carry, the fiercest competition ensued between the companies. Grain was at one time carried from Chicago to New York, 1,000 miles, for 10 cents per 100 lbs., or less than a fourth of the price that had been charged a few years before, and simultaneously freights across the Atlantic were reduced from 10s. to 5s. per ton. Of course most of the railway companies went into bankruptcy, but the discovery was made that it is not so much "the long haul” as the terminal charges which constitute the cost of transport; and the eventual consolidation of rival and insolvent systems, together with the increased tonnage which followed the reduction of rates, confirmed the policy of cheap freights.1

The pioneer of the English Colony in Iowa saw the opportunity, and his only difficulty was which state to choose. His inclination was for either Canada or Virginia, and if he had thought of risking his fortune in wheat growing alone, as distinguished from Indian corn, and from sheep and cattle farming, he would have gone to Manitoba, or the Red River of the North. Or if his object had been merely "to get a living" in a delightful climate, and within reach of society, he would have chosen Virginia. As it was, after investigating both, he relinquished Ontario and Virginia because of the fancy price of their good

1 This great economical change is well illustrated by the following table compiled from the reports of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway which runs eastward out of Chicago to Buffalo, 560 miles, or more than half way to New York. The average rate (which includes that on local freight) shows a continuous reduction, which has been more than compensated by increased tonnage :— Tonnage Mileage. Rate per Ton Mile. per 574,000,000. 1.504 Cent

1870.

lands, while the unoccupied land was heavily timbered, and required expensive preliminary labour before it could be made fit for farming, and went further west to look at Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, and Iowa. Without going into the merits and demerits of each the following are briefly the reasons, in his own words, which induced him to purchase in 1877 the first 3,000 acres in North Western Iowa::

"(1) It is close to the Missouri river and only some 450 miles from Chicago, the greatest market of its kind in the world, and the population of the district is already sufficient to furnish a considerable local demand for agricultural produce. Within reach of our headquarters there are no less than four rival routes to Chicago, which insure to the farmer the benefit of competitive rates of transport; it is, in fact, difficult to get more than ten or eleven miles from a railway. These favourable conditions never existed for Indiana or Illinois, from which States the cost of carrying grain to the east was formerly prohibitive.

"(2) Clearing, which alone would cost from 31. to 41. per acre, is not needed, for it is a "prairie " or grass country. The soil, for 20 to 50 feet deep, of the Missouri slope is of the character known as the bluff" deposit, combining perfect natural drainage with a surface accumulation of from two to six feet of decayed vegetable growth for manure.

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66

(3) Beside oats, barley, flax, and vegetables, Iowa and Southern Minnesota grow both the staple crops, Indian corn and wheat. The lands in America upon which it is possible to grow Indian corn are well defined and of limited extent, and it has been estimated that only about 5 per cent. of them can still be bought for less than 30s. an acre. Over and above the local consumption for fattening stock, the export has increased in ten years from 7,000,000 to 85,500,000 bushels, and Europe is only beginning to learn its use. In NorthWestern Iowa and Southern Minnesota the average yield is not less than in the great corn State of Illinois, viz., 40 bushels per acre in uplands, and 60 bushels in bottom lands. follows that the district is adapted for cattle and sheep-farming on the most economical conditions. The climate is sufficiently temperate, pasturage is still free, and Indian corn is the cheapest food known for fattening, Moreover, the combination of Indian corn with wheat on the same farm provides continuous occupation for the farmer, and avoids the enforced idleness which exists on farms devoted to one crop alone.

It

"(4) The eastern half of Iowa is already thickly populated, and land there is worth from 87. to 157. an acre. The next wave of

immigration, which has already begun, may fairly be expected to overlap the western half and equalise values over the state."

Mr. Close's lead has been followed by many university and public schoolmen, some of whom have already made homes for their wives and families.

Probably no Ekist ever found the temper of his companions wholly proof against the discomforts which necessarily attend settling in a new country. It is not every one, for instance, who can endure with equanimity the complete absence of good servants unless imported from England, or not to have his boots blacked except for an extra payment of ten cents, or to get nothing but tea and coffee to drink, and that none of the best, and only salt pork badly cooked to eat, when off the beaten track. Moreover, the natives of the country, when travelling, whether to inspect land or to buy stock, and stopping for the night, as the custom is, at the nearest farm-house, for a charge of 25 cents, as if it were an inn, sleep two in a bed, and do not wash; and an Englishman would give great offence who refused to conform to the first part at least of the custom, if the lack of accommodation made it necessary. Nor again does Iowa enjoy the equable cold of the "isothermal" region. It does not matter how many degrees below zero the thermometer is, if only it is perfectly still, and the sun is shining. But Iowa is liable, occasionally in the winter, to wind and low temperature combined, and then if one be delicate, there is nothing for it but to stay in houses which are well built and warm. Lastly, there is the difficulty which every raw young Englishman finds in dealing with the natives of a country where everything has its price. To bay land from an Iowa agent, or stock from a Minnesota farmer, and not get the worst of the bargain, requires a peculiarly level head, and a fool and

