. California agriculturist and live stock journal. Agriculture -- California; Livestock -- California; Animal industry -- California. Of all this territory there remains unsold, the property of the United States and Texas, about 1,000,000,UOO acres. If we make a liberal allowance for laud suitable for tillage, which is mainly found in the eastern halves of the four tirst-named divisions, and in portions of Oregon and California, and also for water and rock surfaces, and such forests as are dense enough to preclude pasturageâsay an aggre- gate of 500,000,000âthere would remain about 700,000,000
. California agriculturist and live stock journal. Agriculture -- California; Livestock -- California; Animal industry -- California. Of all this territory there remains unsold, the property of the United States and Texas, about 1,000,000,UOO acres. If we make a liberal allowance for laud suitable for tillage, which is mainly found in the eastern halves of the four tirst-named divisions, and in portions of Oregon and California, and also for water and rock surfaces, and such forests as are dense enough to preclude pasturageâsay an aggre- gate of 500,000,000âthere would remain about 700,000,000 of acres suitable for pastur- age, aud scarcely valuable for anything else, furnishing both summer and winter grazing of the most nutritious gi-asses of greater or less abundance in the different sections. Here then is a pasture twenty times as large as Illi- nois, twenty-eight times as large as Ohio, and equal to 120 States like Vermont. Aud on the area of more than 100 such States the an- nual crop of herbage is utterly wasted, while the laboring people of Europe are cryiug for meat, and millions in our own cities are crav- ing earnestly the boon of a single cent reduc- tion per pound in their beef supjilies. If we allow ten acres of this unutilized pasturage for a term of five years to produce a steer weighing net 500 jiounds, the annual gain in beef at five cents per pound would equal the value of the cotton crop, or nearly §300,000,- 000. This is but $25 per head, and I have known a sale of 1,000 fat bullocks upon those western plains at $50 per head. These fig- ures are merely suppositious as to the grazing capacity of this area, aud can be modified to suit the most conservative views without gi-eatly reducing the magnificent saving which would result from complete utilization of our grasses. A very handsome sum might be added from similar savings throughout the Southern States. The numbers of cattle on this area were placed at nearly 5,000,000 in 1800 iu the cen- s
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