OF AGRICULTURE. 149 



It is evident that the methods of culture must 

 vary according to different conditions. In the 

 vast prairies of North America, where land could 

 be bought from 8s. to 40s. the acre, and where 

 spaces of from 100 to 150 square miles in one 

 block could be given to wheat culture, special 

 methods of culture were applied and the results 

 were excellent. Land was bought not rented. 

 In the autumn, whole studs of horseswere brought, 

 and the tilling and sowing were done with the 

 aid of formidable ploughs and sowing machines. 

 Then the horses were sent to graze in the moun- 

 tains ; the men were dismissed, and one man, 

 occasionally two or three, remained to winter 

 on the farm. In the spring the owners' agents 

 began to beat the inns for hundreds of miles 

 round, and engaged labourers and tramps, both 

 freely supplied by Europe, for the crop. Bat- 

 talions of men were marched to the wheat fields, 

 and were camped there ; the horses were brought 

 from the mountains, and in a week or two the 

 crop was cut, thrashed, winnowed, put in sacks, 

 by specially invented machines, and sent to the 

 next elevator, or directly to the ships which 

 carried it to Europe. Whereupon the men 

 were disbanded again, the horses were sent back 

 to the grazing grounds, or sold, and again only 

 a couple of men remained on the farm. 



The crop from each acre was small, but the 



