machine over the frozen prairie and lake
banks. This readily-collected fuel costs 81*50 per ton,
and the usual daily consumption is seven tons. At

Worthington Agricultural Show.

o'D

Worthington I attended a county agricultural ex-
hibition, which, although the first attempted, attracted
a goodly show of stock, implements, and general farm
produce. The live stock was not in the high condi-
tion usually seen at English county exhibitions ; the
horses showed most need of improvement ; but there
were some useful shorthorns and grades ; a good red
ten months shorthorn bull scaled cjoolbs. Some of the
grades were scarcely distinguishable from the pure
breeds. The sheep were chiefly the produce of
Gloucestershire-Cotswolds from the Norwegian-like
ewes of the district, which are worth #2-50 to £3 each,
and there were a few pens of Merinos and Merino
grades which, although paying well with their fleece, are
not profitable as mutton producers. Capital potatoes
and tomatoes are exhibited, and several specimens of
amber sugar cane, with its syrup and crystallised sugar,
which is easily cultivated, and reported to pay £20 an
acre.

One of the best farms I have seen in Minnesota is
Messrs. Thompson and Warren's in Rock county, two
miles from Luverne town and station, and comprising
23,000 acres. The first sod was turned in May 1877,
and fully 1,500 acres have each year been brought
into cultivation. A good house has been built, with
barns, two lots of barracks, capable of accommodating
70 men, stabling for 200 horses or mules, with some
shedding and pigsties. To break the wind, attract
moisture, and beautify the estate, trees, mostly of
cotton wood, are planted about half a chain apart
around the roads which surround the sections. White

0

1 6 Prairie Farming in Minnesota.

willow hedges, which make capital fences, are also
planted, and it is intended to follow the successful
example of some of the neighbouring small holders
and plant fruit trees. On the prairie sod turned in
during May and June, Indian corn is sometimes im-
mediately dibbled, and the hastily prepared crop
usually yields 15 to 20 bushels an acre. On other
portions of the newly-upturned prairie navy beans are
drilled or dibbled about June 1, are pulled about the
middle of September, and although only yielding three
to five bushels, make about 5-s-. per bushel, and, like
the corn, constitute a good preparation for the subse-
quent wheat. Here as elsewhere flax is also used as
a preparatory crop.

These and other stubbles were being ploughed up.
In one field were at work 25 ' Casiday's sulky ploughs,'
made at South Bend, Indiana, costing #65, and each
drawn by four horses or mules. Three draught
animals are often used ; but two months' continued
dry weather having hardened the soil, the ploughing
is fair work for four. The working parts of the plough
are of cast steel ; a metal disc suffices instead of the
coulter in the soft fen-like soil ; the axle is bent, so
that the wheel in the furrow goes at an angle of about
6o°. Small skims turn in the stubble and any weeds,
of which, however, there are few. Three acres are
turned over daily by each team, which does, morning
and afternoon, its five bouts of a mile out and in.
Accompanying the plough is a foreman on horseback,
hired for the seven or eight months at $50 a month.
The ploughmen are engaged from April I to Novem-

The Farm Labourers Life. 3 1 7

ber 15, or until the end of the season, at #18 a month,
with board. The dietary, which differs little at the
three meals, consists chiefly of bread and butter, fresh
and salt pork, fried or boiled, beef once or twice a
week, baked or boiled potatoes and other vegetables,
pickles, and fruit, with coffee and milk.- A cook and
his mate are attached to each of the two barracks.
No beer or spirits are allowed on the place. Half the
wages are paid every month, the remainder at the
close of the season. For harvest, thrashing, and other
work, extra men are engaged at a dollar, and occasion-
ally at a dollar and a quarter, per day, with rations,
which are valued at 25c. The men are rung up at
4.30 a.m., feed their mules, clean out stables, breakfast
at 5.30, feed, harness, and start their own teams at 6 ;
do about ten miles on the sulkys ; stop at noon, and
unless near home have troughs and nosebags for the
mules at a field barn, where their own dinner is also
forwarded. Out again at 1.30 p.m. they continue
until 6, or when drilling, harvesting, or at other im-
portant work, until dark. On Sundays the men are
not expected to turn out until 7. Excepting in
harvest, no work is done on the day of rest unless it is
the washing of clothes. Some of the men go to church.
Others have an afternoon's shooting.

Mules, although costing quite as much money, are
preferred to horses ; they stand the heat and the
annoyance of flies better ; long days do not generally
knock them up ; they are always ready for their food,
which consists of a mixture of two-thirds oats and one-
third Indian corn, and of this they have i61bs. to i81bs.

3 1 8 Prairie Farming in Minnesota.

daily, or nearly as much as they can eat. They do
not use more than iolbs. or 1 5 lbs. of hay. Fly nets are
employed in hot weather. The flies being so trouble-
some in June and the first fortnight in July, the mules
paw and strike with their feet, and the ground being
dry and hard they are sometimes shod in front. At
other times shoeing is unnecessary. The mules stand
16 hands high, weigh i,20olbs. to i,30olbs., and cost
about #120 in Missouri, whence it takes about #10 to
bring them home. Several ox teams are kept. They
cost per pair, when ready broken at three years old,
#120 to #125, and last four years. A man and his
pair of mules can be hired at $i'SO to $2 per day, the
hirer feeding the man and his beasts. Autumn or Fall
wheat is not used — the severe winter is apt to throw
it out ; but Mr. Warren purposes trying it, as is done
in Illinois, along with one-third of a seeding of oats,
which grow up vigorously and protect the wheat, al-
though they perish in the service. Hard Minnesota
wheat is put in with the broadcaster early in April,
and is generally up in a week. The harvest begins
about July 12, twenty-five cord self-binding harvesters
are at work, and three machinists are engaged to
superintend the harvesters. The grain is cut and
carried within twenty days. The yield of 1879 varies
from 7 to 15 bushels. That of 1880 was 25 percent,
greater. One field, owing to the spring drought in
1879, proved so indifferent that it was not harvested.
Indian corn is sometimes planted, as already stated,
on the spring-ploughed prairie sod, but greatly better
crops are produced when the land has lain ploughed

Growth of Indian Corn. 319

throughout the winter, and the sod has thus been
thoroughly rotted, or when the corn follows a crop of
wheat. Dibbling is then done late in April or in May,
usually with a machine which deposits two rows of seed
at intervals of about three feet in rows, four feet apart.
The surface is repeatedly harrowed, and, as with
beans at home, may be again harrowed while the
corn is coming up. As the crop is growing, it is cul-
tivated several times between and across the rows, a
lad and a pair of mules doing two rows together and
overtaking 12 acres daily. Corn enjoys the singular
advantage of remaining uninjured, no matter how long
harvesting is postponed. Where the straw as well as
the grain is to be used, it is cut, bound, and shocked,
and often rather untidily left standing in the fields
until it is required for the cattle in winter. Fre-
quently the cobs are gathered from the standing corn
at a cost of one dollar for 50 or 60 bushels, and the
corn stems dragged out by an old iron rail 28ft. long,
mounted on 6-inch wheels, and drawn by a couple of
mules over the field. The corn stems thus pulled up
are raked together and burnt, and if the cultivation
has been effectual, the land requires no ploughing for
wheat. On this Warren farm the yield of corn free
from the cob is 50 and occasionally 60 bushels per
acre. The cost of production is about two-thirds that
of wheat.

A magnificent crop of clover and Timothy grass
is found in one of the wheat stubbles. A hundred
acres of seeds sown with the grain in April were (nth
of October) strong enough for mowing, and in the

2,20 Prairie Farming in Minnesota.

subsequent spring would be grazed with pigs and
horses perhaps with sheep, of which Mr. Warren
purposed purchasing 2,coo and feeding them through-
out the winter, chiefly in yards, on corn, bran, linseed,
and barley straw, which is here preferred to oat straw
as fodder for stock. No cattle as yet are kept. The
heaps of good manure from the stables are only used
occasionally in the garden, where the vegetables in
luxuriant variety amply attest the productiveness of
the soil. So little value is attached to the manure
that Mr. Thompson remarks, ' I would gladly give
if ioo to have 1,000 tons cleared out of the yards ; for,'
he adds, ' it does not at present pay to use it, and for
years the deep good soil will require no help except
from clean thorough cultivation.' Good cultivation
has certainly demonstrated the capabilities of this
soil, which if in England would grow four to five
quarters of wheat, or would be anxiously looked after
for market gardening. For portions of the estate
which four years ago cost $6, £15 to 520 have lately
been offered.

Five miles from the Warren farm are the wonder-
ful ' Luverne Picture Stones.' From the bosom of
the level plain a great hill, ten miles in circumference,
appears to have been upheaved : the red ferruginous
quartz rock, sand and wind worn, is thrown into
quaint, weird shapes, larger, more numerous and
varied than the remains on Salisbury Plain. Along
the eastern rampart, pillars not unlike those of
Samson's Ribs, south of Edinburgh, rise abruptly
1 ooft. In sheltered nooks are beautiful mosses, ferns,

A Magnificent View. 321

and cacti. From the elevated plateau a magnificent
view, extending thirty miles in every direction, is
obtained of the rolling brown prairie, diversified by
the silver sheen of lake and stream, and the extending
cultivated fields of yellow wheat and corn.

322

CHAPTER XX.

LAND AND CROPS IN SOUTHERN DAKOTA.

The civil war which eighteen years ago disturbed all
American industries, the Indian uprising and massacres
of 1862, which jeopardised life and property in cer-
tain Western States, the raids of locusts in 1874 and
1875, and the want of railroad facilities retarded
settlement in Dakota. But these troubles are over.
Dakota Territory has now a population of upwards of
50,000, besides an Indian reservation on its north-
western frontier estimated to number fully 20,000 red
men. There will, however, be elbow-room and to
spare for some years to come, for the Territory em-
braces an extent of 96,000,000 acres, or exceeds by
nearly 20,000,000 acres the area of the British Islands.
Of her northern tracts, towards the Red River, I have
already written. The more Southern portions are con-
terminous with Nebraska, Iowa, and South-Western
Minnesota, which it much resembles. The prairies,
however, are rather more rolling ; between the several
rivers which intersect the country are considerable
hills. Along the Sioux River for a dozen miles east of
Sioux Falls is a ridge of rounded limestone hills,
covered with short sweet herbage, on which sheep
should thrive — a spur of the range which runs 200

Sioux Falls City. 323

miles north-west to the Cheyenne. The climate,
especially of the southern parts of Dakota, is good ;
the summer heat, greatest in July and August, very
seldom reaches '950 in the shade ; the winter cold
rarely marks — 200; the winter atmosphere is dry;
not more than I2in. of snow falls throughout the
winter, and until the exceptionally severe winter of
1880-81, it has seldom lain long; the rainfall taken
at the Observatory at Yankton, the capital, was
2374m. in 1 874 and 37m. in 1875 ; the average appears
to be about 2 5 in. ; the chief rainfall comes when it is
most required, from April to September.

Two-thirds of Dakota consist of useful farming
land ; most of the remainder is good stock land.
Pine timber occurs among the Black Hills ; and
cotton wood, oak, ash, hackberry, soft maple, elm,
and some black walnut are found along the Missouri,
the Big Sioux, and other rivers of the south-west.
For many miles which I examined around Sioux Falls
the black loam soil is 15m. to 30m. deep, resting on
an argillaceous subsoil, sometimes on beds of gravel,
which in this climate are apt, however, to drain away
the moisture rather too quickly. Water generally is
readily found at 30ft. to 40ft.

Sioux Falls, a thriving town, 250 miles south-west
of St. Paul, is an apt illustration of American urban
progress ; a few years ago an Indian trading post, in
1878 having 400 inhabitants, it now enumerates 3,000
souls. It is the centre of a wide area of fine country.
It lies, sheltered by surrounding hills ; the river, an
important tributary of the Missouri, rushes over the

324 Land and Crops in Southern Dakota.

red quartzite rocks, which water and ice have worked
into strange shapes. As in other western cities, the
hostelries are numerous. Besides the Cataract-house,
which was built at a cost of #11,000, and absorbed
#16,000 for furnishing, there are a dozen places of
public entertainment. Good shops, houses, and a
school costing #16,000, are built, and now an opera
house to seat 800 is being erected. The Southern
Dakota Railway from Yankton, the capital of the
Territory, seventy-five miles south of Sioux Falls, is
arranging a joint station with the St. Paul and Sioux
City line, and the southern Minnesota has its road
brought into the town.

Here, as everywhere else in my travels, I met with
most hearty welcome, and was cheerfully furnished
with any information desired. Throughout these
Western regions there is much kindly feeling towards
England, and much hospitality extended to English-
men. At many towns on our route, and even at
roadside stations, gentlemen have come considerable
distances to welcome ' the English travellers,' and
volunteer all help and information. At Sioux Falls
Judge Brookings, with a number of his townsmen,
most courteously received our party, consisting of the
Royal Commissioners, several other gentlemen, and
the assistant-manager of the St. Paul and Sioux City
Railway. Preceded by a band of music, we were
conducted in carriages through the town, around the
bluffs, to the falls, remarkable for their wild red rock-
scenery, and to the picturesque wooded island formed
by a sweep of the river, where, in umbrageous retreat,

The Queen Bee Mill. 325

free from the annoyance of mosquitoes, many of the
townspeople pleasantly spend their summer evenings.
The Big Sioux river close to the town makes a
descent of 60 feet in three falls, within half a mile,
and is estimated to represent about 1,040-horse power.
This important natural advantage is being turned to
several useful enterprises. Under the able practical
presidency of Mr. James H. Drake, a company has
been formed with a capital of 80,000/. A handsome
substantial flour mill named the ' Queen Bee ' has been
built. Founded on the solid rock, the massive walls,
five feet thick, ensure the requisite steady firmness
and absence of vibration. The most recent scientific
and mechanical appliances have been introduced.
The latest inventions in rollers promise to secure
from the fine hard wheat of the locality a yield of 65
per cent, of high grade flour. The mill will have a
capacity to turn out 1,400 barrels daily, and running
full time will require an annual supply of 300,000
quarters of wheat. An elevator adjacent is being
constructed to hold 19,000 quarters of grain. A
paper mill, linseed crushers, and amber sugar factories
are projected. Excavating for the mill has disclosed
the value and extent of the metamorphic sandstone
fused into grand masses of a warm red colour, im-
perishable as adamant, so hard as to scratch even glass
or granite, useful as emery powder for polishing steel
and stone, and susceptible itself of a mirror-like polish.
Besides being used for lapidary purposes, it promises
to be of much value for table-tops, monuments, and
pannelling, as well as for ornamental building ; stand-

f>6 Land and Crops in Southern Dakota.

j

ing heat and acids unchanged, it is proposed as a
lining for blast furnaces. This rock, especially
valuable in a locality where stone is scarce, is quar-
ried chiefly by the plug and feather process, and the
water power is to be applied for dressing and polishing.
Judge Brookings informs me that the civil code of
Dakota is identical with that of California. No land
in this Territory has been granted to any of the five
railway companies which are opening up her agricul-
tural and mineral riches. Acquisition of her unoccu-
pied lands is obtained from the Territorial authorities
under the Homestead, Pre-emption, or Timber Acts.
Any person, male or female, 2 1 years of age, a citizen
of the United States, or who declares his intention of
becoming one, under the Homestead Act, may claim
160 acres of unoccupied prairie or timber land. After
filing his application at the local land office and pay-
ing his fees of #14, the homesteader proceeds imme-
diately, or within six months, to build a house, take
up residence on "his claim, and carry out his brcaking-
up and other improvements. In five years, if he
prove by two competent witnesses that he has lived
upon his homestead and effected reasonable improve-
ments— concerning which the authorities are not diffi-
cult to satisfy — he is entitled to his certificates patent
and title to the land. The homesteader may, how-
ever, if he pleases, commute his residence of five years,
and within twelve months obtain his patent and title,
if, six months after taking up his claim and building
a house — which may consist of the rudest log shanty
— he chooses to pay £1*25 per acre for his land.

Homestead and Pre-emption Grants. 327

Some settlers adopt this latter course, and, having ac-
quired their homestead, proceed to gain another
quarter section by pre-emption.

Under the Pre-emption Act the settler, whether a
recent arrival or one who has already secured his
homestead, makes his claim to 160 acres of unoccu-
pied land, and pays a fee of $2. He must imme-
diately erect upon his claim a house, commence
breaking and other improvements, and reside for two
and a half years, when he is called upon to pay $V2$
per acre, and then receives his patent. A settler
cannot at the same time be acquiring land under
both the Homestead and Pre-emption Acts; but,
having secured one quarter section under one of these
Acts, he may proceed to claim a second under the
other ; while during the currency of either claim he
may, under the Timber Act, acquire another 160
acres of Government land, contiguous to his own or
otherwise, provided he pays #14, breaks up i-i6th
part annually, devotes it if he pleases to crop, but
subsequently plants on each acre 2,700 timber trees,
and thus within four years sets out 40 acres of timber.
Some hard wood trees should be interspersed with the
soft, rapidly growing poplar, chiefly planted. The
young shoots taken out of the plantations generally
cost $s. to 6s. a thousand ; the railways usually for-
ward them gratuitously. In many Western States the
planting of 40 acres of trees, on each unoccupied sec-
tion, excuses the owner paying taxes during five years.
To secure these privileges of the Timber Acts, the trees
have to be protected during eight years, and at the

328 Land and Crops in Southern Dakota.

expiration of this period, if 650 thriving trees survive
on each of the 40 acres, the Territory or State, grateful
for thus clothing and beautifying the bare prairie, on
payment of a final fee of £4, grants in perpetuity a
certificate and title for the 160 acres.

With homestead, pre-emption, and timber lots,
within eight years, a settler may thus obtain for him-
self 480 acres of land, for which he will have paid
£254, or a little over 50/. Any members of his family
over 21 years of age may acquire the same quantity
of land in the like manner. Very similar laws, it
should be remarked, regulate the acquisition of land
in other Western Territories and States. As in the
Australian colonies, all titles and tiansfers of land are
registered at the district offices. There the records
give the name of the owner of every estate and the
burdens upon it. A purchase of land not registered
is set aside in favour of a second sale which is re-
corded on the register. Mortgages on land and other
property are also registered, those standing first on
the register taking precedence. Property acquired
under the Acts described, although liable for mort-
gages, cannot be seized for ordinary debt : nor are
equipments or necessary tools or implements liable
for debt. A husband cannot dispose of his homestead
without the consent in writing of his wife. Women's
rights further receive tender consideration in Dakota,
and a married woman can hold property and con-
duct business independently of her husband ; nor
under such arrangements would cither be answerable
for the other's debts.

Taxes on land amount to about 1 per cent., in

Land worked on Shares. 329

only two counties do they reach 2 per cent. The
moderate amounts thus collected suffice to meet the
expenditure of the Territory, for the salaries of the
Federal officers and the expenses of the courts are
defrayed by the Government. The valuation, made
annually, is low, seldom reaching one-half the actual
value ; but all improvements are taken into account
so soon as they are made, and often before any benefit
has accrued from them. Private bankers and money
lenders make advances on landed property, usually
restricting the advance to one- half the value, at 10 to
12 per cent. Such mortgages usually secure in ad-
vance interest for one year, extend generally for five
years, and if registered take precedence of all other
debts. Here, as at home, there is often a disposition
to begin on too large a scale, take up more land than
can be paid for, and buy implements and other things
on a costly credit system. For implements and furni-
ture purchased and not paid for a chattel mortgage is
often taken, and if registered, the purchaser failing to
complete payment, is readily compelled to give up
possession of the unpaid article.

For 25 miles round Sioux Falls the land is taken
up, and $6 to Si 2 would have to be paid for any fairly-
good land. Extending westward up the Dakota or
James river the soil is also easily worked and pro-
ductive. The farms are smaller than in the more
northerly parts of the Territory, not averaging more
than 160 acres. Although most farms are the
property of the cultivators, a few are worked upon
shares. When the landlord finds land and house,
hands over a considerable proportion of the farm

oo

o Land and Crops in Southern Dakota.

broken up and in fair cultivation, and also pays for
the seed, he usually claims two-thirds of the grain
harvested. Under this share system, where about
three-fourths of the farm is in crop, landlord and
tenant usually each take one-half of the grain crops, the
tenant, however, having all the profits accruing from
the breeding and feeding of cattle, sheep, or hogs.

The frost is usually sufficiently out of the ground
to begin wheat planting during the first week in
March ; 1 5 bushels is the average crop. Harvest
commences from the 15th to the 20th of July ; $9 to
#10 cover the total acreable cost of wheat cultivation.
Indian corn is more grown than in the northerly Red
River districts. Planting commences about May 1 5.
There is always the 700 of summer heat requisite
to mature this crop, while frosts, checking growth, do
not occur before the middle of September. Although
the corn is never so luxuriant as in the lower parts of
the Missouri valley, 200 miles south, abundance of
fodder and 30 to 40 bushels of shelled corn are often
secured. Oats, sown in April and reaped in the
middle of July, cast 30 to 60 bushels, averaging 3 5lb.
per bushel. Potatoes and other vegetables, as well
as fruit trees, grow well ; but during the busy struggle
for absolute necessaries, which occupy the first few
years of the settler's life, the garden and orchard
seldom receive adequate attention. Wheat, the poor
man's crop, readily yielding rapid returns, is chiefly
cultivatcd. But the highest authority declares ' man
shall not live by bread alone,' and settlers by-and-by
wisely diversify their production. Cattle, sheep, and

Railroad Extension. 331

swine are kept in increasing numbers. Milch cows in
full profit cost #20 to £30 ; a pair of well broken,
good, four-year-old, working oxen sell for $80 ; sheep
make #3 to Sy$o ; horses and mules, recently-
advancing in value, bring #100 to S'120.

Labourers are tolerably abundant." Good men
are engaged at #15 to £18 per month with board ;
occasional help costs $1 per day. The smaller
farmers are very glad to engage themselves and their
teams, charging about #i"2 5 to 8i'$o for ploughing an
acre, and managing to turn over three acres daily.
Farmers sometimes have to transport their produce
thirty and even forty miles along the dry prairie
tracks to market. I conversed with several who had
thus brought their wheat these distances to Sioux
Falls, had started before dawn, travelling with loads
of 20 cwt. to 30 cwt. behind two or three horses, mules,
or oxen, usually overtaking with horses or mules three
miles an hour. They were usually in good spirits,
having made nearly $1 per bushel for their wheat.
Most were looking out for return loads, which
generally consist of lumber, and for the transit of
which 12c. to 15c. per ton per mile is earned.
Although this is only very reasonable remuneration
for the haulier, the hirer contrasts it unfavourably
with the 5c. or 6c. per ton per mile which he pays for
railway transport, and wishes ' God speed ' to the
railways which contemplate pushing their lines north-
west from Sioux Falls, and as a Dakota poet sings —

' Opening this land of prairies grand
Under skies for ever blue.'

332

CHAPTER XXI.

LAND AND PROSPECTS IN IOWA.

Iowa lies between the 40 and 43 parallels of north
latitude: it occupies 55,046 square miles and repre-
sents an area of nearly one-half the British Islands.
Seven-eighths of the State is prairie, generally more
undulating than that of Southern Minnesota. Towards
the western boundary, running from Spirit Lake south,
is the watershed of this part of the continent, some of it
1,250 feet above the sea level, giving rise to numerous
streams diverging east to the Mississippi and west to
the Missouri. The rivers and lakes are well stocked
with fish and most are frequented by wild fowl. Along
their margin trees and scrub are generally found, but
their wider extension has been prevented by annually
recurring fires which overspread the prairie, but
which will now be limited by the closer settlement of
the country. Groves and belts of plantation, useful
for fuel, for fencing, and for building purposes, are
increasing and must improve the climate and aspect
of the prairie. The trees chiefly planted, either from
seeds or cuttings, are the rapidly growing cotton wood,
white maple luxuriating in the moist lower lands, with
oak and black walnut of slower development, butgreater
value. Fruit trees arc also successfully cuTtivated.

Profitable Coal Fields. 3 3 3

So important is the sheltering growth of timber
that the State of Iowa allows handsome deductions
from the rateable value of the farm for every acre
of well-planted timber. Some farms are thus tem-
porarily freed of taxes, which generally amount to 40*.
per acre. The total taxes in Iowa average about one
per cent, per annum on real and personal property.
County bridges and education are the most costly
objects of expenditure.

The surface soil of Iowa, as of other States of the
Great Mississippi basin, in the earlier periods of the
world's history, has been brought down from northern
mountain regions by flood and glacier and deposited
on older rocks — on the calcareous formations in the
north, on the coal measures in the more southerly
portions of the State. As population and manufactures
spread, these coal beds must prove of great value. The
upper seams are unproductive, the middle and lower
are described as valuable by Dr. Charles A. White in
his monograph on the subject, and are stated to occupy
the southern fourth of Iowa. They extend for 200
miles in a north-easterly and south-westerly direction,
going from the Desmoines to the Missouri rivers, are
profitably worked at Fort Dodge, and are believed to
be equally accessible at many points for a hundred
miles south.

Of more immediate importance to the agricultural
settler are the superficial deposits which furnish an-
chorage and food for his crops. The older formations
are thickly invested with drifts of incoherent mud,
gravel, and clay, brought, as stated, from higher

334 Land and Prospects in Iowa.

regions, sometimes, as in Union County, 200 feet in
depth, sometimes containing boulders of granite,
quartzite, and occasionally of limestone with veins of
impure coal of peat and semi-petrified coniferous wood.
In the northen counties the drift is more gravelly. To-
wards the Missouri the more recent drift, receiving
the special designation of Bluff, contains more calca-
reous matters, represented usually by 10 per cent, of
carbonate of lime. On the lower lands skirting the
Missouri are rich alluvial tracts, well adapted for
Indian corn and stock- rearing. Those drift bluff and
alluvial deposits contain vast varied stores of plant
food. For ages the prairie grasses in almost tropical
luxuriance have flourished, died down, or been burnt,
and thus have accumulated organic remains most
valuable for the growth of plants. These deep good
soils in many places have self-contained elements of
fertility which, with good cultivation, will produce a
long succession of profitable crop-.

Clearing and breaking for a crop, which in a timber
country takes several years to effect thoroughly, and
entails a cost of 3/. or 4/. an acre, in Iowa, as in other
prairie regions, is done by burning the grass or scrub,
and bursting up the sod, which can be effected for iar.
an acre. Land thus turned up 2\ to 3 inches deep in
May will produce 12 or 15 bushels of flax, which, sold
as it generally is, at 4s. per bushel, within four months
brings in usefully ready money to pay for cultivation
and other expenses, and admirably prepares the soil
forthe wheat sown in the subsequent spring. The wheat
crops of Iowa in 1880 reached 45,600,000 bushels.

Sticcessful Dairying. 335

The cost of production is about 40^. an acre, including
rent and taxes ; the average yield is nearly 20 bushels ;
blights which several years ago were common are
becoming less serious. Indian corn now reaches
225,000,000 bushels, averages nearly 40 bushels an
acre, and can be grown at less than Is. per bushel.
In the northern counties fine barleys are raised, and
the cultivation of oats extends. Potatoes and other
roots prove profitable.

The natural prairie grasses sustain increasing herds
and flocks, and blue joint grass, so famous on the lime-
stone soils of Kentucky, with Timothy and clovers
are now sown on the cultivated land for pasturage and
hay, and are available two or three weeks earlier than
the natural grasses. Many good herds have been
introduced and are paying their way handsomely.
The abundance of water favours dairying. It is esti-
mated that there are in Iowa 250 creameries and
cheese factories turning out annually 50,ooo,ooolbs. of
butter, and 1 ,ooo,ooolbs. of cheese. At Philadelphia,
New York, and St. Louis agricultural exhibitions
Iowa dairy produce has repeatedly gained the highest
awards.

The climate of Iowa is one of its important attrac-
tions. It is not liable to the extremes of Manitoba or
to the malaria of many parts of Missouri or Virginia.
The U. S. A. census returns show that the mortality
in Iowa is one to 93, for the States generally it is one
to 74, for Great Britain it is one to 46 of the total
population. At Iowa City, where meteorological ob-
servations are carefully recorded, the highest tempera-

336 Land a?id Prospects in Iowa.

ture is reached in July and August, ranges from 750
to 900 in the shade ; the lowest occurs in December,
January and February, and falls sometimes to —30°.
The rainfall on an average of twenty years at Iowa
City is about 40 inches ; rain falls in 75 days, snow on
20 days. The heaviest fall is in the winter months,
notably in December, of which the average is 9 inches.
The rainfall of the more northern parts of the State is
30 inches. The prevailing winds are westerly.

With varied resources in grain and live-stock, with
a steady fine healthy climate, with rapidly extending
settlement, with a spreading railway system now
covering about 4,500 miles, the State of Iowa presents
special attractions to settlers. Tracts of superior land
taken up by private speculators, by the railway com-
panies, by Messrs. Close brothers, by the Scottish
American, and various English companies, are being
readily sold and let to British and other emigrants.
Aliens may acquire, hold or transmit land and
other property. The settlers are generally indus-
trious and thrifty. Agricultural land according to
situation and quality ranges from $6 to #20 dollars an
acre. Higher figures have been reached in the east-
ern portion of the State, and the equally good bluff
lands in the west are steadily advancing in value.
Many purchases made during 1879, within two years
have nearly doubled in value ; but there are still
opportunities for profitable investment. Useful farms
of 160 acres can yet be bought for 240/. ; comfortable
planked houses with double walls and adequate shed-
ding can be put up for about 150/. ; a span of horses

Capital Reqtiired for Farming . 3 37

or mules, three or four cows, a few young cattle and
hogs, with ploughs and other necessary implements
and tools sufficient to put in the first crops and make
a fair start with, cost about 200/. With 600/. an indus-
trious, prudent man can thus make a fair start as owner
and occupier of 160 acres, and with dilfgence and care
earn 30 per cent, per annum upon his enterprise. This
is in favourable contrast to the 6 or 8 per cent, made
from most English farms even in tolerably auspicious
seasons.

