SOLON ROBINSON, 1841 261 



lent pasturage long after the winter sets in, even in the 

 latitude where I live, which is about 41V&°. 



I can hardly answer your sixth question. It is diffi- 

 cult to tell which kind of stock is the most profitable 

 where all kinds are, and might be upon a large scale much 

 more so. I will state facts and you may draw conclu- 

 sions. Cattle can be wintered for $2 a head, and sheep 

 for less than one fourth of that, even now, when we lack 

 the advantage of fall pastures. The wild grass springs 

 remarkably early in the spring, but it fails early in the 

 fall. 



Seventh : The best mode of feeding crops of any kind, 

 upon a large or small scale, is to gather them and feed 

 them to stock in a suitable situation. 



Eighth: I have no experience upon the subject, but I 

 have no doubt that a section of land upon the prairie, not 

 more than three or four miles from timber, can be well 

 enclosed in the manner I have spoken of, at less than 50 

 cents per acre. The saving in the quantity of rails will 

 be about two-thirds. 



Rails cost, delivered upon the ground, about $2 per 

 hundred. 



Ninth: The one year old cattle can be purchased at 

 about $3 per head, and the cost of keeping is above stated 

 at $2 per head, a year. If sold in the same country as 

 where purchased, the price would be correspondingly 

 low, of course. The price of cattle now, where I live, is 

 for cows from $10 to $18; four year old steers, $30 to 

 $45 ; working oxen $40 to $60 ; sheep $1 50 to $2 ; but 

 they can be purchased and driven there from Ohio, in 

 large lots, for about half that sum. Being remarkably 

 healthy on the prairie, and costing so little for keeping, 

 of course they are profitable. 



Tenth: I cannot say what would be the value of land 

 thus fenced for several years, but I know that pasturing 

 prairie land improves the value of it amazingly for all 

 other kind of cultivation. 



Eleventh: Is answered in the ninth. 



