142 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



bought some sheep on my own account also and 

 what with these and the increase, 1 soon had a 

 flock of about five hundred. So many animals, of 

 course, could not be pastured on eighty acres of 

 arable and twenty acres of rough pasture land and 

 still leave sufficient area for growing forage. To 

 the north of the emigrant road near which we 

 lived, there was a vast tract of prairie land as yet 

 unoccupied. Five of us farmers joined our flocks 

 into a band of more than three thousand, and em- 

 ployed a Scotch shepherd to herd them there day 

 and night, someone going out with provisions to 

 him once a week. This left our farm land free 

 for raising corn and hay. The corn was cut and 

 stocked (shocked) in the field; in the winter it was 

 drawn as wanted and after it was widely spread, 

 the sheep husked and shelled it, saving us thereby 

 much disagreeable work. It will be observed that 

 a portion of our profits were due to " smouching " 

 the natural resources of the unoccupied prairie 

 lands, but it is the custom and the common law as 

 well, that perishable products on uninclosed land 

 may be used by anyone, provided no notice for- 

 bidding it has been posted. 



Through the sheep land ran a sluggish but clear 

 creek in which the sheep were washed in the fol- 

 lowing manner: A chute, wide enough for one 