The smaller settlers are always willing to hire
themselves and their teams for agricultural service,
and will contract to break up the prairie at gs. to 10s.
an acre, do ordinary ploughing at 6s., or prepare, put
in, and harvest the wheat crop at 30s-. to 32s. an acre.
Many sections held by absentees are thus profitably
farmed by contractors. This farming by deputy, I
am informed by some gentlemen who have had several
years' experience of it, has paid fully 20 per cent, on
their investment, and their estates, besides, are steadily
advancing in value. In this and adjoining States
capitalists have sometimes bought land, equipped
it with houses and suitable prenrses, and broken up
portions of the prairie. The farms, thus prepared at
a cost varying from $os. to 60s. an acre, are let to
industrious settlers whose limited capital is hence
specially devoted to the improved cultivation of their
holdings. From Canada, from the Eastern States, as
well as from Europe there have always been numerous
responsible applicants for these farms. Not all Ame-
rican settlers are determined to own the land they

z

"?8 Land and Prospects in Iowa.

oo

till. The tenancy system recommends itself to British
capitalists, especially of restricted means, on account
of the divided risks of bad seasons, the experience
cheaply gained of a new country, and a new style of
farming, and the time and opportunity obtained for
deliberate purchase.

For these farms, prepared for the cultivator, the
owner charges occasionally a money rent of Js. to \os.
an acre, or more frequently is paid on the share
system ; receiving usually one-third of the grain
grown, binding his tenant after the first year to have
two-thirds or three-fourths of the holding under
grain and to deliver his payment in kind at the nearest
elevator. British agriculturists whose capital unfor-
tunately has shrunk to 300/. or 400/., under this share
system in Northern Iowa have admirable opportunity
of profitable investment. In addition to their propor-
tion of the grain crops, the profits derived from any live
stock grown or fed are reserved by the tenant. Tak-
ing wheat as the basis of calculation, the production
costs 2>SS- an acre; 15 bushels at a very moderate
estimate should be reaped and sold at ^s. 6J. per
bushel. On a farm of 320 acres under this system
240 acres would be in wheat or other equally remu-
nerative crop ; this would give a total return of 3,600
bushels, which, at $s. 6d., yields 630/. The tenant's
proportion of three-fourths would be 472/. 10s., and, as
stated, he would further retain any profits derived from
the other fourth of the farm and from his live stock.
The landlord would have his fourth — 157/. 10s. Hav-
ing paid 50J. to 60s. per acre for his outlay in pur-

Fa rm ing on Sha res. 339

chasing, equipping, and breaking up the land, his
annual return would be about 20 per cent, on his
expenditure. Land fairly bought and under cultiva-
tion is, moreover, steadily advancing in value. Judi-
ciously worked, this share system thus affords satis-
factory returns both to capitalists and tenants.

Travelling through the north-western portions of
Iowa, a great deal of well- watered, good land, adapted
alike for grain and live stock, is met with. The sec-
tions deeded direct from the State are generally
occupied ; those held by the railway companies are
being taken up. Between Sheldon and Sioux City
man}' farms are laid out : karrals are built on the
hill sides into which the cattle herded on the prairie
by day are turned at night. Farmers are making
better provision of hay and corn for wintering their
stock, and hence are making better returns from them.

Sioux City on the Missouri, a few miles below its
junction with the Big Sioux, lies amidst rich alluvial
but malarial lands. The muddy Missouri, from the
soft drift through which it courses, brings down large
amounts of solid matters in suspension and solution.
Professor Emery has found that even when the water
is low it contains 52 grains per gallon of solid matters,
and in flood eight times that amount is reached
(White's ' Geology of Iowa' ). These fertilising deposits
are spread freely for several miles over the wider bed
of the greater river of prehistoric times. Throughout
its course of 500 miles between Iowa and Nebraska,
past Omaha and Council Bluffs and on to Kansas City
and St. Louis, considerable portions of this rich valley

3-j.o Land and Prospects in Ioiva.

have been occupied for upwards of twenty years.
Settlement in the upper Iowa portions has increased
since the railroad fourteen years ago was made from
Omaha north to Sioux City. The better class of
settlers have wisely located on the bluffs and terraces
upwards of iooft. above the river level, where, diver-
sifying their grain-growing with stock-keeping, they
have generally done well. A Scotchman fifty miles
south of Sioux City came out eleven years ago, his
worldly wealth then consisting of a wife, five chil-
dren, and a span of horses : he homesteaded 160 acres,
now owns 640 acres besides some grazing land, has
built a good house, and markets annually 100 cattle
and 400 sheep. From the Western States he and
his neighbours buy two-year-old cattle, keep them
during the summer on grass, often up to their backs,
sheltered amongst sunflowers and other semitropical
vegetation 10ft. high, and finish them off on cheap
Indian corn in winter.

An important feature of the Missouri valley are
the terraces and bluffs rising from the alluvial fiats of
the river bottom. These bluffs consist of cretaceous
agglomerate, contain pebbles,gravel, and lumps of marl,
but no marine remains or fresh-water or mollusk shells.
They apparently do not run together, crumble, or
crack so much as English marls, and, although stand-
ing weather, are easily cut by pick and shovel. These
bluffs rise tolerably abruptly one or two hundred feet
high ; they stand like grey buttressed ramparts with
rounded summits ; about Council Bluffs and Omaha
the)' have cresccntic fronts ; frequently they arc broken

Omaha Hotel Accommodation. 34 1

by ravines, the beds of streams, many of which are
now dried up ; their sides are often clothed or skirted
with timber ; their terraces and summits are well
adapted for wheat and other crops.

Omaha on the western bank of the Missouri in
Nebraska, 100 miles south of Sioux City, is one
of the great railway entrepots of Central America.
Nine railways converge here. The Union Pacific
thence starts west over the Rocky Mountains, nearly
2,000 miles to San Francisco. The town boasts of
20,000 inhabitants ; it is laid out with wide streets, but
with the usual American disregard for sound horse
roads. The footpaths, mostly of wood, are, however,
wide and well laid. There are good, substantially built
stone churches and other public buildings, extensive
iron smelting works, a flourishing distillery getting the
Indian corn at low rates, and the Union Pacific work-
shops occupying 35 acres. The hotel accommodation,
diminished by the recent burning of one of the largest
houses, is none of the best. Travellers getting in by
trains after the supper room is closed at the early
hour of 9 P.M. are told that the chef in this free
country has gone to take his liberty or rest. No
more food, not even a cup of tea, is obtainable on the
premises ; but the porter can point out a good restau-
rant whither the hungry travellers are constrained to
proceed in anything but a quiescent frame of mind.
The restaurant supper of fish, chops, grilled chickens,
and fruit, is not, however, to be complained of, and is
probably quite as good as that missed at the hotel,
but which has nevertheless to be paid for in the five

342 Land and Pi'ospccts in Iowa.

dollars daily tariff. Travellers may be spared the
risk of thus being sent out for supper, may save time,
trouble, and worry about their baggage, which for
some inscrutable reason is detained at Council Bluffs
on the Iowa side of the Missouri, and only forwarded
next morning, and, besides, secure more comfortable
quarters undisturbed by irritating visitors, if, instead
of going over to Omaha, they remain at the new and
comfortable railway hotel at Council Bluffs.

Here, in the centre of the American continent, it
is curious to reflect on the ceaseless ebb and flow of
traffic passing backward and forward on the wonderful
3,300 miles of iron road which connects the Atlantic
and Pacific. Interest always attaches to the weather-
beaten, jaded travellers in the through trains which
have undertaken the seven days' journey from New
York to San Francisco. Shortly steams in from the
West a train specially chartered with tea from China,
and silks from India and Japan, and still more
numerous are the cattle trains of 16 to 20 cars
destined for Chicago, St. Louis, and other eastern
cities.

The stockyards at Council Bluffs were opened in
the summer of 1878, accommodate 7,000 animals, and
already it is in contemplation to enlarge them. The
bulk of the business is done between July I and
December 1. During this period of 1879 a hundred
thousand cattle were yarded ; and during 18S0 the
numbers continued to increase. The charge is 25
cents per head. Eastern buyers attend to make pur-
chases ; but a large proportion of the consignments

Council Bluffs Stockyards. 343

are on through transit to Chicago, and are stayed
here for the important purpose of resting and feeding
the cattle. These resting stations on all the important
western routes occur at intervals of 300 to 400 miles.
Hay and corn, at market price, are provided for the
stock. The allowance of hay, at each feeding for 20
cattle, varies from 150 lbs. to 250 lbs. ; good managers
give as much as can be promptly cleared up, and rather
increase the supplies as the journey nears its close, so
as to bring the animals forward in good trim for
market. A few smart horses are kept at the stock-
yards, to pursue and bring back any bold bullock
that breaks away from his companions, and makes, as
happens sometimes, running across country.

From a thousand miles south, and a still greater
distance west, Council Bluffs stockyards draw their
supplies. The grass in the great plains and parks in
most seasons begins to fail towards the beginning of
September, although during the last two seasons it
continued good for a month later. Owners generally
round up their cattle in August, and make their
selections for sale. The animals are travelled steadily
on foot, often for several weeks, seldom driven
more than ten miles a day, and without fatigue or
damage reach the depot. The various lots are often
unequal in appearance and quality. Those from
Texas and the sweltering south, where even robust
Kentucky bulls pine and die in two years, sadly
want grading up ; they do not pay for winter feeding,
and go. direct to the slaughter-houses. More shapely
and better beasts come from Oregon, Wyoming, and

344 Land and Prospects in Iowa,

Montana. Most are three years old and upwards,
although occasionally amongst the lots from Oregon
are seven- or eight-year-old bullocks.

The comfort of the cattle in transit, and not-
ably their condition when they reach market after
their long journey by road and rail, depends much
upon the men in charge. Some of them are care-
ful, smart fellows ; are occasionally owners of a
quarter section of land, situated somewhere along the
line, and left in summer and autumn under the man-
agement of the wife and boys. They receive when
on duty three to five dollars a day. Four or five of
these men are in charge of a train-load of 400 or 500
cattle. At a glance they know the best trucks to
seize for their own droves ; they are usually zealous
in their masters' interests ; and are generally sensible
and clever in loading and unloading, tending and
feeding their charges. A refractory beast, demurring
to enter the truck, has a rope thrown round his horns,
carried round the stout frame-post of the car, and
attached to the engine, which, moving gently forward,
the recreant is speedily dragged into his place. When
markets are brisk, the cattle trains are pushed along ;
a douceur to the engine driver secures a speed of about
thirty miles an hour ; delays and shunting are avoided ;
the twenty-four hours usually allowed for rest are
shortened to one-half. When, however, markets are
glutted or flat, of which intelligence is flashed down
from Chicago or St. Louis, the cattle trains are slowed,
and extra rest is given at the feeding stations. Very
few animals are crippled or injured in transit. A care-

Raihvay Transit Charges- 345

ful man will handle 10,000 without a "crip." Chief
amongst the accidents are broken limbs and an
occasional displacement of the great yellow elastic
ligament of the neck, strains from slipping, and bruis-
ing from unruly fellow-passengers. Most of the
casualties depend upon the animals slipping in wet
weather as they ascend or descend the wooden gang-
ways to and from the cars. The large proportion of
the cattle which come to Council Bluffs go to Chicago,
either for immediate slaughter, or in the later autumn
for distribution through the Indian corn regions,
whence they are marketed fat during winter and
soriner.

On the occasion of my visit to the stockyard,
October ir, 1879, upwards of 5,000 bullocks were in
the yard. Useful animals, for going on, weighing
1,100 lbs., were worth 3 cents to 3*25 cents; choice
lots 3*40 to 3*50 cents per lb., live weight. From
Cheyenne, where thousands of cattle are now for-
warded by rail, the charge for the 516 miles to Council
Bluffs for the car containing 18 to 22 beasts is $8$.
The charge for the car-load, 500 miles to Chicago, is
#50 to #60. The ordinary freight charges for 100 lbs.
of goods from Omaha to Chicago is stated to be 36
cents ; to New York, 60 to 70 cents. Besides the
cattle in the Council Bluffs stockyards were 60 horses
and as many mules resting in transit from St. Louis
to California. The through railway freight from St.
Louis to San Francisco is $250 per car-load, which,
with feeding and expenses, puts #15 on the value of
each animal. There is still a very large transport to

346 Land and Prospects in Iowa.

California both of horses and of mules, notwithstand-
ing the central territories and Pacific States have for
some years been rearing this description of stock.

With their splendid railway facilities, both Omaha
and Council Bluffs are destined to develop "and
extend. They draw supplies of useful coal from the
wide carboniferous belt which runs north and south
towards the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
Some of the best comes from the Bitter Creek mines
800 miles west. A carbonaceous shale, used locally
for fuel, is found in the drift, and considerable
quantities were collected from many of the cuttings
along the Union Pacific 500 miles west of Omaha.
The same impure coal appears in the drift at various
points as far north as the Yellowstone and over the
Canadian frontier. The same region is stated to
furnish rock oil. Both these kindred products of the
profuse vegetation of a long bygone era of the
world's history are, I am told, still occasionally
worked by any one, and without title from State or
territory. Some of the earlier settlers about Omaha
were Mormons driven out from Illinois. But they
appear to have fallen away from their peculiar faith,
or have been lost sight of amongst the numerous
representatives from Eastern States, from most parts
of Northern Europe, and from Canada, which here, as
elsewhere throughout the States, furnishes many
hardy, persevering settlers, generally making particu-
larly good farmers.

Throughout this district, eastward into Iowa and
west into Nebraska, good fanning is now to be

Labourers get Good Wages. 2>^7

met with. Around Lincoln, 55 miles south-west of
Omaha, the' management appears careful and success-
ful. Many of the earlier settlers, I am informed, had
little knowledge of agriculture, and, as elsewhere,
bought land, implements, and appliances on a costly
credit system. There is now more disposition to
keep within their means, to do their work more
thoroughly, to diversify cultivation, and keep more
live stock, which, like the trees, grow whilst the
master is sleeping. Indian corn is the most certain
and generally useful crop ; it is the staple winter food
of the animals of the farm. Summer heat and
drought are incompatible with the successful growth
of English root crops : even clover and Timothy do
not thrive so well as they do farther north ; but the
natural grasses are luxuriant and nutritive. Hay-
making is effected without the troubles and risks of a
moister climate, and hay at Lincoln costs 10^. a ton.
Horses and mules are worth about 20/. ; cows, 5/. to
61. Coal averages 20s. a ton ; fencing and scantling,
4/. per 1,000 feet ; bricks, 40s-. per 1,000 ; lime, $s. per
bushel. Farm servants get $1$ per month with
board, about #23 without board ; during harvest the
daily wages are about #1.66 with board. Carpenters,
blacksmiths, and other artisans earn about #2.50 per
day, and on country jobs are usually also provided
with board.

Travelling south from Council Bluffs on the
Kansas City and St. Joseph Railroad, we run for 200
miles along the Missouri valley, never many miles
from the great river which caves its name to the State

34S Land and Prospects in Iowa,

bigger than England and Wales with the Isle of Man
and the Channel Islands thrown in. A considerable
proportion of Missouri is of unlevel surface ; large
districts are more suitable for mining than for farm-
ing ; iron, lead, and copper are found in various
localities, but hitherto have not been extensively
worked. Along the Missouri and its tributaries are
great woods of oak, elm, poplar, and walnut. Seven
million acres — one-sixth of the total area — are stated
to be under cultivation. One-half of the cultivated
extent is devoted to Indian corn, a fourth to wheat,
one-seventh to hay. Besides this, considerable tracts
of plain, river bottom, and wood are grazed with
cattle. Previous to the great war between North and
South, Missouri was a slave-holding State. Although
sixteen years have elapsed since slavery was done
away with, industry and enterprise have not prospered
as they have done in other Western States. Until
lately there has not been much encouragement for
settling. Some of the older inhabitants were not
particularly courteous to new comers. Neither the
black nor white labourers are remarkable for activity,
diligence, or thrift. The rich alluvial lands along the
river valleys are, moreover, liable to flood, and the
recurring malarial fevers are trying to those unused
to such dank, seething climates. Sharp frosts,
although only occurring for a few weeks and over
before the end of January, sometimes jeopardise the
winter wheat crop, which averages about 1 1 bushels
an acre, whilst heavy rains in July sometimes cause
rust. These political and social, as well as climatic,

The Missouri Valley. 349

conditions have hitherto retarded settlement in many-
parts of Missouri. Land in consequence in various
counties is still cheaper than in several adjoining
States. Promising locations along this part of the
Missouri valley, ten miles back from the railway,
adapted for corn, cattle, and sheep, were offered at
two to three dollars per acre.

Around Nebraska Junction and Nebraska City,
which is pleasantly situated on high grounds to the
west, and near the next station of Hamburgh which
has a population of 4,000, land is, however, worth
#25 to #30 per acre. The farming is generally stated
to be improving, more cattle are reared, and more are
brought in from Texas and Western territories for
grazing and winter feeding. Despite such extended
cattle-keeping, there seems, nevertheless, an enormous
extent of useful natural grass growing in wild luxu-
riance, uncut for hay, uneaten by stock, and plenty
of good clover amongst the wheat stubbles, cut for
hay the first autumn, and still, before it is pinched by
frost, throwing up a splendid herbage, some of it
looking like keeping a beast an acre during several
weeks. This luxuriant clover crop, unused by the
sparse stock, is frequently ploughed in during
October, the land drilled with wheat, and, without
seeding, much of the clover again comes up the
following spring. This green manuring is satisfactory
evidence of recuperative farming. Another evidence
of progress is the fencing of the railway ; whilst, to
prevent cattle which happen to get on it straying
widely, gates are put on at intervals of about two

*50 Land and Prospects in Iowa.

miles, and can be closed against such trespassers, and
their range limited.

One hundred and thirty miles from Council Bluffs,
a distance overtaken in six hours, St. Joseph is reached,
an important thriving place of 25,000 inhabitants,
many of them darkies. Good houses and public build-
ings, mostly of brick, are arranged in spacious streets,
innocent, however, of paving or Macadam. The land
about is rich, several feet deep, but subject to the over-
flow of the near running river. The autumn thunder-
rains considerably interfere with the growth of wheat,
of which the winter sorts are usually cultivated ; and
even of Indian corn, of which the yellow descriptions
are preferred to the white. Hemp was wont to be
largely grown for roping the cotton bales ; but, hoop
iron having taken the place of cordage, hemp here,
as elsewhere, has almost gone out of cultivation.
Large quantities of fine fruit are grown, and many
orchards of apple and pear are being planted and
carefully tended. I have further pleasant recollec-
tions of St. Joseph ; for here is attached to our train,
about the hungry hour of two o'clock, a comfortable
dining saloon, with cooking galley and lavatory com-
plete. Fruit and flowers decorate the tables ; five well
cooked courses of substantial fare are flanked with
numerous vegetables and salads, followed with pud-
dings, cakes, and ice cream ; iced milk, tea and coffee,
hot and cold, are offered throughout dinner ; scarcely
an\' wine or spirits are asked for ; grapes, apples, and
pears constitute a good dessert ; and this varied and
sumptuous repast is furnished for the moderate charge
of a dollar.

35*

CHAPTER XXII.

FARMING IN KANSAS.

Kansas is situated in the centre of the United States,
between the 37th and 40th parallels of north latitude,
in nearly the same latitude as Portugal, Spain, and
Italy. It has the form of a parallelogram 400 miles
long and 200 broad ; it embraces about 80,000 square
miles, or is nearly double the area of New York or
Pennsylvania, and as large as England and the south-
ern half of Scotland. It is chiefly composed of wide-
spreading plains and prairies, resembling those of the
Red River and of Minnesota, sloping towards the
setting sun with an incline ranging from two to seven
feet to the mile. Its height above the sea level varies
from 300 to 1,500 feet ; but westward towards the
Colorado frontier, amongst the foot hills of the Rocky
Mountains, an altitude of 3,793 feet is reached. A
ridge or watershed runs north through the centre of
the State. Five great rivers flow south-east to the
Missouri and Mississippi, and, with their tributaries,
fertilise many districts. Kansas is free from lakes
and swamps, and the climate is dry. The rainfall
varies in different districts : in the eastern belt, in
1878, it reached 44 inches. In the same year in the

352 Farming in Kansas.

western portions of the State the rainfall was 25, but
drier seasons in dry situations have often left a
chronicle of only 15 inches. The heavens are
usually providentially opened when moisture is most
wanted, during May, June, and July. During these
months four or five inches sometimes come down in
twenty-four hours, filling the shrunk rivers with a
deep, turbulent flood ; but the rain comes fitfully and
irregularly. # The moisture rapidly drains through the
light, porous soil, or is dissipated by the fierce rays of
the sun, which in summer often raises the thermo-
meter in the shade 90°or ioo°. The winter, however,
is short, and the cold not so intense as farther north.
The thermometer seldom falls much below zero. Provi-
sion for the storage of water would be advantageous
in many of the drier districts. As cultivation ex-
tends, and trees, which in the midland and western
parts of the State are few and far between, are
planted, the rainfall will doubtless increase and be-
come more regular. Boring 20 to 80 feet through
the porous strata generally discovers water, which
comes several hundred miles under the surface, from
the melting snows of the Rocky Mountains, and in
the tubes or wells is noticed to rise and fall with the
height of the streams.

The geological maps demonstrate that the pliocene
deposits, consisting mainly of sandstone, and in places
rich in fossils, comprise about one-seventh of the
State and arc confined to the north-west. Cretaceous
formations occupy three-sevenths of the south-western
and central parts. The upper carboniferous beds, with

Coal and Petroleum.

0 0 J

their limestone, clay shale, and gypsum, take a strip of
about two-sevenths running north-west, while on the
south-east are the coal measures occupying the re-
maining seventh of the State. Lead ores, chiefly in
the form of galena, have been found at Short Creek
in the south-east, where in 1878 about five million
pounds of lead ore were raised. Two zinc-smelting
furnaces are also in operation. Besides lignite, often
found very close to the surface, and in this poorly-
timbered country affording cheap fuel, various seams
of bituminous coal twelve to fifteen inches deep have
been found in the upper carboniferous deposits. One
of the best at present worked in Kansas is got at a
depth of 700 feet at Leavenworth, thirty miles north-
east of Kansas City, where one and a half million
bushels are brought up annually. The Osage seams
occupy an area running thirty miles north and south
and extending fifteen miles east and west, are super-
ficial, easily worked, and furnish useful gas coal. The
Fort Scott beds, still farther south, lie irregularly,
and seldom exceed two feet in thickness. Another
thicker seam is the Cherokee in the south-eastern
corner of the State, extending north from the Indian
territory, and probably reaching for many miles. In
the eastern parts of the State in connection with the
coal deposits are occasional petroleum oil wells. One
struck at Fort Scott, when boring for coal in 1870,
gave off gas which is said to have been burning ever
since. At Iola, from a cavity only twenty inches
deep, 10,000 cubic feet of the petroleum gas is
consumed daily for illuminating and heating. Near

A A

354 Farming in Kansas.

Wyandotte the gas supply is so large that a gas-
ometer holding 24,000 cubic feet is said to be filled
twice in twenty-four hours, and sufficient is obtained
to light a city of 30,000 inhabitants.

Kansas has a history of little more than thirty
years : in 1840 there was scarcely a white man in the
State ; in i860 she had a population of 100,000 ; now
she has a million. She has twenty-one cities ranging
from 2,000 to 16,000 inhabitants. Her cultivated area
is nearly eight million acres ; upwards of a million
acres have been added since 1878. Colonisation has
gone on rapidly from the Eastern States as well as
from Europe. A large negro settlement has been
formed in the North-West ; and several hundred new
comers arrive annually. Even with recent rapid
settlement only one-seventh of the available territory
is occupied and cultivated, and there are said to be few
States in which so small a proportion of the land is unfit
for corn or cattle. Probably not more than 5 per cent,
represents the area unfit for cultivation. The State
presents various attractions and facilities for settlers :
3,000 miles of railroad have been built ; there are
2,000 to 3,000 church organisations, and 500 school
houses with a school system possessing endowments
amounting to twelve million dollars. There are
asylums for the deaf, dumb, and blind ; two asylums
for the insane ; a State penitentiary, and 275 news-
papers. The State debt, allowing for the sinking
fund, is now reduced to one million dollars ; no new
obligations are being contracted. The total wealth
of the State is estimated at £400,000,000. This

Crops and Live Stock. 355

wealth is almost exclusively obtained from the
soil.

Kansas stands fourth on the roll of wheat-growing
States. It grows 28 million bushels. Its hot climate
is, however, more suited for Indian corn, which occu-
pies two and a half million acres, or about double
that devoted to wheat. The annual produce of corn
is 82 million bushels ; the average yield per acre is
about 34 bushels. Nearly half a million acres are
devoted to oats ; about one-fourth part of that area
to rye ; 83,200 acres are under barley; 53,400 acres
grow potatoes, which yield 80 to 1 00 bushels per acre ;
whilst 850,000 acres of grass are cut for hay. The
official statistics represent Kansas to have 275,000
horses of an average value of 10/., 50,000 mules averag-
ing 15/. 13^., 321,900 milch-cows averaging 3/. 12s.,
578,300 oxen and other cattle averaging 4/., 312,500
sheep averaging gs. 4^., and upwards of a million
swine valued at 12s. 6d. Like other States and terri-
tories possessed of so great an area of unused pro-
ductive soil, the growth both of corn and live stock
may still be enormously developed.

The well-appointed Kansas Pacific train bound
670 miles west to Denver, the busy, flourishing capital
of Colorado, carried me from Kansas City across the
Missouri and for 140 miles along the banks of the
Kansas river, often marked with escarpments of lime-
stone rock, and studded with useful timber. The
land here is in farms of 80 to 1 20 acres ; the occupa-
tions are smaller than farther west ; 140 acres is the
average extent of the farms of Kansas. As in other

356 Farming in Kansas.

parts of the State, land here a few years ago made
rapid advances in value, has since retrograded, but is
again improving. Near the railway useful farms of
one to two hundred acres with suitable house, and
the small amount of building which suffices in this
country, are worth #25 to #30 per acre. The land
generally is not tidily or well cultivated : sunflowers
six feet high and other weeds grow in uncontrolled
luxuriance. The winter wheat, which is chiefly sown,
is well up by the second week of October. Farmers
from the Eastern States are the chief occupiers.
There are a good many hard-working Germans,
Swedes, and Russians, who by careful, persevering
industry have managed to pull through recent bad
years, pay for their holdings, and get out of debt.

Topeka, the capital of Kansas, 67 miles west of
Kansas City, was first settled in 1840, and with its sub-
urbs now contains nearly 8,000 people. It has rolling
and flour mills and a cheese factory, which annually
turns out about 50,000 lbs. of cheese and 400,000 lbs.
of butter. In a broad zone, running a hundred miles
west of Topeka, on a rich, easily worked, sandy loam,
a great deal of wheat and Indian corn are grown, and
much more might be produced if it paid to grow it.
There is abundance of labour on somewhat easier
terms than a few years ago. Farm hands get JJ13 a
month with board, or #20 without ; carpenters, black-
smiths, and other mechanics earn about two dollars a
day. As in other States, it is easy to get small
farmers and contractors to take the breaking up,
ploughing, sowing, and harvesting of the wheat and

The Victoria Colony. 357

maize at six to eight dollars per acre. The last few
years have, however, sorely tried the patience and re-
sources of many settlers. In 1875 and again in 1876
grasshoppers were very destructive. The wheat crop of
1877 averaged only 13*5 ; 1878 was better, reaching
i6-3 ; but 1879, from the scorching spring drought,
dropped to eleven bushels, while 1880 has not been
much better. More than one cold, severe winter has
weakened and killed many of the live stock. Stock-
owners' profits, accordingly, have been diminished.
There seems little local demand either for cattle or
sheep, and little ready money in the hands of farmers.
Useful milch-cows were selling in October, 1879, at
5/.; store sheep at \os. to 12s. ; and hogs at about
13s. per 100 lbs. live weight. Since the autumn of
1879, improved trade throughout the States has given,
however, an upward turn to all agricultural produce,
and most descriptions of live stock are 20 per cent,
dearer than they then were.

Manhattan, 118 miles from Kansas City, at the
confluence of the Big Blue and Kansas rivers, was
founded in 1855, conjointly by a company from
Cincinnati and another from Boston. It stands
amongst limestone hills, whence are derived the
admirable durable materials which build its substan-
tial houses, churches, and Agricultural State College,
from which, with its experimental farm, much useful
teaching may be expected.

The Victoria colony, 280 miles west of Kansas
City, is. a portion of the State well known in Great
Britain. In 1873 Mr. George Grant took a tract of

358 Fanning in Kansas.

100,000 acres from the Kansas Pacific Railroad ;
allotted portions to various settlers ; built comfortable
houses with churches and school-houses ; brought
several thousand acres under wheat, maize, and millet ;
selected useful Texan and native cows, which he
crossed with superior shorthorns and polled Angus.
Some good crops were raised, and many hundreds of
graded shorthorns and promising half-bred Angus. The
Mexican sheep were crossed with Leicesters and
Cotswolds, with great improvement to their weight of
wool and mutton. But grasshoppers, drought, storms,
and severe winters cut into profits. Many calves
and lambs were lost from prairie wolves. The enter-
prise was on much too large a scale for the available
capital. At Mr. Grant's death in 1879 the Victoria
estates were found to be considerably involved, and
realisation of the crops, stock, and land has not yet
been satisfactorily concluded. The collapse of the
Victoria enterprise affords another illustration of the dis-
appointment and shipwreck which so certainly over-
take the settler who goes into farming or land-buying
with inadequate capital.

One of the most successful of the Victoria settlers
is a young Englishman (Mr. Smithers), who has up-
wards of 1,000 acres of rolling prairie five miles from
Hayes City. Three years ago he took his young wife
from London. Both seem to enjoy their lonely home
on the plains. They have a good two-storied stone house,
with kitchen, cellars, and several rooms underground
to avoid extremes of temperature. The house is fur-
nished in good English style, but would be much im-

Mr. Smithers's Successful Management. 359

proved if the bare brown lawn were fresh and green,
and trees and shrubs flourished for shelter and orna-
ment. Mr. Smithers's younger brother has taken up
a conterminous holding. Their chief society seems to
be the officers from Fort Hayes, a few miles distant.
Valuable help and counsel are obtained from a Scotch
lady from East Lothian, who has settled in the neigh-
bourhood with several of her sons, but. finds life and
labour hard and trying, and money very difficult
to make. Business on the farm or in the house over-
taken, riding, driving, shooting, and fishing are enjoyed,
or a trip is made on the Victoria Creek in the minia-
ture steam-boat, whose progress along the river is at
some points impeded by beaver dams.

