File:Boy life on the prairie (1899) (14778494914).jpg

Identifier: boylifeonprairie00ingarl (find matches)
Title: Boy life on the prairie
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: Garland, Hamlin, 1860-1940 American Popular Literature Collection
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Publisher: New York London : Macmillan
Contributing Library: Northern Illinois University
Digitizing Sponsor: CARLI: Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois

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CHAPTER XX THE BATTLE OF THE BULLS During the first three years of Lincohis life on SunPrairie, the cattle remained free commoners, rangingat will on the unfcnced land, but all this suddenlychanged. The stockman was required to take care ofhis cattle, and fencing became optional with the ownerof crops. This reversal of liability was due to an enact-ment called The Herd Law, and was a great relief tofarmers, to whom fencing was a very considerable burden. As to the rights or wrongs of this change, the boysof Sun Prairie had no opinion, and the cause was onlyvaguely understood, but the change in their own liveswas momentous. Up to this time their watch over thecattle had been easy and lax, now it became necessary to 2ijb
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The Battle of the Bulls 297 know where the herd was every hour of the day andnight. The herder must stay with his charges untilrelieved, like a sentinel. This led to an arrangementbetween the Stewarts, Knapps, and Jenningses by whichthe cattle were held in one drove, and the boys took turnand turn about in watching them. Meanwhile a still greater change was taking place.As the settlers poured into the county in hundreds, thewild lands yielded to the breaking-plough, and the rangedisappeared with incredible swiftness, until at last only twogreat feeding-grounds existed. One to the west, a wet,cold tract covered with fine grass interspersed withpatches of willow, the other the burr-oak opening on theWapseypinnicon. To these ranges the cows had to bedriven each morning, and brought home each night.This led to the next important step. A part of thehome farm was seeded down to timothy grass, andthe cows separated from the general herd, which couldthus be driven farther away and held during

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