88 COST OP PKODUCTION. 



of land of equal quality should be twice as great in England as 

 in Illinois. It is, however, thirty times as great, and in this 

 disparity consists the advantage which a settler may hope to 

 reap by buying land in Illinois. 



The cost of production is an important element of price. 

 Manual labour is 100 per cent, dearer in Illinois than in Eng- 

 land ; but the cost of keeping horses is 100 per cent, cheaper, 

 and as a larger proportion of the work of the farm is done in 

 America by horse power and machinery than in England, the 

 cheapness of horse labour will fully compensate the prairie 

 farmer for the dearness of manual labour. The cost of produc- 

 tion, in so far as labour is concerned, is thus much alike in the 

 the two countries. 



I have already said that wheat has proved, during the last 

 two years, a very precarious crop. It can usually be grown 

 with safety as the first, and sometimes the second crop, on newly 

 broken prairie. And it is also a pretty safe crop to follow grass 

 land when first broken up after having been some years laid to 

 pasture. But Indian corn is the crop of the prairie farmer, and 

 there is always a market for it either by selling or consuming 

 it in the fattening of hogs. If grown within 150 miles of Chi- 

 cago, it may be carried by rail to that port, there shipped to 

 Montreal, and thence to England, where it may be delivered at 

 25s. a quarter, after paying all expenses, and it will then leave 

 Is. 8d. a bushel to the grower. At such a price there would 

 be a demand for any conceivable quantity, as it would be the 

 cheapest food for horses, cattle^ and hogs that we have ever had 

 in this country. It was calculated by Mr. Lawes, as the result 

 of experiment, that about 4 Ib. of meal produced 1 Ib. of pork. 

 Indian corn meal at this price would cost less than f d. a Ib., 

 and the English feeder could thus produce pork at a cost of 3d. 

 a Ib. This would be a great boon to the English farmer, and 

 leave a paying price to the producer in Illinois. 