On the easily broken land which costs less than
two dollars to plough the first time, Mr. Smithers
grows wheat for several years consecutively. The
first and second crops are seldom so good as those
which follow. In this dry climate it probably takes
two or three years before the organic matter of the
sod is sufficiently disintegrated to make a firm bed
and yield fitting food for the wheat plant. The crop
of 1879 is a sad failure, not exceeding 10 bushels an
acre. That of 1880 is somewhat more encouraging.
Seventy to a hundred acres of Indian corn are culti-
vated, and an increasing area of millet, which is used
both for fodder and ripened for seed, is worth in bulk 80
cents, but is retailed in smaller quantities at #1.25. It
is grown on the wheat stubbles either ploughed over,
or, if the land is clean, broadcasted in April and May ;
half a bushel is a fair seeding. It is harvested in June

360 Farming in Kansas.

and July. Cut green it produces two to four tons of
hay per acre. For this purpose the Hungarian is
preferred. The German variety has a strong woody
stem, which renders it less valuable for fodder, but it
is preferred for seed. Everywhere it grows readily,
and holds its own even when rudely put in with a
stocking hoe on the prairie.

Mr. Smithers, like other Kansas settlers, is devot-
ing considerable attention to flax, of which Kansas
now grows 60,000 acres. The yield is 8^ bushels per
acre. Often it is broadcasted in May on the newly
upturned prairie sod, and is ready in about ninety
days. Grown on a large scale, there would be difficulty
in getting it pulled. The seed is worth Si to $1.
25 per bushel. Although some growers have got
£5 a ton, there is hitherto a limited demand for the
straw. Not one-fifth of it is utilised, and farmers do
not care to undertake the tedious rotting and disagree-
able scutching and hackling processes. The small
mills now in operation from about ico tons of straw
make 36 tons lint and tow, worth £50 to £60 per ton.
In the making of bagging, cheap jute from Calcutta
very generally, however, takes the place of the stouter
flax or hemp. Flax culture in suitable situations will
probably extend. Disregarding the straw, the seed
pays the cost of production, and flax proves a good
preparation for wheat. The large importation indi-
cates the great demand for linseed. Although handi-
capped with a duty of 30 cents per bushel, one and
a half million bushels are, nevertheless, annually im-
ported ; the import in 1876 was two-fifths, and that

A Memnonite Colony. 361

of 1875 one-half more. From this imported as well
as from the home-grown linseed almost all the oil is
retained for home consumption ; but of the residual
cake 1 50,000 tons are annually exported.

Mr. Smithers's farm is tilled with thirty-five horses,
worth on an average 20/. apiece, working ten to
twelve hours a day, receiving when busy two quarts
of oats or of Indian corn thrice daily, and about three
quarts of bran worth 20s. a ton, all mixed together
and used with chopped hay. When the draught
animals are at grass or idle in the yards in winter
their allowance of corn is reduced to one-half. Mr.
Smithers rears a good many horses of various sorts,
has several well-bred mares with fair hunting char-
acter, and a couple of bull-dogs from the Duke of
Hamilton's famous strains. Hitherto he has bred few
cattle or sheep, but has some capital Berkshire pigs.

Three miles south of Mr. Smithers's estate is a
Russian Memnonite colony, the growth of three
years, numbering about 300 souls, with holdings
of 40 to 160 acres, some with tidy frame-houses of
one to two stories and five to six rooms, others with
hovels built of the prairie sod, which, when substan-
tially erected, are cool in summer, warm in winter,
and afford good protection against the high winds for
which the Kansas plains are unpleasantly notorious.
The stabling for the little, active horses which are
principally of Indian breed, and for the cattle which
are also of Indian origin, is likewise built of sods.
Sheds accommodating six animals, are run up for
about #10.

;62 Farming in Kansas.

<i

Wages, including harvest, are #12 to #15 per
month, with board. In a capital school accommoda-
ting fifty pupils are maps, books, and other appliances.
The lessons are given in Russian and English. The
education is gratuitous. Most of these people arehome-
steading or pre-empting their land. Eighty acres of
uncultivated soil after five years is thus acquired on
payment of fees amounting to #10. The planting of
ten acres of timber trees secures after seven years a
patent for 40 acres, and during this period until
Government gives over the land no taxes are exacted.
The anxiety for territorial acquisition is strong even
here. Many have taken up more land than they can
pay for or find the capital to cultivate. Lots of 80
acres and upwards, broken up and often possessing
some sort of house and buildings, may be bought
from the earlier pioneers at #5 per acre. Water is
supplied from wells sunk about 50 feet into the
limestone.

The colony hitherto has not been very prosperous.
The soil is a friable useful loam, 8 inches to 3 feet
deep, reposing on a limestone shale, with here and
there a bed of sand. In England the deep, useful
soil would gladly be appropriated for gardening, and
looks as if it would grow anything. Droughts are
apt, however, to wither up every green thing. Corn
planted on land when first broken up and even where
two ploughings have been given, has not generally pro-
duced 20 bushels ; whilst in moister region?; it would
probably have bulked 40 bushels. The wheat crops of
1879 and of 1880 have been disappointing. Very few

Kansas City. 363

of these industrious cultivators have had 15 bushels
an acre ; most not more than 10. Even potatoes and
cabbage have suffered. A hundred bushels of potatoes,
worth a dollar per bushel, represent an average acre-
able yield. Fruit trees are being planted. Few cattle
and sheep are hitherto reared ; but pastoral husbandry
must be extended if agriculturists are to thrive in this
land of drought.

North of Victoria another Memnonite colony has
been settled for about four years. The experience of
the settlers has not hitherto been very encouraging.
The land is very good, but the crops are liable to
suffer from dry springs and summers. Hayes City is
one of the important centres of this district, and pos-
sesses three hostelries, not very sumptuous or ambitious
in appearance, where lodging and board are provided
for about ^r.50 a day ; and where a pair of useful
horses and carriage are furnished for the day for about
#4. There are good stores where all the requirements
of Western life are offered. Clothing and luxuries are
dear, but food is cheap ; beef and mutton cost \\d.
per lb. ; chickens 6d. to 8d. each ; flour 12s. to 15^. per
100 lbs. Thirteen miles north-west is Ellis City,
founded in 1873, now mustering a population of 700,
many of them darkies. Fifty miles north of Ellis City
is Nicodemus, a negro settlement, with a population
of fully 500, recruited mostly from Missouri, poor and
indifferently provided with means of cultivation, the
land readily pre-empted on the usual easy terms, or
purchased for cash at less than $2 per acre.

Kansas City is in the corner of Missouri State, on

364 Farming in Kansas.

the banks of the Missouri river, beyond the western
banks of which extends for 400 miles the State which
gives the city its name. It is a busy, enterprising
place, with 55,000 inhabitants, 280 miles west of St.
Louis, and nearly double that distance south-west of
Chicago. Like some other rising American cities
several years ago it ambitiously built, improved, spe-
culated, and freely borrowed money. Five years of
bad times frustrated, however, the immediate realisa-
tion of greatness ; but now business is again booming,
prosperity smiles, municipal debts are being reduced.
Most of the seven lines of railways converging here for
some years have been in an unsatisfactory, unprofitable
condition. Now, however, they have abundance of
traffic; during the two busy autumns of 1879 and
1880 they could not overtake the work entrusted to
them ; corn and cattle were alike delayed by the want
of trucks ; notwithstanding low traffic rates, dividends
were being paid. Ten million bushels of wheat and
fully half that amount of Indian corn are annually
handled at Kansas City. Emigration westward, which
for some years was tardy, is again active. Good
crops and a growing, remunerative trade in cattle and
hogs are bringing money to most farmers, who in their
turn circulate it amongst other classes. Implement
makers, unlike their brethren in Great Britain, have
been ' running a very fine business ; ' the managers of
the principal store for such goods in Kansas City tell
me that they are doing double what they did three
years ago, and, in further evidence of a going trade,
remark that during the first nine months of 1879 they

Land Advancing in Value. 365

sold 1,000 wheeled carriages. Such demand would
indicate considerable movement of agricultural and
other produce.

Notwithstanding the depressed trade of the last
few years, in spite of banking and commercial failures
and the amount of money required in the working of
mills, elevators, and other home enterprises, there is
in this young Western city considerable accumulated
wealth ; and the bankers inform me that they some-
times remit large amounts to New York for invest-
ment at 6 per cent. Land and house property,
which in and about Kansas City had been stationary
for some years, is again mounting up. Along the
limestone cliffs, above the lower older town, the river
and the railway depots, new streets and buildings are
being laid out, commanding, from their elevated posi-
tion, fine views of a rich, undulating, well-wooded
country, with here and there peeps of the Missouri
river, and of numerous lines of railroad. Throughout
both the lower and upper parts of the city tram-cars,
mostly drawn by mules, conveniently traverse the
principal streets, which, as is too often the case in
America, are not kept in good order. The side walks,
raised two to three feet above the horse roads, are
chiefly of wood ; and Mr. William Saunders, who has
written one of the most readable and instructive re-
cent books on America, under the fanciful title of
' Through the Light Continent/ states : ' On peram-
bulating the city after dark, my progress was some-
what impeded by the number of rats which were
holding their orgies on the pavement, and seemed

366 Farming in Kansas.

to have entrenched themselves in the various recesses
between the timbers of which the pavement is com-
posed.'

Want of time prevented my visiting the grain ele-
vators, which have a storage capacity of one and a
half million bushels, the flour mills, breweries, and
other industries of Kansas City ; but, specially inter-
ested in those great pork-packing establishments pe-
culiar to America, where so much animal food is so
cheaply handled, and forwarded in such increasing
amounts to the United Kingdom, I spent an after-
noon in Messrs. Plankington and Armour's hog and
beef packing works. They have many points in common
with the similar concerns described at Chicago. The
extensive buildings, several of them four stories high,
are sensibly separated to diminish the risks of fire
spreading, and are conveniently encircled and inter-
sected by railroad sidings. Extensive sheds have
just been completed for the manufacture and drying
of the refuse. As in many big establishments, the
packing cases, boxes, and crates, and most of the
meat and lard tins, are made on the premises. Ac-
cording to the season, from 500 to 1,000 hands are
employed, a large proportion of them people of colour.
The daily wages range from #1 to £2.50.

The cattle, largely drawn from Texas, are driven,
grazing as they go, across the Indian territory, their
journey usually occupying several months. About
300,000 are brought up every summer from Texast
They are railed from North Fork Town, Vineta, or
other stations, and sent over 300 miles, to Kansas City.

Hog and Beef Packing. 367

In the yards alongside of them are dun and black
beasts from New Mexico, also greatly in need of
judicious selection and grading up with better bulls.
Beasts of better quality are reared and forwarded
from Kansas State and Colorado, and indeed from
most of the great grazing regions south' of the Plate
River. The developrrent of these American grazing
grounds may be gathered from the fact that in 1868
the cattle brought into Kansas City numbered 4,200,
the hogs reached 13,000, of sheep there were none.
Now the numbers mount to 200,000 cattle, 500,000
hogs, and 40,000 sheep, and are increasing annually.
On the cattle brought into the stockyards a commis-
siori of 50 cents per head is charged. They cost
from #2.75 to #3.50 per 100 lbs. gross; the best weigh
about 1,300 lbs.

About 1 2,000 are annually slaughtered by Messrs.
Plankington and Armour ; but, now that the canning
business is brisk, it is intended to develop that trade.
From a common yard the cattle are driven into small
pens containing a pair of beasts. From a gangway
above they are shot in the forehead. A chain round
one or both hind legs, worked automatically by steam,
drags the carcase into the dressing-shed, where ten
or twelve minutes suffice to bleed, flay, and remove
the inside. Hoisted on the gamble between the
joists, they are run along to the cooling room, cut
down the middle, and hung for twenty-four hours in
a temperature of about 360. Still without being
handled, the firm, cool carcases are swung along, are
dropped on to a big bench, and by hand-choppers

o

68 Fanning in Kansas.

and steam-driven circular saws are promptly cut into
the requisite pieces. A great deal is transferred to
the pickling tanks, in which it remains for thirty days ;
when it is transferred to barrels, and is distributed for
the shipping trade, the lumberers, the sugar and
cotton plantations, and for export.

During the twelve months from November to
November, upwards of 3,000 hogs are packed by
Messrs. Plankington and Armour. They are chiefly
purchased in the city stockyards. They are of the
same good type seen in other great marts — mostly
black Berkshire and middle-sized Yorkshire, vary-
ing from 160 to 250 lbs. gross weight. They are
not graded as at Chicago. They cost 40 to 50 cents
per 100 lbs. less than at Chicago. Their value varies
from £3.20 to £4.30 per 100 lbs. gross weight. During
1878 and 1879 they were lower than they have been
since 1861-62. During 1880 they have averaged a
dollar per cental more than in 1879. For twenty-
three years the average has been #4.34 gross, or #5.
24 net. The average shrinkage when the hog is
killed and dressed is one-fifth ; but mature well-fed
hogs should not lose more than 1 5 per cent. They
produce 18 per cent, of their net weight of lard, or, on
an average, 40 lbs. per hog.

The grunters, drawn by the score into a catching
pen, are strung up by a chain round one hind leg, and
receive the fatal thrust. Suspended on pulleys, fixed
on gently inclined iron rods screwed into the rafters,
their own weight carries them along about twenty
yards. By the touch of a spring a small boy unhooks

Hog- Packing. 369

them, and they plunge into a steam-heated bath ; in
about three minutes are raised on to a table, when
five or six black fellows, usually stripped to their
trousers, with steel scrapers remove the hair, but
neither so promptly, thoroughly, or cheaply, as the
ingenious machine scrapers do at Messrs. Armour's
at Chicago. Arrangements, however, are being made
to introduce scraping machinery at Kansas city.
The hog is disembowelled, the viscera distributed for
different uses, the leaf, from which the best lard is
made, is carefully kept apart from the other fatty
matters. Jets of cold water play over the carcase
to ensure thorough cleansing ; it is cut down the back,
and suspended from the ceiling, along the labour-
saving rods, is run into the cool chamber, where in a
dry atmosphere cooled to 360 or 380 by some hundred
tons of ice, laid in at a cost of #3.25 per ton, it looses
animal heat and firms. In twenty-four to thirty-six
hours the hogs are brought out, are cut into joints
and pieces for different markets, and delivered down
convenient shoots for drysalting, for the pickling tub,
the lard vats, or the sausage machines. The bacon
and pork are chiefly sent to the South and West,
where the demand has been so great that to supply
his customers Mr. Armour, in addition to his own
large turn-out, often buys several million lbs. of sides.
Here, as at Chicago, the hams are mostly sugar-cured,
and a considerable porportion come to England, for-
warded in crates, twenty-six, ranging from 9 to ijlbs.,
being packed together.

The rendering of the lard is a most important
B B

370 Farming in Kansas.

department in all hog-packing establishments. Dur-
ing 1878 and the early part of 1879, when prices
of most other hog products were so low that when
disposed of a new dollar was scarcely got for an old
one, the lard was the redeeming feature of the busi-
ness. During the winter of 1878 it was stated that
at Chicago 400,000 sides of bacon were converted
into lard, and a similar course was also taken at
Kansas city. Most of the lard is sent to Great Britain.
The price ranges from $6 to $S per 100 lbs. Twelve
tanks, heated by steam filled from above, hold each 25
to 30 tierces of 400 lbs. The purified lard Is run into
patent tin pails, made in Chicago, holding 3, 5, or 10
lbs., or into tins of larger capacity made in Kansas
City. Vats, similar to those used for the lard, are
devoted to the extraction of grease from the heads,
feet, and refuse. The bristles and hair are duly taken
care of, and of the latter many bales are forwarded to
London and used with horsehair for stuffing furniture
and railway carriage cushions. The blood, the refuse
from the lard and grease tanks, and the offal, are
dried by hot air, the bones and coarser parts are
ground and again dried in coarse sacking between hot
iron plates. A capital fertiliser is thus made, is used
by market gardeners and on the cotton, sugar and
tobacco plantations, is sold at the works at about ,s' 12
per ton of 2,000 lbs., and every 100 lbs. contains the
following important mammal constituents : —

Nitrogen compounds equal to ammonia . . . 8*13

Phobphoric acid equal to bone phosphate oflimc . 3176

Meat Cheaply Retailed. 371

Kansas City is well situated for cheap freights.
Competing railways via Chicago and Saint Louis
give easy rates to Atlantic ports, whilst the Missouri
is also used for transportation, shallow steam-tugged
barges conveying down to Saint Louis 50,000 to
80,000 bushels of grain at each trip. Messrs. Plank-
ington and Armour have shipped via rail to New York,
a distance of 1,500 miles, at 18 cents per 100 lbs. ; the
rate in October, 1 879, was however, 65 cents; Kansas
City merchants consider 50 cents a fair charge. Wheat
has sometimes been sent 500 miles to Chicago at 5
cents per bushel, but now it costs 15 cents. A
barrel of flour weighing 214 lbs. is conveyed to New
York for about 4s. yd. Freights westward, where
there is less competition, are higher.

Connected with the works Messrs. Plankington
and Armour have a large retail meat store, turning
over #600 daily, a boon to their neighbours, as well
as enabling them to clear off a quantity of meat which
would otherwise go into the lard vats. The best cuts
of beef are sold at 12 to 13 cents. The price for
various portions goes down as low as 4 cents ; sides
of bacon are 9 cents ; spare ribs green are 2^50 to
3 cents, tender loin 4*50 to 5 cents, sugar-cured
hams 9-50 cents. During 1880, however, prices have
somewhat advanced, and both beef and bacon are
now about one dollar per cental dearer than they
were twelve months ago. Even with this advance
butchers' meat is still cheap. The consumption by
all classes is much larger than in Great Britain.
There is more waste : cold meat and rechauffe are

372 Farming in Kansas.

uncommon even amongst labourers and artisans in
America.

Around Kansas City, farming for some years has
been doing indifferently ; grasshoppers, drought, short
crops, low prices, and inadequate capital in turn have
blighted prospects. A good many farms of all sorts
and sizes were in consequence mortgaged, the amount
advanced being 40 to 50 per cent, on their value.
Two better seasons have, however, enabled many
farmers to get out of debt and difficulty. Legal
interest is 7 per cent., but needy men gladly pay
more ; expenses and commission are charged to the
borrower. For an area of 25 miles south of the city,
the pleasantly undulating well-timbered country is
fairly cultivated. Many fields are fenced with the
wild orange or osage, which, with reasonable care, in
five years makes a stout hedge which keeps back
cattle and even pigs. The running out farming prac-
tised by the earlier settlers is very generally super-
seded by some sort of rotation. Manure is occasion-
ally applied ; and green crops are fed upon the land.
Wheat is not taken so frequently or continuously.
Amongst it is sown Timothy and clover, which remain
down one, two, or even three years. When this is
broken up wheat is again planted, followed by maize,
in its turn usually succeeded by wheat, amongst
which the grasses are sown. These grasses are mown
for hay or used green, often grazed by pigs, which in
many Western States are hurdled over the seeds as
sheep are at home.

The cost of wheat growing, including rent and

Sales of Pedigree Stock. t>7Z

delivery to market, is about 4.0s. an acre. Autumn
wheat is chiefly grown ; the spring variety, which
constitutes about one-fifth of the total produce of
Kansas, is chiefly confined to the Northern parts of
the State, and the yield rarely reaches one-half that
of the winter sown. Even in well-cultivated districts
around the city 20 bushels is a full crop. A great
deal more live stock is kept than formerly, and it is
of a more profitable sort. Mr. Seth Ward, on a fine
grass farm near Kansas City, has a good herd of
shorthorns, and uses a very superior Oxford bull.
Major A. Crane, thirty miles south of Saline, has
several Duchesses and other valuable Bates cattle.
Following these examples other breeders are buying
superior shorthorns and Herefords. Repeatedly
throughout the year, sales are held at Kansas City
of shorthorn and other pedigree cattle, and of well-
selected Merinos, English Downs, and Leicesters,
which, distributed throughout a wide district, improve
both wool and mutton. Useful yearling bulls bring
15/. to 30/., whilst bucks fetch 3/. to 15/.

Some of the southern parts of Kansas afford many
attractions to settlers, and advantage is being freely
taken of them. During 1878, one and a half million
acres of Government school and railway lands were
taken up in this southern part of the State, represent-
ing 10,000 new farms, and settlement is since proceed-
ing with still greater rapidity. Amongst localities of
good promise is Cotton Wood Valley, 140 miles
south-west of Kansas City, a region fully 40 miles
square, watered by many streams, pleasantly undu-

574 Farming in Kansas.

lating, and well adapted for mixed husbandry. The
natural Buffalo grass makes its spring start towards
the end of March. Artificial, or, as they are termed,
' tame' grasses, such as Timothy, Kentucky blue joint,
and clovers, grow kindly ; lucerne is a sure crop usually
standing for five or six years, and producing repeated
big crops, especially where it is irrigated. Kindly nour-
ished on the cretaceous soils, the herbage is sweet,
and grows and feeds the stock well.

Still farther to the south-west the Arkansas valley
extends 300 miles through the south-western part of
the State, varying from 30 to 50 miles in width, plea-
santly rolling, containing a great deal of good deep
bottom land, porous and easily worked. A man and
a pair of horses, I am told, easily work here 40 acres of
Indian corn, which, when diligently cultivated, yields
30 to 40 bushels an acre. The country is generally
watered by streams or with wells reaching down 30 to
60 feet into the limestone rock, pumping being some-
times effected by windmills. The Arkansas and adja-
cent valleys, although only settled since 1872, now
produce two-fifths of the wheat grown in the State.
The winter variety, generally sown, in a favourable
season, yields 15 to 20 bushels. This fertile region
also largely contributes to the great growth of cheaply-
raised Indian corn. Running along the 38th parallel
of latitude, the climate is particularly favourable for
fruit growing. Peaches and grapes, as well as pears
and apples, arc abundantly produced. Fruit trees in
six years come into profitable bearing, and orchards
are already met with paying annually several hundred

The Arkansas Valley. 375

pounds. The produce is usually sent to the Colorado
mining districts. Peaches have often been so plenti-
ful that they sell at 2od. per bushel ; grapes wholesale
bring id. per lb. and retail at \\d. to 2d. Land in a
state of nature unprovided with buildings is to be
purchased at 20s. to 30^. an acre, according to situation
and nearness to water and railroad. In remote
districts land may still be obtained under the Home-
stead Act by settlers who will reside for five years,
build some sort of a house, effect improvements, and
pay fees and commissions amounting to about is. an
acre.

The stock-master who has well-watered ranges in
the Arkansas valley, has a minimum of anxiety and
expense during a short winter of two or three months.
The native grasses, especially the buffalo and mosquito,
are abandant : other grasses and clovers grow well.
The July sun cures the grass as it stands for natural
hay, which remains ready for the short days of winter.
Prairie hay is machine cut, delivered, and stacked at
10s. per ton. With a proper provision of matured
self-cured hay standing about on the runs, one ton of
hay in the stack or barn is stated to be a good
winter supply for 25 cattle or for 100 sheep.

There are no herds of 20,000 to 30,000, as in
Colorado, Texas, or Wyoming. Shorthorn bulls are
used amongst selected Texas or Colorado cows. The
bullocks are sold out at three to four years old, weigh-
ing, off grass, 1,000 to 1,300 lbs. ; or, when finished
with corn, scaling 1,500 or 1,600 lbs. gross weight, and
yielding 58 to 60 per cent, of good beef. Cattle have

376 Fanning in Kansas.

hitherto been more extensively and profitably reared
than sheep. Mexican sheep, rough and hairy,
worth about S-r.'or or. apiece, with fleece of 2 to 2\ lbs.,
are being improved by crossing with Merinos, which
triple their weight of fleece, and bring it up to \od. or
is. per lb. The sheep are not run thicker than one to
the five acres. The cost of keeping is about 2s. per
head per annum. The losses are stated not to exceed
5 per cent. Scab, occasionally introduced, is trouble-
some, necessitating repeated dipping in tobacco decoc-
tion at a cost of ^d. to 6d. per head. From 100 ewes 70
to 80 lambs are obtained. The wool pays all expenses
The sheep at two years old average 100 to 120 lbs.
gross, or fully half this when dressed. Good graded
flocks, especially those which have had a cross or two
of English blood, are considerably heavier, and from
their gross live weight, as in this country, will dress
four-sevenths of mutton. Notwithstanding the low
price which for two years has ruled for hogs, Kansas
State continues to breed nearly a million a year. On
the natural prairie or in the grass fields they are reared
at small cost, and profitably finished on the cheap
maize. Good pigs, about a year old, should add to
their weight 10 lbs. for every bushel of corn they con-
sume. If 3 cents per lb. is got for the pig on the
hoof, the corn is estimated to pay is. 3d. per bushel ;
which affords a better profit than disposing of it at 1 s.,
the current price in this and many other corn-growing
regions.

Agriculturists in Southern Kansas arc well cir-
cumstanced for markets. The Atchison, Topcka and

Railroad Enterprises. 377

Santa Fe railroad, with eastern termini at Atchison
and Kansas City, is in direct communication with the
Atlantic markets and ports. Westward it sends
various branches amongst the rapidly growing pros-
perous mining regions of Colorado and New Mexico ;
and when it is pushed westward through Arizona and
California, to the Pacific, a considerable proportion of
the traffic from India, Japan, China, and Australia, will
travel along this route. A line from Newton is also
in course of construction down the Arkansas river,
towards the Mississippi, opening up, via New Orleans,
another route to the eastern seaboard.

73

CHAPTER XXIII.

MISSOURI FARMING AND ST. LOUIS TRADE.

On October 17 we were roused at 4 a.m., had a
hurried cup of coffee and stepped from the hotel into
the omnibus which rattles over the badly paved
streets of Kansas City, picks up a few passengers
from various hotels, and at 5.45 we are at the central
depot of the several railroads. In this part of
America people are astir betimes, and important long
distance trains start either in early morn or late in
the afternoon. We are bound for St. Louis, 280 miles
east. The undulating country, refreshed by recent
rains, is bright and pleasant. The rail runs by the
side of the Missouri amidst woods, fine straight oaks,
containing 200 feet of useful timber ; the black walr
nuts are still larger; tough hickory 3 to 3! feet through
them six feet from the ground yield 1 50 to 200 feet
of timber ; the yellow poplar, although common in
Virginia, seldom occurs west of the Mississippi. The
well-wooded creeks closely covered with brushwood
twenty years ago used to afford safe shelter for bush-
whackers, who were wont to levy black mail and
terrorise wide districts. The country, however, is now
quiet and well ordered.

The Missouri Valley. 379

Wheat put in three weeks or a month ago is now
up, looking as luxuriant as it does in England in the
end of March. Much of it is sown on Indian corn
stubbles amongst the shocks six or seven feet high,
left untidily standing until they are required or until
they are conveniently carted off during the first frost.
Most of the land near the railway has been under
cultivation for upwards of 20 years. The farms here
are not so large as farther west : their average
throughout the State of Missouri is 148 acres. Com-
fortable houses, good gardens and orchards are seen on
most properties. The fields are divided by osage or
wild orange hedges, planted at a trifling cost, and in
rive years making good fences and affording welcome
shelter. The soil is deep and easily worked ; the
deepest and best, in the lower situations with good
cultivation, secures 25 bushels of wheat, 50 bushels of
Indian corn, and is' favourable for successful fruit
growing. Apples, pears, grapes, and peaches are
good and plentiful, but the great peach districts lie
fifty miles south. There are good evidences of pros-
perity and comfort ; soil and climate aid the enter-
prise of the settler ; convenient markets are obtained
for all sorts of produce. Labour is tolerably plentiful,
agricultural hands are generally engaged from March
I until November at the rate of #10 to #15 per month,
board and lodging inclusive. In harvest the wages
are doubled. The emigration of coloured people from
the bankrupt properties of Southern States keeps
down the price of labour. As in England, the in-
dustry and willingness of the labourer is stated to

380 Missouri Farming and St. Louis Trade.

have deteriorated during the last few years. Negro
labour especially is not so effectual as it was in the
slave-holding times, when good field hands were hired
by the year at #200, with the proviso that they should
be well fed, lodged, clothed, and doctored. The
practice of paying off most of the agricultural labourers
during two or three idle winter months proves de-
moralising. Except in a pork packing or lumbering
district, they have difficulty in finding continuous
winter employment. They loiter about the towns
unsatisfactorily spending their summer earnings and
learning idle and irregular habits.

Genial spring, towards the end of February,
follows a severe but short winter, when planting of
the spring crop is taken in hand. Some farmers use
a particularly early spring wheat, which is cut about
the end of May, yields 15 to 20 bushels per acre, and
has the advantage of escaping the scorching summer
heat and the attack of the chintz bug. The amount
of seed in general use per acre is 1 \ bushels of wheat,
2 to 2\ bushels of oats, and 4 pecks of Indian corn.
On the useful timber land the wheat tillers, which it
scarcely ever does on prairie soils. Oats, yielding 50
to 60 bushels, are cut early in July ; the wheat
immediately after. Indian corn costs #5.50 per acre ;
a man and team will cultivate thoroughly 30 acres ; it
stands conveniently until there is leisure to reap it ; 40
bushels is an average crop, and it remains uninjured in
the field until it can be conveniently carried. Its price
during the past ten years has varied in this district
from 20 to 50 cents per bushel.

Prosperous Tenant Farmers. 381

Towards Otterville the soil is lighter ; beds of
gravel and flint are frequent. The land, as is
generally the case along the line of railway, is all
taken up ; but ten miles further back farms are to be
had at 30s. to 4.0s. per acre, and payment for any
building or permanent improvements that may have
been made. Approaching Jefferson City we again
reach the Missouri ; are in a limestone and grass
country, becoming more hilly and abundantly wooded.
One hundred miles from St. Louis the railroad,
amongst fine timber, has its way cut along the lime-
stone cliffs, which, in many places, rise a hundred
feet on the right, with the Missouri, broad as the
Thames at Richmond, flowing on the left. Owing to
an unusually limited rainfall, which during 1879 only
reached 25 inches, the river is so shallow that in many
places it is easily forded.

