74 CATTLE PAEMINGl. 



the average weigM of wMcli was 2300 lbs. I rode over Hs 

 farm, and through, one enclosure of 2500 acres, which was partly- 

 ill natural prairie, partly in sown grass, and partly in wheat 

 stuhble, and part where the wheat had never been cut, as it 

 was considered worthless. We rode backwards and forwards 

 over this extensive jGield for some time, under the guidance of 

 the manager, looking in vain for a herd of 250 cattle, which 

 we at length came suddenly upon, all lying among the long 

 grass, and quite hidden by it until we were close upon them. 

 They were aU ^ne animals, rose up slowly, stretching and lick- 

 ing themselves, 100 of them being four-year-old oxen of great 

 weight and fat enough for the butcher. But it was thought 

 they would pay for farther feeding, and the intention of their 

 owner wa5 to feed the whole lot out on Indian corn during the 

 winter. The cattle are fed on the ground where the corn has 

 been cut, and they receive it in the straw, thus txeading and 

 apparently wasting it among their feet. It is not lost, how- 

 ever, as the rule in feeding is to put two hogs in to fatten with 

 each ox, and the allowance required in fattening the ox, and 

 the two hogs, is no less than 100 bushels of Indian corn. As 

 the whole management is rude and rough one man is found ca- 

 pable of attending to 100 cattle and 200 pigs ; but all he has 

 to do is to open the shocks so that the cattle may get readily 

 at the corn, and to supply them regularly with salt. The corn 

 can be had in the field at this place, which is some distance 

 from the railway, at about ten pence a bushel on the average, 

 and at that price this kind of farming is found remunerative. 



I continued my drive onwards through the prairie, the most 

 of which was still unbroken and unoccupied. There seemed 

 no difference in the quality of the soil, which possesses a re- 

 markable uniformity, the only apparent distinction being in the 

 greater flatness of some sections, and consequently the greater 



