348 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
more than double these prices. These rates, however, were abundantly 
remunerative under the conditions of cheap production then subsisting. 
When steamers began to touch at different points on the coast, and to 
ship beeves on the hoof to New Orleans and to other eastern and northern. 
markets, the stock-raisers near the seaboard were soon able to realize 
double the rates above named. During the later years of the rebel- 
lion, the blockade of the coast and of the Mississippi River, by the 
Union forces, cut off nearly all access to markets; but since the return 
of peace, and especially since the opening of the so-called Texas cattle- 
trade, prices have been constantly advancing. At a convention of 
Texas cattle-raisers, held in Live Oak County during the lasijautumn, 
the following tariff of prices was fixed, viz: For first-class animals, $15 
per head ; second class, $15; third class, $11. 
The extension of crop-raising agricultural settlements in the coast 
regions seriously deranged the conditions of cheap production of cattle, 
by raising the value of land and by restricting the range of free pasture. 
The stock business was then extended northward to the central region of 
high roiling prairies and even to the plateaus of Northern Texas, locali- 
ties scarcely less congenial to this attractive industry than even therich , 
plains of the coast They present large areas tolerably well watered, 
and sufficiently well timbered for the wants of the stock-raiser. The 
climate is mild and salubrious. The soil is a rich black mold, yielding, 
to a very imperfect culture, large crops of cerea!s and fruits. In their 
wild state the prairies are covered with excellent grasses, and already 
feed large herds of cattle, bearing the brands of different owners. 
Immense quantities of beef are annually lost, like the waste wood of 
the forest, for lack of means of preserving it. Hides rot on the ground 
for lack of tanneries, and because of the great cost of transportation 
to market, while imported leather is scarce and dear. Industry and trade 
are still in a very rudimentary condition, society being yet in a forma- 
tive state. 
Stock-raisers ave found in this region with herds rivaling those of the 
coast. Eighteen years ago Mr. John Hitson was toiling amid the timber of 
Rhea County, Tennessee, to clear a little land for corn and wheat. Dis- 
gusted at the prospect*of spending a lifetime in merely winning a foot- 
hold for future labor, he sold his land, and with 60 cows and 9 brood 
mares emigrated to what is now Palo Pinto County, on the Brogus: 
River. He now owns 50,000 acres of land and as many cattle. Mr. John 
Chisholm owns 30,000 head, Mr. G. W. Slaughter 20,000, Coggins & Parks 
20,000, Lacy & Coleman 12,000, Mr. Martin Childers 10,000. A large num- 
ber of smaller but still very considerable herds, the product of a few 
years of intelligent enterprise, are reported in these regions, showing a 
rapid growth in the cattle industry, and a capacity for still greater 
expansion. 
The number of cattle in Texas in 1870 is estimated at about 4 to 1 of 
the population; whereas, in the three great States of Ohio, Pennsyl- 
vania, and New York, the proportion is reversed. Texas is supposed 
to contain at least 3,000,000 beef cattle, besides 600,060 cows. There 
are annually raised and branded about 750,009 calves. From this 
basis of production, it is a question how long the demands of the present 
cattle-market canbe met. Theimpression is beginning to prevail that the 
enormous exportation both of stock cattle and of fat beeves has meas- 
urably curtailed production. To such an extent has this movement 
increased, that even yearlings are now driven to the pastures of Colorado 
and Kansas to fatten for eastern markets. The great demand for stock 
has also induced the occupancy of ill-watered districts, resulting in a 
