NEAT CATTLE. 255 



From Tables I and II vre ascertain from actual enumeration the nnmber of 

 neat cattle ia each one of the United States for the years 1840, 1850, and 

 1860, and their ratio to the population for the several periods ; that is, in the 

 State of Alabama every 100 inhabitants kept 113 head of neat cattle in the 

 year 1S40, 94 head of cattle for 1850, and 81 for 1860. Massachusetts, for 

 every 100 inhabitants, had 38 neat cattle in the year 1840, 26 in the year ISoO, 

 and in 1860 had only 22 neat cattle for every 100 inhabitants. 



Taking the total number of cattle, and comparing it with the total popula- 

 tion of the United States for the years 1840, 1850, and 1860, and the follow- 

 ing results are foimd : In 1S40, for every 100 inhabitants there were 87 neat 

 cattle ; in 1850, for every 100 inhabitants there were 79 neat cattle, and in 

 1860, for every 100 inhabitants there were 81 neat cattle. 



It probably will not be far from the truth to assume that the ratio of cattle 

 to the inhabitants in the United States is 80 per cent.; that is, every hundred 

 people require eighty neat cattle. 



For the purpose of better understanding the distribution of cattle, we shall 

 divide the States into three classes, viz: minimum, medium, and maximum. 

 The minimum class includes those States that have less than the normal 

 requirement of 80 per cent. ; the medium class, those that contain between SO 

 and 100 per cent.; and the maximum, those States that contain over 100 per 

 cent. We shall also examine the distribtition under three heads, namely, the 

 " Distribution of 1840," the '-Distribution of 1850," and the "Distribution of 

 1860." 



DISTRIBUTION OF NEAT CATTLE IN THE YEAR 1840. 



1. The minimum class (that is, those States which contain less than 80 

 cattle to every 100 inhabitants) includes the States of Ehode Island, 31assa- 

 chusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Maine, Pennsylvania, Delaware. Connecticut, 

 and Xew York, being the New England States, except New Hampshire and 

 Vermont, the middle States, and Maryland. The western limit of this section 

 is bounded by the Chesapeake bay, the Potomac river, and the western bound- 

 ary of the State of Pennsylvania. This territory contains the most populous 

 cities in the Union, as well as the principal manufacturing and mining districts, 

 and consequently people must increase at a more rapid rate than cattle can be 

 produced. The soil is not as easily ctiltivated, taken as a whole, as in some 

 other sections of the country, and we c;innot predicate an increase in the ratio 

 of cattle to the poptilation, even under more favorable circumstances. 



2. The medium class (that is, those States which contain between 80 and 

 100 cattle to every 100 people) includes the States of Ohio, North Carolina, 

 Virginia, Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and New 

 Hampshire. This district, with the exception of New Hampshire, is situated 

 directly west of the minimtim district. It is about three htmdred miles in 

 width, and extends in a northwesterly direction from the Atlantic ocean to the 

 lakes. This section may properly be called the eastern division of the great 

 agricultural district of the United States. Cattle will undoubtedly be produced 

 in this region in numbers far exceeding the demands for local consumption for 

 many years to come. Yet, being so accessible to the people of the minimum 

 district, it cannot hope to be able to retain its present status. Cattle will move 

 to the east and capital to the west of the Monongahela and Potomac with in- 

 creasing flow, thus effectually and constantly depleting its vast herds of cattle. 



3. The maximum class (that is, those States which have more than 100 cat- 

 tle to every 100 people) includes the remaining States, namely, that tier con- 

 stitttting our southern and western border, and the State of Vermont. This 

 section includes the great valley of the Mississippi, the garden of the New 

 World. It is from this region that the medium class must replenish her de- 



