West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1886-04-23
THE CATTLE COUNTRY.
Tn" Peculiar AdaptabiIity OF the SENT
Arid BELT to Cattle-Raisiug.


Where is the best cattle country =
Where can cattle he handled or raised
with small loss and sure profit and no
crucltyP UnhesitaungN | answer i'm
the Scmi-arid belt Here are the rc-
quircmcnt> of u perfect cattle com-
try. Grass To usually start early i'm the
spring, say by the middle of April.
The summers. should be warm Tho
winters dry, 80 that the cattle will not
tramp their feed into the ground.
where the hogs that follow them can
not hnd IL. Corn should grow to per
tcction. The land should be- COM
paratiVclN free from hog and cattle
diseases. Such "A land il the scmi-arid
belt, lying between the nmctN-SpVcnth
and nmCtN-nnth mcridiauS. and cN-
tending from Dakota To Texas. Within
that area hog cholera il almost un-
known. The cattle are free from dis
ease. There is plenty of cheap corn
Large crops of millct can be- crown
ON all the land. Wheat is almost "A
sure crop. Tho Corn-StalkS, wheat,
straw and millct supply the cattle
with au abundance of roughucsS dur
ing the winter. All points of the belt
are convenient TO market The creeks
seldom freeze over solidly, and the
cattle have free access to water. The
ground seldom becomes miry, and the
cattlc's feet are ALWAYS sound The
business of raising cattle, ore of feed
ing them, I'm tine Svmi-arid belt is
profitable. There are plcmt, of we'll
bred and Intelligent people m tho
country. The country il hcalthful.
There are good schools i'm every town.
Land may be purchased ON reasonable
terms, but only the bottom land i'm the
western portion of the scmi-arid belt
i corn land. The best of corn land,
say twenty miles from thriving
town, can Ice bought for from twenty
To thirty dollars per acre. Near the
towns good bottom land can ho
bought for from fifty TO scycnty-Gvo
dollars per acre The upland of tho
western portion of the belt is dear nj
any price.
The increase in the number of cattle
in the Scmi-arid belt during the five
years last past has been most remark
able. A. long as wheat sold at re-
munerativc prices the farmers did not
pay much attention To cattlc-groWmg.
But when the price of wheat began 10
fall, and the value of cattle To incrcas,
rapidly. they realized that il was no
longer wise to burn their straw. or de-
vote corn land to wheat culture. 10
show how closely intelligent men who
are engaged i'm the same business cm-
ploy the same methods OF thought and
arrive at the same conclusions, i'm
stance the farmer, of Kansas Up 10
the autumn of 1881 calves were freely
sold 10y these men. After the crop of
calves of 1882 was born, il was rare To
see veal hanging in butcher shop.
Almost all the calves born i'm the semi
arid belt of Kansas since 1882 have
been raised. Last spring, when trav-
cling in Kansas, in a region where but
few cattle were held three ycar- AGO,
saw small herds of cattle In every
barn-yard The statistics of Kansas
for 1888 show that there were Il .sOi, -
3iS in the State in the spring OF that
year There are about 100000 in the
State now. There has Dccn a similar
increase i'm Nebraska; and there has
been an astonishing increase since 1880
in the number of cattle i'm the live corn
States amounting now to l3,OOO.OO
-Fr0Hh HUteSoH, in turner's MaJa-
gtne.