"When the farms of Illinois were first put into cultivation, the attention of the farmers was almost entirely devoted to grain raising. Wheat was cash and was the only product of the farm that could be sold for ready money. The virgin soils of the state gave to the pioneer large crop yields, but constant cropping soon began to tell on the soil and each year the crop yield became lighter. This depletion of the fertility of the soil by continuous cropping, together with a need for a near market for the grain crops, soon gave stimulus to an idea that cattle feeding would help restore the fertility of the soil and, at the same time, market the grain at home." From this time on, the production of beef in this state has been one of the most important phases of agriculture. In the southern part of the state, however, which was settled largely by French, and where the predominating cattle continued to be the mongrel bred stock, little attention was given to cattle feeding. These people turned their cattle out on the luxuriant grass and relied upon the meat and milk produced in that way. "In the evolution or development of beef production that followed in Illinois and other corn-belt states, there has been two distinct stages, and it is now entering upon the third stage. The first stage was that in which cattle were fed to market corn, and also to increase the fertility of the soil, which was being depleted by the continuous cropping. The second stage was that in which the ranges had been broken up and the object was not to raise cattle to market corn but to raise corn to make beef." The third stage, or that upon which the industry is now entering, is that of baby beef making. [Illustration] Seventy or eighty years ago, and for several years afterward, cattle were bred and fed, not primarily for beef production, but to market corn. The farmers of those days were accustomed to say: "I'll make my corn walk to market," or "I'll condense my freight," or "I'll grow packages in which I can condense my corn and put in the hay and pastures as well." Statisticians figured that about six tons of corn could be put into one ton of pork, about ten tons into one ton of beef, and from twenty to twenty-five tons into one ton of butter. There were very few railroads in the state at that time and farmers were forced to haul their corn and wheat thirty and forty miles to reach a station. And while freight rates were extortionately high on corn and wheat in proportion to their cash value, railroads were racing with each other to get the livestock trade. They gave passes, rebates, and quick service, and many other things to get the patronage of the cattle feeders and shippers. The country roads in Illinois were bad, the bridges were few and poor, and the farmers, therefore, soon came to realize that their corn must walk to market if it gave them any profit.