Fourteen miles from St. Louis, picturesquely situ-
ated amongst hills and rocks, is Kirkwood, where
many of the city merchants have pleasant villas,
tastefully built of the sandstone of the district. The
roads are wide and good ; the comfortable farmhouses
and cottages with profitable gardens show prosperity.
On the deep useful sandy loams are farms, owned
often by the townspeople, varying from 50 to 160
acres, some of them rented at $4 to #5 an acre. Some
are run on shares, the landlord receiving one-third of
the produce ; some are held from year to year ; others
are leased for periods of five to ten years. Throughout
this district the Kentucky blue grass thrives well.
Many stock farmers are laying down a few acres of

382 Missouri Farming and St. Lotus Trade.

lucerne, which sends its tap-roots deeply into the dry
soil, and hence thrives on a minimum of moisture, is
frequently cut as early as the middle of April, and
the cutting repeated four or five times throughout the
summer and autumn. When properly manured and
cleaned, lucerne, as in England, continues profitable
for five or six years.

St. Louis enjoys a full share of the prosperity
widely extending throughout the United States.
Her population, nearly double since 1870, now
numbers 355,000. Her wide streets, substantially-
built stone houses, well-appointed shops, handsome
public buildings, magnificent and lofty Exchange,
compare favourably with those of European cities.
About 2,000 buildings are annually added to the city,
representing an outlay of 3 to 4 million dollars. The
real estate of the city is given at #136,071,670 ; the
personal at #27,742,250 ; the rate of taxation is 2-6
per cent, on the valuation. The maximum tempera-
ture of ten years is 980, the minimum — y^. The mean
annual rainfall is 38*9 inches, but the rainfall of 1879
was only 257 inches. Most rain falls in June and
November. Proximity to the Mississippi, over which
a magnificent bridge has been thrown, secures cool
evening breezes. Changes of temperature are, how-
ever, often sudden and trying.

Eighteen railroads now centre in St. Louis, their
offices conveniently included in one huge depot. A
new line has been carried south-west into Texas,
opening up a great cattle and cotton district.
Another, the Paola, Kansas, and Arizona, proceeds

Business Booming. 383

west to those rapidly developing territories. Three
direct lines are open to the Missouri. With such
transport facilities superadded to the older cheap
river transit, business steadily expands, as is illus-
trated by the tonnage received and shipped by rail
and river in 1875 and 1879

Received by rail
Received by river

Total tons

Despatched by rail
Despatched by river

Total tons

1S75
3,232,770

663,525

3,896,295

1,301,45°
639,095

1,940,545

1879
4,663,078

688,970

5,352,048

2,285,716

677,H5

2,962,861

Almost every department of business has partici-
pated in this expansion since 1877. The grain trade
has increased fully one-third. Wheat during 1879
has increased nearly 20 per cent. Receipts for cotton
and hogs have doubled. From the annual statement
of the trade and commerce of St. Louis, prepared for
1879 for the Merchants' Exchange, the following
details are extracted : —

Wheat, total receipts, bushels
Flour manufactured, barrels
Flour handled, barrels
Indian corn handled, bushels
Oats handled, bushels
Cotton, bales .
Hog products, exported, lbs.

I7,093,362
2,142,949

4,154,754

13,360,636

5,002,165

472,436
220,891,273

Seven great elevators have a total storage capacity
of 5,000,000 bushels. Besides grain in sacks, 23,000,000
bushels of loose grain passed through them in 1879 ;
\\ cents per bushel is paid by the buyer for weighing
and the first ten days' storage of wheat, corn, rye, and

384 Missouri Farming and St. Louis Trade.

oats, \ cent for each subsequent ten days or part
thereof. Barley is charged 2 cents per bushel for the
first ten days. Grain in sacks pays 4 cents per sack
for ten days' storage, and 1 cent for each subsequent
ten days. The wheat handled at St. Louis is mostly
the winter variety. Scarcely one twenty-fifth is
spring. This small import is chiefly brought from
the Upper Mississippi. Nearly half this supply comes
east by rail from the Missouri districts ; one-fifth is
forwarded north by rail or river ; about one-sixth
grows east of St. Louis. The great proportion is
graded No. 2. The first reaped of the winter crop of
wheat of 1879 was on June 1 8th. It sold at #1.50. The
first samples of 1878 were shown on June 7, and sold
at #1.25. The price for No. 2 winter during 1879
has varied from 91 cents early in January to #1.35 in
the middle of October, and #1.36 in the middle of
December.

Twenty-five flour mills have a capacity to turn
out daily 11,370 barrels. They make five times the
amount overtaken 25 years ago. The two principal
are the Yeager Milling Company with a capacity of
1,500 barrels, and the Atlantic Milling Company with
a capacity of 1,000. The St. Louis Mills in 1879
ground 8,996,177 bushels of wheat, producing
2,142,949 barrels of flour. Great pains have recently
been taken to perfect the milling processes. More
than one- third of the total production as offi-
cially inspected comes under the high class cate-
gories of ' double' and ' triple extra,' ' family,' 4 choice '
and ' fancy.'

Exports for Great Britain. 385

The receipts of wheat at St. Louis in 1879 were
17,093,362 bushels; the shipments were 7,302,076
bushels, of which 2,715,909 bushels were exported to
Europe, 4,359,081 bushels went east by rail, a large
proportion of it for exportation ; the balance was dis-
tributed locally. Great Britain proves St. Louis's best
foreign customer. Besides receiving direct 324,912
bushels of wheat, she takes five-sixths of the flour,
nearly all the cotton, canned meats and hams, lard,
tallow, oil-cakes, and cotton-seed meal. England, on
through bills of lading, has 353,505 barrels of flour ;
Scotland, 169,482 ; Ireland, 70,241. The flour,
although estimated in barrels, is now mostly for-
warded in sacks containing 140 lbs.

The public railroad rates for 100 lbs. of grain for-
warded from St. Louis to New York or Montreal, dis-
tances of 1,100 to 1,200 miles, varied during 1879
from 23 to 46 cents ; indeed, during May, competition
was so keen that freights were ' demoralised,' and flour
was taken to New York at 8 cents per barrel, and
grain at \2\ cents per 100 lbs. The terms to Phila-
delphia and Baltimore are usually a little lower than
those to New York. The Mississippi carries down a
thousand miles to New Orleans at small cost, a great
amount of cargo, which, now that the mouths are
opened for the admission of larger vessels, will doubt-
less still further increase. Several thousand tons of
freight by this easy but roundabout route are
carried between St. Louis and New York. Six
million bushels of various sorts of grain, in large
boats, were towed down the Mississippi in 1879 ; and

c c

3 86 Missouri Farming and St. Louis Trade.

but for the low state of the river in summer and
autumn, the transport by water would have been
greater. During the open January of 1880, 1,500,000
bushels of grain were forwarded to New Orleans, one
tow taking, besides package freight, 270,000 bushels,
and another 225,376 bushels. The charges to New
Orleans for 1879 averaged 7 cents per bushel for corn,
and \ cent per bushel more for wheat. Thus cheaply
dropped down the Mississippi stream 3,000,000
bushels of wheat and 4,500,000 bushels of corn were
collected and exported from New Orleans in 1879.
France still maintaining her connection with her old
colony, in 1879 and 1880 had about two-thirds of the
wheat and one-third of the maize.

The Mississippi and its great tributaries bring to
St. Louis in rafts 131,482,871 feet of lumber, besides
40,000 logs, and quantities of roofing shingles, laths,
and pickets. Nine-tenths of this timber is white pine
from the Upper Mississippi, which also furnishes
cottonwood. The Lower Mississippi contributes
yellow pine, ash, oak, poplar, and some walnut, which
also grows well along the Lower Missouri. Like so
many other commodities, after several years of de-
pression, lumber has advanced in price, and is in great
demand for building, as well as for railway, purposes.
Coal, coming chiefly from Ohio and Kentucky, is
mostly forwarded by rail, reaches 37,000,000 bushels
annually, whilst 34,000,000 bushels of coke are also
received. Good coal is usually worth 15^. to 20r. per
ton of 2,000 lbs.

St. Louis is the great cotton emporium of the in-

Stocky a rds. 387

terior. Her lines of railroad, radiating into the great
growing districts, bring in twenty times the cotton
imported ten years ago : 400,000 bales are now re-
ceived annually. Three great companies have a com-
pressing capacity of 6,000 bales a day, and covered
storage for 200,000 bales. Three-fourths, of the cotton
is transported by the St. Louis Iron Mountain and
Southern Railroad and brought chiefly from Arkansas,
Texas, and Louisiana. Of the 104,150 bales shipped
direct to Europe during twelve months to August 31,
1879, 98,598 went to Liverpool. To New York or
eastern ports the freight is about 54 cents per 100 lbs.
The average weight of the bales for 1878-79 was
484 lbs. The price of middling cotton has ranged
from 9 to 13 cents.

Several other important industries flourish at St.
Louis. Three distilleries mash and distil 614,514
bushels of grain, produce 3 62 gallons of spirits per
bushel, pay a duty of 90 cents per gallon, and have
yielded 2,228,088 gallons of spirits, classified as
' Bourbon,' ' alcohol,' ' gin,' ' high wines,' and ' pure
neutral or Cologne spirits.' A large amount of spirit
is besides rectified and compounded, and a good deal
must be consumed, for the United States excise
officers make a return of 10,650,084 gallons of spirits
of various sorts gauged during 1 879.

St. Louis has two lots of stockyards both con-
nected with the railroad, concentrating each week
8,000 to 10,000 cattle, 3,000 to 4,000 sheep, and
25,000 to 30,000 hogs. Three-fourths of the live
stock come from the west and south, chiefly for-

388 Missouri Farming and St. Louis Trade.

warded by the St. Louis and San Francisco, the
Missouri Pacific, the St. Louis Iron Mountain and
Southern, and other lines entering Kansas and
Texas. Upwards of 30,000 cattle, 66,000 sheep, and
5,023 horses and mules are yearly brought by boat,
often several hundred miles down the Mississippi and
Missouri. Freely using these inexpensive means of
transport, comparatively few animals are now driven
to market. The returns of these for 1879 comprise
11,500 cattle, 14,610 sheep, 9,511 pigs, and only 20
horses. About half the live stock pitched in St.
Louis are forwarded north and east. The following
are the number of animals received in the stockyards,
and the numbers sent on during 1879 : —

No. No. Des-

Received patched

Cattle 420,654 226,255

Sheep 182,648 88,083

Hogs 1,762,724 686,099

Horses and Mules . . . . 33,289 36,947

Numbers of mules collected by the principal
breeders and brought up by road do not come into
the stockyards, but are sold privately, and sent on
mostly by rail, accounting for the number of horses
and mules received being smaller than those de-
spatched.

The cattle in the St. Louis, as in other stock-
yards, are very mixed. The Colorado and a few
Oregon beasts have more compactness and quality
than the Texans. A few superior three-year-old short-
horns and Hereford reaching 1,600 lbs. to 1,700 lbs.
are (October 1879) worth 4^ to 4| cents per lb. gross

Beef Canning Company. 389

or live weight. A good many Cherokee and other
native nondescript cows in poor condition weighing
700 lbs. to 800 lbs. are selling at 2\ to 3 cents. Good
cows near calving are, however, generally worth 5/. to
8/. The sheep, poor light Mexicans and Merinoes,
weigh 80 lbs. to 85 lbs. gross, and are worth 2 to 2\
cents per lb. Good half-breds reaching 1 50 lbs., and
dressing nearly 20 lbs. per quarter, are worth 4^ cents
per lb. live weight. Most of the pigs are useful.
Although generally direct from grass or clover, or
finished up with a few bushels of corn, they average
250 lbs. gross weight, and bring 3^ to 3| cents per lb.
The winter-killed pigs are 20 to 30 lbs. heavier. From
the Southern States are some big rough, flat-sided,
unimproved specimens, showing a good deal of the
tawny or black and brown feral colours, formidable
jaws, and abundance of bristles. The packing for
the year ending March 1st, 1879, made away with
629,261 hogs. The products of pork and lard were
107,821,156 lbs.

Connected with the National Stockyards are the
well-arranged premises of the St. Louis Beef Canning
Company, erected in 1876, occupying three acres,
and costing with plant, machinery, &c, $200,000.
The company employs 1,200 hands, the men receiving
4s. to 10s. per day, the women and girls 2s. to 3^. 6d.
The busy period is during the summer and autumn
months, while grass-fed beasts are abundant and
cheap. During this period about 500 cattle are
slaughtered daily, consisting chiefly of Texans, averag-
ing 850 lbs. to 900 lbs. gross weight, costing (October

39° Missouri Farming and St. Lonis Trade.

1879) 2§ cents per lb. live weight, producing about
55 per cent, of dressed meat, which thus costs about
5 cents or 2^d. per lb. As is generally the case
throughout the continent, cold storage chambers,
securing a temperature of about 360, preserve the
meat and the best of the offal. Considerable quan-
tities of beef in a fresh state are furnished to the
St. Louis butchers. Still larger amounts packed in
galvanised iron drums are carried in the railway re-
frigerator cars to various provincial cities, and even to
New York. Tons of meat, carefully boiled or stewed,
are put up in the familiar square tins containing 1 lb.
to 14 lbs. ; 100 tons are frequently prepared and packed
in a day; tongues and poultry are also put up in
a similar manner. The best of the fat is used for
oleomargarine, and the other waste products, economi-
cally, receive attention. Mr. Joy, the president of the
company, informs me that he has no expectation
of prices of cattle at St. Louis making much advance
for many years : the beasts will continue to improve,
he believes, as they recently have done, in quality.
He anticipates no considerable increase in the cost
of transport ; about id. per lb. delivers his cases
either in London or Paris ; and he can afford to fur-
nish the retail merchant with 1 lb. of good meat,
free of bone and without too much fat, at 6d. Both
in England and France these canned meats are in
increasing demand, especially in summer, when in a
small house the kitchen fire becomes a nuisance.

Mr. YVhittaker's great pork packing establishment
requires for its daily wants 3,000 to 5,000 hogs. They

Successful Dairying. 391

are disposed of much in the same manner as in
Chicago and Kansas. With a fine connection through-
out the south, Mr. Whittaker has a good demand for
his bacon, but sends most of his hams and lard to
Europe. From her own packing establishments and
what is brought to her markets, St. Louis annually
exports about 220,000,000 lbs. of various hog pro-
ducts, in 1879 comprising 7,500,000 lbs. of salted
bacon and pork, 1,431,840 lbs. of hams, and 648,877
, lbs. of lard exported direct to Europe. Of the ba-
lance, 85,051 barrels of pork, 8,473,585 lbs. hams,
114,103,781 lbs. meats, and 19,052,000 lbs. lard went
south for consumption ; while 4,136 barrels of pork,
12,212,094 lbs- hams, 21,581,432 lbs. of meats, and
19,048,785 lbs. lard were shipped to eastern markets.
Dairying in this part of Missouri appears tolerably
prosperous. During 1879 and again in 1880 nearly
9 million lbs. of butter were sent into St. Louis, of
which one-sixth part was forwarded east ; 1 20,000
boxes of cheese, averaging 56 lbs., were marketed, of
which nine-tenths were passed on. The short winter
of ten weeks or three months minimises expenses.
The cattle usually graze out until Christmas ; a field
is left rough into which in fine weather the cows are
turned almost daily. I am assured by several dairy-
men that 200 to 300 lbs. of hay per cow is sufficient
winter provision. Hay is worth from 40^. to 46^. per
ton of 2,000 lbs. Besides hay and corn fodder, 4 or 5
lbs. of corn meal and I lb. of bran, costing 40 cents
per 100 lbs., constitutes the winter dietary of cows in
full milk. These Missouri dairymen tell me that the

39 2 Missouri Farming and St Loiiis Trade.

average annual cost per cow does not exceed 6 cents
per day, or less than 5^. per annum. Many of the dairy
herds include Guernseys, Jerseys, and crosses between
these and the native breeds. The relative merits of
deep and shallow setting are anxiously canvassed ;
deep setting is becoming most common. Ever}' care
is taken to keep down the temperature of the dairy.
The milk is skimmed once after standing 24 or ^6
hours ; 17 to 19 lbs. of milk are required to make 1 lb.
of butter, 6 to 8 lbs. of butter per week are yielded
by good cows for 36 to 40 weeks. Some of the best
comes from the rolling limestone country south of
St. Louis. For town use in eight-gallon tins, increas-
ing quantities of milk are brought night and morning,
twenty to thirty miles by rail. The full can is con-
veyed at one cent per mile, and returned empty free
of cost ; 6d. to yd. per gallon is generally got for milk
delivered in St. Louis. Careful managers of repute ob-
tain 35 to 40 cents for their butter all the year round.
St. Louis is one of the great mule markets of
America. Like other descriptions of live stock, mules
are bred in continually increasing numbers. The
census returns have recently shown an augmentation
of 100,000 a year. They now number two millions,
or fully one-sixth of the number of horses. They are
chiefly reared by small farmers in the States of
Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Mis-
souri. Kentucky was wont to be the great mule-
breeding State, but increasing attention having been
given to horses and cattle, the mule business is pro-
portionally restricted. They still, however, muster

General Usefulness of Mules. 393

120,000 in Kentucky, but in Missouri they have risen
to nearly 200,000.

Mules, like horses, vary much in size and weight.
Some are 17 hands high, strong and powerful as
almost any horse, and when made up weigh 1,600 to
1,700 lbs. Others are as small as Shetland ponies.
Between these two extremes are all varieties of size
and weight. The prevailing colours are brown, bay,
and grey. A few blacks and chestnuts are met with,
and occasional roans and piebalds. All are hardy
and long-lived ; animals forty and fifty years old are
frequently seen. They are very sure-footed ; not-
withstanding hard and trying work, broken knees are
much less common than amongst horses ; lamenesses
are also rare ; their legs and feet are very sound and
strong. Many of the heavier draught mules will lift
and move briskly away with a load of two tons.
From properly selected parents many smart animals
are reared, which carry themselves capitally, and
which trot as well as most horses. At St. Louis
we saw some very handsome mules well adapted
for light harness work. One in a Sulky on the
trotting track did her mile in 3 minutes 18 seconds,
could keep up the pace for several miles, and so
pleased our fellow-traveller Mr. Robert Cox of Gorgie,
Edinburgh, that he bought her, and her good looks,
docility, and paces are now much admired by Scotch
connoisseurs. In temper and behaviour she shows
more affinity to the horse than the ass. The total
charges for her transport from St. Louis to Edinburgh
were 15/.

394 Missouri Farming and St. Louis Trade.

In Great Britain mules are held in unjust con-
tumely ; they are often stated to be obstinate, trea-
cherous, and vicious. These aspersions on their
character are unfounded. A few badly broken or
cruelly treated become troublesome or vicious. The
great majority are, however, as docile as any horses
or asses, and give no trouble either in the stable or at
work. English stablemen and drivers have not, how-
ever, yet got over their prejudices against mules.
Brewers and others who have tried them find their
men contemptuously grumble at ' them long-eared
brutes.' The London and various tram-car com-
panies who have used them, also complain that they
cannot get their servants, either on the road or in the
stable, to take the pride and pleasure in the mules
that they do in horses. When disabled or unsuitable
for continuous quick work, mules in Great Britain
find few buyers. The horse cast from tram-car or
omnibus work is worth io/. to 15/. ; the mule which
entered the stud at about the same price, although
practically as serviceable as the cast horse, does not
bring more than 5/., and is even despised at the
knackers', who assert that his flesh does not boil
properly or make attractive cat's-meat. So long as
useful horses for tramway or omnibus work are pro-
curable as they arc at present at 35/. to 40/., the
employment of mules for this work is not likely to
extend in Great Britain.

Messrs. Reilly and Wolford, of St. Louis, the
largest mule dealers in the world, dispose of about
15,000 a year, and also sell about 6,000 hoi

Breeding and Sales of Mules. 395

During the American war, in one year they turned
over 25,000 mules ; they often forward 300 a week to
the West Indies, and frequently send a few to Europe.
They showed me nearly 1,000 mules of different de-
scriptions, broken and unbroken, ranging from two
years old and upwards. They assure me that they
are safer to go about and handle than any untried
horses ; and that although often yarded together in
large numbers, they do not quarrel or injure each
other as strange horses sometimes do. They exhibit
much affection and strong gregarious habits, and
always work better in pairs or several together. They
are fond of horses, are often worked with them, and
the strings or droves of mules, going from fair to fair,
cheerfully follow a grey mare, usually decorated with
a bell. They are more sensible and teachable than
most horses, stand hardship better, and are more
patient. Mr. Reilly corroborates the opinion of
southern and many western farmers, that they are
specially useful on account of their withstanding
satisfactorily hot weather and the annoyance of flies.
At the constant hard work of the tram-car companies,
for which they are much used throughout the Mid,
Southern, and Western States, they last longer than
horses, some say double the time. Although they
inherit the donkey's patient contentment with plain,
coarse food, if they are to do good service they should
get the same food as horses of the same weight and
doing the same work. The farmers who use them so
freely in Minnesota, Manitoba, and elsewhere, and the
tram-car companies who run them in Chicago, Cincin-

396 Missouri Farming and St. Louis Trade.

nati, and other cities, make no difference between the
feeding and stabling of their mules and horses.

The stud donkeys used in the best mule-breeding
districts are tolerably carefully selected. A few are
occasionally brought from Spain ; but many of the
home-bred appear as good as any of the imported.
Where big, stout mules are desired, an ass 16 hands
high is used, with bold, rather big head, good loins,
and great muscular limbs. Where a stud donkey has
proved his capabilities satisfactorily, he is kept in
service sometimes for twenty years. The service fee
varies from 20^. to 60s. — a hundred mares is a full
season's work. A few 'Jinneys' are bred from the
stallion horse and the ass, are rather finer about the
head and ears, but are not otherwise distinguishable
from the ordinary mule. The mules are dropped in
April and May. They are generally suckled until
July or August ; but the mother the while is often
employed at light work. Their rearing no ways
differs from that of the horse foal. Contrary to the
usual opinion, they take quite as long as a horse in
coming to maturity. A big mule should not be put
to work until he is five ; many, however, are broken
when three, and even when two years old, when they
are worth 1 2L to 1 5/. They are sent to work and to
market earlier than they used to be. Useful four-
and five-year-old mules, 15^ to 16 hands high, and
weighing about 1,000 lbs., are worth, in Kentucky or
Missouri, 20/. to 22/. ; and stouter animals, adapted
for heavier draught, arc worth 5/. more.

397

CHAPTER XXIV. "

KENTUCKY AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES.

IN many parts of Kentucky the undulating surface,
the old turf, the abundance of timber, the evidences of
a hundred years of settlement with many comfortable
farm homes and well-kept gardens, awaken recollec-
tions of various southern English counties. This is
the locality to suit middle-aged fairly well-to-do
British agriculturists who cling to old world habits,
who pine for familiar surroundings, who demand
farms already set out and under cultivation, who
demur to the breaking up of prairie, the building of
houses and premises, and the rough work which falls to
the lot of settlers out West. There is much diversity
in the 18,000,000 acres which make up the State ot
Kentucky ; one-half of it is still estimated to be un-
improved ; a wide area of the lower land is in timber ;
in the bottoms are magnificent sycamore, oak, and
walnut, often covered with luxuriant creepers. Wide
breadths of the rich alluvium, exhausted by the growth
of wheat and tobacco, with a few years' good manage-
ment might be greatly improved. Throughout the
extensive limestone regions the blue-grass flourishes,
and grows and feeds admirably both cattle and sheep.

398 Kentucky Agricultural Resources.
Thousands of bullocks— and they might be con-
siderably multiplied — are fed on these rich grazings,
make 400 lbs. to 500 lbs. in twelve months, reach at
three years 1,500 lbs. to 1,600 lbs. live weight, are
worth 4^ cents to 5 cents per lb., and produce 60 lbs.
of beef for every 100 lbs. of live weight : the winter
corn-fed beasts yield a still higher per-centage of
beef. The cattle are chiefly shorthorns and shorthorn
grades.

Kentucky boasts of some of the most enterprising
and successful American shorthorn breeders — of Mr.
Abram Renick, who has moulded into their form of
beauty the smart, shapely Roses of Sharon ; Mr. A.
J. Alexander, of Woodburn, who has consistently ad-
hered to Airdrie Duchesses, Barringtons, and other
superior Bates sorts ; Messrs. Vanmeter and Hamilton,
who own in this and other States upwards of 600
valuable shorthorn females ; Messrs. Thomas and
Smith, who hold good Roses of Sharon and Marys ;
Messrs. Bedford, who have successfully cultivated
Bates families for fort)/ years ; Colonel Sim, who
keeps handsome serviceable Princesses; Mr. Megibben
of Fairview, who has Roses, Lady Bates, and other
good strains ; and Mr. Warfield of Lexington, who
owns a useful herd of mixed Bates and Booths.
From such sources the ordinary cattle have been
greatly improved, and the proportion of thriftless
' scallowags ' is much smaller than in many other
States. But enough home-bred stock is not reared
to supply the wants of the graziers, and accordingly
thousands of two- and three-year-old beasts are

Dairying and Sheep-breeding. 399

brought from the south and west to be finished either
on the grass or in the yards.

On the Kentucky dairy farms, which are numerous,
especially near the towns, the hard-working occupiers
make a fair livelihood. They usually own, or rent at
about 16s. to 20s. an acre, from 100 acres to 150 acres ;
ten to twelve cows are kept ; their calves are mostly
reared : besides bringing up the calf, each cow earns
annually about 61. ; the milk is sold fresh at about id.
per quart, or churned for butter, bringing lod. to is.
per lb. : not much cheese is made. Ten or twelve year-
lings and the like number of two-year-olds are kept ; if
of good quality and well reared, the latter reach 1,000
lbs. gross weight, and realise 7/. to 8/. Milch-cows are
enumerated at 260,000 ; oxen and other cattle, valued
for assessment at 3/. 10s., number nearly half a million.
Sheep-breeding has received a great deal of atten-
tion in Kentucky. Mr. Robert Scott, of Frankfort,
and other fiockmasters, by careful selection of native
ewes, mated chiefly with English Leicesters, Cotswolds
and Oxford Downs, have established 'the improved
Kentucky '—a white-faced sheep brought to maturity
in 18 to 20 months, readily reaching 22 lbs. a quarter,
and with much of the appearance of the Border
Leicester. Wide tracts of the upper lands in various
parts of the State may still be bought at #20 to #30
an acre, and appear well adapted for sheep-breed-
ing. With a moderate valuation of 8s. 6d. each,
sheep are recorded to number one million. Hogs
worth nearly 10s. each are enumerated at two millions.
Kentucky may be called the Yorkshire of

400 Kentucky Agrictdtural Resources.

America ; many of the larger farmers breed horses
which are enumerated at 400,000, the mules, at
120,000: 9/. is their average value, moderately returned
for assessment. Besides useful commoner horses, a
large number are met with whose appearance attests
crosses of superior English thorough-bred. From
amongst these the agents of English dealers and job-
masters make some of their most serviceable selections,
and obtain for 25/. to 30/. five- or six-year-old animals,
broken but not much used, with good style and quality,
fiat wearing legs, well adapted for carriage purposes,
with a few which make hunters. The best of these
Kentucky nags are undistinguishable from Irish or
English horses, excepting that they are a trifle plainer
in the setting on of the head, and have scarcely so much
style or delicate chiselling about the muscles of the head
and face. It costs about 2/. to forward them to New
York ; the ocean freight is 9/. ; insurance, 6 per cent.
The delays and difficulties of landing at Liverpool are
much complained of ; and when the Milford Haven
route is in full operation, it will command a large pro-
portion of boch the horse and cattle trades. With
careful breaking in to the different mode of driving
in England these Kentucky horses turn out well, and
like those from Canada have more constitution and en-
durance than the animals reared in the warmer South-
ern States. The heavier horses bred after Clydesdale
or Percheron sires are not generally so good as the
lighter sorts. The American climate and soil, as well
as the mode of work, appear unsuitable for the pon-
derous cart-horse used in most parts of Great Britain.

Blue Joint-Grass. 401

American waggons, vans, and lorries are much lighter
than those used in England ; both man and horse
accomplish their work at a smarter pace. The man
in charge more generally drives than leads his team ;
there is no anxiety, as is common at home, to curtail
the quick walk into a crawl of two mi-les an hour ;
return journeys with empty vehicles are overtaken
at a fair trot. On American farms stubborn clays,
steep hill- sides, rough stony places, which try the
patience and courage of British farmers and their
horses, are not cultivated ; the work is lighter and
the pace smarter than in England. Hence the limited
use of slow, ponderous horses weighing 17 cwt. to
20 cwt., which jar their legs and feet if urged beyond
a steady walk.

As already indicated, a large area of Kentucky
is in grass. The agricultural returns record that
300,000 acres are annually cut for hay. A good
deal of the blue joint-grass is seeded for sale. A
New York dealer informs me that in Paris, Ky., he
has sometimes bought 10,000 bushels for distribution
in other States, paying 50 cents, and sometimes 75
cents per bushel for extra clean lots. Indian corn is
grown over two million acres, yielding an average of 25
bushels. Wheat, usually of the winter variety, and pro-
ducing 10 bushels an acre, occupies a little over half a
million acres ; 300,000 acres are devoted to oats, which
thrive fairly, and produce 26 to 30 bushels an acre.

Tobacco is one of the special features of Kentucky,
farming; it occupies 180,000 acres. Of the total
yield of 400,000,000 lbs. which the United States pro-

D D

4-02 Kentucky Agricultural Resources.

duce from 543,000 acres, Kentucky grows nearly one-
third ; Virginia contributes about one-fifth ; about one-
twelfth is raised in Maryland and Tennessee, and one-
twentieth in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Missouri. The
produce varies from 608 lbs. per acre, the average
of careless cultivation in Tennessee, to 1,400 lbs. or
1,500 lbs., the result of better management in the
less favourable climates of Connecticut and Massa-
chusetts. The price per lb. varies from three to five
cents in Indiana, and five cents in Kentucky and
Ohio, to ten or eleven cents in Pennsylvania, Con-
necticut, and New York States. This great diversity
in yield and price, and the better return got in the
northern States, where climatic conditions are scarcely
so favourable, point to the need of more careful
management throughout the great tobacco produc-
ing areas. On impoverished, insufficiently manured
land the gross feeding plant grows tardily. It is
often inadequately attended to, it is apt to be riddled
by worms, it is deteriorated by bad curing or careless
packing. Hence the restricted acreable returns, the
low price, the complaints that the business pays
badly. It has been urged that production of late-
years has outstripped demand ; but, although markets
are flooded with inferior qualities, there is no lack of
appreciation of superior samples. The excise tax of
24 cents per lb. is complained of, but it probably does
not very injuriously affect the grower who prospered
previously to 1867, with tobacco worth thirteen cents
per lb., and the duty reaching $$ cents per lb. Lower
prices during the last four years have somewhat re-
stricted the growth of tobacco. From a fiscal as well

Cultivation of Tobacco. 403

as a farmer's point of view it is, however, a most im-
portant crop. Itcontributes annually nearly 8.000,000/.
to the U.S.A. national exchequer. Fully two-thirds
of the total growth is exported, worth generally up-
wards of 5,000,000/. sterling.