1 Page 5 of a pamphlet by W. B. Close, printed privately for the information of those who contemplate going out to Iowa.

his money are paited at least as easily as in the old country.

Against these drawbacks the pioneers of the colony provided by building houses on their own farms, and were willing for a premium, as into an office or chambers, to receive certain of the new-comers, so as to show them all they had themselves done, and help them in their dealings with the local farmers or land agents, until they were able to make a start for themselves. The system has on the whole worked much better than could have been expected considering that many of the new-comers came out with somewhat extravagant notions, and were as ignorant of how to hold their own in matters of business as they were of practical farming. Fortunately, the open-air life is a healthful one. The absence of good turf is the only thing which so far has prevented much progress being made with cricket and football. But a man may be less pleasantly employed than in riding over the prairie through lanes of flowers-sunflowers if he likes them !—or in herding and driving cattle in the summer months, while there is fair quail or prairie chicken-shooting in the autumn, and duck or wild goose as the winter begins and ends. Nor with so large a number of fellow-countrymen within reach is it possible to lack a congenial friend in time of need.

In

But the success of the colony rests not on the pleasures of the life, but on the substantial profit which has attended its farming operations. one or two instances the recent hard winter has caused losses of sheep to those who were too late in putting up their yards for shelter; but this does not affect the conclusion that every one is or ought to be a richer man for having gone to Le Mars. The oldest farms are those on the 3,000 acres bought by Mr. W. B. Close in 1877. He was too late that year to plough it properly for the coming season, and the first full crop was for the year 1879. The method, which has been

gradually perfected, is to break the land up into farms of 160 acres each with suitable buildings on each farm.

"Our system," says Mr. Close, is, not to hold virgin land on the chance of a rise in value, but, by building houses and ploughing the sod, to improve the property we buy and make it productive of income, wherein we conceive lies the distinction between legitimate business and speculation in land. Each 160 acres is let as a rule to one tenant, who provides labour and machinery, paying us rent for wheat lands in kind, on the half-share system, as exemplified below, and for Indian corn lands at about 8s. per acre. The tenant's own labour, with one assistant, usually a son, is enough, except at harvest-time, to cultivate 160 acres, if divided between wheat and Indian corn. Thus our labourers are directly interested in the yield, and we think we combine the economy of large holdings with the efficiency and productiveness of small. In 1880, and for 1881, we could have let our farms twice over. Every 40 farms or thereabouts are placed under the superintendence of a steward, who is controlled directly by ourselves. The following are statements of expenditure and receipts for two farms of 160 acres each, bought in 1878 and 1879 respectively. They are chosen as average specimens, and the figures fairly represent results for the year 1879, and for 1880 as far as received:

(1) In 1878, cost, with improvements, of N.W. quarter of section 14; Township 85; Range 41; Crawford county-2177. 78.

"There were only 90 acres 'broken,' which were sown with wheat as being peculiarly adapted to land newly taken into cultivation. The yield for 1879 was 1,373 bushels, or an average of 15 bushels to the acre. Our rent

was one half share, or 686 bushels, which we sold in granary, at 4s. 2d. per bushel, for 1431. Os. 5d. From this had to be deducted the cost of seed, 167. 10s., taxes and insurance 31. 18s., which are landlord's working expenses, and depreciation of buildings, say 5 per cent., 31. 12s., leaving net return of 1191. Os. 5d., or 55 per cent. Had 150 acres out of the whole farm been broken, as at present, the net return would have been proportionately more.

(2) In 1879, cost, with improvements, of N. W. quarter of section 12; Township 91; Range 43; Plymouth county:-2471.

"140 acres were broken, and the yield (1880) of 100 acres was 1,975 bushels of wheat, or 199 bushels to the acre; our share was 987 bushels at 3s. 14d. per bushel-1547. 6s. The remaining 40 acres were sown with Indian corn and thrown in at 7s. per acre, or 147., making a total gross return of 1681. 6s., or, less seed, 187. 6s. 8d., and taxes, insurance, and depreciation of buildings, 81. 5s. 8d., a net return of 57 per cent.

