Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1879.djvu/9

Rh of the savage hunter to that of the agriculturist is the pastoral pursuit, and that therefore the Indian must be made a herdsman and stock-raiser before he can be made a farmer. In theory this sounds well; but in practice it turns out that it cannot be generally applied. The possession of one or two cows does not make a man a herdsman. To make the Indians herders would require large quantities of cattle, so as to give a herd to every head of a family; and inasmuch as they do not possess that large quantity of cattle now, it would have to be furnished them by the government. Moreover, the pursuit of herding furnishes a steady occupation from day to day only to a comparatively very small number of persons. A few young men could attend to the herds of a large number of Indians, and the rest would, in the mean time, remain idle. If occupation is to be furnished to them it must be found in another direction, and that can be only agriculture on a larger or smaller scale. So it is clear that whatever virtue there may be in stock-raising, and however well adapted the Indian in the transition state might be to it, the pursuit of agriculture must necessarily accompany it to occupy the majority of them.

Farming is, of course, first begun on a small scale and in an imperfect way; but the number of Indians engaged in agricultural pursuits, the number of those who raise products sufficient for their own support and even a surplus for sale, and the aggregate quantity and value of these products, are probably larger than is generally understood.

For minute details I refer to the elaborate exhibit contained in the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

As to the general progress of agricultural pursuits among the Indians, I may state that according to the statistics furnished to this department the Indians on reservations have under cultivation 157,056 acres; 24,270 acres have been broken this year by Indians themselves. A larger area would have been added but for the extraordinary drought which in several localities, especially in the Indian Territory, impeded agricultural enterprise.

The products raised by the reservation Indians this year amount to 328,637 bushels of wheat and 643,286 bushels of corn, 189,654 bushes of oats and barley, 390,698 bushels of vegetables, such as potatoes, turnips, beans, &c.; 48,353 tons of hay cut. In addition to this, 4,677 acres were cultivated, and 2,861 broken on the government farms at the various agencies, for the benefit of the Indians, in part by Indian labor. The products raised on these farms amounted to 15,232 bushels of wheat, 16,814 bushels of corn, 17,023 bushels of oats and barley, 11,925 bushels of vegetables, and 4,698 tons of hay cut. This exhibit of products raised by Indian labor does not include the five civilized tribes in the Indian Territory, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, who cultivated 237,000 acres, and whose products are stated at 565,400 bushels of wheat, 2,015,000 bushels of corn, 200,500 bushels of oats and barley, 336,700 bushels of vegetables, and 176,500 tons of