From official Reports and information gathered
from successful growers, I condense the following in-
structions regarding the successful cultivation of the
manufacturing and shipping tobaccoes which consti-
tute nine-tenths of that grown in the States. The
good deep soil should be ploughed and subsoiled in
autumn, and left exposed to the winter frost. In
February or March a big dose of farm or town
manure, amounting to 25 tons per acre, is spread on
the plots and ploughed in three to four inches deep.
With the bulkier farm manure, guano or other con-
centrated fertilisers should be applied to foster the
greedy feeding plant. Probably the more econo-
mical plan is to reserve the artificials until the plants
are dibbled. A subsequent ploughing is given in
May to check weeds, and with drags or harrows the
land is worked down to a fine tilth. A clumsy
double-mould board plough is run deeply through
the friable soil, throwing up lists or beds three or
four feet deep. On these during June the tobacco
plants, carefully reared on a seed plot, are set three
to four feet apart. Frequent stirring with horse and
hand hoes keeps the soil loose and free of weeds. A
species of worm apt to prey on the leaves has to be
sedulously guarded against by destroying the moth
which produces it by surrounding the tobacco plant

404 Kentucky Agricultural Resources.

with lamps or bonfires, by growing Datura stra-
monium, of which the moth is fond, or by injecting
into the flowers poisonous draughts of solution of
cobalt. Any worms produced are removed by hand-
picking, by sprinkling affected parts with diluted oil
of turpentine, or sending amongst them a flock of
turkeys. Syringing the affected plants with soft soap
and diluted carbolic acid, as is done with fly-infected
hops, should also be effectual. To allow the succu-
lent plants air and light, the lower leaves are trimmed
off, successful growers averring that eight or nine
leaves are enough for each plant. Suckers are
promptly removed. The flowering bud is also topped
off. Towards the middle of September cutting com-
mences ; green, unripe plants have to be left, as they
spoil the sample : care must be had that the plant
when cut not be scorched by too glaring a sun.
Suspended over screens kept shaded, in sheds, some-
times in specially constructed flues, the dark clammy
leaf is deprived of its moisture. On tier poles in
larger bulk, it more gradually dries, and is ready for
striking and bulking. The final operation of sorting
for market requires also care and judgment to keep
together only identical qualities.

Where such precautions are taken in the culti-
vation and selection of plants, in securing the crop
and sorting it, the present poor yield at small extra
cost may be doubled, and the quality so much im-
proved, as readily to realise twice the usual price.
That this is perfectly attainable is demonstrated by
the figures above given as to the yield and price

Demand for Taxes. 405

obtained throughout various of the New England
States. With judicious and spirited management,
2,500 lbs. per acre have been procured, and such
returns amply repay the care and expense necessary
to secure good crops of tobacco.

Like many slave-holding States, Kentucky, for
several years after the great war, was in an unsatis-
factory condition ; capital was withdrawn from the
land ; labour and improvements were paralysed ;
many useful farms were uncultivated. Numbers of
easy-going, extravagant owners, with large retinues
of idle coloured retainers, were ruined. Agriculture
and other business have recently, however, improved.
Farmers generally are more prosperous ; they live
comfortably, but, unless large holders of live stock,
seldom make fortunes. Money is, however, becoming
more plentiful ; extending railways and better mar-
kets afford facilities for the disposal of produce. The
• real and personal property of the State is declared to
be #318,037,875; about one-hundredth of this is
owned by negroes. The State tax is 40 cents per
#100 for the white population, but, somewhat un-
fairly, is 45 cents for the negro. The fullest amount
of credit here is taken for taxes ; not many settle
until the last day of grace, or until the publication
of such a reminder as I found posted on the Town
Hall and other public places at Paris :

' Last Call for City Taxes.

' Having indulged the taxpayers of Paris so long
as it is possible for me to do so, I will after this date

4c6 Kentucky Agricultural Resources.

proceed to levy and sell their property unless the same
is paid immediately. This is fair warning to all, and
I mean what I say most positively.

(Signed) ' G. W. Judy, Collector.
' Pakin Ky., October 16.'

With large choice both of white and coloured peo-
ple labour is more abundant than in many other States,
but it is not particularly good or economical. The
freed labourer is becoming, however, more reliable and
provident. When first the black people became their
own masters they lazily contented themselves with a
very small modicum of work ; they congregated in
the towns, they gave themselves up to their favourite
pastimes of music and dancing ; unable to make
proper provision for housing and clothing, which had
always been provided for them, many died of cold
and privation during the sharp winter. The monthly
wages are about 3/. without board, about 2/. with
board ; carpenters, blacksmiths, and othersuch artisans
earn js. to 8s. per day.

Abram Renick, of Sharon, Clark County, Ky., has
done a great deal to mould American shorthorns to
their present good type, and confer on them kindly
quality. He has been breeding and improving cattle
since 1836, when he bought imported Illustrious of
Crofton and Collings blood from the Ohio importing
company. A still more valuable purchase was
made in 1846 of the famous red cow Thames, and
her calf Red Rose ; her mother, Lady of the Lake,
was from Mr. T. Bates' Rose of Sharon, by Mr.

Abram Renick of Sharon. 407

Stephenson's Belvedere, full of Collings' Favourite
strain. From this good source has grown the Rose
of Sharon families, notable for their neat, well-chiselled
heads, their shapely form and superior quality, de-
servedly extending in favour throughout America, and
first introduced to English breeders by the Earl of
Dunmore. Mr. Renick has generally sixty to eighty
shorthorn females, kept in a very plain, unpampered
way. Fourth Duke of Geneva, bred by James O.
Sheldon, has rendered valuable service ; Airdrie 3rd
and another good level Rose of Sharon bull are
now on duty. Here, as elsewhere, the bulls run-
ning out daily in paddocks are remarkably healthy
and active, are kindly treated and well looked after
by black boys, and are particularly quiet and docile.
The practical beef-making capabilities of these pedi-
gree cattle were satisfactorily demonstrated in the
goodly appearance of forty-seven three-year-old
bullocks, home-bred or bought from near neighbours,
beautifully made up on grass, ranging from 1,700 lbs.
to 1,800 lbs. live weight, sold at 4^ cents per lb., and
as handsome as could be found on any Leicestershire
or Northamptonshire grazing. Mr. Renick believes
that after charging rent, taxes, and expenses, his
breeding and feeding cattle bring all round a profit
of about #5 a year each. In brisk times, by the sale
of a few young bulls or choice females, still better
returns are obtained.

Fond of all descriptions of good live stock, Mr.
Renick has 160 capital Southdown ewes and a similar
number of Kentucky ewes. The mutton brings about

4o3 Kentucky Agricultural Resources.

5 cents per lb. live weight, and the Southdown is
always worth one cent more than the white-faced.
Sharon further boasts of beautiful pure white goats,
magnificent turkeys, black swans, and quaint-looking
Indian poultry.

Mr. B. F. Yanmeter is an admirable representative
of a Kentucky stockman. Besides being interested
with the Messrs. Hamilton in several large shorthorn
herds, he farms at Syracuse upwards of 1,000 acres
of undulating grass land, abundantly sheltered with
handsome timber, well watered by streams and pools,
with here and there some sulphur springs bubbling
forth. The fields are divided by wild orange, occa-
sionally by zigzag post and railing, or big stone walls.
The farm buildings are chiefly stone and timber, many
of them thatched. Maize is the principal grain crop,
the straw and corn constituting the chief winter food
for the stock. Upwards of ioo acres are annually
worked by contract by some of» Mr. Vanmeter's
smaller neighbours, who plough, plant, cultivate, and
harvest the maize, for which operations they receive
about $$ an acre. With his own staff he grows
another 150 acres of corn. The land is clean, and
free from the prevailing ragweed which in man}' parts
of Kentucky shows itself abundantly after the summer
rains. All manure is taken care of, and applied to
the corn and other crops. The yield of Indian corn
averages 50 bushels, and hence costs about Gd. per
bushel.

Mr. Vanmetcr has bred shorthorns for many years ;
he has now 200, and is increasing them annually. He

Mr. Vanmetcr of Syracuse. 409

has tried various strains, but prefers the Roses of
Sharon, so successfully cultivated by his friend and
neighbour Mr. Renick. Of this valuable sort he has
nearly fifty good specimens, of wonderfully uniform
type, well proportioned, near the ground, without
coarseness, with shoulders well laid back, neat,
rather narrow heads, and small, nicely turned horns.
Length and stoutness of limb and activity, deside-
rated in former days, when the fatted beast had to
trudge 500 or even i,coo miles to market, have given
place to more symmetry, lightness of offal, early matu -
rity, and quality. A large proportion of these favour-
ite animals are good reds occasionally with a shade of
the Hubback yellow, often with white Duchess mark-
ings. The bulls, although not so grand and imposing
as some of the more notable English shorthorn sires,
leave big profitable stock. Mr. Vanmeter's yearling
and two-year-old heifers compare favourably with
those of the best English in size, style, shape, and
uniformity ; the only important character in which
they were deficient was the soft, mossy, curly coat
which our cooler, moister climate encourages.

Messrs. George and James C. Hamilton, of Mount
Stirling, near Winchester, Ky., are amongst the most
extensive shorthorn breeders in the States. They
have 3,500 acres at Flat Creek, Bath County, with
several tracks in Missouri and elsewhere. At Flat
Creek they have now 250 shorthorn females of Rose
of Sharon, Young Phyllis, Young Mary, Josephine,
Kirklevington, Barrington, and other superior Bates
sorts. They have used the Duchess bulls, 4th Duke

4 1 o Kentucky Agricultural Resources.

of Geneva, 20th Duke of Airdrie, and have now several
superior Rose of Sharon bulls.

From their Kentucky and Missouri breeding farms
the Messrs. Yanmeter and Hamilton turn out annually
300 bulls, disposing of them at from eight to eighteen
months old, principally at the stock sales of Chicago
and Kansas City, at an average of #100 to $200.
Even from their 600 cows they have been unable to
supply the demand for good red and dark roan bulls.
They recently had an order for 125 for the Panhandle
country, whence hostile Indians are being driven out
and enterprising settlers are pushing in. They forward
numbers to the southern parts of Texas, to cross with
the rough heavy-horned yellow Spaniards. Even
amidst unfavourable scorching hot surroundings, with
parching drought and summer scarcity both of food
and water, which shorten their existence to two or
three years, these superior shorthorns are steadily
improving the narrow coarse Texans.

Excepting bulls and feeding stock, Messrs. Van-
meter and Hamilton's shorthorns are never housed.
Throughout summer and winter they range the well-
sheltered pastures. Calves are dropped at all seasons,
but are not liked to arrive during the hot periods of
June, July, and August. A few cows calving in winter
are sheltered in yards ; the majority lie out day and
night, the calves remaining with them for eight or
nine months. During winter weather, which occurs
in January and February, hay or corn fodder or corn
in the sheaves is provided in the pastures, and may
be necessary for some of the stock during stormy

Mr. Alexander of Woodburn. 41 1

weather in March, and before the grass shoots.
Farming expenses are evidently considerably less
than in England. Superior grazing farms in Kentucky
are rented at $4 to $5 an acre. The summer grazing
of adult cows or bullocks is estimated to cost $1.50
per month ; for four winter months the expenses are
doubled : the total cost of keeping a cow or two-year-
old bullock would therefore be $24, or nearly 5/. per
annum.

Mr. A. J. Alexander, Woodburn, near Lexington,
Kentucky, is well known amongst horsemen and
shorthorn breeders on both sides of the Atlantic.
His property, extending to 2,000 acres, was bought
towards the close of last century by his father, who
emigrated from Airdrie, Scotland. The estate
some twenty years ago came into possession of its
present owner, who has greatly improved it. The
soil is a useful, rather heavy loam on a limestone
formation. Like other commodities, land in
Kentucky has lately advanced in value. Some of the
recent additions which Mr. Alexander has made to
his estate have cost $125 an acre. Ordinary farms
in the neighbourhood range, however, from $60 to
#80. A compact property of no acres in this
district, with a tolerable house, recently sold for $62
an acre. Another of 354 acres, with a particularly
good house and premises, realised $?S an acre.
Many useful farms, fairly equipped with house and
buildings, are rented at #5 to $6 an acre, and let
either. by the year or on lease. Better times are
advancing the value of land, both to rent and to sell.

4 1 2 Kentucky Agricultural Resources.

In this part of Kentucky the valuation for taxation
is taken at about two-thirds of the real value. The
rate of 52 cents per dollar is charged alike on real
and personal estate. The taxes on each reach a trifle
over \ per cent, per annum. For assessment, horses
and mules are valued all round at £50 ; cattle, accord-
ing to age, at Sio to $2$.

Seen on a fine October day YVoodburn is a
charming place. It contrasts pleasantly with the
bare and level prairies and plains of Western States.
Houses, buildings, and surroundings have an old
manorial appearance. The undulating country is
beautifully timbered. The oaks, handsome as any in
Worcestershire, are preserved in large numbers
throughout the pastures for sheltering both live stock
and grass. The fine old turf is fresh, green, and full
of white clover, which thrives on the debris of the
limestone subsoil. About 800 acres of arable land
are divided as follow : — 200 acres of wheat, 300 acres
of maize, 1 50 acres of barley, and the same area of
clover. The wheat is autumn sown ; \\ bushels de-
posited by a broad-caster suffices for seed ; but little
horse or hand hoeing is attempted, or, indeed, is
required; the yield varies from 20 to 25 bushels ; the
cost of raising wheat ranges from 45s. to 50s. an acre.
Indian corn follows, three to five seeds being dibbled
near together in clumps, which are three to four feet
from each other in every direction ; opportunity is
thus given for hoeing in two directions ; such hoeing
is repeated four or five times ; 40^. an acre covers the
cost of growing the acre of Indian corn; 50 bushels

Southdown Sheep. 415

is the average yield. Barley and a few oats follow,
but do not pay so well as corn or wheat. The barley
casts 20 to 30 bushels. Amongst the barley, occa-
sionally amongst the wheat, clover is sown, and is lightly
grazed in autumn. Mown in early summer, a portion
is generally allowed again to run up, and is saved for
seed ; the bulk is grazed for three months, and
ploughed for wheat. The arable 'land is clean, and
in good manurial condition. The dung from the
stables and yards is taken care of and applied. The
fields are generally large, ranging from 20 to 100
acres, are divided by hedges of thorn and osage, or
wild orange, sometimes by posts and rails, the posts
being of split locust, which, last 30 or 40 years,
and the rails of black walnut or oak, which last half
that period. The farm is worked by 25 mules, eight
horses, and four oxen. The shorthorns, thorough-
bred, and trotting horses, necessitate the employment
of many more hands than are usually found on
American farms. Ordinary labourers with board
receive about £12 a month ; most are engaged for
the twelve months.

A good flock of sheep is kept. On several
hundred well-selected ewes of the country, South-
down rams, sometimes direct from Jonas Webb or
the Duke of Richmond, are used. A few score of
early lambs are generally sent to New York in May,
realising about £3.50, which, although a very
moderate return in the eyes of British flockmasters,
pays for the ewe bought in during autumn, and leaves
her and her fleece to meet expenses and profit. Two

414 Kentucky Agricultural Resources.

dollars (8s. ^d.) is the usual cost of the ewe kept during
twelve months. This pays for pasturage, a little
hay required during winter, some rock salt, and the
shepherds' wages, which generally reach $16 a. month.

Mr. Alexander laid the foundation of his short-
horns in 1S53, with the valuable assistance of Mr,
Strafford, buying from Towneley Duchess of Athol and
2nd Duke of Athol. Their descendants the Airdrie
Duchesses are now the plums of the herd. But as ever
will happen, mishaps affect some of the best. The
splendidly bred 21st Duchess of Airdrie has twice
slipped and is hopeless as a breeder, whilst 10th
Duchess of Oneida, from the New York Mills, is in
the same thriftless case. Gwynnes, imported from
Mr. Tanqueray's, have reproduced some admirable re-
presentatives of this good old sort. There are several
hardy good specimens of the J tribe. Several grand
massive Barringtons have been added. Filligrees,
tracing back to Mr. R. Booth's Fame, by Raspberry
topped by Oxford and Duchess sires, contribute some
shapely, useful cows. From Victoria, of the Cold
Cream family, imported from Windsor, are some
superior deeply milking Knightleys. Mazurkas are
in great force, and have been introduced to the notice
of English breeders by importations made by Mr.
George Fox. The representatives of the Bell Bates
tribe, and the Miss Wileys of Lord Spencer's and
Mason's blood, are uniform, good, and shapely. Most
of these imported families, bought at moderate prices,
have paid well.

Ignoring the line breeding on which most

Woocibiirn Shorthorns. 415

Americans insist, Mr. Alexander, on most of his
stock, whether Bates, Booth, or Knightley, has used
Oxford, Airdrie, or other Bates-bred bulls. The cattle
have the unmistakable style and character of English
Bates tribes. They have bigger frames, longer necks,
large and bolder heads, and more horn than many
other Kentucky shorthorns. Their numbers, from
time to time, have been reduced by sales, not only of
bulls, but of females. About 50, including nearly a
score of bulls, were thus disposed of in July 1879,
making an average of about 100 guineas. The stud
bulls, in descent and appearance, thoroughly satisfy
an English connoisseur. The 37th Duke of Oneida,
from the New York Mills great sale, is still active,
level, deep, near the ground, with good touch, Bates
grandeur and good head, but rather sprawling horns,
which Americans do not like. Although ten years
old, judicious feeding and exercise maintain his
activity. The 26th Duke of Airdrie, and several
younger scions of this famous tribe, showed much
size and style. The smart lengthy 2nd Duke of
Barrington, by 37th Duke of Oneida, dam Baroness
1 2th, by 10th Duke of Thorndale, is deservedly a
great favourite with Mr. Alexander ; he has more
than once refused 700 guineas for him, and has
mated him with some of his Duchesses. Mr. Alex-
ander for twelve months had been anxious to obtain
a good Oxford bull from England, but demurred to
subject any such purchase to the tedious and expen-
sive quarantine imposed on cattle imported into the
States. During the summer of 1880, he has, how-

4 1 6 Kentucky Agricultural Resources.

ever, secured, from Bow Park, Toronto, a valuable
young Oxford from the cow which the Hon. George
Browne bought from Colonel Kingscote for 2,000
guineas. A herd thus well founded, judiciously-
crossed and managed, has made its mark widely, and
is confidently resorted to by the many breeders who
raise pedigree or superior grade bulls for the great
western and southern ranches.

Besides about 70 shorthorns, Mr. Alexander has
nearly 40 Jerseys and Jersey grades, and 60 to 80
superior shorthorn grades for feeding. The cattle are
in the pastures for eight or nine months. Many of
the younger of the grades are never housed, unless
they happen to be fed off during winter, when, like
the shorthorns, Jerseys, and any milkers, they are
in yards or boxes from December until February ;
or, if the weather is boisterous or unsettled, during
part of March. The cattle sheds are built of stone,
some are slated, others thatched, and all are much in
the style of good English premises. The loose boxes
for the bulls are large and convenient. Most of
them communicate with yards into which the animals
are turned out for exercise for an hour or two daily.

Mr. Alexander, and his brother before him, have
been very successful in breeding horses. At Wood-
burn there are about 120 mares ; 75 to 800fthe.se are
thoroughbreds, the remainder of superior trotting
strains. Lexington, foaled in 1850, by imported
Sarpedon, with a good deal of Arab blood a few
generations back in his long, good pedigree, proved
himself an invaluable thoroughbred. Few horses

Valuable Thoroug/idred Horses. 4 r 7

have left so many good ones. To the last the old
horse was active and useful, and three years ago came
to an untimely end in an unusual way. One of his
molar teeth dropped out unnoticed, the socket be-
came plugged up with foul fermenting food, which
caused fatal irritation and fever. So favourably pre-
possessed is Mr. Alexander with the Lexington strain
that he has freely used several of his sons. Phaeton,
a valuable horse, full of King Tom blood, was
worthily following Lexington, but died recently from
mismanagement. Australian, by West Australian, was
also successfully used. Glen Athole, by Blair Athole,
is now in service, a smart chestnut ; dam, Greta, by
Voltigeur, with Ithuriel, Bay Middleton, and Whisker
standing next in the pedigree. Several of his pro-
geny are doing remarkably well at the racing meet-
ings which are now spreading throughout the States.
From a bad cold which he caught during his voyage
across the Atlantic he has lost his sight. In style
and appearance, as well as in colour, he closely re-
sembles old Blair Athole, lacks somewhat of his size
and substance, and, like him, is taken in a trifle too
much under the knee. Besides Glen Athole, Mr.
Alexander is making tolerably free use of Tenbrook,
by imported Phaeton, belonging to his neighbour, Mr.
John Harper, and said to be the best thoroughbred
sire in America.

Most of the thoroughbred mares come from
strains which have specially distinguished themselves,
either in England or America. They are remark-
able for style and quality, are shapely and well put

E E

4 1 8 Kentucky Agricultural Resources.

together, some of them look small, but most range
from 15 to 15^ hands. They live on the sheltered
beautiful pasture for nine or ten months of the year,
have a shed in the field, and some hay or corn during
snow or severe winter weather, or are brought up to
the yards to foal. The 75 thoroughbred mares are
expected to produce annually 50 foals. The yearlings
sold annually in June bring 50 to 250 guineas.

Mr. Alexander is fond and proud of his trotting
stud. For the stallions and horses in training he has
capital healthy boxes, good exercise grounds, and a
trotting track. Several of his stud horses are ad-
mirable, alike in appearance and performance. His
bay Belmont, foaled in 1864, is the sire of Nutwood,
Nil Desperandum, Dick Moore, and Wedgewood, all
of whom have done their mile at or within 2 min.
24 sec. But aiming at the highest successes, Mr.
Alexander must have several strings to his bow. In
Harold, foaled in 1864, he has another horse of equal
capability. By Rysdyks Hambletonian from En-
chantress, by Old Abdallah, Harold has produced
several horses that are already well known to fame.
Chief among these is Childe Harold, bought by Mr.
John Hcndrie, of Glasgow, and winner of the Inter-
national Handicap Stakes at Liverpool in 1878, and
the still more notable Maud S., who, eclipsing all
performers, has done her mile in 2 min. 1 1 sec. Maud
S. was bought by Mr. Vandcrbilt for 4,000 guineas.
Mr. Alexander still has the smart grey mare Miss
Russell, the dam of this trotting prodigy, and about
40 other picked specimens remarkable either for their

Shorthorns, Horses, and Bourbon Whisky. 419

own performances on the track, or for near consan-
guinity with illustrious winners. In no trotting stud
are descent and performance, style and appearance, so
carefully and systematically harmonised. Many of
Mr. Alexander's mares have beautiful true all-round
action ; some have heads which indicate Arabian
blood ; all have strong loins and powerful quarters,
sound good joints and short canon bones. In speed
and smartness, many of our hacks and cobs would be
great gainers if they had a cross with some of Mr.
Alexander's game-trotting sorts.

The Honourable Thomas J. Megibben, of Fairview,
Cynthiana, is equally well known as a successful agri-
culturist, a breeder of shorthorns and of horses, and a
distiller of superior Bourbon whisky. He farms up-
wards of 2,000 acres, grows 500 acres of wheat, secures
an acreable average of 20 bushels ; plants 300 acres
of Indian corn, of which the yield is about 40 bushels ;
finds oats less certain than barley or rye. Some of
his barley planted in autumn is ready early in June.
The general harvest in Kentucky begins between June
10th and 15th. His clover and grass he supplements
with millet, which he finds useful both as green and
dry forage for all animals.

His shorthorns, collected during the last ten years,
number upwards of 100 and include animals of the
following superior Bates strains — Rose of Sharon,
Princess, Gwynne, Lady Bates, Kirklevington and
Craggs. Mr. Megibben began with 14th Duke
of Airdrie followed by 2nd Duke of Oneida, and has
more recently been using 10th Earl of Oxford and

420 Kentucky Agricultural Resources.

2nd Oxford Vinewood. His cattle are shapely,
smart, and well managed, and at the public sales he
has no difficulty in disposing of young bulls and
surplus females. He has 50 good Southdowns, many
of them imported, mated with a ram direct from
Lord Walsingham, and 35 superior Cotswolds from
Robert Game and Charles Barton. Keeping these
breeds distinct, Mr. Megibben is desirous to compare
their relative yield of mutton and wool with that of the
ordinary Kentucky sheep, which constitute the bulk
of his own and his neighbours' flocks. With much
taste for horses, he has 200 thoroughbreds and trotting
nags, and is building up an admirable stud.

The capital requisite for these agricultural enter-
prises has been mostly obtained from the successful
manufacture of Bourbon whisky. The materials and
mode of using them differ considerably. In many
distilleries about 25 per cent, of barley is used ; nearly
half of this is malted ; five to ten per cent, of rye is
sometimes added ; the remainder of the mash is made
up of yellow corn. The sour mash process, occupy-
ing about seventy hours, is now generally preferred
to the quicker sweet mash process. By the latter
56 lbs. of grain are stated to yield 3 gallons 3 quarts
of spirit 10 over proof; the same weight of grain by
the sour process produces 3 gallons of spirit.

421

CHAPTER XXV.

AMERICAN COMPETITION IN WHEAT AND MEAT.

AMERICAN production of bread stuffs and animal
food has of late years been increasing enormously.
Agricultural enterprise has generally paid better in
America than in Great Britain. The cheap Western
lands with comparatively small labour and outlay
have yielded profitable increase. The surplus pro-
duce of the New World in ever-increasing abundance
has been brought to feed the more thickly peopled
portions of the Old World. Whilst consumers have
been greatly benefited, British farmers, and especi-
ally wheat growers, have been injuriously affected.
They have had unfavourable seasons and indifferent
crops coupled with somewhat low prices. British
agriculturists in accommodating themselves to the
altered circumstances of production markets and
prices will find it to their advantage to grasp the
conditions under which American competitors are
working, and at the risk of reiterating some of the
facts already brought forward in these pages, I shall
endeavour to describe the special features connected

422 American Competition.

with the growth, handling, and transport of American
grain and live stock.

America produces about one- fourth of the wheat
grown in the world. Her increased production has been
unprecedentedly rapid , it has more than quadrupled
in thirty years ; it has doubled since I S68 ; between
1876 and 1878 it made an advance of 28 per cent.
The wheat yield of the United States, and its rapid
increase, are well illustrated by the following official
returns : —

Bushels of wheat

1850 100,485,944

i860 173,104,924

1870 235,884,700

1880 445,000,000

The conditions which heretofore have encouraged
this extended growth still remain in operation. The
wheat area, although ten times that of the British
Islands, is represented by the extent of the compara-
tively small State of Alabama and does not yet reach
one-fortieth of the cultivatable area of the States.
Many years must elapse before the American limit
of production is reached — before the great prairies,
plains, and bluffs now uncultivated or only partially
cultivated yield a fair return of golden grain. The
tide of emigration and agricultural enterprise flowing
steadily westward carries with it the growth of wheat.
Until 1849 more than half the produce was confined
to the New England and other Atlantic States ; 43
per cent, was grown in the Middle States ; only 5 per
cent, in the trans-Mississippi States and Territories.
At the rate of about nine miles a year the wheat

Extension of 'Recuperative Farming. 423

growth has however gone west. In the Eastern
States less than 15 per cent, is now grown; in the
Middle States about 40 per cent. ; in the Western
upwards of 45 per cent.

The lower cost of production in the Western and
Pacific States discourages wheat-growirig in the older
Eastern States and accelerates the western movement
both of wheat and Indian corn. The great extent of
cheap lands, the expansion of railroads and the util-
ising of water traffic, enable the enterprising Western
States to compete successfully in the growth of grain
with the Middle and Eastern States. The New Eng-
lander, like his cousin in old England, finds it cheaper
to import than to grow his wheat. Both are com-
pelled by Western competition to readjust expendi-
ture and modify cultivation. Farmers of the Eastern
States have hitherto believed that they could not
afford the outlay of 20s. to 30^. an acre requisite to
manure the exhausted soils and ensure full crops.
Such recuperative treatment, with yard manure, with
live stock, and with concentrated fertilisers is now
becoming more general. Phosphates, blood, and
other manures are in increasing demand. They are
generally sold with guaranteed proportions of am-
monia, phosphates, and potash. The gardeners and
cotton planters have hitherto been their chief pur-
chasers ; but agriculturists generally are becoming
more impressed with the fact that plants, as well as
animals, do not thrive without full supplies of their
appropriate food.

Wheat culture in the States is generally conducted

424 American Competition,

on a cheaper rough-and-ready method than is prac-
tised in Great Britain. Instead of costing as in
England 7/. to Si. an acre, over the vast regions of
the Western States where, as stated, nearly half the
wheat is grown, the total expenses are covered by 40^.
or 42s. an acre. In some parts of Dakota in Mani-
toba, and California the average cost of production is
rather less.

On the level treeless prairies and plains, without
timber or stones laboriously to remove, cultivation
can at once be commenced. The rough grass is
generally burnt, the breaking up of the friable loam
costs Ss. to 10s. an acre ; the sod disintegrates in two
or three months, another furrow is back-set or cross
ploughed for $s. On all considerable farms sulky
ploughs, on which the driver comfortably rides, are
used, turning over a furrow 12 to 15 inches wide, and
4 to 6 inches deep, and overtaking two to three acres
in a day of ten hours. When the ground is dry and
hard, or'an extra depth of furrow is required, three
or four horses, mules, or oxen are used ; most of the
ploughing is however done by a pair of draught
animals. Twenty miles is the usual daily journey of
horses or mules at farm work. In Wisconsin, Michi-
gan, Ohio, Kentucky, and also in California, winter
wheat is planted in October and November; but in
Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska the winter cold is
great, there is seldom sufficient covering of snow to
protect the plant, and spring wheat is accordingly
preferred and put in as soon as the frost is out of the
surface soil, which it generally is early in March. In

Cheap Production of Wheat. 425

Minnesota and Iowa the dry hard spring wheat is
much used for making the superior patent flour rich
in albuminoids. One and a half bushels is a fair
seeding, deposited from a broad-caster which distri-
butes the seed from six to twenty spouts, nine or ten
inches apart. No hoeing or weeding* is necessary ;
the sharp winter and hot summer militate against
weeds, and many farms, where after the first break-
ing up only one ploughing and several harrowings
are given annually, and wheat follows regularly year
after year, are cleaner than the average of land has
lately been in England.