"The rent of Indian corn lands is payable in cash, owing to the difficulty of collecti g

it

in kind. The average is 8s. per acre. Had the whole of the above farm of 160 acres been sown with Indian corn, and let at that rate all round as is customary, the cash return would have been 647., or 26 per cent. net.

Flax is grown as yet only for the linseed, and our own experiments have until this year been on a small scale. The present returns are still incomplete, but there will be an average of about 10 bushels per acre, and the price in the local market is 80 to 100 cents per bushel.

"The only farms that we keep in our own hands are for cattle and sheep. The returns are as large as those from wheat, and surer, but they are slower, and more capital is needed. We have three stock farms, the results of which we shall be prepared to show to whomsoever it concerns.

"For the last two years Woodbury, Plymouth, and Sioux counties, have been the centre of our operations, but the influx of Englishmen and well-to-do settlers has exhausted the cheap land, and permanently raised values in that neighbourhood.

It will be seen that the above system is not so much one of farming as of land owning, and the scale upon which it is practised provides sufficient occupation for a large organization. Other members of the community work their own farms, instead of letting them to a tenant, hiring the labour they require at an average for the whole year of about 31. 10s. a month and board. Contract work by the piece is largely employed. Labour is plentiful, and it is not worth while for any one who cannot command some capital to attempt to make a start in Iowa.

The practical question after all is what is there still left to be done? To get cheap land you must now go farther north towards the Minnesota boundary. Buildings and labour also cost more. In short the capital cost of a farm ready for a tenant on the preceding system may vary from 340l. to 4007. The following table

The table is instructive, because in 1878 the wheat crop was locally a failure, and yet the price was about the lowest known. An average yield is 15 bushels. The present cash rent of Indian corn farms averages $2 per

acre.

As the district becomes populous, it will probably rise till it approximates to the $4 per acre paid farther east.

So far the colony has had nothing but success. The test will come whenever there is a bad harvest from locusts, or drought, or storms, or any other cause. Or it may come sooner, whenever a good harvest in Europe happens to coincide with one in America. At the present rate at which land is being taken up in the North-west there may be a struggle to sell all the wheat that will be grown. In that day the railways will have to carry cheaper still; the farmers will insist on it in their State Legislatures; and if the analogy of the past twenty years is any guide, they will be able to afford it. rates of carriage west of Chicago are still more than double those east. The, as yet, unascertained economy of the steel rail and a possible saving of the great waste that still exists in motive power of locomotives, not to speak of what science may still do in marine engines, together with the rapid building, or over-building, of railways in America and Atlantic shipping, must make us prepared for lower prices for wheat than have been known before.

The

The process of falling prices for grain, and perhaps increasing cost of production, may be unpleasant, especi

ally if conjoined with any scarcity of good tenants; but the world can take a great deal of wheat at a price, and the Iowa colonist can afford to see a very low price. Mr. Close sums up as follows the strength of the landowner's position on the half-profit system as exemplified above, and allowing the cost of land at 258. per acre :—

"He might see the yield down to 7 bushels per acre, and the price at granary down to 1s. 9d. per bushel, and still clear 5 per cent. upon his outlay. An average yield is 15 bushels, and the lowest price known so far in the local market is 2s. 5d. At this point, if not before, the system must break down, for the tenant would be making a mere labourer's wage. But the hypothesis is sufficiently extreme. Further, in the event of a total failure of crops, he stands to lose nothing in contrast to large farmers who own their own machinery and hire their own labour, &c. but the interest on his money, and his expenses for seed, taxes, insurance, &c."

But the changes which will be involved in a further increased production of grain and corresponding cheapening of the cost of living are so worldwide and intricate, that it is wiser not to attempt to forecast them, just as it is impossible to fix any absolute minimum price, whether it be 468. or 36s. or less, at which wheat will be laid down at Liverpool hereafter. The factors are too variable and complex. Whenever perils are at hand for the colony in Iowa, it is to be hoped that the same capability and courage will be available which has served them hitherto. Iowa relies on the diversity of its products, and already the colonists are devoting their attention to cattle and sheep rather than to wheat.

Meantime, those who have the heads and hearts to put into such an enterprise may be reminded of Horace Greeley's words when asked his advice -words which have just been prefixed by an American contributor to his article in an American magazine1 upon the English Colony in Iowa,-"Young man, go West."

ROBERT BENSON.

1 Harper's Monthly Magazine, April, 1881.