446 PRAIRIE AGRICULTURE. 



ploughed, and weeds do not appear for some years afterwards. 

 When Indian corn is grown on land which has been some 

 time cultivated, it is planted on hills four feet square, the inter 

 vals being ploughed in both directions ; and a boy with a horse 

 is capable of managing the cleaning process of fifty acres. 

 There is but little diversity in prairie agriculture, which is 

 almost entirely confined to the growing of wheat, oats, and 

 Indian corn. Natural herbage affords both hay and pastur 

 age, and the supply is at present inexhaustible. In the 

 tract which I travelled, the seeds of clovers, or artificial grass, 

 never had been sown. But there can be no doubt of the soil 

 and climate being capable of producing in abundance almost 

 every description of plant. 



A great many cattle are reared on the prairies which are 

 occupied in common by the inhabitants. The grass was quite 

 withered when I saw it, and the cattle were in good condi 

 tion, although by no means fat. They are seldom taken 

 under cover during winter, and when snow is on the ground 

 they are foddered with hay. It is customary in some parts 

 to fatten oxen with Indian corn during winter ; and the 

 fine animals seen at New York, and alluded to in page 32, 

 had been fed on Indian corn for two successive winters ; it 

 is daily strewed on the ground to the best of the animals ; a 

 secondary description succeeds to what the first may have left, 

 and swine are allowed to pick up the refuse. It is by means 

 of the Indian corn of the western states that the people of 

 New Orleans, the cities on the Atlantic, and the Canadas are 

 chiefly supplied with salted beef and pork. 



There is perhaps no country in the world where a farmer 

 can commence operations with so small an outlay of money, 

 and so soon obtain a return, as in Illinois. This arises from the 

 cheapness of land, and the facility with which it is cultivated, 

 and will appear more evident from the following statement : 



Suppose a settler with sufficient capital to purchase and 

 stock a farm and maintain himself for six months. The farm 

 to consist of two hundred acres, thirty-five of which being 

 forest and the remainder prairie. If the purchase was made in 

 spring, the expense might be thus stated : 



