78 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



been remarked that a horse shipped from the West in a car 

 to any part of the country, almost, is unfit for service for 

 eight or ten days afterwards. I believe it pays to ship 

 cattle so that they will avoid that condition. I have not 

 had any experience in the matter, however. Still, I have 

 often heard it remarked. 



The matter of raising corn, in connection with the ques- 

 tion of putting our beef in competition with that of the 

 West, is a subject to be thought of, and decided in the 

 future. I believe we can raise beef and put it into the 

 market, as good beef as any talked of here, as good beef as 

 can be produced at the West, with cheap corn ; and on 

 examining the Western papers I often see the remark made 

 that the best way for farmers to get their corn to market is 

 to let the hog or the ox carry it. I suppose it is true, also, 

 here. If corn here is worth fifty cents a bushel, against 

 twelve and a half or fifteen cents there, we have that to con- 

 tend with ; and if hay here is worth twenty dollars a ton in 

 comparison with from five to six dollars on the prairies, that 

 is also an element which enters into the consideration of this 

 question. It is a fact that to-day we are obliged to lay in 

 hay for our ranch cattle. Last year, upon our own ranch, we 

 got in some thousand tons of hay. All it cost us was simply 

 the expense of cutting ; but many of our neighbors were 

 obliged to purchase at six dollars a ton. Those who would 

 not, lost their cattle ; and thousands of cattle men to-day are 

 bankrupt who a year ago thought themselves perhaps worth 

 their hundreds of thousands. The difficulty of gathering 

 fodder for those cattle in the winter season increases. I 

 believe we can raise as good beef here as can be raised any- 

 where. 



Recess until 2 o'clock. 



