March i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
80s 
the warehouse, or, elevator, as it is called, and sent off 
as soon as possible. 
In winter nothing is done but feeding the stock of 
horses, and cleaning the seed grain for the following 
season. 
A windmill is generally on every farm, and is used 
for grinding up the horse-feed, and pumping water. 
They uro made self-regulating, so that if the wind 
blows very strongly they go more slowly, or even 
stop altogether. The only trees are along the sides of 
rivers, in a strip of half-a-tnile or so on each side, 
and that is all the wood there is for fuel ; but there 
is lots of coal in the west and north-west of the State, 
which is being made available for the market by 
means of railways. There are no lack of railways, or 
will soon not be, as several competing lines are 
stretching all over just like a spider's web, and all 
of them have far more traffic than they can manage at 
times. 
Land is procured in various ways. If a foreigner wants 
to get a farm, and yet not to become an American 
oitizen, he must buy from another man or a corpor- 
ation, such as a Eailvvay Company, such as the 
Northorn Paeitic U.K. To enable this railway to build 
their track through what was then a wilderness, the 
Government granted them the half of the land on each 
Bide of the line twenty miles wide, that is forty miles 
in all. That was through the territory, which has not 
yet been incorporated into a State. Through a State, 
the grant was only half that width. That strip is all 
Hlrveyed and marked oil' into sections of a square mile 
each, just like a draughtboard, and the black squares 
are granted to the Railway Company, while the white 
ones remain the property of the State. This is to 
prevent speculators buying up large blocks in one 
piece, to the disadvantage of the country being; settled. 
Lands of that class before mentioned can be purchased 
from $4 an acre upwards to $12, if unbroken by the 
plow, according to location and quality. Eight to 
tin dollars is a common price anywhere within a 
few miles of a station for first-class land ; cheaper 
further back. If improvements have been made, the 
pi n e may go as high as twenty-five dollars an acre, but 
fifteen to eighteen is an average price near railways. 
Of coarse, it is only within ten to fifteen miles of 
a railway that the land is being largely cultivated. 
Lands of -the foregoing class can be bought by a 
man in any quantity, according to his purse, but, as for 
the lands beh nging to Government, one man can only 
get at most 320 acres, and then on certain conditions. 
First the purchaser must become an American citizen, 
■here no three ways of getting this land: by taking 
up land as a homesteader, by pre-empting laud, and 
by Inking up a tree claim. One man can choose two 
of these three methods, and take up lt)0 acres or 
less on each of the two ways, or he can take one 
only at UiO acres. Homestading is the cheapest. A 
man takes a quarter section 1 GO acres of Government land 
goes to the rigistry otlice and files a claim to it, 
paying only a fee of three or four dollars. He must 
live on tliis land four rears out of the next six, and, 
at the end of the six years, if he has done so, it 
becomes his, and ho can get the title deeds made 
out, costing about Si.", to $20 ; that is all he pay*. 
Pn -empting the man gives notice tho same way for 
another quarter section ; paying tho fee, ho has to 
live on it for six months of the next year, and then 
can buy it from (iovernmcnt for two dollars and a 
half an acre. In taking up a tree claim 
f the quarter section is selected, and notice 
I given m the same way, and tho man requires 
I to plant one-sixteenth of it, ten acres in forest trees, 
keen this in order for eight years, so ns to form a 
•mall plantation of trees, and if he docs so, he, at 
tho cud of that timo, can get tho title deeds by 
paying tho too of |16 to J}20. So that, you see, 
a man with comparatively little capital can take up 
1G0 acres as a homesteader, 1G0 more on a tree claim, 
and, if he can struggle through the first three years, 
at the end of eight years, he is the possessor of 320 
acres, and an American citizen, or he can homestead 
and pre-empt, or pre-empt and take a tree claim. 
Even if forced to sell sooner, his claim to the land 
brings a fair pi ice, though he has not got his title-deeds. 
I think that is about all 1 can say about the country, 
except that like all newly peopled districts life is 
much rougher than in the older districts, but a 
very short time serves to shake down the different 
atoms to their bearings, and even at first they are 
quite as law-abiding as further east. No one thinks 
of carrying weapons there any more than where I am 
at present. 
Farming there has been made a science of quite as 
much as anywhere else, and economy is looked to as 
a first item. If it is economical to buy a machine, it 
is got, or the reverse, and credit can always be had 
till after harvest. 
Now, as to whether you would like it as a place 
to settle or not, I would not take it on me to say. 
I think you would. And there is one thing of which 
I am certain that money can be made at it. Tak- 
ing the experience of my father for the last eight 
years, I can say that any one investing in a farm 
can have the money he put in all out again in that 
time (eight years) if fortunate in good crops and 
good prices every season, even in five or six years 
and would also be the owner of the farm, stock 
and buildings, which would be worth 50 % to 100 °/, 
what he invested. In the Company my father is in 
there was a sale of a portion of the property, which 
realized more than the original investment, which was 
divided among tho shareholders, and what remains is 
bo increased in value that the original shares of §100 
each are worth $200, and giving a dividend this 
year of 8 per cent, besides paying off a lot of bor- 
rowed cash. Now they were very unfortunate the 
second year, losing all their stock implements and 
buildings, which were insured only to a small extent, 
and that crippled them for two years very much. 
For several reasons I could not wait theie this 
season, but I am going to make a start next spring, 
if all's well, on 3,200 acres, which I hope to make 
a good thing of. Here is a calculation, based on 
my father's experience, shewing how a man with 
£2,000 capital could buy a section G40 acre one time, 
paying it by annual instalments of S 1,250 a year, 
interest at 7 per cent, and clear himself in fi years, 
casualties excepted, and have all paid for i — 
First year, no crop. $ 
Contract to break and replongh 160 acres 720 
Erect buildings &c. - - 2,000 
Interest 450 taxes 30 - - 480 
3,200 
Second year, first crop. 
Stuck and implements and granary - 3,27o 
Wages, harvest expenses ice. (700) • 1,GS0 
1st instalment and interest • - 1,700 
Taxes • 50 
G.700 
9,900 
Crop 150 ac. wheat=3,000 bushels <£, 80 c. 2,400 
7,500 
Third year, second crop. 
Stock and Implements. • - 2,9r>o 
Wages and harvest expenses &c. - 8.095 
13,555 
2nd instalment nml interest - - 1,6;5 
Tuxes - - 70 
16JUD 
