IN DAKOTA. 133 
nish all capital required. Icould have made a hand- 
some profit out of that business, and the risk would 
have been almost nothing. A herder to take care of 
the cattle could have been hired at a trifling expense, 
hay could have been put in the stack at’$1.25 a ton, 
or less, and so the rich prairie grass and this cheap 
hay would have been converted into beef for our 
profit. If Mr. Bright will renew the offer when he 
comes out here this fall I will certainly accept it. 
[ throw out the hint now for the benefit of others. 
Many farmers on these broad prairies have friends in 
the east who would be glad to make such an invest- 
ment in partnership with them. It would pay a 
large profit to both parties, and there is practically no 
risk in it. If a lot of hogs should be added to the 
stock the profits would be largely increased, as the 
same herder could attend to them, and there is no 
kind of stock that grows more rapidly into money. 
STOCK-RAISING BY FARMERS COMBINING. 
If the farmer has not the necessary capital himself, 
nor a friend who would furnish the means on the 
terms Mr. Bright offered me, several farmers might 
combine and carry on the business very profitably. 
These nutritious prairie grasses, now being burned 
every year, could be turned into beef and pork ata 
triflmg cost, and so add materially to the income of 
a neighborhood of farmers, who could club together 
and raise the required capital to purchase a herd of 
fifty or more—and the more the better—and hire a 
