145 
GEorGIA.—Harris: Pretty good. The hardest winter we have ever experienced. 
Dawson: Those that have been housed look well; those that have been exposed, in 
poor condition. Cobb: Those that have not been sheltered and well fed in very poor 
condition. The winter unusually cold and wet. McDuffee: Worse than for the last 
ten years. The oldest inhabitants say they never saw the cattle so poor and 
weak as they are now, and two-tenths will be sure to die this month. One 
farmer told me he had lost twenty-four out of forty head. We have had so much 
cold, snow, sleet, and rain that our cattle have died from the effects of the 
same. Our people do not prepare shelter for their cattle. The winters continue to 
get colder, and the cattle die out. We shall soon have to keep them better housed, or 
look to the West for our beef in summer and fall. Heard: Very poor for want of food 
and attention. Pulaski: Better than for the last ten years. Oglethorpe: Better than 
common where housed. Jefferson: Worse than for several years, owing to the unusu- 
ally severe winter, a general want of shelter, and a general scarcity of food. Brooks: 
Better than common, owing to the dry winter. 
_ FLortpa.—Gadsden: Unusually reduced, owing to the severity of the winter and the 
want of proper sheltering. Levy: Good in some parts. The dry weather of the past 
fall and winter improved the low range, but on the high woods and along the rivers, 
wheretheswamps were overflowed in1871,a great many have died. Madison : Fair, con- 
sidering that no “ winter quarters” are provided, and they are generally left to shift 
for themselves. Liberty: Better than for ten years. Swwannee: Good; some about fat 
enough for beef. Wakulla: Good; many of the dry cattle now fit for beef. 
ALABAMA.—Lauderdale: Very bad. Very few provide cover for cattle, and the last 
winter being very severe, they suffered, and many died. Barbour : Poor; no ‘‘ winter- 
quarters.” Wilcow: Very bad; spring backward, and no provision for feeding, and so 
they are dying from emaciation in large numbers. Marshall: More poor cattle than 
I ever saw before. The tanners have bought a large number of “ poverty hides.” 
MississipPi.—Attala ; Never worse; bad winter and lack of feed. Kemper: Looking 
badly ; no winter-quarters, and the winter unusually severe and protracted. Tishemingo: 
Weak for the want of food and shelter. Madison: Bad; the severest weather within the 
memory of “the oldest inhabitant.” La Fayette: Average; the open woods and fields 
their only winter-quarters. Jones: Those fed during the winter in good condition, 
those not fed in bad. 
Lovuistana.—Avoyelles : Excellent, although last summer, autumn, and winter the most 
protracted and severe droughtever known prevailed here. The winter was one of the cold- 
est on record, nevertheless the cattle have come out of the swamps in unusually good 
condition. Few,ifany,perished. Iberia: Very poor; never winter-fed. Carroll: Very 
bad, owing to the extremely cold winter; no weather-sheds, and in many cases nothing 
to eat when the ground is covered with snow. Some feed cotton-seed: jin such cases 
there has been little or no loss. Richland: Many have died from exposure and insuffi- 
cient food. West Feliciana: Poor and bad; no attention paid to feeding in winter. 
East Feliciana: Better than usual; run at large in winter. La Fourche: Better than 
last year, owing to the dry winter. 
Texas.— Barnet: Very bad, owing to severity of the winter and scarcity of food. Red 
River: Very poor; many have died. Austin: Worse than since 1860. Loss very heavy. 
Fort Bend: A large number of the cattle, which are never fed here in winter, have died 
from cold and hunger. Collin: Poor. Have to depend on the range. Many have died. 
Navarro: Very bad, owing to the continued drought in summer and fall, cutting off 
the supply of grass, followed by an extremely cold and wet winter. Bandera: A severe, 
cold storm of sleet in the latter part of January killed an immense number of cattle. 
Atoscosa: Minus at least one-third, and what are left are quite feeble. Fayette: Very 
poor and weak; winter very severe, and where they had to depend on the range alone 
for food, a great many died. Upshur: Good; farmers were better prepared to feed 
their stock than usual. Williamson: Wintered well; grass now good; stock improv- 
ing very fast. Kaufman: Poor; fully 50 per cent. have died this winter from the extreme 
severity of the weather and lack of grass to keep stock in living order, the range having 
given out. The mortality has been greater with stock-cows and one and two year old 
cattle. Coryell: Thin. The main cause is what we call “ the heel-fly,” which is an insect 
about the size of the common gad-fly, but has a long tail like the bat-fly. On warm 
days in February and until the latter end of March it troubles our cattle very much. 
It makes them perfectly frantic. They will dash over the high bluffs or anything that 
comes in their way. They cannot feed, and their only relief is to stand in water. The 
fly seems to only trouble them about the feet. The result is that a great many die 
every spring for the want of sufficient time to graze. Lavaca: Winter-quarters for 
cattle and sheep are not known in this county; everything in that line is left to shift 
for itself. If they survive, well and good; if not, their owners go and skin them and 
sell the hide for nearly as much as the animal would bring alive at present prices 
here. Thousands almost have died during this winter, which was very severe, and 
those which weathered it through are very poor yet, but improving, as our grass on 
