MR. CAIRD'S PRAIRIE FARMING IN AMERICA.* ACCORDING to the honourable

Member for Dartmouth, the pros- pects of the British farmer are but so so. Land, as we all know, cannot increase ; but the demand for it does, as well as population. The tenant farmers do their part in multiplying future competitors for farms, besides encountering the present evil of competing " with men who having made money in other pursuits wish to retire to the more pleasurable occupations of a country life." Fart s. themselves, too, are diminishing in number, land is in so gre densafid _tor Binh a variety of purposes. It has been ens-

ary to talk. of 'the obtuseness of the squires, but they have keen and clear ideas upon the subject of raising rents ; and they are by no means slow to take advantage of their present position. Then besides competing with the tenant farmers for land, when they have made their fortunes, the trading classes compete in the labour market during the process of making. And though we may sneer at the intelligence of clodhoppers, they are wide-awake enough to know when two people want their services ; and alas!! agri- cultural wages have risen upon the tenant farmer. In like man- ner, though the cost of transport may be in favour of the home grower, he has, since the abolition of the Corn Laws, to compete with "the farmers of those foreign countries, whose soil is rich enough to yield corn for many years without manure," and is thereby undersold " in his own market." Thus, ground between the upper and nether millstone in the shape of a squire and a down, or compelled to burn his candle at both ends, or shut up like Regulus in a barrel of spikes, or any other image illustrative of wretchedness, the British farmer is in sorry plight : the present bad, while worse remains behind, or rather before. In fact, Mr. Caird sees no other resource than a free Exodus of agriculturists to some land of promise; and it was to aid in this desirable con- summation, that he passed his last autumnal vacation in a trip to America, to inquire into transatlantic capabilities. He arrived at New York on the 16th September, and was de- lighted with everything, "except the manners of the people, and the extortionate charges of every one from whom it was necessary to obtain the slightest service." However he did not linger long in the Empire city, making his way to Montreal by the Hudson, the railways, and the Lakes 1.1eorge and Champlain. From Mon- treal he passed along the great lines of Canadian water and rail- way communication to Detroit, keeping his eyes open as he went along, and halting frequently to make excursions. The frontier town of the States introduced him to Michigan, of which he gives some account as well as of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio, and Kentucky, but his great object and his great love is Illinois. The climate of Upper Canada he says is severe ; much of the soil is indifferent; it all requires heavy work in the clearing, and the cost price is high. Michigan is pretty well settled already, and like Minnesota and Wisconsin lies too far North. In the two last named States land may be had cheap enough ; but mere cheapness is a delusion, when markets are distant, and transport difficult. This last remark applies to Missouri in a less degree, and Ken- tucky is a slave state. Illinois is the plane for a mechanic or agri- cultural labourer, to go to, or an agriculturist with some little capi- tal : some of Mr. Caird's friends in the State add " everybody " to those three classes. There is no clearing necessary; the prairie is ready to be turned to any use. You may graze it, you may

• Prairie Farming in America. With Notes by the Way on Canada and the United States. Ily lames Caird, M.P., Author of "English Agriculture," "High Farming," lire. Published by Longraans and Co. make hay while the sun shines for winter store, you may plough it for wheat, oats, or Indian corn, which -last Mr. Caird recom- mends; and you may ,break it up for artificial grasses. Then what a vlinstate it xis. ropulation doubles in ten years—though immigration must surely have suniething to do with this—or the British,farmer Avith an eye totheffutureemight as well remain at home. There are no diseases of harsher climes—though ague does carry off old people in " double quick," and torments young ones till they get acclimated ; but it " has no serious effect on the health" Mr. Caird says, probably meaning life. Then railways permeate the country, giving the settler at easy distance from any part of the state a ready means of communicating by means of the lakes, the St. Lawrence, and the Atlantic, with Liverpool, London, and everywhere. The prairie land ready for instant use, as already described, is cheap--two pounds ten shillings per acre ; and you have such a capital body to buy of if you please.

"The Illinois Central Railway Company have still 1,300,000 acres of land to sell. It is situated along their line of railway, chiefly within five miles on either aide, and affords every variety of soil, climate, and situa- tion to be found in the state of Illinois. They offer their lands at prices which, considerine.' situation, quality, and terms of payment, are the cheap- est I met with in America. Every facility for the transport of produce to market is at the command of a settler oh their lands. At every nine or ten miles there is a station, with an electric telegraph, where the latest news of the markets may be learned ; while there is usually a store at the station for the purchase of produce and the sale of necessaries. Their terms of payment for the land are either cash with a discount of 20 per cent in the price, or a long credit with a moderate rate of interest for America."

A further advantage is that the habits and means of the State allow a system of contract for all agricultural operations. You may know nothing of farming, but you can build, fence, plant, and cultivate, all at fixed prices, and buy your freehold on credit. These are the prospects, founded upon figures, which our Mem- ber of Parliament holds out to men with a small capital in Illinois.

"An intelligent,' prudent man, with 600/. in his pocket, may rely on finding that sum sufficient to start him successfully on 320 acres of rich prairie land, if he avails himself of this credit system.

" His position will be this. lie enters into a contract with the Company for the purchase of 320 acres of their land, at the price of 50s. an acre. He pays two years' advance interest upon this, but he pays nothing further for two years. His first instalment, one-fifth of the price, then becomes pay- able, and each year thereafter, till all is paid, another fifth. His account will stand thus—

Two years advance interest on price of land at 7 per cent £112

Contract price of fencing 100 acres, breaking it, sowing with wheat,

reaping and thrashing, and for building a house, stable and shed 300 Price of horses, implements, and harness 110 522 see 172 Second year : contract for fencing another 100 acres, sowing it with wheat, reaping, and thrashing 150 Wages paid and horse keep for cultivating 100 acres of Indian corn 150 472

His 200 acres of corn crop will now yield him from 6001. to 7001., thus more than recompensing his outlay, and leaving plenty in hand to pay his first instalment, and to proceed with the vigorous cultivation of the land. The same sum which would be needed to start one son as a farmer of an- other man's high-rented land in England, would thus start three sone as the owners of farms, fenced, stocked, and under crop, on the fine prairie soils of Illinois.

