On the western plains great herds of thousands of sheep and cattle are raised.
In the Great Central Plain are hundreds of cities where the farm products are sold. Here, too, the farmers buy the farm tools and machinery which they [p99] need. In the city mills the wheat is ground into flour and the logs from the forests are sawed into planks or made into furniture. The cattle and sheep are killed and the meat prepared for our use.
9
East of the central part of the Great Central Plain are five of the largest lakes in the world. When you are in a boat in the middle of any one of them you cannot see the land on any side. They are called the Great Lakes. Their names are Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario. They are all joined together, and from the last a large river runs into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It has the same name as the gulf.
There are many other smaller lakes in North America where the land is low and the water from the rivers and streams fills up the hollows. Nearly all have fresh water like the rivers. A very few, like Great Salt Lake, contain salt water.
[p100]
CHAPTER V
COUNTRIES OF NORTH AMERICA
1
North America contains several different countries. Each is under a separate government. These countries are United States, British America, Danish America, Mexico and Central America. Each country has its own ruler and its own laws. Each has a special flag and its own kind of money and postage stamps.
2
THE UNITED STATES
We live in the best one of these countries, for we have the best ways of obtaining our food, our clothing and our shelter. Our climate is good, for we are in the North Temperate Zone. Our soil is very fertile. The Great Central Plain of North America passes through the central part of the United States. We raise fruits, vegetables, corn, wheat, rice and sugar for food. We have immense ranches for raising cows and sheep too. Our clothing is supplied by the thousands of sheep we raise and from the cotton we grow here. The Western and Eastern Highlands pass through our country.