It is interesting to watch the work go on in the fields, it is so different from that of the old days before the threshing and binding machines were invented. It seems almost like magic to the watching children as acre after acre of waving grain is cut down, bound into sheaves and threshed, almost in the “twinkling of an eye.”
Then away it is whisked in big wagons to the flour mills in the town near by from which it is sent far and wide to be made into delicious bread for hungry boys and girls.
The Cornfields.
In the northern part of the prairies wheat grows best because it can bear a great deal of cool weather. But corn is different; warm, moist nights suit it well. So, although we can see corn growing all over the eastern part of the United States, it thrives best in the southern part of the prairies where the weather is much warmer than in the north.
Corn is very fattening, so the farmers who raise this grain usually keep herds of cattle and many hogs. He stores much of the harvest in the barns to feed the “live stock” and raise them for market.
On a Cattle Ranch.
The boys of the prairie help their fathers, not only in the wheat and corn fields, but also in raising herds of cattle, flocks of sheep, and great numbers of hogs.
Beyond the prairies, yet east of the Rocky Mountains, are wide stretches of land called the Western Plains. Grass grows on these plains, but the soil is not so rich as on the prairies and is therefore not so good for farming.
As the people moved farther west, settling on the prairies, they began to think what use could be made of the plains beyond. They decided that cattle could be raised there. But first the tribes of Indians who were roaming freely about must be forced to stay in certain parts of the country which the government of the United States reserved for them.