538 KEPOET OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGEICULTUEE. 



LAMPA8AS COUNTY. 



Mr. TF. /. McCausland, Lampasas. — We bouglit up Jast April, and turned over i<» 

 Captain C. 0. Howes, of the firm of Miles, Strevell & Howes, of Miles City, MoutanA 

 Territory, about 2,000 head of voiinjj cattle of this county. He carried thcju throii;;h 

 on the trail to their ranch iu ilontana Territory, and turned them loose witli their 

 native cattle, and all have dcno well — so they report. 



Also, last May, I started from here with '^.fiOO head of cattle, cows, yearlings and 

 tM o-years old, on rail to Valentine, Nehr., at which jjcint (Valentine) I threw into 

 ti:e Texa.s herd 400 head of cattle, raised just uortli of and shipped from Memphis, 

 Tenn., many of which were Durham cattle. We diovo the whole herd of 2.900 head 

 tlirouj^h from Valentine, Nehr., to Miles City, Mont., a drive of GOO miles, in May, 

 June, and July, being sixty-five days on the trail. On ihe 28th of July I turned them 

 over to Henry Tesler and to Frank Weatervelt, of Miles City. There were no sick 

 cattle from uuy cause from beginning to end. Tesler writes me they havH done ex- 

 ceedingly vrell. 



Also, our herds got mixed somewhat, iu NeVraska, with Missouri herds, and were 

 together during the sixty-five days' drive. The Missouri cattle were irom north of 

 the Missouri River. No sickjiess resulted from the mingling of the heuls, as all my 

 men will testify. I lost Bome cattle on the car;*, but it was from trampling, &o. 



Messrs. II. f. Hill, J. P. niggiHs. W.ll. WiUiamson, and ]V. I. McCausland, Lam- 

 pasas. — In tho fall of 1S71 and 1875, Mr. Thomas Sparks, of Lampasas, bronght to this 

 county 44 head of Durham cattle fro'n Cclcrado, and distributed them as follows To 

 JohnTownaen, Wat. Smith, TilTord Bean, He^ry Hill, and to others, and many of the 

 issrie of these cattle are scattered thrvugb this and adjoining counties. Of these cat- 

 tle a few were cows and the balar.ce yearlings. These all lived except 9 head, which 

 died a short time after reaching the State. Some were sick when they reached this 

 county, and nearly all that died were grown cattle. They ludd their heads down, 

 their ears drooped, had high fever, VrealLed rapidly, urine highly coloied, and their 

 bowels constipated. They .seemed to want to keep their heads in the shade. Death 

 followed in a week or ten days. TLey were .•?hii>ped byrail, and were exposed to ♦ho 

 sun, which was qtuto hot; the young stock did wA snlTer as much as the grown cat- 

 tle. The sickness may have come from tho great change of climate, the want ofpiifii- 

 cient water, and the discomrorts incidon" to rail transportation. 



Mr. Heury Hill, of Lampasas, has been driving large herds of cattle from this and 

 adjoining counties since 1B7J, and distributing tliem through Kansas, Colorado, and 

 Wyoming Territory, turning them out with native and othor cattle of these coun- 

 tries, and ho bos never known, during that time, any bad resnlteto follow. Mr. Hill 

 has sold to tho following parties: Batey Bros., Denver, Colo.; Sanford Cattle Com- 

 pany, Plattviilc, Colo. ; Van Buskirk, Catlin, Colo., and to others. 



Mr Thomas Sparks, above referred to, has large cattle interests in the northwest, 

 and has driven through, on the trail, with like results. Mr. J. Pink. Iligsins and John 

 Tcwnaen, both of Lampasas, say the same thing, to wit: "That the cattle carried 

 northwest by them from this county have never, to their knowledge, carried with 

 them any infectious disease." 



Mr. Lee A. Masty, then of Lampa.sas, but now cf K.ansas City, Mo., iu 1880, brought 

 30 or 40 head of young Durham cattle to this county from Dallas, Tex. These cattle 

 had all been recently shipped from Kentucky. They nearly all lived and did well. 

 Indeed, we do not know of any loss. 



Mr. William Wiliiaiusou, of' the firm of Brown & Williamson, of Lampasas, an ex- 

 tensive stockman, says he has known cattle to be brought from tho western, south- 

 ern, eastern, and northern counties of the State to this county, and that they did 

 well, showing no evidence of receiving or communicating any sickness. And al.so, 

 tliat cattle, especially those from the east ani south, on account of better feed, were 

 more thriving and became fatter tho farther north they went. 



MATAGOKDA COUNTY. 



Mr. A. H. Fierce, Banclio Grande. — I have licen as familiar and probably as well ac- 

 quainted over Texas as any man in it, having imported as many as SO Northern bulls 

 from Kentucky and Missouri at a time, of which I lost from 33 to 50 per cent, of every 

 lot brought in,' and while I live in the coast region of Matagorda and Wh.artou Conn- 

 tics, will state that Northern bulls die ofteuer with us than in any of tho counties 

 named in your circular, and our cattle drivon from Eastern Texas to tho counties 

 named do not contract disease at all, and cattle from those coirnties do not die when 

 brought to US. Every man has his own theory as regards Texas fever. I know there 

 is such a disease, but'ijot to such extent as reported ; the cry is raised for self-intei- 

 est, and it will regulate itself in the next eighteen months. Tex.as fever iscaused be- 

 yond a doubt from handling stock badly^late in the season, when the weather is too 



