22 INFORMATION FOR EMIGRANTS. 



two opposite rows of stakes or posts, about fourteen or sixteen feet 

 apart, for the space required, and laying other poles across the tops, 



upon which is piled straw or hay Kitchen gardens are rarely 



seen, and where commenced, appear generally to have ended in partial 

 ■or total failure. ... I was told there had been no general rain for eight 

 months, and all through May and June there had been the same dry, 

 hot winds, with an occasional local tempest of hail, or rain and wind and 

 lightning, that destroyed everything in its path. On my way to Pueblo 

 and back, I continually met and saw emigrants coming to and fleeing 

 from the country. Everywhere I was told of settlers who would go, if 

 they had or could find the means of getting away. ... In the car with 

 me, on my way to Pueblo, were a man and woman, evidently of the 

 better class of farmers, sunburned and toil-worn ; . . four years ago he 

 came from Pennsylvania, where he farmed, and took up a quarter section 

 of land under the homestead law. . . . He had improved the place with 

 good buildings and fences, and stocked it with cows enough for a small 

 dairy, besides work animals ; but he had not been able to raise any crops 

 that gave the least encouragement till last year, when everything was 

 produced in the greatest abundance ; yet he could not get enough for 

 his wheat and corn to pay cost, and leave any profit. . . . He had not 

 succeeded in raising anything, and his stock of animals were actually 

 perishing for want of pasture. A new-comer had offered him a small 

 price for his improvements, which he was glad to take and get away, 

 because, without having to pay either interest or tastes of any sort or 

 debts of any kind, he could not get a living, and must go. . . . He 

 was very emphatic in the statement that those who had bought land 

 upon credit, paying interest at seven per cent., could not, by any possi- 

 bility, get out of debt or live decently ; that all of the small farmers, 

 even the best of them, would be glad to hire out by the day or month, 

 but work was not to be had. ... I visited the Massachusetts Colony 

 of New Boston. . . . All have worked hard, and, under many difficul- 

 ties, succeeded in getting some ground into corn, wheat, potatoes, and 

 •other vegetables ; but the drought and insects made sad havoc with the 

 crops. There was a feeling of great discouragement, and some of the 

 colonists were making efforts to get back to the East, where, as they 

 said, at least food might be had. Where they are now it is difficult to 

 get meat and bread enough to sustain life. 



The above are brief extracts from an article which should be carefully 

 iread to be appreciated. In the Atlantic Monthly for January, 1880,* 

 there is an article, entitled "The Bonanza Farms of the West:" show- 

 ing the operations on the large wheat farms in Minnesota, Iowa, Dakota, 

 and Kansas, and the general tendency in those States to these immense 

 farms, cultivated mainly with machinery, and employing a minimum 

 amount of human labor. After giving the profits on some of these 

 large farms, the writer adds (page 42) : 



On the otiier hand, the small farmers, depending mainly on their own 

 labor, with limited capital and less machinery, are not making a com- 



* Vol. XLY. 



