INTRODUCTION 



Ranching, as carried on in the Canadian West, is 

 an entirely different business from that of Argentina, 

 Mexico, Texas, Australia, or, indeed, anywhere that 

 I have heard of in the world where the country is 

 suitable for the purpose. In the countries just 

 mentioned huge tracts are purchased and fenced off, 

 and the stock allowed to graze within this prescribed 

 area, bounded by posts and barbed wire. On the 

 Canadian prairies an entirely different system is 

 adopted, which entails much less expense, with 

 greater profit to the rancher, and decidedly more 

 freedom to the cattle, horses, and sheep, who wander 

 placidly grazing for months over the rich grass, 

 pathetically unconscious that — in the case of cattle 

 and sheep — they are qualifying to provide whole- 

 some food for countless families across the seas. In 

 the ranching districts the vast stretch of undulating 

 prairie is common to all settlers' live stock for 

 hundreds of miles, with the exception of the various 

 homesteads dotted over it, which must be properly 

 fenced if cultivation of any sort is contemplated. 

 In the case of horses and cattle, they have been 

 known to travel for a hundred miles or more in all 

 directions, seeking food and water for themselves, 

 and are usually gathered in twice a year by the dis- 

 trict "round-ups," organized by the ranchers for this 

 purpose, and worked in a thoroughly methodical and 

 business-like manner, which will be described later. 



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