Scythes and sickles have long been superseded by
reapers and now the automatic self-binder is in general
use. It cuts down on an average 1 5 acres a day at a
cost of about js. an acre, including wages of men,
charge for horses, wire or cord for binding, and interest
on the 50/. — the cost of the machine. The cord binder
is taking the place of the wire binder, reducing the cost
of tying, preventing injury to the thrashing drum, re-
moving the chance of the metal wire being swallowed
and injuring the cattle, and saving all trouble of un-
tying for thrashing, the cord-bound sheaves being
forked on to the machine without cutting or untying.
Extra hands are generally engaged for harvest, re-
ceiving double wages or js. to Ss. a day, sometimes
with rations.

On the great California farms a high-set reaper
cuts and collects the dry ears and carries them to a
thrasher in the field, where the grain is beaten out,
winnowed, and sacked up for market. On some large

426 American Competition.

farms the wheat is taken direct from the shock to the
thrashing machine, and thence delivered to the rail-
road or barge. Driven by eight- or ten-horse engines,
often stoked with straw instead of coal, the thrashing
machine usually turns out 40 to 50 quarters a day,
As at home, the cost varies considerably, but may be
set down at an average of 5^. Attached to almost all
thrashers besides the winnowing machine is an elevator,
which saves much labour in heaping the straw which
at leisure is ruthlessly burned. Summarising these
expenses of American wheat-growing, the cost of an

acre may be set down as follows :

£ s. d.
Rent or Interest on Capital employed in purchase
and equipment of the farm, say 3/. at 10 per

cent. ........ 60

Taxes and rates ....... 10

Ploughing ........ 60

Seed ......... 60

Sowing and harrowing ..... 20

Reaping and stacking ..... 100

Thrashing ........ 5 o

Delivery ........ 20

Incidentals ....... 20

£200

The dry climate of the United States minimises
the wheat yield, which the official averages place at
less than 13 bushels an acre. The seventeen years
from 1863 to 1879 inclusive present an average of
12*2 ; in only five years did it exceed 13 ; the best of
the series was 1 N77 when the average was 139 ;
locusts in 1875 and 1X76 reduced it respectively to
11 and 104. Notwithstanding this almost accidental
reduction the average wheat yield of the last eight

Wheat-growers Profits. 427

years is the same as that of the preceding eight
years. The general productiveness is fairly main-
tained as evidenced by the averages of the older cul-
tivated states being kept up. During 1880 Illinois
produced 18 bushels and Ohio and Missouri 20
bushels. It nevertheless generally takes' two acres in
America to grow the wheat which England produces
on one. More careful cultivation, better selection of
seed, and extended planting of moisture-attracting
trees will probably, however, somewhat increase this
small yield.

The average value of the wheat crop of the States
for sixteen years from 1863 to 1878 inclusive is
$ 1. 20*3 or 4.S. lod. per bushel. Only in three years has
it fallen below 4s. Recent abundant crops brought
down the average price of 1878 to 3^. yi. Through-
out the great wheat-growing zone the average value
during the past seven years is about 35. 6d. per
bushel. Even with the low average yield of 12*2
bushels per acre this gives an acreable return of
42j\ 8d. Two and eightpence is a small profit on an
acre of wheat, but it is better than the heavy losses
which English wheat-growers have so generally sus-
tained during the last few years. In such states and
on such farms where 16 bushels an acre have been
reaped a profit of 14s. 6d. has been netted, or a return
sufficient in two years to purchase the land. Farmers
who produce, as some do, 20 bushels an acre, and
who dispose of it at ~$s. 6d. per bushel, realise in one
year sufficient to buy the land on which the crop
grows. No wonder wheat in America is affection-

428 American Competition.

ately y-clept ' the poor man's friend ' and constitutes
the staple crop of the first settlers. But the farmer
who judiciously locates in a temperate region has a
varied choice of other paying crops, as Indian corn,
oats, clover, and sorghum saccharatum or amber cane,
the cultivation of which is extending in south-western
Minnesota and other states to the south, yields a
capital sugar, a useful residual cattle and hog food,
and a profit of fully 20s. an acre.

Facility for the transport of the farm crops to
market is an impoitant factor in the producer's pro-
fits and an essential element in the price they are
charged to the consumer. The most choice produc-
tions are of small value if they cannot be readily
marketed. In the remote West wheat and maize
have not ^infrequently been used as fuel, and fat
bacon has been the cheapest and handiest article for
lighting the fires on the Mississippi steam boats. In
Manitoba, throughout parts of the Red River settle-
ments, in Dakota and elsewhere, I met teams which
had laboriously brought wheat for sale fifty and even
seventy miles to rail or market. Farming under
such conditions must be an unsatisfactory and un-
profitable business. Unless for stock farming better
buy at 25^. an acre a hundred acres five miles from
a good railroad than accept the gift and be compelled
to till a thousand acres fifty miles from rail or
market. Railroads, however, now cover 100,000 miles
throughout the States, arc extending at the rate of
5,000 miles annually ; those in the West often costing
for a single track less than 3,000/. a mile. River, lake,

Increasing Transport Facilities. 429

and canal transport is being utilised and improved.
Competition between different railroads and between
railroads and water transit keep down transport
charges, which, especially for long distances, are much
lower than those of the Old World. Through the
great lakes and rivers in barges, ten or a dozen of
which are towed by one steam tug, the grain from
the West is cheaply conveyed to the eastern markets,
or direct to the ocean steamer which deports it to
Europe. From Saint Louis down the Mississippi a
thousand miles to New Orleans one steam tug will
sometimes drag 270,000 bushels of grain. The grain
is almost all carried loose ; the barges load 2,000
bushels and upwards ; the large railroad cars hold
400 to 500 bushels ; loaded east with grain and other
agricultural produce, they return west with lumber
and stores.

Grain is examined and graded in transit by quali-
fied sworn inspectors. Of the several grains there are
about forty grades. Spring wheat, for example, is
distinguished as first, second, third, and fourth grades
and rejected. Unless distinctly stipulated for in the
bills of lading, consigners' lots are not kept separate ;
grain of the same grade is however strictly kept apart ;
and from the bin of 6,000 bushels of say No. 2 Spring
wheat collected perhaps from many sources, at the
railway elevator at Chicago or New York the con-
signer, who three weeks previously had his two or
three thousand bushels graded No. 2 Spring at St.
Paul or Omaha, draws an equivalent of quantity and
quality. Separate railway cars, barges, or bins reserved

430 American Competition.

for small lots would involve much extra trouble and
cost.

Fixed or portable elevators cheaply and ex-
peditiously transfer with a minimum of manual
labour the loose grain from the cars or barges to the
grain warehouses or to the ocean steamers. With
shovels worked automatically by steam, two men
empty the car of 400 bushels in twelve minutes. At
the great railroad elevators 300 trucks containing
120,000 bushels are often unloaded in a day. As it
passes through the elevators every parcel is weighed
automatically, usually in ten ton lots, by Fairbank's
scales. The elevator charges are a quarter of a cent
per bushel, which includes ten days' storage and de-
livery into trucks or barges. For a trifle extra, at
most depots, the grain can also be winnowed in its
transference to or from the great bins. These ele-
vators connected with all the warehouses, at an infini-
tesimal cost, and without the tedious manual labour
necessary at home, turn the grain and thus contribute
to its soundness and condition. With these fixed
elevators or with handy floating elevators the ocean-
going vessels, provided with several convenient hatches,
are readily loaded with 60,000 to 80,000 bushels in eight
hours. With proper partition boards and about three
layers of sacks on the top of the loose grain to keep it
level when it sinks, these grain ships, pace Mr. Plimsol,
do not shift their cargo. Unfortunately however grain,
even when safely packed, cannot convert an unsea-
worthy ship into a safe one. The economy of the
American handling of grain is notably illustrated

Cheap Transport. 431

when it is compared with the tedious expensive dis-
charging of the grain-laden ships arrived at European
ports. Every bushel is painstakingly weighed, and
sacked up, often carried ashore on mens' shoulders,
and the ship is detained ten or twelve days at a cost
of at least 10/. a day. Such extra labour and cost
increase the price of bread.

British agriculturists and bread consumers whose
every second loaf comes from America equally desire
to know what it costs to bring the cheap wheat of the
Western world to British ports. Most of it grows,
as already stated, in a zone 500 to 1,500 miles
east of the Atlantic seaboard. The carriage of the
trans-Mississippi wheat along western lines, where
there is small competition, is relatively costly ; but
even in remoter districts a quarter of 480 lbs. is
carried 200 to 300 miles for 2s. 6d. From the Heron
Lake district on the St. Paul and Sioux City rail
the through rates for a quarter of wheat despatched
thence 650 miles to Chicago are under $s. From St.
Paul, the capital of Minnesota, 480 lbs. of wheat are at
present carried to Chicago for 4s. 6d. Thence east-
ward keen competition by various lines of railroad
and by water secure still cheaper freights. The rail-
roads have carried wheat from Chicago 800 miles to
New York and Baltimore at is. per quarter. During
the past three years the rates have fluctuated from 2s.
to 4s. By steam-tugged barges through lake and
canal via Oswego to New York the rates are little
more than one half those by rail. The water transit
extending from June until November proves, as in

432 American Competition.

other parts of America, a formidable competitor to the
railways. During the last 16 years its cost has
steadily diminished to the extent of 30 per cent.
Cheaper working expenses, steam tugs, quick loading
and unloading by elevators have reduced working
charges, and dividends in consequence have not
materially suffered. The adoption of new ap-
pliances, the labour-saving elevators everywhere mul-
tiplying, steel rails, enlarged traffic, and the economical
management, resulting from a prolonged period of
depression, will enable the American railroads pro-
fitably to continue the moderate through rates which
have so largely contributed to the cheap feeding of
Europe.

The ocean rates are equally moderate. Taking
an average of the last five years, wheat is brought from
New York to British ports at $s. to 6s. a quarter ; it
has been carried as low as 8d. per cental. Barrels of
flour weighing 214 lbs. are conveyed at an average
charge of 3s. per steamer and 2s. ^d. per sailing vessels.
From Philadelphia and Montreal rates have fluctuated
from 4s. to gs. Provisions from most of the Atlantic
ports are landed in Great Britain at 30J. to 40s. a ton,
whilst oil-cakes are quoted at the moderate figure of
20s. to 30s. Through rates to Europe from points
remote from the seaboard are proportionately lower.
Wheat and flour are transmitted from St. Paul to
Liverpool at 16s. for 480 lbs. From Minneapolis,
1,200 miles west of the Atlantic, a barrel of flour is
conveyed to Liverpool, Cardiff, or Glasgow for Js. or
Ss. During five years from 1876 to 18S0 the freight

Cost of Wheat at British Ports. 4

6.-)

of wheat despatched from Chicago, trans-shipped at
New York, and landed at Liverpool, has averaged
12s. per quarter of 480 lbs. ('Agricultural Interest
Commission : ' Appendix). From St. Louis by
direct water route flour has been forwarded at $s.
per barrel. From the Pacific ports, which furnish about
one-fifth of the American exports, rates are equally
moderate ; from San Francisco to Liverpool or
London, the through freight is frequently as low as
3s. a quarter. These figures justify the conclusion
that an average of 1 $s. will freight a quarter of wheat
from the great prairies and plains of central America
over 1,200 miles of land and 3,000 miles of ocean
to British ports.

Here landing and other charges, amounting to 2s.
or 2s. 6d. a quarter, are incurred. They include insur-
ance, which averages 1 per cent, and has fluctuated
from 6s. 8d. per cent, to 10 per cent, reached in a panic
time after several grain-laden ships were lost. Three
per cent, guaranteed for shortage more than covers any
shrinking in quantity. In ships not entirely chartered
for grain there is a primage of 5 per cent. Dock-dues
take 8d. or gd. per quarter ; brokerage is ^ per cent.,
and merchants' commission about the same. Wheat is
sold in London subject to two months' discount at 5
per cent, for cash ; in Liverpool three months' discount
is allowed for cash ; in other places only one month's
discount is given.

The total cost — freight, insurance, and other
charges— on a quarter of American wheat landed at
British ports, may thus be summarised :

F F

434 American Competition.

£

Cost of growing one quarter of wheat, 4.0s. an acre
being paid for cultivation with a yield of 13
bushels . . . . . . . .148

Freight to United Kingdom ports . . . 0150
Insurance, dock, and other charges . . .026

£222

At this moderate cost of 42J. per quarter American
wheat can be sold in Great Britain with profit to
growers, railway carriers, shippers, and all concerned.
The cost of production is not likely to increase ;
indeed, improved cultivation, by augmenting the small
yield, will cheapen production. Nor with increasing
competition are transport charges likely to be enhanced.
British householders may hence confidently look for-
ward to moderate prices for bread, and British farmers
must prepare to make the best of increasing food im-
ports, and grow produce which, unlike wheat, cannot
be so cheaply forwarded from afar. They cannot
compete with the cheap lands of America in produc-
ing an article so readily grown and transported. They
cannot afford to grow wheat at 42s. or even at 45s. a
quarter, unless on the better class of soils where four
quarters can be counted on, or where the straw can be
sold at 4/. or 5/. an acre.

There is still another important phase of this
American bread question which demands considera-
tion. Can the United States continue to maintain her
large wheat exports of recent years ? Some high
authorities have declared that her best lands are
already ' played out,' and that expensive restorative
farming is necessary to maintain wheat cultivation in

Surplus Wheat for Export. 435

its present dimensions. Such forebodings, as we have
endeavoured to show, are not supported by fact or
probability. In the Red River Valley, in Minnesota,
in Iowa, throughout California, Oregon, and in some
other states and territories are great uncultivated or
very partially cultivated tracts of easily worked fertile
land where, if needful, wheat could be grown in plenty
to supply the shortcoming of all Europe. The able
statistician of the Agricultural Department at Wash-
ington, in his official report for 1879, declares that 'the
eastern, north middle, and southern groups of states
do not supply their home demand ; the south middle
states have a small surplus ; the Ohio valley has a
surplus of nearly half their crop, and the more western
groups produce more than a threefold supply of the
home demand.' In 1867 and 1868 the United
States exported respectively 12 and 13 per cent, of
her total wheat crop ; the exports have since steadily
increased ; in 1877 she was able to spare one-fourth ;
whilst her more recent bountiful and extending crops,
besides feeding her own population of forty-four
millions, leaves for export more than one-third, or
nearly 20 million quarters. Of these handsome sur-
pluses the United Kingdom has recently taken nearly
one-half. In 1880 America contributed 9^ million
quarters towards the total 14 million quarters required
to meet the British wheat deficit of the year. The
capacity of the United States to fill the vacuum of the
Old World's wants becomes very apparent when the
matter is viewed in another way : 5^ bushels of wheat
is regarded as a fair annual allowance for each indi-

43 6 American Competition.

vidual in the United Kingdom. Americans, who
use freely vegetables, fruit, and other grains, grow
nearly 9 bushels per capita, and hence have about
one-third more than they need. No other country so
liberally provides for her own wants, and has so much
to spare for her less fortunate friends.

During recent years a great expansion has oc-
curred in the exports of American wheat flour. Alike
throughout Canada and the States, advantage has
been taken of the valuable widely spread water
power. New mills have been erected and filled with
the most modern and effective machinery. Four
million barrels of flour containing 198 lbs. were
exported from the States in 1878, and the exports
of 1879 were nearly a half more. In barrels and
bags the United Kingdom received from the States
6,863,172 cwts. of wheat meal and flour in 1879, ar>d
6,908,352 cwts. in 1880, or nearly double the supply
of 1878, and four times that of 1877. American
millers say that they can grind and forward their
flour to Europe at cheaper rates than it can be made
here. They have the advantage of freights as
moderate as those charged for the wheat. With su-
perior machinery and systematic management, doing
a large turn over, and hence satisfied with smaller
profits, the larger milling concerns, whether in Great
Britain or America, are driving out the smaller
millers, especially where they arc unfavourably cir-
cumstanced as to water or railroad facilities. But
British millers well situated for transport or markets,
unlike the British wheat-growers, do not seriously

Increasing Herds and Flocks. 437

suffer from the keen American competition. They
have the wheat of the world on terms quite as favour-
able as the American miller, they use very similar
machinery, are adopting modern labour-saving con-
trivances, and manage besides to make four times
the price for their bran and offal.

American competition does not seriously interfere
with the growth in Great Britain of any other grain
than wheat. Barley does not much extend its area ;
it occupies about 1,800,000 acres, it bulks fully five
million quarters ; one-third is produced in California,
where the yield averages 23 bushels, and the weight
per bushel reaches 50 lbs. The barley generally
met with elsewhere in the States is thin, steely, and
not so well coloured as that usually grown at home ;
800,000 quarters are generally imported to the United
Kingdom. Unless in the cooler regions of Canada
oats are light ; they are mostly consumed at home ;
not 15,000 quarters are exported to Great Britain.
With their American confreres, British stock-owners
participate in the benefits of the cheap growth of
Indian corn, which now bulks annually 180,000,000
quarters, has more than tripled since 1863, yields on
an average 27 bushels an acre, and is raised in the
Western and Southern trans-Mississippi States at
considerably less than is. per bushel. It is mainly
converted into beef, bacon, and whisky. Its export,
although steadily growing, does not yet exceed 7 per
cent, of the total growth.

The cheap American lands which furnish diver-
sified grain supplies also produce increasing numbers

438 American Competition.

of cattle, sheep, hogs, and horses. The numbers
produced exceed the home necessities. American
stockmen have hitherto earned handsome returns :
they are generally prosecuting their business with
much skill and energy. Without difficulty and in a
comparatively short period, they can largely increase
their great herds and flocks.

In the Eastern and Middle States, under a system
of mixed husbandry, cattle, sheep, hogs, and horses
are reared in much the same manner as they are in
Great Britain ; but even in these older settlements
production has not reached its limits. There is still a
good deal of waste land and much more imperfectly
cultivated. The great dairy State of New York totals
one million and a half of milch-cows, the same numbers
as are enumerated for Ireland and nearly as many as
are returned for all England, and supplies milk, butter,
and cheese for the neighbouring industrial population
and for export ; 828,400 cows are similarly employed
in Pennsylvania. Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa return
upwards of 700,000 cows each, or together nearly as
many as are enumerated in Great Britain. The
official returns of the United States give a total of
twelve million milch-cows. Of these, probably two
millions are in Texas, Nebraska, Nevada, Colorado,
and the other Territories where the exact numbers arc
at present unattainable. Twelve million cows in the
favourable surroundings which obtain generally
throughout America should soon multiply largely.
At present the census further gives 22 million oxen
and other cattle ; it exhibits an annual increase of

Great Areas Still Unstocked. 439

one million ; it shows most growth throughout the
vast cattle-breeding States and Territories along the
banks and west of the Missouri, twenty years ago in
undisturbed possession of bison, wapiti deer, and
antelope. According to the official returns the
average value of the cattle of the United States is
only 3/. 5 j.

The great cattle- and sheep-raising regions begin
150 miles west of Omaha, the starting-point of the
Union Pacific Railroad, 1,400 miles west of the
Atlantic. They extend west through Nebraska and
Wyoming over the fertile Laramie plains to the
Rocky Mountains, and a thousand miles on towards
the Pacific, through Utah, Oregon, and Washington
Territories, where there is ample room for more than
five times the live stock now raised. Starting from
the warm shores of the Gulf of Mexico, the great
American grazing grounds run 1,500 miles north,
over the international boundary line into Canada.
They include large portions of Texas, which musters
5^ million of cattle ; Colorado, with 30 million acres
adapted for the growth of grain, cattle, or sheep ;
Wyoming, estimated to contain 55,000 square miles
of grazing ; Montana, larger than the British Islands,
and half of it understood to consist of fertile valleys
and grass-covered plains, much of it unsurveyed and
unoccupied. Throughout the well-watered river
valleys and green plains of this enormous area cattle
and sheep have extended irregularly and sparsely
during the last twenty years, gradually displacing the
wild herbivora. Since i860 it is stated that 15

44-0 American Competition.

million bison have been killed, and a proportionate
number of deer and antelope.

Over such a wide area the management is some-
what diversified ; the herds vary from less than 1,000
to more than 50,000 head. They occupy the higher
grounds in summer, the lower and more sheltered in
winter. Everywhere they are reared and fed at a
minimum of expense and trouble. The cattle are
offshoots from another herd, or bought often as
yearlings or two-year olds from Texas or Oregon,
and are driven to any unoccupied valleys or plains,
of which plenty still remain. On the principle that
possession is nine points of the law, by threats, or
occasionally by small payments, cattle masters al-
ready in possession of desirable ranges warn off
new comers. But the State or Territorial authorities
are not consulted regarding the grazing of their
lands. A promising locality is chosen, well watered,
with some sheltered spots for winter, at a respect-
ful distance from previous settlers. Huts, a few
sheds, and corrals are run up. Each herdsman or
shepherd receives $28 to #32 per month, with lodg-
ings and rations, and takes charge of about 1,000
animals. The ordinary work consists in riding
through plains, parks, and valleys, to see that food
and water are sufficient, hunting up stragglers, and
on some runs providing salt.

The arduous work connected with the cattle
ranche recurs twice a year, when masters and men,
well mounted, ' round up ' for miles all the cattle they
find, drive them into convenient natural gorges or

Cattle Cheaply Reared. 44 l

corrals, brand the young ones and all that are un-
marked, separate and forward strays from neighbour-
ing ranches which are marked, and select animals for
killing or sale. For the best managed runs, numbers
of well-descended, usually pure-bred shorthorn or
Hereford, bulls are purchased from Kentucky, the
Middle or Eastern States, at prices varying from $80
to #200. By selection of good sires and dams, by
weeding out the narrow, thriftless scallowags, great
improvement has of late years been made even
among the Texan cattle.

The natural grasses vary somewhat in different
regions. In Texas, scorched with an almost tropical
sun, they are bunched, dry, and often coarse ; in North-
eastern Colorado a great deal of blue joint grass is
met with ; in the cooler regions of Wyoming and
Montana, whence some of the best cattle are now
brought, there occurs a more uniform, English-like
carpeting of mixed grasses, which start in April and
soon attain a height of 12 or 18 inches. The animals
are never housed ; the winter is seldom severe ; even
in many parts of Montana the cold season is tempered
by the warm Japan current which comes over the
Rocky Mountains ; snow does not fall so heavily or
lie so deeply as it does nearer the Atlantic. Except-
ing in northerly localities or at high altitudes, little
provision is made for winter feeding ; the luxuriant
grass, uncropped, dries where it stands and leaves a
natural, well-preserved, nutritive hay, from which the
cattle scrape the light covering of snow.

During spring and summer, from Texas, through

44 2 American Competition.

the Indian reservation, thousands of cattle are driven
northwards ; the yearlings are sold at S7 or S8 ; thetwo-
and three year-olds at S12 to S16; the cows reach as
high as S20. From Oregon increasing numbers of com-
pact and shapely beasts, many of them still three and
four years old, and a better stamp than the Texans, are
driven eastward over the Rocky Mountains and grazed
for a year in Wyoming, N.E. Colorado, and Nebraska.
The profits of a welhmanaged station are large,
sometimes reaching 20 per cent, on the invested capital.
Of rent and taxes there are none except the head-tax,
which in various territories is 5 cents each for two-
year-olds and 7 cents for three-year-olds and other
cattle. Yearlings are untaxed. There is understood
to be considerable latitude in making these returns,
and there are no surveyors of taxes to institute imper-
tinent inquiries. The money thus collected is chiefly
employed in building and maintaining law courts and
carrying out the administration of justice. The ex-
penses of small herds of 1,000 head average $1.50
annually for each beast, but for larger herds, number-
ing 10,000 and upwards, they do not exceed Si. The
losses from deaths, straying, and plundering by the
Indians and unscrupulous neighbours, which in many
localities is the chief cause of loss, are stated to range
from 2 to 4 per cent. In exceptionally severe win-
ters such as that of 1880-81, when in many districts
the snow lay thickly on park and plain for upwards
of three months, the losses were greatly more serious.
On many larger ranches the principal stockmen are
allowed a percentage on profits Eastern capitalists

Cheap Cattle Feeding. 443

are often shareholders in these western ranches. To
men of known steadiness and judgment desirous of
extending their business the banks often grant ad-
vances, frequently at the rate of 2 per cent, per month,
and enterprises, even when thus weighted, earn, I am
assured, good profits.

During summer and autumn, from their western
pastures, two-, three-, and even four-year-old cattle,
generally in good condition, some of them fat, are
steadily driven, grazing by the way, to some depot on
the great trunk lines which pass eastward. At various
stations along the Union and Northern Pacific Rail-
roads 1,000 cattle are now loaded between June and
the end of October. About 20 fill one of the covered
cars. One or two stations make up a train which
travels express, usually stopping every 12 or 15 hours
for feeding and watering the animals, and allowing
them 10 or 12 hours' rest. They are chiefly consigned
to Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, or to Atlantic
ports. On the ranches or at the Western Railway
stations, the best are purchased at \\d. to 2d. per lb.
live weight. As is general throughout America,
cattle, sheep, and hogs, whether fat or stores, are
bought by weight, usually alive, or on the hoof, as it is
termed. At every farm, every market, and every
loading depot are Fairbank's scales, on which one,
twenty, or even forty animals can be weighed. The
seller usually endeavours to have the weighing effected
immediately after his animals have been fed and
watered ; the buyer manoeuvres to scale them when
just unloaded, hungry, and thirsty.

444 American Competition.

Thousands of the best two- and three-year-old
cattle from the western grazings are every autumn dis-
tributed over the great Indian-corn regions of Illinois,
Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri, where in
large yards, containing 60 to 100 beasts — on corn
costing about is, per bushel, on oats about the same
value, with bran at 20s. and hay at 10s. per ton — they
are cheaply fed. Big bullocks, fairly started, eat half
a bushel of grain daily. They are bought at 1,100 lbs.
to 1,200 lbs. at about \\d. per lb. live weight ; pigs are
economically run in the yards along with the cattle,
which go out fat in the later winter and spring months
weighing 1,400 lbs. to 1,600 lbs., and bringing 2d. to
2\d. per lb. gross. Frequently the smaller farmers take
in a yardful of cattle, feeding them on corn and hay,
furnishing also some bran and salt, and receiving
about id. for every lb. of increased weight when in
spring the stock are scaled out. Consigned to the
eastern markets, these corn-fed cattle yield 56 lbs. to
60 lbs. of beef for every 100 lbs. of live weight. Such
carcasses, usually weighing 700 lbs. to Soo lbs., to the
number of about 6,000 are now forwarded every week
to British markets.

From June until November an important and
rapidly-growing department of the cattle tnade — the
salting and canning business — is in active operation.
From Texas, Colorado, and other States, thousands
of three- and four- year-olds are forwarded to Chicago,
Kansas City, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and New York.
They cost \\d. to 2d. per lb. live weight, which reaches
800 lbs. to 1, 200 lbs. They arc sound and healthy al-

Cheap Canned Meats. 445

though sometimes rough and not over-encumbered
with fat. In some of the larger establishments up-
wards of 1,000 cattle are slaughtered daily, and care-
fully and systematically disposed of.

The clean and careful manner in which the whole-
some meat is handled and put up, justifies the belief
that the prejudice with which American tinned meats
are still sometimes regarded must speedily disappear.
Careful, systematic arrangements are adopted to make
the best of the so-called waste products, and the large
scale on which slaughtering is conducted, and the con-
centration of the abattoirs, enable this to be more eco-
nomically and effectually done than in England.
Cheap rail, lake, and ocean transit secures the trans-
mission of these valuable concentrated meats from the
American manufactory to Great Britain at a cost of
less than \d. per lb. Through agents in Europe the
goods are placed very directly, and without repeated
commissions, in the hands of the consumers. So
great is now the demand for this concentrated nourish-
ing food that during one week in the spring of 1880 in
London alone 150,000 cases, each containing 841b. of
beef, were disposed of at 37 s. 6d. per case. When the
Texas and coarser, commoner cattle of America are
graded up, which, however, will obviously take some
time to accomplish, it has been urged that the
advanced prices obtained for superior cattle will
interfere with the packing trade. Improved stock
are, however, scarcely more costly than the commoner
sorts to breed, and are certainly more cheaply and
quickly reared and fed, and for many years large

446 American Competition.

supplies of beef must continue to be available at much
the same prices as are now current.

The transit of the cattle from the great breed-
ing and feeding regions to the Eastern markets or
to Europe is very moderate. For example, from
Cheyenne, in Western Nebraska, now a great centre,
whence cattle are brought for several hundred miles,
the railroad rate per head, 1,000 miles to Chicago, is
28s. From Chicago, 900 miles to New York, the
rate is 16s. Feeding and superintendence in transit
including 2s. per head for commissions for selling in
any of the large stockyards, is defrayed by 8s. Trans-
porting these western beeves to Great Britain, their
passage to Liverpool during 1879 cost 4/. The best
companies during 1880 slightly raised their freights;
25s. is besides expended for food and attendance
during the voyage, insurance averages 6 per cent.,
and, with incidentals, brings up the cost to 30^. a
head.

Endeavouring to reduce these transport and other
charges, some shippers have recourse to cheaper and
less trustworthy vessels, and hence arise frequently
recurring mishaps and losses. Some trust to in-
efficient attendants, or sail with insufficient food
supplies for their hungry cargo. The total charges
of transport of a beast, say from North-eastern
Colorado, Wyoming, or Montana, over 2,000 miles of
land and 3,000 of ocean, and landing him in Great
Britain, thus amount to 81. or 10/. Presuming that
he weighs 1,200 lbs., this will be about 2d. per lb. on
his gross weight, or 4^. on his carcass of beef.

