93 



ViKGiNiA. — Floyd : The raising of horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs ; our grain, hay, &c., 

 being consumed at home, as we are too far from the railroad to ship them. The ani- 

 mals we raise, when in good condition, always Sell for cash at remunerative prices, 

 while the grain and hay do not. Prince Jniliam : The growing of steers ; but not so 

 much so as in the past live years ; 25 to 50 jjer cent, has been realized on the purchase- 

 price. Grayson : Grazing cattle. Smyth : The principal business of the farmers of this 

 county. Highland: And has been almost from the first settlement of our isolated 

 county. A great abundance of horses, cattle, and sheep are sold annually from the 

 county. Stafford : In flocks of about 50 head. One farmer has realized annually 

 $3 per head for three years. Next to sheep, stock-raising. 



NOKTH Carolina. — Cherokee: Covers all, or nearly all, the profit; in the county. 

 Ashe, Jackson : Beef-cattle. They are pastured on the mountain-commons for six or 

 seven mouths, are very fat in the fall, and bring cash at Charleston. 



Georgia. — Gilmer: The raising of beef-cattle. The mountain-range furnishes free 

 pasturage in summer; and our county, being an elevated, mountainous region, is en- 

 tirely free from Spanish fever, or any infectious disease of cattle. This business is tak- 

 ing the lead, owing to our great inconvenience from market for other products. 



Iowa. — Stock-raising and feeding. Three years ago I bought five common steer- 

 calves for !ji35. I kept them about eighteen months, at a cost of not more thau $35 

 more, making the total cost $70. I sold them off the range for $145, netting $75 profit. 

 Appanoose : Cattle are a great source of revenue ; steers fed six months generally take 

 on 300 pounds gross, and, in addition, sell for 2 cents per pound gross more than they 

 cost in the fall ; and each steer feeds 2 hogs, which will take on 150 to 200 pounds each 

 during that time. 



Missouri. — De Kalh : Raising stock is the best business, and lias proved most remu- 

 nerative to the farmer, from the fact the pasture costs nothing and they are wintered 

 in the stalk-fields with some hay and a very little grain. Saint Clair: Stock-raising, 

 decidedly. To own a farm here and not raise stock would be a poor investment 

 indeed. During the i>ast year I sheared 29 head of sheep, of a very common and inferior 

 stock, mostly old ewes. I sold $25 worth of wool, made 15 yards linsey, have plenty 

 of stocking-yarn on hand, and raised 17 lambs. Xodaway : Stock-growing has paid at 

 least 70 jjer cent., and has brought $800,000 into the county. Stoddard : Calves are 

 plenty each fall for $2 per head ; $1 worth of corn-meal will winter each, with the feed 

 in the range ; at one and one-half years old they will sell at $5 or $6 per head ; at two 

 and one-half years old they will bring from $10 to $12 each, and the actual cost of 

 each not over $4 or $5. 



Kansas.— B?o«i« ; Stock-raising and feeding cattle and hogs. The price of corn was 

 very low up to about September; at present it is worth four times as much as a year 

 ago. Ellsworth : Stock-raising as a general thing, and it will usually pay 30 per cent, 

 upon the investment. Xemaha : Raising stock. Fattening cattle for the Eastern mar- 

 kets in spring is a very profitable business, but it has been pursued mostly by middle- 

 men, speculators, and millers. The non-producer invests his capital in some tens 

 or hundreds of steers ; also for corn and hay ; hires his help for a mere pittance, and 

 plays the gentleman himself, and more than doubles his money in five or six months, 

 and in many cases pays no taxes, but migrates from place to place between the time of 

 assessment and collection ; and the same producer of those products sufferiug for want 

 of means to prosecute his business successfully and to improve this wild country. 

 Doniphan : Stock-raising and stock-feeding has been the most profitable branch of agri- 

 culture, although wheat and barley, owing to good prices, have proved quite profitable 

 during the last season. But the profits and losses of agriculture depend more upon the 

 individual thau anything else. Butler : Stock-raising. Some would buy two-year-old 

 steers for $12, and in six months sell them for $25, and often for more. Eepuhlic : The 

 most reliable branch is the raising of stock. Xemaha : Feeding stock, especially cattle 

 and hogs. The cost of feeding cattle is balanced by the hogs fattened following the 

 cattle. While the hogs have been fed thus on corn, at a price ranging from 15 to 25 

 cents per bushel, pork has been sold at from $3 to $4. .50 per head, gross. 



Colorado. — Weld: Stock-i-aising has been the most profitable here. As yet this 

 business is pursued to a greater extent than any other. Douglas : The grazing of cat- 

 tle, sheep, and horses. No more grain is raised than is necessary to supply our own im- 

 mediate wants. 



Utah. — Rich: Our income from stock-raising and butter-making has heretofore been 

 our chief dependence, but for the last two years, since the grasshoppers left the county, 

 we have been benefited as much probably by raising small grain. Its value as a mar- 

 ketable article is not so much to us, living so far as we do from any railroad, 

 but for home-consumntion it is of great value, as formerly we had to go to a distance 

 to purchase it, and then freight it. 



Washington — Walla- Walla : Sheep-raising, for the reason that sheep graze all the 

 year round without feeding. 



Dakota. — Hanson: Stock-raising; first, on account of distance from market; sec- 

 ond, fine grazing and excellent meadows of red-top and blue-joint, yielding from 



