AND WHERE TO FIND ONE. 267 



$910 aforesaid should be added. In three years 

 from the time Mr. Waite first broke up the prairie, 

 his farm was worth $25 per acre. 



Every small capitalist who can command only 

 $200 or $300, can quickly acquire a farm in this 

 locality. At first he must put up a shanty of some 

 kind in which to live, then a fence just high enough 

 to turn cattle and horses, these being the only stock 

 permitted to run at large. Then what is known as 

 sod corn may be planted in May, and if the season 

 be fair, it will yield him twenty to forty bushels per 

 acre. The planting is done by striking an axe or 

 spade between the layers of sod, and after dropping 

 the corn, applying the heel of the boot freely. It 

 needs no culture whatever. A man with two horses 

 can ordinarily attend to thirty or forty acres of reg 

 ular corn land, one ploughing being sufficient. 

 Wheat follows the corn crop. An industrious man 

 can manage eighty acres, by having help at seed 

 time and harvest. 



Mr. W. R. Harris began in 1S47 with a capital of 

 $700. He bought one hundred and eighty acres of 

 timber and prairie, of which he broke up fifty-five 

 the first year, and at the end of the fourth year had 

 one hundred and fifteen under the plough. The 

 annual product was 2,000 in cash. At the end of 

 six years, Mr. Harris s capital of $700 had increased 

 to $8,000. 



These settlers on the prairie are not subjected to 

 the inconveniences that many will suppose insepara 

 ble from a pioneer life. Such as they may be, the 

 robust and thorough-going man will not regard with 