Will Store Stock be Brought to England? 447

Rates to London are a little higher than to Liver-
pool ; during the last eighteen months, they have been
4/. 1 or. Ocean steamers unfortunately have not
water to land their cargoes either at Deptford or
Thames Haven. Accordingly, lying off Gravesend
their freight is trans-shipped into steamers specially
constructed for the trade, and at a cost of 3^. per
head the United States animals are transferred to
the lairs at Deptford, where on landing they under-
go veterinary inspection. They must be slaughtered
within fourteen days of arrival. Their lairage during
this or any less period is ^s. for each beast, 2s. for
each calf, is. for each pig, gd. for each sheep. The
charges for feeding per day are is. 6d. for each beast,
is. for each calf, 6d. for each pig, 3^. for each sheep.
The slaughtering charges are moderate ; including
the use of hot water and appliances, they are, 2s. for
beasts, is. for calves, 6d. for pigs, ^d. for sheep.
Meat slaughtered at Deptford is thence carted to the
Metropolitan Market at a cost of 10s. to 12s. 6d. per
ton. Here as well as in connection with the slaughter-
houses for home-grown stock, at the Metropolitan and
other large markets cold storage chambers, which are
so universal in America, would secure better preser-
vation of the meat.

Canadian live stock, amongst which contagious
disease has never been discovered when consigned
to London, are sometimes carried in the ocean
steamers direct to the Victoria Docks. More fre-
quently, at Gravesend they are trans-shipped into the
river steamers and landed at Thames Haven, in-

448 American Competition.

spected, and may be forwarded alive to the Metro-
politan or provincial markets. Imported Canadian
store cattle and sheep have occasionally been pur-
chased by British farmers, but even when well kept
have seldom thriven or paid satisfactorily.

This is not very encouraging to those who pro-
pose, when the States show a clean bill of health, to
import American store cattle to be finished off in
England. The business has obvious drawbacks ; it
would be irregular, the demand probably uncertain ;
the cattle can only be brought over safely in the best
of vessels and under careful, experienced supervision ;
even if well selected, all would not take kindly to
their altered dietary and management. The transit
charges on lean stock would not be much less than
those on fat stock ; they would obviously bear a
greater proportion to the value of the low-priced
store than to the higher-priced fat beast. The food to
prepare the animal for the butcher costs besides more
than double the price in England which it does in
America. The transit of the living beast is moreover
double that of the meat in carcass. Such considera-
tions must limit the importation of American lean
stock, which certainly would not be required if British
and Irish cattle-breeders generally devoted themselves,
as they must do, to the rearing of larger numbers of
profitable young stock. Nor should there be much
difficulty in developing British agricultural capabilities
in this direction, inasmuch as breeding has for years
admittedly paid better than feeding.

American flocks have not generally received so

Improvements in Mutton and Wool. 449

much attention as the herds. Sheep require for their
successful management more care and skill than cattle.
Until recently they have been cultivated more for
wool than for mutton. The 40^ million sheep of
the States are now not only increasing at the rate
of a million annually, but are steadily improving
in weight and quality both of wool and mutton.
Hitherto they have not averaged much more than
half the weight of British sheep : they have not
clipped much more than two-thirds of the wool.
The little, narrow, coarse-wool led Mexican sheep, not
weighing alive, even when three years old, more than
70 lbs. or 80 lbs., and clipping 3 lbs. to 4 lbs. of rough
wool, until the beginning of the century were the in-
digenous and only sheep of America. Beef and pork
being the animal food hitherto preferred throughout
the States, the mutton-producing capabilities of the
flocks have been almost entirely ignored, and the lean,
poor scrubs usually killed and cooked certainly have
not encouraged the taste for mutton. The first sub-
stantial improvement was the introduction, early in
the century, of Spanish and French Merinoes, which
speedily raised the weight and value of the wool,
which gradually became finer and softer, adapted for
superior clothing fabrics, and for combing purposes.
More recently, as in England, the demand for worsted
wools has favoured the crossing alike of Mexican and
Merino grades with Leicesters, long-wools, and Downs.
To use the American phrase, this has more rapidly
' muttonised ' the flocks. Such crossing is widely
adopted in the Eastern and Middle States, where

G G

450 American Competition.

mixed husbandry prevails, and where, moreover, there
is greater demand for good mutton. Hitherto instead
of being dearer, mutton in America has been 25 per
cent, cheaper than beef; legs and loins have ranked
with the fore-quarters and second-rate parts of the
ox. Like other enterprises, crossing the indigenous
thriftless native sheep with superior imported rams is
proceeding west. In Minnesota and Western Kansas
I saw capital Leicesters, Oxfords, and other Downs.
In the pastoral districts of North-western Colorado
Shrops and Oxfords are largely introduced. Weight,
quality, and surplus supplies of mutton are thus created
and increased.

In Great Britain, notwithstanding recent losses,
there are still forty sheep on every 100 acres, or three
sheep on every four acres of cultivated land, exclud-
ing heath and mountain. In the United States there
is but one sheep on 34 acres. An enormous area is
nevertheless adapted for sheep husbandry. In many
regions where it has been tried it has answered admi-
rably. Proving profitable it promises to extend,
furnishing still more food for the American people,
sparing still larger supplies for exportation, growing
the wool wanted in the many manufactories extend-
ing in most States and in some of the Territories.

American sheep management is of many different
types. In New York, New Jersey, and Eastern Penn-
sylvania, flying flocks are often kept, bought in during
autumn, and fed out during winter and spring. Me-
rino grade ewes from Ohio and farther west are some-
times purchased during autumn at \y. to 25.$-., for

Flocks of the Middle States. 451

raising early lambs. Frequently they are placed with
Down or Cots wold rams. Mated with Merinoes,
they produce a slower-growing lamb, which does not
bring so much money. They are well kept on hay
and Indian corn, not many roots are grown or can be
spared. A few lambs are dropped in February, but
in this keen, cold climate they require housing, with a
good deal of care, and even at is. to is. 3d. per lb.
they scarcely pay. Most of the lambs fall in March
and April. Mother and offspring, besides hay and
corn, have a few oats and bran. The lambs looking
as big as their dams, averaging 90 lbs. to 1 10 lbs. live
weight, are turned off in May and June at 20s. to 35^.
The ewes, leaving a fleece of 5 lbs., worth is. per lb.,
shortly follow, usually making 50 per cent, more than
the price at which they were bought in. With cheap
provender, and allowing nothing for the manure left,
20s. to 30s. is earned for ten months' keep. Several
farmers engaged in this trade assure me that they
make 200 per cent, gross return on the original cost
of the ewes, and that half this is clear profit.

In the Northern and Middle States many more
sheep might be profitably reared and fed, paying fully
as well as dairying or cattle-feeding, and raising
moreover, the fertility of the soil, exhausted by years
of continuous corn-growing, without any restitution
of plant food. Flockmasters constantly volunteer the
statement that their crops have doubled in weight
since they kept sheep ; but the system of recuperative
sheep-farming, perhaps from insufficient capital and
want of labour to provide suitable attendance and

g g 2

452 American Competition.

fodder crops, is not yet fully carried out on these
arable farms. At no season are sheep penned in
hurdles over the land as they are in many corn-grow-
ing districts in England. Ohio has about one-tenth
of the sheep of the United States, or about one sheep
for every six acres ; but even in Ohio the flocks
generally might be improved ; better provision of
successive crops upon the arable land might secure
more continuous thriving, and a better yield might be
obtained both of mutton and wool. The undulating,
well-watered limestone soils of Kentucky are as well
adapted for sheep as for cattle. They grow and feed
mutton as good as is to be obtained in England. At
New York and Boston, Kentucky sheep realise id.
per lb. more than the poorer sorts reared under less
favourable circumstances. A special breed of wide,
shapely, useful-coated sheep, at twenty months readily
weighing 130 lbs. to 150 lbs. gross, and possessed
of considerable fixity of type, has been raised in Ken-
tucky by crossing native ewes with Merinoes, and sub-
sequently with English Leicestcrs, Downs, and Cots-
wolds. By such judicious selection of the ewes of the
locality, and by careful crossing, the profitableness of
the sheep stock generally might be much improved.

Between the Mississippi and the Missouri through-
out many parts of Minnesota and Iowa arc capital
sheep grazings on the natural prairie, in open parks,
amongst the woodlands, and on the readily grown
artificial grasses and clovers. The climate is dry ;
there is no necessity for yarding the flocks for more
than a few weeks during snow, or specially severe

Sheep Cheaply Raised in the West. 453

weather, nor is there much cost for providing winter
food. Prairie hay costs \os. per ton ; bran, 25 j\ a ton ;
and Indian corn is. a bushel.

Between the Missouri and the Pacific, from
Mexico to the British Dominions, and beyond, is an
area of a million and a half square miles, not includ-
ing Alaska, many parts of which are eminently suit-
able for sheep husbandry. On the Laramie plains
of the Rocky Mountains, at an elevation of 6,000 to
7,000 feet, are fresh and abundant pastures, often
well watered. Wyoming and Northern Colorado
are specially well adapted for sheep-raising. In some
of the higher elevations, where the better cattle do
not care to range, there is fair herbage for sheep.
With the native Mexican and grade Merino ewes
American Merino or English-bred bucks are run.
The latter are preferred where the sheep are to be
disposed of for mutton. Hay is provided for occa-
sional deep snow, or continued hard frost, which may
be expected during two or three months. In some
districts yards are prepared for protection against
sudden storms. Sheep walks can be rented at two
or three cents an acre, bought at 50 cents, and some-
times grazed without any charge whatever. The
taxes of the state or territory range from three to
five cents per head on the number of sheep returned
over one year old. Twenty to thirty cents per sheep
is estimated to provide for all expenses. A shepherd
receiving 30 dollars, or 61. per month, with rations,
and the use of a couple of horses, aided by his dogs,
attends to 1,000, and occasionally 2,500 sheep. The

454 American Competition.

other expenses of the station consist mainly of hay-
cutting, salt, and shearing, much of which is done
by travelling hands, paid \\s. to 16s. per hundred.
Washing now generally precedes shearing, 5 lbs. to
6 lbs. of wool is got, and is expected to pay for the
twelve months' expenses, leaving as profit the increase
of the flock and sales. Smaller flocks well looked
after have generally paid better than large ones.
One hundred ewes produce 80 to 90 lambs ; the
three-year-old sheep weighing 100 lbs. to 120 lbs.
gross are worth three dollars to five dollars. Mr.
Post, of Cheyenne, informs me that the yearly cost of
keeping sheep on the Plate River ranges from 30
cents to 50 cents. So satisfied is he with recent
results that on his own behalf and that of his firm
he is steadily increasing his stock.

The sixteen Southern States embraced in the wide
area between Delaware and Missouri, between Ohio
and the Gulf of Mexico, including about one-fourth
of the national domain, have large areas thoroughly
adapted for sheep-raising. In the South, sheep have
seldom, however, received the attention they deserve.
Over these four hundred million acres the flocks
amount only to ten millions ; they arc usually divided
into small lots, are generally unimproved natives,
receive little or no care, are often greatly injured by
drought, storms, starvation in winter, and attacks of
dogs. The moderate estimate of official reports
collected for the senate, indicate that over this
Southern area 150,000,000 sheep might be carried in
spring and summer, and more than one-third of these

Flockmasters Troubles. 455

numbers during the mild short winter. Even in the
dead time of year this fertile region, it is believed,
would keep twice the total number of sheep enu-
merated in the United States. The main cost is
attendance for marking and shearing, salt, and a little
hay, to which some good managers add a small allow-
ance of cotton seed. The annual cost per head is
variously estimated at 15 to 25 cents. The profits
are said to range from 30 to 40 per cent, on the
capital invested. The waste of unpastured grass
in these regions is very great. Agricultural enter-
prise is not so great as farther north or west, and wide
areas of good grazing lie unused. The grass fre-
quently is burnt by accident or design. Sheep might
with good profit be greatly multiplied. The cost of
growing 1 lb. of wool in Georgia is stated to be six
cents, whilst cotton costing four times the amount of
labour cannot be produced for less than yd. per lb.
Throughout these Southern States, about one thou-
sand establishments are engaged in making woollen
goods, and using up annually ten million pounds of
wool, for which the demand is steadily growing. In
the States bordering the Mexican Gulf, the climate
appears to be less adapted for English crossed sheep,
and the best authorities prefer to run with the native
Mexican ewes, bucks one-half to one-fourth Merino.

Although his grazings are cheaply stocked and
his flock cheaply kept, the American sheep-breeder
labours under certain disadvantages, and has expenses
and losses from which his English rival is exempt.
In most Northern States the sheep require to be

45 6 American Competition.

housed and fed, and of course demand extra attention.
In the Southern States housing is unnecessary, plant-
ations, unused §heds, or tobacco houses afford the
occasional shelter needed. During two or three
months fitful feeding with cheap hay is needful.
Winter and summer, in the yards and on the plains
and prairies, it is important to supply all sheep with
salt. Although the herbage is fresh and succulent,
and during spring and early summer the sheep have
abundance of capital food, in some regions and in
some seasons drought proves most disastrous. Sheep
do with somewhat less water than cattle : owing,
however, to continued scarcity of water a wide ex-
panse of such plains as those in North-west Texas
prove uncertain and of low value for sheep-walks.
During the summer of 1880 in Texas, Western
Kansas, and other Territories, losses both of sheep
and cattle from want of water have been serious.
The percentage of lambs on which the American
fiockmaster can count is smaller than with us. The
British shepherd is culpable, or the season untoward,
in which a lamb is not secured for every ewe, whilst
amongst Down flocks greater returns are obtained.
Merinos in the North and Eastern States seldom pro-
duce their first lamb until they are three years old.

Storms, winter snows, thefts, and disease also
cause heavy losses amongst ewes and, indeed,
amongst all sheep, from disowning, exposure, and
attacks of dogs and wolves many lambs are lost.
From these preventible causes the Texan sheep-
master estimates his losses at 1 5 per cent. Even in

Great Multiplication of Hogs. 457

an old State like Delaware they reach 19 per cent.,
and in Kentucky, Alabama, and Missouri they exceed
21 per cent. About one-half this serious loss is
ascribed to prowling' dogs, which in Georgia, Missis-
sippi, and other States are numerous, starved, and
untaxed, causing a loss of 9 per cent, in Kentucky
and Texas, and 8 per cent, in the Carolinas and
Georgia. American farmers must be even more long-
suffering than those at home to stand such preventible
wholesale slaughter. Expanding settlement, the
destruction of prairie wolves and roaming dogs,
and closer attention to the flock will greatly lessen
these losses. Provision of winter food, besides being
of benefit in this way, is also enhancing the value of
the mutton and wool. Judicious crossing is further
greatly improving the flocks and increasing both the
weight and quality of the mutton, while washing is
adding to the value of the wool, which for many
years will all be required in the growing manufactures
of the States, which now use up nearly three times the
quantity which they produce.

The hogs of the United States muster 35,000,000,
or nine times the number enumerated in the United
Kingdom. The abundance of the Indian corn crops
of the past few years has stimulated their production
at the rate of one million and a half per annum.
They quickly convert the corn and oats, worth about
\s. per bushel, and grass, clover, and other cheap,
bulky, unsaleable vegetable food, into the saleable
animal which readily runs to market. The state of
Illinois makes a muster of 3,330,000 pigs ; Iowa and

45 8 American Competition.

Missouri each have nearly 3,000,000 ; Indiana and
Kentucky each contribute 2,000,000. Berkshire and
Fisher Hobbs, Essex, large and middle-sized whites,
and a useful China hog are reared. All are well-grown
and profitable. I did not see a thriftless pig while in
America. Abundance of room and exercise, with
varied food while growing, develop size and more
lean meat than is exhibited among our more artifi-
cially managed, closely confined grunters. As at
home, the contagious fatal hog cholera occasionally
occurs, spreading from the great markets to the
premises of breeders and feeders, and sometimes
causing great losses. The average value of the
American hogs set forth in the agricultural statistics
is only 16s. ; but in Colorado and other Territories
they reach 30^., and in Massachusetts amount to
455-. gd. Although of small individual value, the
American farmers' capital in hogs represents a total
aggregate of 22,000,000/. ! In summer on grass and
clover, finished off with corn in winter among the
cattle in the yards, these hogs are cheaply reared
and fed. They are sold at ages varying from 6 to
18 months, at weights ranging from 100 lbs .to 300 lbs.
The heaviest are brought out in winter ; the cheaper
summer-fed sometimes fall as low as i^d. per lb. gross
weight. But so small is the outlay in their upbring-
ing that even at this low figure some profit is
earned.

A few hogs are slaughtered and salted by the
farmers, but the great bulk pass to the packers. This
is one of the special and prosperous industries of the
States, commenced with small beginnings some 25

Hog Packing. 459

years ago, and rapidly growing with the greatly in-
creasing demands for exportation, which now ab-
sorbs 60 per cent, of the American hog products.
Until within recent years, much of the bacon and
pork was salted and packed in barrels, but now it
is chiefly distributed throughout the States in bulk
and in boxes ; throughout Europe entirely in boxes.
Formerly hog slaughtering was conducted only during
the winter months. Now, with abundant supplies of
cheap ice, about 5,000,000 hogs are slaughtered, or
nearly half the packing is overtaken, during the
summer season from March 1 to November 1, when
vegetable food is abundant and the pigs can be
quickly and cheaply fatted. Excepting in price,
American bacon cannot compare with the best Irish,
Wiltshire, or Yorkshire, but it is steadily improving.
Were the hogs finished off as they might be with a
daily meal of barley, instead of all corn, the bacon
would doubtless be firmer and less liable to shrink
when cooked. It is not so fat as good English or
Irish bacon ; it is better boiled than grilled ; when
grilled it is apt to waste, and some of it also emits a
peculiar flavour.

The subjoined table from the Reports of the Com-
missioner of Agriculture exhibits the number of hogs
packed in the three great divisions of the United
States during each of the three years 1876 to 1879,

ending with March 1 each year : —

1877 1878 1879

The West . . 7,409,174 9,048,566 10,858,692

The. East . . 2,551,239 2,703,670 3,222,011

The Pacific Slope 305,000 310,000 400,000

10,265,413 12,062,236 14,480,703

460 American Competition.

Canada packs about 200,000 hogs. The total
annual hog products turned out by packers through-
out the States now exceed 25,000,000 cwts., and are
increasing yearly at the rate of about 17 per cent.
The average weight of the pigs killed in 1878-79
was 217*14 lbs. ; their average cost, net weight, per
cental S3. 56, or 50 cents less than the average price
for the previous year, and only a little over half the
price of 1876-77. Tempted by such low prices,
packers have everywhere enlarged their business. At
many convenient points throughout the West new
establishments have been opened. Stocks of bacon
and pork during the earlier parts of 1879 accumu-
lated to the extent, it was estimated, of 100,000,000/.
It seemed as if the supply had outrun the demand.
The good harvest in the West increased, however, the
home demand for hog products, as for so many other
things ; the export demand also increased ; prices
advanced ; and surplus stocks have been cleared off,
the United Kingdom paying for her year's supplies
upwards of 10,000,000/.

These great herds and flocks are year by year
multiplying largely, and outgrowing the home
demand, but the British public willingly receive the
surplus. The cattle, sheep, and swine are exported
dead and alive. The following figures from the
annual report of the Veterinary Department testify
how the export of live stock, both from the United
States and from Canada, have increased since its
commencement in 1876.

Foreign Supplies of Butcher Meat. 46 1

United States Exports of Live Stock.

Cattle

Sheep

Swine

1876 .

392

—

—

1877 .

• • • H,538

13,120

226

1878 .

. 68,450

43,940

16,321

1879 .

. 76,H7

"9,350

15,180

1880 .

. 154,814

66,722

12,549

c

\nada Exports of Live

Stock.

Cattle

Sheep

Swine

1876 ,

2,557

1,862

—

1877 . .

7,649

10,275

584

1878 .

17,989

40,132

1,614

1879 .

25,185

73,913

3,663

1880 .

48,103

78,074

671

The proportion which these live-stock imports
from the States and from Canada bear to the total
from all sources, may be gathered from the following
table compiled from the Board of Trade returns,
showing the total cattle, sheep, and swine imported
into the United Kingdom in 1880. To discover the
amount of butcher's meat which they contribute, I
take the figures carefully prepared by Mr. Clare S.
R.ead and Mr. James Howard, M.P., namely, 46
imperial stones (14 lbs.) as the weight of each im-
ported ox, 40 stones as the weight of each cow, 4
stones as the average of each sheep and lamb, and 7
stones as that of each calf and pig.

Oxen and bulls

Cows .

Calves

Sheep and lambs

Swine.

Number
317,505

33,445

38,999

940,991

51,030

Imperial stones
46

40

7
4
7

Imperial stones
14,605,230

1,337,800

272,993

3,763,964

357,210

20,337,197

462 American Competition.

Excluding cows and calves, in which America does
not compete, the States and Canada together now
furnish upwards of 60 per cent, of the live-cattle
imports of Great Britain. The American cattle
imports of 1880 are double those of 1879. The sheep
imports amount to one-fifth of the European con-
tingent. The swine which, owing to two years' low
range of prices in the States, have not been so largely-
bred or fed, during 1880 were only two-thirds of the
imports of 1879, but nevertheless constitute one-third
of the European consignments. These increased
American supplies more than compensate for the
falling off which, owing to the prevalence of con-
tagious disorders, has occurred of late years in the
live-stock importations from Belgium, the Nether-
lands, France, and other parts of Europe.

The destination of these American live-stock
imports is set forth in the annual reports of the
Veterinary Department. London and Liverpool
each take about three-sevenths of the cattle and
sheep, but Liverpool attracts five-sixths of the pigs ;
9,182 cattle and 12,836 sheep, in 1880, were sent to
Bristol; 1,591 cattle to Southampton, but only 173
sheep ; 3,107 cattle went round to Hull ; 9,000 cattle
from the States and 14,672 from Canada were landed
at Glasgow.

These valuable importations have steadily grown
in spite, not only of enhanced transport charges, but
in the face of compulsory slaughter at the ports
within fourteen days of landing. These restrictions
have been applied to cattle since March 3, 1879; to

Importation of Contagions Diseases. 463

sheep, since November 23, 1879 ; to swine, since May
16, 1879. They do not, as was prognosticated, arrest
exportation. The surplusage must be got rid of,
and it finds its way to the best market. The official
reports of the Veterinary Department to the Privy
Council abundantly demonstrate the necessity for
these restrictions. Of 720 cargoes of live animals
imported from the United States in 1880, exactly
one in seven contained cases of contagious disorders.
The ' no cargoes, consisting of 26,464 cattle, 12,931
sheep, and 5,013 swine, contained 229 cattle affected
with pleuro-pneumonia, 21 cattle and 63 sheep
affected with foot-and-mouth disease, 124 sheep
affected with sheep scab, and 403 swine affected
with swine fever.' It has been urged by American
shippers that the cattle we get come from the West,
where there is no contagious lung complaint, and
that although the imported beasts may have colds
or other ailments, this serious lung plague cannot
be sent amongst their exports. Get it where they
may, these American cattle seized at the several
ports are undoubtedly affected by the too familiar
contagious pleuro-pneumonia, which since 1844 has
decimated our herds ; and if the animals were trans-
ported alive, as some authorities propose, into the
markets of our inland towns, there would be serious
risk of transferring the disease to home herds. It
is hence the interest of British consumers, as well
as of producers of beef, that American cattle, until
they can show a clean bill of health, should still be
slaughtered at the ports of debarkation.

464 American Competition.

Although the provisions for the accommodation of
animals on board ships are improving, in some of the
vessels employed in the American trade the fittings,
ventilation, and cubic space are still defective. Animals
carried on deck in winter are subject to great suffering
from cold and storms. Those between decks frequently
suffer and sometimes are stifled from want of pure air.
The attendants in charge are occasionally incompetent
and careless. The food is sometimes of indifferent
quality and inadequate in amount. That there is still
much room for improvement in the arrangements for
the transport of live stock across the Atlantic is palp-
able from the fact that in 18S0, ' 13,619 animals were
thrown overboard, 540 were landed dead, and 389
were so much injured or exhausted that they were
killed at the place of landing, making a total number
of 14,543 animals which were either lost on the passage
or so much injured that it was necessary to slaughter
them immediately on landing.' Upwards of one
American animal in every hundred is thus sacrificed
to weather and faulty shipping arrangements.

The American live cattle, sheep, and swine im-
ported into the United Kingdom in 1880 are valued
at upwards of 4,000,000/. But this is only part of the
American animal food. The fresh and preserved meats
together present a similar value. With improved
means of refrigeration applied to the American
abattoirs and storage chambers, the railroad cars, and
the ocean steamers, the supplies of carcass-meat are
increasing. The risks of spoiling or injury diminish.
The consignments have more than doubled within

British Farmers Protection. 465

four years ; 5,000 carcasses of beef weighing 700 lbs. to
800 lbs. frequently come to hand in a week. The
United States forwarded, during 1880, 71 5,547 cwts.
of fresh meat, nearly the same quantity of tinned or
preserved meats, and about half that amount of salted
beef. At New York and other shipping ports the
cattle cost about ^d. per lb. on the hoof, or about ^\d.
per lb. when hung up. The chief shippers are Messrs.
Sherman and Gillett, of New Jersey City ; Mr.
Eastman, of New York ; Mr. S. W. Allerton, of Chicago,
and Messrs. Martin and Fuller, of Philadelphia. After
hanging for a few hours, the carcasses for exportation
are transferred to a chamber, cooled in summer with
ice and salt to the temperature of 340 or 350, where
they remain for one to three days, when they are cut
in quarters, rolled in calico, and transferred to the
ocean steamer, which usually conveys from 800 to
3,000 quarters. The refrigerating process is now very
perfect and trustworthy. The meat, in chambers,
surrounded with pipes containing brine chilled with
ice and salt, is kept at a uniform temperature of 340
to 380, and is landed in good condition. Sheep and
pigs are usually hung in the spaces among the
quarters of beef. Freight from New York to
Liverpool, Cardiff, or Glasgow is 32J. per ton ; bulk
freight to London is 37J. 6d. The most skilful pack-
ing cannot, however, hang half a ton of meat in the
40 cubic feet of space allowed for the ton. The
freight on each ton of beef accordingly averages
about 80s. ; 2s. 6d. per ton is charged for dock dues
at Liverpool ; at London they reach 6s. 2d. Com-

H H

466 American Competition.

mission is covered by ^d. Meat railed from Liverpool
to London costs about \d. per lb.

For less than id. per lb. fresh meat in the carcass
is thus conveyed from America to British ports, where
it can be sold with a profit at about 6%d. Now that
the risks of spoiling in transit are minimised, the
American meat supplies are only kept in their present
moderate proportions by the sensitiveness of the
British markets, which, if glutted by a few extra
hundred carcasses, are run down id. or even 2d. per lb.
Indeed, repeatedly, in spite of heavier consignments
being pushed on to the Lancashire and Yorkshire
towns, superior American beef has been sold in Liver-
pool at 4^d., and the same thing occurs with the
metropolitan markets. The ready glutting of the
British meat market, and consequent serious deprecia-
tion of value, is the British farmer's best protection.
But with American meat available in quantities greatly
in excess of the present supply, and imported profit-
ably at about 6\d. per lb., the British farmer must
adapt his arrangements to produce meat at 7\d. The
superior quality of the best home meat, the nearness
of markets, the convenience of killing cattle and sheep
when needed, will probably always secure for home-
grown meat fully id. per lb. more than can be got
for American meat. With the enlarging production
of cheap American meat and the certainty and cheap-
ness of its safe transport over the Atlantic, there is,
however, small prospect of any enhanced price for
British meat. But farmers twenty years ago were
able economically to produce both beef and mut-

Home Grown and Imported Meat. 467

ton at yd. per lb. They must endeavour to do so
again.

What proportion, it may be inquired, do these
expanding supplies of foreign meat now bear to the
home production ? Owing to the prevalence of con-
tagious and other diseases on British farms, and the
general depression of British agriculture, the live stock
of the United Kingdom has not increased since 1 876.
In the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of
England for 1878, Mr. John Algernon Clarke, analys-
ing the statistical returns of 1876, estimated that the
home herds and flocks produced annually 1,147,663
cwts. of meat, or 787 of the total consumption.
While the home growth has remained stationary the
foreign has, however, steadily advanced, and the
table on page 468 represents the weight and relative
proportions of home-grown and of various descriptions
of imported meat consumed in Great Britain in 1876
and 1880.

These figures testify to the rapid expansion of
foreign competition in beef and bacon. The United
Kingdom, so recently as 1876, consumed only 21 per
cent, of these foreign supplies ; now the consumption
has mounted to 30 per cent. Detrimental although
such competition has been to the agricultural interests,
it has certainly secured the better feeding of the
British people, and prevented famine prices of the
necessaries of life. Each unit of the population
enjoyed in 1876 about 98 lbs. of meat, these enlarged
foreign imports in four years have raised this average
allowance to 108 lbs.

468

American Competition.

Weight and relative percentage of home-grown atid imported
meat used in the United Kingdotn in 1876 and 1880.

Meat in cwts.

Meat in cwts.

Per cent.

Percent. ,

1876

1880

1876

1880

Cattle, sheep, and swine ~l
home grown furnish J

22,941,260

22,941,260

78750

69-490

Cattle sheep and swine ~l
imported alive J

1,862,760

2,542,150

6-400

7-700

Meat imported fresh

266, 1 1 1

867,455

•913

2-627

Beef imported salted

243,342

289,422

•835

•877

Preserved Meats im-1
ported chiefly in tins j

280,859

655,600

•964

1-986

Bacon imported, cwts. *

2,809,990

Hams, ditto 349,455
Pork salted, ditto

3.536,135

5,717,898

I2-I38

17-320

350.151

Pork fresh, ditto 26,539,

29,130,467

33,013,784

ioo-ooo

ioo-ooo

America has been the bountiful source of a large
proportion of these increased supplies. She has
more than made up for the restricted exports of
various European countries. Since 1876 she has
multiplied her live-stock exports seventy-fold ; she
has tripled her exports of fresh meat ; she has
more than doubled her consignments of tinned meats ;
she has added one-third to the bacon, and nearly
tripled the exports of hams. The annual exports
of lard are valued at 5,500,000/., of butter at
1,000,000/., of cheese at 2,500,000/.

