INTRODUCTION.

THE object of the following pages is to afford to the people of Great Britain, Canada, and elsewhere, a true picture of the Western States as a field for agriculturists, mechanics, and labourers; to answer the many questions which have been put to the author regarding that country; and to dispel the absurd notions entertained by many, that the Prairies are fit only for, and are yet occupied by savages, buffaloes, snakes, etc. An endeavour is made to depict the character of the country, its capabilities of cultivation, and the causes of success or failure in cultivating it; also to show the social, political, and religious condition of the people who now inhabit it under the orderly Government of the United States.

That the work may be read by the industrial classes, and that it may be the means of leading many to seek and find a home and independence in the 'Great West,'-the 'Garden of the World,'-is the earnest desire of the writer.

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PART I.

THE PRAIRIE STATES-THEIR CLIMATE, SOIL, PRODUCE, ETC.

THE Prairie States are Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. Portions of the two last named are barren, and portions of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Missouri are timbered and without any prairie. Some parts of the Prairies are almost a dead level, other portions are gently undulating, while other parts are very hilly,-many of the hills or bluffs being so steep that even mules cannot climb their sides.

There are three common varieties of soil, viz. the clayey, the sandy, and the genuine 'black muck' of the Prairies. An analysis of the last is given on the following page, and may be compared with the wheat-bearing soils in Scotland.

Dr. Macadam thus remarks on the Prairie soil:

'The soil partakes of the nature of a sandy clay or argillaceous sand. When contrasted with the excellent wheat-bearing soils of the Lothians and Perthshire, the American soil is found deficient in the soluble and other salts, especially in phosphoric acid. The small proportion of the latter is sufficient to lower the fertility of the soil for the growth of

wheat, which requires to be supplied with an abundance of phosphates. I am of opinion that the soil under examination would be much improved in general fertility, and especially in relation to wheat, by a liberal application of a manure containing a large percentage of phosphates, such as dissolved bones or guano superphosphate, and the mixture of 25 per cent. of Peruvian guano with the bones or superphosphate would greatly enhance the efficacy and power of the manure. STEVENSON MACADAM.'

ANALYSIS of a SAMPLE of PRAIRIE SOIL, by Dr. Stevenson Macadam, Edinburgh; and also the Analyses of Three Average Samples of Soil from the best Wheat-bearing Districts of Scotland.