On the great ranches of this belt, which, we are told, are fast disappearing, there are two important round-ups of the cattle every year. Between times they roam free over vast areas of land. In the spring they are driven slowly toward a central point. Then the calves are branded, or marked by a hot iron, with the owner's special brand. These brands are registered and are recognized by law. This is done in order that each owner may be certain of his own cattle. In July or August the cattle are rounded up again, and this time the mature and fatted animals are selected that they may be driven to the shipping-station on the railroad and loaded on the cars. [Illustration: Cattle on the Western Plains.] The journey to the stock-yards often requires from four to seven days. Once in about thirty hours the cattle are released from the cars in order to be fed and watered. Then the journey begins again. At the stock-yards the cattle are unloaded and driven into pens. From there the fat steers and cows are sent directly to market. The lean ones go to farmers in the Middle West who make a specialty of fattening them for market, doing it in a few weeks. In the year 1910 there were ninety-six million six hundred and fifty-eight thousand cattle in the United States. This means that there was one for every human being in the whole country. But the number of beef-cattle is decreasing, as the larger ranches where they graze are disappearing, as we have said, and are being divided into small farms. COAL By means of these three industries--cotton, wheat, and cattle--we are provided with food and clothing. But besides these necessaries, we must have fuel. We need it both for heat in our households and for running most of our engines in factories and on trains. Our chief fuel is coal. To see coal-mining, western Pennsylvania is a good place for us to visit. Were you to go into a mine there you might easily imagine yourself in a different world. In descending the shaft you suddenly become aware that you are cut off from beautiful sunlight and fresh air. You find that to supply these every-day benefits, which you have come to accept as commonplace, there are ventilating machines working to bring down the fresh air from above, and portable lamps, which will not cause explosion, to supply light, and that, where there is water, provision has been made for drainage. The walls of the mine, also, have to be strongly supported, in order that they may not fall and crush the workers or fill up the shaft. In deep-shaft mines, coal is carried to the surface by cages hoisted through the shaft. It is sorted and cleaned above ground. One of the largest uses of coal is found in the factories where numerous articles of iron and steel are made. The world of industry depends so much upon iron that it is called the metal of civilization. [Illustration: Iron Smelters.]