Abundant evidence has been adduced in the fore-
going pages to show that these surplus supplies of
American animal food can be maintained and in-
creased. Beef, mutton, and bacon are being manufac-

Feeds the World. 469

tured faster than they can be used by the rapidly mul-
tiplying American population. Great areas available
for herds and flocks are still unused or used only
irregularly or partially. In many regions the
annually recurring prairie fires still consume more
grass than is eaten by the cattle. On- cheap lands in
suitable situations meat can be economically raised,
and the carcass profitably sold at less than /\d. per lb.
Extending transport facilities narrow the distance
that intervenes between British consumers and West-
ern cattle ranches or Indian corn regions where grain
at less than is. per bushel is grown to feed increas-
ing numbers of bullocks and hogs. The Atlantic
connects instead of separating Europe and America.
The roll of agricultural producers is continuously and
largely augmented by emigration, increased as it
recently has been by dull trade and agricultural
depression prevailing throughout the Old World, and
destined in 1881 to reach nearly half a million of
people. With extending and more careful cultivation
of grain, and continued multiplication of improving
herds and flocks, America demonstrates year by year
more distinctly the truth of her proud boast, that her
mission is to feed the civilised world.

INDEX.

AGR
A GRICULTURAL Colleges.

97, i.3°, 357

— population, 9, 38

— resources, 9, II, 18, 234, 434,

437, 454, 464

— Shows, 119, 130, 145, 315
Alexander, A. J., Woodbum,

Ky., 411
Alleghany oil regions, 125
Altoona, Pennsylvania, 123
Amber cane sugar, 12, 288, 290
America destined to feed the

world, 469
American adaptiveness, 51, 83,

113, 421, 435

— competition, 8, 66, 77, 255

— grain surplus, 266, 435

— hospitality, 279, 324

— lumbering, 269

— prison life, 274
Animals of the farm, 18, 437
Apples, 7, 75, 81, 96, 147
Archbishop Tache, of St. Boniface,

231

Arkansas Valley, 375
Armour & Co., Chicago, 182

— hams, 192

— preserved meats, 195
Artisans' wages, 46, 100, 281,

356> 406

Assessment of land and person-
alty, 33, 37

Assiniboine River, 223

CAN

Avoca, Minn., 313
Ayrshire cattle, 91

"DACON, 190, 370, 459

-^ Barden Barden, Minn., 295

Barley, 13, 287, 436

Barnes & Shedding, 88, 250, 361

Beef exportations, 66, 444

— packing, 69, 181, 367, 389
Beer Tax, 287

Benefit Clubs, 281

Bishop Ireland's settlements, 313

Bluffs, 334, 340

Booming the logs, 271

Boston, 87

— fruit supplies, 104

— retail price of meat, 103

— stockyards, 101
Bran, 263, 270

Brawn, or collared head, 194
Bread stuffs, cheap, 26, 170, 210,

234, 265, 433
Breaking up prairie, 204, 334,

337, 359, 424
Buckwheat, 15, 302
Butter, 21, 109, 247, 392

r*ABBAGES, 80

^ Canadian exports, 460

— Government attractions, 233

— land, 26, 126

472

Index.

CAN

Canadian Pacific Railroad, 226
Canned meats, 67, 180, 389, 445
Capital, interest on, 28, 43, 50,
87, 118, 251, 337, 365, 372

— used in farming, 41, 337
Cattle, 66, 89, 99, 121, 136, 152,

172, 439

— branding, 173

— canning trade, 67, 1 So, 389,

444

— markets, 62, 171, 342, 366,

387

— slaughtering, 23, 67, 102, 177,

367

— sold by weight, 63, 174

— stores for export, 448

— transport charges, 64, 173,

343, 371, 445

— winter feeding, 92, 1 21, 135,

443
Cheese, 21, 99, 468
Chicago, 160

— cattle trade, 172

— grain business, 164

— hog packing, 182

— stockyards, 176

— water supply, 161
Climate, 5, 241, 335, 352
Coal, 3, 234, 347, 353

Cold storage chambers, 61, 176,

179, 189, 390
Coloured population, 363, 405
Competition, American, 8, 66,

265, 421, 435, 437
Cord binders, 303, 318, 425
Corner successful in pork, 196
Cottage accommodation, 46
Cotton, 12, 387
Council Bluffs, 340

— stockyards, 342
Cranberries, 83
Creameries, 8, 335
Crookston, Dakota, 218
Currants, 81

T~)AIRYING, 8, 50, 88, 99,
^ 109, 136, 247, 391, 399

FAR

Dakota, 199, 322

— Civil Code, 326

— hospitality, 324

— milling enterprises, 325

— wages, 331

Dalrymple, Mr. O., Casselton,
Dakota, 199

— cost of wheat growing, 209

— telephonic communication,
200

Deering, Mr. S., Bluffdale, St.

Paul, 252
Delaware fruit culture, 81
Detroit agricultural fair, 145
Devon cattle, 117
Donkeys' stud, 396
Drake, Mr. James U., St. Paul,

207, 279
Drought, 47, 363

"PASTMAN. I. C, first exporter
of meat to Great Britain, 65
Elevators, 55, 167

— Chicago, 167

New York Central, 56
Entail, laws of, 31
Exports, American, of wheat,

170, 267, 385, 435

— live stock, 66, 460

— meat, 66, 115, 390, 464

"FAIRBANKS scales, 58, 63,
L 186, 443

Fairbault, Minn., 291
Fairmont, Minn., 290
Fargo, Dakota, 213
Farmers, 39, 45, 51

— American and English com-
pared, 51

Farming profits, 23, 114, 118,
133, 138, 254, 307, 337, 338,
427, 442, 450

Farms let on shares, 40, 131, 283,
308, 338, 381

— on lease, 41, 307, 381

— rented, 40, 132, 213, 337

Index.

473

FAR

Farms, size of, 49, 131, 379

— worked by contract, 215, 337,

356
Fences, 100, 131, 204, 379
Fertilisers, 69, 101, 370
Fishing, 269

Flax cultivation, 287, 302, 360
Flour, cost of production, 202, 436

— Hungarian or patent, 259

— Minneapolis mills, 256

— trade, 257, 270, 286, 436
Fort Garry, Manitoba, 224
Fruit canning, 76

— cultivation, 7, 74

— export, 77

— transport, 75

PAJIE laws, Minnesota, 249

KJ — Ohio, 129

Grain, cheap movement of, 52

— elevators, 55, 167

— grading of, 53

— transport, 53, 55, 210, 428

— weighed automatically, 58
Grapes, 83, 147

TJTAMILTON, MESSRS.,

Mount Stirling, Ky., 409
Hams, preparation of, 192, 369
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 122
Harvesters, 207, 303, 318, 425
Hay, 14, 90, 242
Hayes City, Kansas, 358
Herd law, 42, 130
Herds, enumeration of, 19, 438,
Herefords, 155, 172, 289, 373
Heron Lake Junction, 310
Hessian fly, 48
Hickory, J. M., Washington Co.,

Penn., 1 15
Hog packing, 139, 186, 438, 459

at Chicago, 182

Kansas City, 368

St. Louis, 390

Hogs, -22, 93, 139, 180, 389, 457
Homestead acts, 32, 326, 362
Homesteaders, 33, 300, 326

LAM

Hops unprofitable, 96
Horses, 18, 100, 150, 400
— transport of, 400
Hudson's Bay Company, 224

TLLINOIS.wheat-growing, 170
Indian corn, 12, 134, 242,

3i8, 437
Indians, 223, 248
Interest, rate of, 43, 133, 329

365> 372
Investments, promising, 43, 311
Iowa, climate, 335

— dairying, 335

— labour abounds, 337

— prairies, 334

— share farming, 338

JASPER at Sioux Falls, 325
J Jersey cattle, 91

TZAXSAS, 35i
xv — climate, 352

— cost of living, 371

— farming, 355

■ — railroads, 364
Kansas City, 363

— stockyards, 366
Kentucky, 397

— blue grass, 401

— horses, 400, 416

— shorthorns, 398, 409, 415

— sheep, 399, 413, 451

— taxes, 405

— whisky, 420

Kildonan, near Winnipeg, 227
Kingsley, J. E., Philadelphia, in

T ABOUR-SAVING ma-
-^ chinery, 60, 188. 277
Labourers' wages, 45, 143, 202,

229, 316, 331, 379, 413
Labourers well fed, 46, 201, 317
Lambs, 142, 156, 450

474

Index.

LAN-
Land, acquisition of, 25, 31, 326

— cost of, 31, 42, 87, 200, 246,
209, 311, 329, 336

— enhanced value, 28, 112, 157,
213, 230, 250, 311, 320, 336

— exhaustion of, 44

— laws, 25, 326

— offices, 29

— owners, 38, 337

— pre-emption of, 31, 327, 362

— railroad, 29, 373

— school, 29, 373

— unoccupied, 9, 25, 27, 39,

312

— worked by hire, 215, 331, 337

— worked on shares, 308, 329, 338
Landlords in America, 27, 29
England, 27

Lard, manufacture of, 194, 370

Largest wheat farm in America,
199

Libby, McNeil, and Libby, Chi-
cago, 178

Licenses, 36

Lincoln, Nebraska, 347

Linseed cultivation, 287, 302,
360

Live stock exports, 66, 461

Locusts, 48

Lumbering, 270

Lunatic asylum, St. Peter, 2S3

Luverne farm, Minn., 315

ATAINE, 97

— dairying, 99

— fences, 100

— portable manures, IOI

— wages, 100

Maize, 12, 134, 242, 318, 437
Manitoba, 222

— cheap land, 232

— needs transport facilities, 233
Mankato, brewery, 287

— flour mills, 285

— Minn., 284

Manures, portable, 67, IOI, 320,
370

NEW

Market gardening, 51, 78, 95,

109, 246
Massachusetts, 89

— live stock, 92

— vegetable and fruit growing,

94

Meat exports, 66, 115, 464

— prices, 66, 71, 106, 115, 371

— proportion of home grown and
foreign in United Kingdom, 467

— transport charges, 115, 390,

465
Megibben, Hon. T. J., Fairview,

Ky., 419
Memnonite Settlements, 228, 361
Michigan Agricultural Show, 145

— fruit growing, 147
Milk, 90, 109, 392

— cows, 20, 90, 98, 137, 247
Millet, 91, 359

Milling enterprises, 257, 270, 285,

325. 436

— cost of American, 262, 2S6
Mineral wealth, 3, 123
Minneapolis, 239

— mills, 255
Minnesota, 236

— cattle rearing, 243

— climate, 241

— crops, 242

— railways, 245

— settlement, 245

— State university, 237

— value of land, 246, 282
Missouri dairying, 391

— mules, 392

— Valley, 340, 347, 378
Money lending, 329
Mortgages, 328, 329
Mountain chains, 2
Mules, 392

— preferred to horses, 205, 317
Mutton, 69, 450

MEW England States, 85

— Jersey fruit growing, 79
— vegetables, 80, 107

Index.

475

NEW

New York cold storage chambers,
68

— grain trade, 56

— meat supplies, 61

— oleomargarine, 72

— retail markets, 71

— stockyards, 64

— vegetables, 78

QATS, 13, 437

v^ Offal, preservation of, 68,

178, 188
Ohio State, 127

— cattle, 136

— draining, 130

— farming, 133

— hogs, 139

— sheep, 140

— statistics, 128
Oleomargarine, 71, 178

— butter, 73
Omaha, Nebraska, 341
Oranges from Florida, 74
Oregon cattle, 172, 441

pEACHES, 75, 81
1 Pears, 75, 81, 147
Penitentiary at Stillwater, 274
Pennsylvania Central Railroad,

— dairying, no, 120

— farming, 108

— land, free from taxes, 113
Petroleum oil, 125
Philadelphia Exhibition, 119

— market gardening

— stockyards, 114
Physical Geography, 1
Pigs, 22, 93, 139, 180, 457
Pillsbury's, Messrs., mill, Minne-
apolis, 257

Pipestone quarries, Dakota, 310
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 125
Plankington & Armour, Kansas

City, 366
Ploughing, cost of, 299, 305
Ploughs; 149, 303, 316
Potatoes, 13, 79

SHE

Prairie, 197, 204, 216, 240, 332

— breaking up, 204, 334, 337,

359

— fires, 240

Pre-emption of land, 327, 362
Prison industries, 276

Profits from farming, 50, in, 118,
139, 306, 442

QUEEN Bee Mill, Sioux
Falls, 325

"DAILROADS, 54, 105, 245,

312, 377
Rainfall, 5, 6, 198, 241, 336
Ranches in the West, 439
Real estate, valuation of, 33
Red River Valley, 197, 220
Refrigeration, 68, 75, 103, 464
Reilly & Wolford, mule dealers,

St. Louis, 394
Renick, Abram, Sharon, Ky. , 406
Rice, production of, 1 1
Roads, 42
Rye, cultivation of, 13

C ASKATCHEWAN Rivers 222
*~-^ Sausage-making, 193
Schools, 113, 144,218, 237, 285,

301, 362
Selkirk, near Winnipeg, 228
Seymour, Sabine & Co., Still-
water, 272
Shakopee, Minn., 281
Share system of farming, 30S,

330, 338
Sheep, 21, 69, 93, 102, 142, 155,
244, 376, 389, 399, 413, 448,
450

— losses of, 100, 456

— profits on, 93, 117, 376

— slaughtered, 21, 92, 114, 140,

155
Sherman & Gillett, meat ex-
porters, 70

476

Index.

SHI

Shingles, roofing, 274
Shorthorns, 90, 119, 153, 297,

373
Sibley, General, of St. Paul, 248
Sioux City, 333

— Falls, 323

— River, 322

Smith, Mr., The Meadows, St.

Paul, 250
Smithers, Mr., Victoria, Kansas,

358
Sorghum saccharatum — amber

cane, 12, 288
St. Boniface, Manitoba, 224
St. Joseph, Missouri, 350
St. Louis, 382

— beef canning, 389

— merchants' exchange, 383

— railroads, 382

— stockyards, 387

St. Paul, Minnesota, 236

— extending industries, 237

St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad,
279

— Courtesy of Directors, 279
St. Peter, Minn., 281

St. Vincent, Manitoba, 223
Statistics of American farming, 1 1
Stillwater, Minn., 268

— penitentiary, 274
Stockyards, Chicago, 176

— Council Bluffs, 342

— Kansas City, 366

— New York, 64

— St. Louis, 387
Strawberries, 82, 96

Sugar, amber cane, 12, 288, 290

— cane, 11

Swine, 22, 93, 139, 157, 186,
389» 457

"TAXATION, 34, 405
■*■ — local, 36
Taxes, 34, 128, 328, 405
Temperature, 6
Tenants, ejectment of, 41
Texan cattle, 19, 173

VVHE

Thompson, the late Horace, St.

Paul, 279, 302
Thrashing machines, 277, 304

— cost of, 299, 304, 425
Timber acts, 32, 327, 362

— clearing, 272

— value of, 271, 378

Tinned or canned meats, 180,

389. 445
Tobacco, 12, 402
Topeka, Kansas, 356
Transport charges, 8, 181, 210,

264, 267, 371, 385, 431, 464
Trotting horses, 100, 151, 418
Trucking, or market gardening,

78

TTNITED STATES statistics,
w 15, 17, 460

exports, 435, 461

University at Minneapolis, 237

"WA.LUATION of crops, 16,

* 94, 296, 427
Vanmeter, B. F., Syracuse,

Ky., 408
Vegetables, extensive use of, 7,

80

— cultivation of, 78, 94, 109
Vermont butter, 92

— strawberries, 96
Victoria, Kansas, 357

WAGES, 45, 100, 143, 202,
* v 229, 300, 306, 331
Warehouses, grain, 56
Warren, Manitoba, 219
Washburn, ex-Governor, Min-
neapolis, 261
Western living, cost of, 285, 350,

363
Westward Ho, 120
Wheat, 12, 422
— continuous growth of, 211,

434

Index.

477

WHE
Wheat, cost of growing, 305, 426,

433

— exports, 170, 267, 385, 435

— Illinois, 170

— in Dakota, 330

— Iowa, 33s

— Kansas, 373

— Kentucky, 412

— Manitoba, 227

— Minnesota, 296, 305

— Missouri, 348

— Ohio, 133

— profits of, 216, 338, 427

— Red River, 209

— transport charges, 54, 210, 267,
306, 431

Willow Lake, Windom, 309

YIE

Wilson's beef canning, Chicago,

181
Windom, Minn., 294
Wine, 74

Winnebago, Minn., 289
Winnipeg, 225

— extending, resources, 227
Women's rights, 328

— work, 45
Wool, 23, 454

Work done by contract, 204, 215,
Worthington Agricultural Show,
Minn., 315

"Y^IELD of crops, 17

LONDON : PRINTED BY

SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQCARE

AND PARLIAMENT STREET

By the same Author,

LANDLORDS and TENANTS in IRELAND ;

being a Series of Letters communicated to the Times in 1881.
Crown 8vo. price 6s.

'Many of our readers have
doubtless in the last few months
perused the letters which have
appeared in the Tunes from the
special commissioner of that
paper relative to land tenure in
Ireland, estate management, and
the condition of tenants and
labourers. Mr. Finlay Dun
was the Times special commis-
sioner, and this volume is a com-
pilation or selection from, rather
than a reprint of, his letters. Mr.
Dun went to Ireland, with no
political bias to one party or
another, in order to get informa-
tion upon the present agricul-
tural condition of Ireland. He
is well known to be a business

man, and his observations there-
fore are fresh and practical, and
in these respects offer a pleasing
contrast to much that has been
recently written and spoken on
the Irish land question. Mr.
Dun visited personally all the
principal properties in each of
the four provinces, and also
investigated the condition of the
cottiers and smaller occupiers in
the West, and in every case he
was afforded exceptional faci-
lities for obtaining accurate in-
formation. His report tlterefore
may be taken to be one of the
most authoritative upon the sub-
ject of Ireland that has yet been
published.' The Field.

London, LONGMANS & CO.

J-TTZDsTIE 1881.

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2 vols, square crown 8vo. 21*.

Student's Edition, revised and condensed, with 46 Illustrations and Maps.
1 vol. crown 8vo. 7*. 6d.
EHicott's (Bishop) Commentary on St. Paul's Epistles. 8vo. Galatians, 8*. 6d.
Ephesians, 8*. 6d. Pastoral Epistles, 10*. 6J. Philippians, Colossians, and
Philemon, 10*. 6d. Thcssalonians, Is. 6d.
Ellicott'g Lectures on the Life of our Lord. 8vo. 12*.
Ewald's History of Israel, translated by Carpenter. 6 vols. 8vo. 63*.

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General Lists of New Worfy.

Ewsld'a Antiquities of Israel, translated by Solly. 8vo. 12*. Gd.
Gospel (The) for the Nineteenth Century. 4th Edition. Svo. 10*. Gd.
Hopkins's Christ the Consoier. Fcp. 8vo. 2*. Gd.
Jukes's Types of Genesis. Crown 8vo. 7*. Gd.

— Second Death and the Kestitution of all Things. Crown 8vo. 3*. Gd.
Kalisch's Bible Studies. Part I. the Prophecies of Balaam. 8vo. 10*. 6<i.

— — — Past n. the Book of Jonah. 8vo. 10*. 6i.

— Historical and Critical Commentary on the Old Testament; with a
New Translation. Vol. I. Genesis, 8vo. 18*. or adapted for the General
Eeader, 12*. Vol. n. Exodus, 15*. or adapted for the General Reader, 12*.
Vol. m. Leviticus, Part I. 15*. or adapted for the General Eeader, 8*.
Vol. IV. Leviticus, Part n. 15*. or adapted for the General Reader, 8*.

Lyra Germanica : Hymns translated by Miss Winkworth. Fcp. 8vo. 5*.
Martineau's Endeavours after the Christian Life. Crown 8vo. 7*. 6d.

— Hymns of Praise and Prajer. Crown 8to. 4*. Gd. 32mo. 1*. Gd.

— Sermons, Hours of Thought on Sacred Things. 2 vols. 7*. Gd. each.
Mill's Three Essays on Religion. 8vo. 10*. Gd.

Missionary Secretariat of Henry Venn, B.D. 8vo. Portrait. 18*.
Monsell's Spiritual Songs for Sundays and Holidays, Fcp. 8vo. 5*. 18mo. 2*.
MUller's (Max) Lectures on the Science of Religion. Crown 8vo. 10*. 6d.
Newman's Apologia pro Vita Sui. Crown Svo. 6*.
Passing Thoughts on Religion. By Miss Sewell. Fcp. 8vo. 3*. Gd.
Sewell's (Miss) Preparation for the Holy Communion. 32mo. 3*.

— — Private Devotions for Young Persons. 18mo. 2*.
Smith's Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul. Crown Svo. 7*. Gd.
Supernatural Religion. Complete Edition. 3 vols. 8vo. 36*.
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Whately's Lessons on the Christian Evidences. 18mo. Gd.

"White's Four Gospels in Greek, with Greek-English Lexicon. 32mo. 5*.

TRAVELS, VOYAGES, 8cc.

Baker's Rifle and Hound in Ceylon. Crown 8vo. 7*. Gd.

— Eight Tears in Ceylon. Crown Svo. 7*. Gd.

Ball's Alpine Guide. 3 vols, post 8 vo. with Maps and Illustrations :— I. Western

Alps, 6*. Gd. H. Central Alps, 7*. Gd. III. Eastern Alps, 10*. Gd.
Ball on Alpine Travelling, and on the Geology of the Alps, 1*.
Brassey's Sunshine and Storm in the East. 8vo. 21*.

— Voyage in the Yacht ' Sunbeam.' Cr. 8vo. 7*. 6<f. School Edition, 2*.
Edwards's (A. B.) Thousand Miles up the Nile. Imperial 8vo. 42*.

Hassall'8 San Remo and the 'Western Riviera. Crown 8vo. 10*. Gd.

Macnamara's Medical Geography of India. 8vo. 21*.

Miller's Wintering in the Riviera. Post 8vo. Illustrations, 7*. Gd.

Packe's Guide to the Pyrenees, for Mountaineers. Crown Svo. 7*. Gd.

Bigby's Letters from France, &c. in 1789. Crown Svo. 10*. Gd.

Shore's Flight of the ' Lapwing ', Sketches in China and Japan. 8vo. 15*.

The Alpine Club Map of Switzerland. In Four Sheets. 42*.

Toier's Turkish Armenia and Eastern Asia Minor. Svo. 16*.

Weld's Sacred Palmlands. Crown Svo. 10*. 6</.

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10

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WORKS OF FICTION.

Blues and Buffs. By Arthur Mills. Crown 8vo. Gs.

Buried Alive, Ten Years of Penal Servitude in Siberia. Crown 8vo. Gs.

Crookit Meg (The). By Shirley. Crown 8vo. 6s.

Hawthorne's (J.) Yellow-Cap and other Fairy Stories. Crown Svo. 6*.

Cabinet Edition of Stories and Tales by Miss Sewell : —

Amy Herbert, 2*. Gd.
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Novels and Tale3 by the Right Hon. the Earl of Beaconsfield, K.G. Cabinet
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Coningsby, 6*. Contarini Fleming, 6*.

Sybil, 6*. Ahoy, Ixion, &c. Gs.

Tancred, 6*. The Young Duke, &c. 6*.

Venetia, Gs. Vivian Grey, Gs.

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Ivors, 2*. Gd.

Katharine Ashton, 2*. Gd.
Laneton Parsonage, 3f. 6d.
Margaret Percival, Zs. Gd.
Ursula, 3*. Gd.

By Major Whyte-Melville.

Digby Grand.

General Bounce.

Kate Coventry.

The Gladiators.

Good for Nothing.

Holmby House.

The Interpreter.

The Queen's Maries.
By the Author of ' the Atelier du Lys.'

Mademoiselle Mori.

The Atelier du Lys.
By Various Writers.

Atherstone Priory.

The Burgomaster's Family.

Elsa and her Vulture.

The Six Sisters of the Valleys.

Lord Beaconsfield's Novels and Tales. 10 vols, cloth extra, gilt edges, 30i.

Whispers from Fairy Land. By the Right Hon. Lord Brabourne. With Nine

Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 3*. Gd.
Higgledy-Piggledy ; or, Stories for Everybody and Everybody's Children. By

the Right Hon. Lord Brabourne. With Nine Illustrations from Designs by

R. Doyle. Crown 8vo. 3s. Gd.

By the Earl of Beaconsfield, K.G.

Lothair.

Coningsby.

Sybil.

Tancred.

Venetia.

Henrietta Temple.

Contarini Fleming.

Alroy, Ixion, tic.

The Young Duke, &c.

Vivian Grey.
By Anthony Trollope.

Barchester Towers.

The Warden.
By the Author of ' the Rose Garden.'

Unawares.

POETRY &t THE DRAMA.

Bailey's Festus, a Poem. Crown Svo. 12*. 6d.

Bowdler's Family Shskspeare. Medium 8vo. 14*. 6 vols. fcp. 8vo. 21*.
Cayley's Iliad of Homer, Homometrically translated. 8vo. 12*. Gd.
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General Lists of New Works. 11

Goethe's Faust, translated by Birds. Large crown 8vo. 12*. Gd.

— — translated by Webb. 8vo. 12s. Gd.

— — edited by Sel?s. Crown 8vo. 5*.
Ingelow's Poems. New Edition. 2 vols. fcp. 8vo. 12*.

Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome, with Ivry and the Armada. 16mo. 3*. Gd.
Ormsby's Poem of the Cid. Translated. Post 8vo. 5*.
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Blaine's Encyclopaedia of Rural Sports. 8vo. 21*.

Francis's Treatise on Fishing in all its Branches. Post 8vo. 15*.

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Miles's Horse's Foot, and How to Keep it Sound. Imperial 8vo. 12*. Gd,

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— Stables and Stable-Fittings. Imperial 8vo. 15*.

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Steel's Diseases of the Ox, being a Manual of Bovine Pathology. 8vo. 15*.
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— Greyhound. Square crown 8vo. 15*.
Youatt's Work on the Dog. 8vo. 6*.

— — — — Horse. 8vo. 7*. Gd.
Wilcocks's Sea-Fisherman. Post 8vo. 12*. Gd.

WORKS OF UTILITY &. GENERAL INFORMATION.

Acton's Modern Cookery for Private Families. Fcp. 8vo. 6s.

Black's Practical Treatise on Brewing. 8vo. 10*. Gd.

Buckton's Food and Home Cookery. Crown 8vo. 2*.

Bull on the Maternal Management of Children. Fcp. 8vo. 2*. 6d.

Bull's Hints to Mothers on the Management of their Health during the Period of

Pregnancy and in the Lying-in Room. Fcp. 8vo. 2*. Gd.
Campbell- Walker's Correct Card, or How to Play at Whist. Fcp. Svo. 2*. Gd.
Edwards on the Ventilation of Dwelling-Honses. Royal Svo. 10*. Gd.
Johnson's (W. & J. H.) Patentee's Manual. Fourth Edition. 8vo. 10*. Gd.
Longman's Chess Openings. Fcp. 8vo. 2*. Gd.
Macleod's Economics for Beginners. Small crown Svo. 2*. Gd.

— Elements of Economics. 2 vols, small crown 8vo. Vol. I. 7*. Gd.

— Theory and Practice of Banking. 2 vols. 8vo. 26*.

— Elements of Banking. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 5*.
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12

General Lists of New Works.

Maunder's Biographical Treasury. Fcp. 8vo. 6*.

— Historical Treasury. Fcp. 8vo. 6*.

— Scientific and Literary Treasury. Fcp. 8vo. 6*.

— Treasury of Bible Knowledge, edited by Ayre. Fcp. 8vo. 6*.

— Treasury of Botany, edited by Lindley Si Moore. Two Parts, 12*.

— Treasury of Geography. Fcp. 8vo. 6*.

— Treasury of Knowledge and Library of Reference. Fcp. 8vo. 6*.

— Treasury of Natural History. Fcp. 8vo. 6*.
Pereira's Materia Medica, by Bentley and Redwood. 8vo. 25*.

Pewtner's Comprehensive Specifier ; Building-Artificers' Work. Crown 8vo. 6*.
Pole's Theory of the Modern Scientific Game of Whist. Fcp. 8vo. 2*. 6d.
Reader's Time Tables. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 7*. 6d.
Scott's Farm Valuer. Crown 8vo. 5*.

— Rents and Purchases. Crown 8vo. 6*.
Smith's Handbook for Midwives. Crown 8vo. 5*.

The Cabinet Lawyer, a Popular Digest of the Laws of England. Fcp. 8vo. 9*.
West on the Diseases of Infancy and Childhood. 8vo. 18*.
Wilson on Banking Reform. 8vo. 7*. 6<f.

— on the Resources of Modern Countries 2 vols. 8vo. 24*.

MUSICAL WORKS BY JOHN HULLAH, LL.D.

Hullah's Method of Teaching Singing. Crown 8vo. 2*. 6cf.

Exercises and Figures in the same. Ciown 8vo. 1*. or 2 Parts, 6<f. each.

Large Sheets, containing the ' Exercises and Figures in Hullah's Method,' in

Parcels of Eight, price 6*. each.
Chromatic Scale, with the Inflected Syllables, on Large Sheet. 1*. 6<f .
Card of Chromatic Scale. Id.

Exercises for the Cultivation of the Voice. For Soprano or Tenor, 2*. 6d.
Grammar of Musical Harmony. Royal 8vo. 2 Parts, each 1*. Gd.
Exercises to Grammar of Musical Harmony. 1*.
Grammar of Counterpoint. Part I. super-royal 8vo. 2*. 6<2.
Wilhem's Manual of Singing. Parts I. Si II. 2*. 6d. ; or together, 5*.
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I. Si II. each 8d.
Large Sheets, Nos. 1 to 8, containing the Figures In Part I. of Wilhem's Manual,

in a Parcel, 6*.
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Manual, in Four Parcels of Eight Nos. each, per Parcel, 6*.
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Hymns for the Young, set to Music. Royal 8vo. 8d.
Infant School Songs. 6d.

Notation, the Musical Alphabet. Crown 8vo. M.
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Rudiments of Musical Grammar. Royal 8vo. 3*.
School Songs for 2 and 3 Voices. 2 Books, 8vo. each 6<*.

London, LONGMANS & CO.

Spoltitwoode <t Co. Printert, New-street Square, London,

f.

G 29726

S 441 D 9 1881 Jfl/^ (Soefc

University of British Columbia Library

DUE DATE J

IfljW 5- 1966

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FORM 310

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