Mi: John Ilobatsi lieporL 



13 



was exp<MiHivo. Ihcy must bo housed and fed for fivo L.ouihM during 

 wintry weather. In suinnior they arc? turned on tho prairie, and this 

 costs nothing. In this district we saw several fields of wheat that 

 had been destroyed by hail. Thes<i hailstorms aro a puzzle. They 

 leave, perhaps, one part of the field without being touched, whilst the 

 other part is destroyed. They are local storms. 



On the 10th we left Br»ind;)n for Qu'Apjxdle, a "new" 

 Qtt'Apjtelle, town of 1)50 inhabitants. On our way we passed a 



hv^e tract of land not yet farmed. This land is held 

 by speculators. These people, I was informed, do not [)ay as much 

 in i*ates and taxes as those who actually cultivate the land. In my 

 opinion, it is a great hardship that industrious farmers are '<uiipelled to 



BYDB FABM, QU'APPSLLB. 



])ay higher taxes, while speculators are allowed to go comparatively free. 

 It would be better, I should tlunk, that the taxes should be reversed, and 

 put on land that is doing not^iing, ^o as to compel its owners to put it 

 in a state of cultivation, or put it in the market. At present the holding 

 of such land compels farmers to live far away from the stations 

 Besides, land left in this state breeds "gophers," a most destructive class 

 of vermin. The land in this district is a rolling prairie, and not so 

 bleak as in some other parts. It is dottetl w-ith poplar bluffs, which 

 afford admirable shelter for stock, and supply the farmer with fuel and 

 rails. All the houses have been built during the last 10 years. ' There 

 are ^ tist, Wesleyan, Eoman Catholic, and Episcopalian churches, 

 and last named denomination has also a college, where, among 