"Many English emigrants may, however, prefer to pay cash for their land, and take the benefit of the large discount allowed. It is a less specu- lative system, and, where there is capital sufficient to begin with, I should decidedly recommend it as the beat and really cheapest mode of making a purchase from the Railway Company. They allow a discount of 20 per cent for full payment in cash. A capital of 41. an acre will be found ade- quate to all the expenses of buying and stocking one of their prairie farms, the land being paid for out and out."

Now we dare say all these representations are true, but we suspect of limited truth. They may happen to some people, but do not to all ; and at times and seasons they may happen to no one. This appears in particular facts which sometimes contradict the general conclusions. Although you may make ha), of prairie grass, yet it seems the best farmers break up the land and raise artificial grasses of some kind. One settler expresslylays down the rule, "that corn and hay should first be provided by a few years cultivation, before going largely into a flock. The prairie grass will furnish summer keep at little or no cost, but provision must be made for the winter.' The climate is of course milder than the wet lands of more Northern States, but it is so cold as sometimes to destroy the wheat crop. Heat and moisture occcasionally ope- rate in the same way, and on other crops as well as wheat. The great prosperity seems partly speculative, arising from over- trading ; and though this may not originate with the settlers who are only stimulated to over cultivation by an external demand, they suffer when the collapse comes, especially those who have pursued the plan recommended by Mr. Caird, and purchased on credit. A few miscellaneous extracts, however, will illustrate these points better than general remark.

" In this inflated state [of prosperity] the money panic of last year fell upon them. The price of wheat dropped a half, the farmers refused to sell, the rate of lake freights fell one half, and the receipts and traffic of the railways began to show a similar decline. The reduced prices continued during winter and spring, and were followed by a cause of even greater dis- couragement,—a season of extraordinary humidity, succeeded by sudden and excessive heat, the effect of which has in many places nearly destroyed the wheat crop, and in others reduced it to less than half of an average produce. So general was this unfavourable season in the north- west, that its effects are everywhere visible. After such a summer the autumn has naturally proved unhealthy, and bad crops and bodily ailments coming together, the spirits of the settlers have been sadly depressed. Bad

Value of first crop

news travel fast. Migration from the Eastern States is suspended, and foreign immigration hasalmost ceased." a a • •

We spent the day in riding over the country, and in looking at the farms and talking with the settlers. They are men chiefly from the State of New York, and are all complaining of the last wheat harvest as a nearly total failure. The pioneer of the settlement thus told me his story. He came here four years ago, and was so much pleased with the land and situation, that he advised his neighbours in the State of New York to follow his example. He purchased 2500 acres of as fine prairie as can be desired. The first two years everything was successful. He grew more than thirty bushels of wheat an acre on the newly broken land, and sold it for 58. a bushel. He was thus tempted to lay out the money as fast as he made it, in enclosing and breaking more. The autumn before last he sowed 800 acres with wheat; 600 of it was killed by frost, the snow that winter being so light as not to cover it. He ploughed this up and sowed again with spring wheat, which succeeded admirably. Last autumn he laid down 600 acres with wheat, but was somewhat late and out of season in getting it sown. The spring proved unprecedentedly wet, the wheat was late in ma- turing, extreme hot weather set in, and his wheat, which till then looked well, was in one week rendered nearly worthless. The long-continued rains in spring had given them no season for oats, and Indian corn had for the same cause been planted out of season, with the land in an unfavourable

state, and the breadth very limited." * * • " The next settler was a younger man, a graduate of Yale College, who had purchased a section of Land (640 acres) three years ago at nearly Si. an acre. He had built a house, enclosed his land, and broken up the half of it; but the wheat crop of last rear, to which he trusted for future funds, had proved an entire failure. He spoke despondingly of his future pros- pects, as he had, like many others, been tempted by the facilities afforded by the credit system of purchase in these Western States, to buy a much greater extent of land than his available means were adequate for. He said that they all counted on their wheat crop to ' bring them out' but, that having failed them, the whole country was straitened. He wished to sell out at 41. 108. an acre, that he might have the means of paying off his debts, and repurchasing a smaller farm in the same locality, where his obligations and risks would be less.

"All the other settlers I met in this quarter had the same tale of a wretched wheat crop. One had had 120 acres of wheat, which he examined with several experienced farmers a few weeks before harvest, and they agreed in estimating the probable yield at eighteen to twenty bushels an acre. When it was ripe he began to harvest it, but after cutting seventy acres he discovered that there was nothing but shrivelled husk in the ear, so entirely worthless that he not only desisted from cutting the rest, but set fire to all that was already cut, as well as that which remained."

These and some other facts of a similar kind, induce the idea that Mr. Caird's recommendations are be received with some qualification. They may perhaps be advantageously acted upon by those who intend to emigrate, for Illinois is probably the best of the States for an agricultural settler ; but they must be acted on with caution, and sanguine expectations rather kept down. It must further be remembered that Mr. Caird has no actual ex- perience of the country, the utmost time he could have given to its examination being two months or less. And though agricultural knowledge and skill will in some things supersede time, there are others where it cannot, but a man must rely upon the information of others interested in making the best of things. As a book, the account of the tour, and the Notes on Canada and the States other than Illinois and its neighbours, are brief, characteristic, and readable, mainly though not solely directed to the indications of natural soil and of agricultural industry.