CATTLE-GROWING OUT WEST. 57 



hides and manufacture wool into cloth. It is not gen- 

 erally known that one-third of all the woollens used in 

 the United States is sold west of the Mississippi River; 

 but such is the fact, and the principal cause of this 

 great consumption is because the climate of Colorado, 

 Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, and indeed all the 

 Plains and Rocky Mountain country is so cool woollens 

 are worn nearly the year round. The climate is admir- 

 ably adapted for it, and there is no reason in the world 

 why the largest pork and beef packeries, as well as tan- 

 neries, should not be established in the West. The beef 

 business cannot be overdone. The census of the United 

 States will probably show a population in 1880 of not 

 less than 47,000,000 of people, and the cattle-raising 

 does not keep pace with the rapid increase of popula- 

 tion. In the Eastern and Middle States for the last 

 ten years there has been a rapid decrease of cattle, and 

 in a few years the West will be called on to supply 

 almost the whole Eastern demand. Land worth over 

 $10 per acre is too valuable to be devoted to stock- 

 raising, and farmers can do better in cereals. It is for 

 this reason our Eastern farmers are giving up the cattle- 

 breeding and devoting their lands to raising corn, wheat, 

 rye, oats, and vegetables. They cannot compete with 

 Plains beef, for while their grazing-lands cost them $50, 

 $75, and $100 per acre, and hay has to be cut for win- 

 ter feeding, the grazing-lands in the West have no 

 market value, and the cattle run at large all winter, the 

 natural grasses curing on the ground and keeping the 

 stock fat even in January, February, and March. 

 Much of Montana, Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, and 



