PURSUITS. 149 



farm animals, one half of this amount may be put under 

 plough if necessary ; and yielding thirty bushels to an acre, 

 which, saving casualties, is below the average of the wheat 

 crop ; its product would be 1,500,000,000 bushels for a 

 year, or of Indian corn, double that quantity : — and this 

 without the use of foreign fertilizers, almost without toil. 

 The chemistry of nature can do no more to make the earth 

 yield her increase, than has been done here. God has never 

 oifered a richer vineyard to the hand of man to dress and to 

 keep than this which is now spread out in prospect fair and 

 wide, and oifered to the multitudes harassed and anxiously 

 striving for subsistence against the excessive competition of 

 the thronged avenues of life and living east of the mountains, 

 and to the famishing millions of the superannuated hemi- 

 sphere beyond the sea. 



The Upper Missisippi, surpassing all other districts in 

 agricultural capabilities, is even more superior as a grazing 

 country. I think it not too much to say that a given number 

 of acres here, in the best parts of the tract, would support 

 more than double the number of cattle which the same quan- 

 tity of land will feed east of the mountains. Very superior 

 beef is made upon the summer range, not surpassed by the 

 best stalled meat. It makes butter not equalled by any other 

 feeding. And it is said that sheep increase their size and 

 their fleece upon the prairies. The advantages over other 

 countries for wool growing may be perceived at once by a 

 short statement. The sheep have the summer range upon 

 the prairie without cost, and the expense of their winter 

 feeding is trifling. The prairie hay is put up by the farmers 

 at a cost of $1.50 to $2 per ton. Suppose a thousand sheep 

 will be wintered on one hundred tons of hay, which is near 

 enough to the truth, beside their other food. The cost of 

 one hundred tons of hay will be from $150 to $200. In 



