The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1886-05-06
The Best Cattle Country.

Where is the best cattle countryP
Where can cattle be handled with small
loss and sure profit and no crueltyP I'm
hesitatingly l answer in the semi-arid
belt. Here are the requirements of
perfect cattle country. Grass to usually
start early in the spring, say by the
middle of April. The summers should
be warm. The winters dry, so that the
cattle will not tramp their feed in the
ground, where the hogs that follow them
can not find it Corn should grow to
perfection. The land should be compar-
atively free from hog and cattle diseases.
Such a land is the semi-arid belt lying
between the 9th and 99th meridians,
and extending from Dakota to Texas.
Within that area hog cholera is almost
unknown. The cattle are free from dis
ease. There is plenty of cheap corn.
Large crops of millet can be grown on
all land. Wheat is almost a sure crop.
The corn stalks, wheat straw, and mil
let supply the cattle with an abundance
of roughness during the winter. All
points of the belt are convenient to mar
| ket. The creeks seldom freeze over SOL
| idlv, and the cattle have free access to
water. The ground seldom becomes
mirv, and the cattle's feet are always
sound. The business of raising cattle,
or of feeding them, in the semi-arid belt
| is profitable. There are plenty of we'll
bred and intelligent people in the coun-
try. The country is healthful. There are
good schools in every town. Land may
| be purchased on reasonable terms, but
only the bottom land in the western por-
ton of the semi-arid belt is corn land.
The best of corn land, say twenty miles
from thriving town, can be bought for
from $40 to $50 per acre. Near the
towns good bottom lands can be bought
for from $50 to S75 per acre. The up
land of the western portion OF the belt
is dear at any price. The increase in
the number of cattle in the semi-arid
belt during the five years last past has
been most remarkable As long as
wheat sold at renumerative prices the
farmers did not pay much attention to
cattle-growing. But when the price OF
wheat began to fall and the value of cat
tie to increase rapidly, they realized that
it was no longer wise to burn thelr
straw, or to devote corn land to wheat
culture. To show how closely intelligent
men who are engaged in the same busi-
ness employ the same methods OF thought
| and arrive at the same conclusions, L in
stance the farmers of Kansas. Up to the
autumn of 1881 calves were freely sold
by these men. After the crop of calves
of 1882 was born, it was rare to see yea
hanging in butchers shop. Almost al
the calves born in the semi-arid belt O
Kansas since 1882 have been raised
Last spring. when travelling in Kansas
in a region where but few cattle were
held three years ago. l saw small herds
of cattle in every barnyard. The stats
tics of Kansas for 1888 show that Their
were 1901 ,349 in the State in the spring
of that year. There are about $500, ,OOt
in the State now. There has been 8
similar increase in Nebraska; and Their
has been an astonishing increase since
1880 in the number of cattle in the fiv'
corn States now to 5000,
600. - Frank Wilkeson, in Harper
Magazine for Aprtl.