The corn states have therefore taken up the raising and fattening of cattle on a tremendous scale. When western cattle leave the ranch they are generally not very heavy. Thousands of carloads are shipped into the corn country each year, there to be fattened before going to the packing houses.
The Department of Agriculture, at Washington, is now taking great pains to induce the boys, especially of the South, to make experiments in corn raising. Some wonderful results have been produced, and the South is in a fair way to take to the raising of corn.
COWBOYS DRIVING CATTLE FROM THE PRAIRIE PASTURAGE
From a photograph
Invention of refrigerator cars
The largest meat-packing plants are located in the corn belt at Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, and other cities. To-day meat packing is the greatest business of Chicago and many other large cities. A generation ago it had scarcely begun. But the packers learned to can meat, to use ice for cold storage, and, most important of all, the refrigerator car was invented.
By this last discovery it became possible to ship meat almost everywhere. Where before the packers had to sell their goods at home, now they have the world as a market. A steer raised on the western prairies may now be fattened for market in Illinois, slaughtered in Chicago, and served in New York, or sent to England or even to the Orient.