52 | BULLETIN 1295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
_ doing for the settlers and thus helps to remove the appearance of too 
much paternalism. 
Provision for furnishing the settlers with cattle is needed when- 
ever the settlers are not sufficiently supplied. This may occur during 
the first year or two of settlement, when a settler should ordinarily 
have one or two cows. It may occur again at a later period after 
the settlers have 10 or 15 acres cleared but are without means to buy 
the additional cattle needed. Frequently, however, settlers who 
come from older farming districts bring too many cattle with them 
the first season. They usually manage to get along with them until 
winter comes, when the feed falls short and the buying of feed 
bankrupts the settler. 
Only a few companies were helping their settlers to get horses, 
and then only after a few years. Usually enough settlers bring 
horses with them, against the advice of the land company, so that 
the settler without horses can hire the horse labor he needs. Some 
companies rent horses to their settlers. Projects X and XIII were 
following this policy. The general opinion is that settlers should 
not have horses for the first year or two; it is much cheaper for 
them to hire. Generally for several years settlers are not able to 
grow enough feed to keep horses during the winter. After a settler 
has cleared 5 or 10 acres, he can afford to buy one horse to do his 
light work and take him to town and back for his trading. He can 
double up with his neighbors for work requiring a team. After 15 
or 20 acres are cleared, the settler may be ready for a second horse. 
The settler always needs cows before he needs horses. 
Settlers do not accept the advice of the land companies in the mat- 
ter of buying horses, because they do not like the idea of carrying 
their provisions on their backs from the nearest trading post and 
of doing things by hand which can be done more easily with a horse. 
An exception to the foregoing plan, both as to cattle and horses, 
should be made where there is an abundance of natural feed and com- 
paratively easy clearing, or if there is plenty of teamwork to do in 
the winter. 
A few companies also furnish, if desired, a pig, a few chickens, 
and a small supply of feed. Usually these extras are priced sep- 
arately from the land, so that the settler knows exactly how much he 
is paying for each. 
COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENTS 
Costs of community improvements are as surely included in the 
contract price as are buildings and livestock, but they are not sep- 
arately designated in the contract, so that the buyer does not know 
what he is paying for them. They are of two types: Those that are of 
vital concern to the settler, such as roads, schoolhouses, and cream- 
eries; and those that are of less consequence and cost little, such as 
community-center planning and parks. 
LAYOUT OF TRACT 
Nearly all tracts have some land which is either too rough, too 
wet, too stony, or too sandy for crops. If the layout is carefully 
planned, most of this, unless it occurs in large blocks, can be included 
in settlers’ plats. This will makethe farms vary considerably in 
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