308 Report on the American and Canadian Meat Trade. 
He has probably just capital enough to secure the land, buy a light team of 
horses and the few necessary implements, build a shanty, find seed for a 
few acres, and maintain himself and his family till the first crop is reaped. The 
grasshopper plague, or a drought, visits his locality, destroys two-thirds or the 
whole of his crop, and leaves him destitute, or almost so. By mortgaging his 
meagre possession or by a loan from home he may be able to seed a few 
more acres for one more trial. Similar misfortune Halls upon this crop, and 
at last in despair he sells his partially improved holding for a mere trifle and 
returns home, or moves elsewhere. I passed several homesteads having a 
history of this kind, and visited settlers alongside, who, as a rule, were young 
or middle-aged men with young families, and of very limited means. Most of 
them had been here for two, three, or four years, had had heavy losses by grass- 
hoppers and drought, and (several of them at least) were now in such reduced 
circumstances that like misfortune for another year or two would swallow 
their last cent. One English settler said he had laboured here for three years 
and lost so much of the little he had to begin with, that another year such as 
those he had experienced would drive him off in despair, and quite penniless. 
Another settler, from the New England States, declared that no class of men 
with small means were making money, or even a comfortable living at farming 
in this locality save Swedes, and the secret of their success he explained 
thus : — ' They take the good of everything. What the cattle won't eat they 
give to the hogs, and what the hogs won't eat they eat themselves. They are 
the dirtiest fellows on the earth.' A good many Germans emigrated here 
several years ago, and by clubbing together and by assisting and encouraging 
each other they have made tolerably comfortable homes, and are likely to 
make a little money forthwith. 
" While partial or complete failure has been the fate of the majority of those 
who have attempted farming here with small means — probably not more 
than 200?. — nine out of every ten of those who commmenced three or four or 
more years ago, with a sufficiency of money to meet emergencies at the outset, 
are already receiving fair return for their capital, and have every prospect of 
realising moderate fortunes. It might be asked what would be a sufficiency 
of capital to purchase and farm successfully, say, 100 acres of land in Kansas'? 
Less than 500?. would be too little. Good homesteads, unless at a great dis- 
tance from railways, are mostly all taken up, and therefore land must be 
bought, and would cost at least 75?. A team of horses and harness would 
cost about 50?., the necessary implements 100?., stable and barn 15?., and 
dwelling-house and furniture (of even moderate pretensions) 100?. No man 
could consider himself safe unless, after defraying all these preliminary outlays, 
and laying down the first crop, he had at least one-third of his capital un- 
touched." 
Statistics of American Cattle. 
Having examined the land resources by which America may 
in the future increase her production of animal food, I may now 
turn to the statistics of the animals themselves, an examina- 
tion of which will, I believe, confirm what has been already 
suggested as to the vast agricultural possibilities of the great 
Continent of the West. The increase of cattle in the United 
States in the past thirty-five years has, as we shall presently see, 
been great and rapid. A continuance of this increase depends 
upon a sustained demand : facilities for it remain almost un- 
bounded ; the inducements only are, or rather were, wanting. 
The facilities are : — a virgin soil of first quality, covered with 
rich natural grasses, whose fattening properties are said to be 
