THE SPLENIC FEVEK. 107 



mesquit, and they look upon Texas as a center whence the world may be supplied with 

 beeves. 



There is every reason for believing that Texas must remain one of the greatest, if not 

 the greatest, cattle-growing State of the Union ; but its progress and prosperity demand 

 that farmers should be informed of the conditions which are ever in operation against 

 them, and they will doubtless bring their intelligence and industry to bear in correcting 

 evils that are far from imaginary. 



Inquiries as to the diseases of Texan cattle in Texas are almost always met by people 

 of that State by the declaration that cattle are never sick there; yet a &quot;norther&quot; may 

 sweep down and drive the cattle upon a narrow neck of land, where they starve at times 

 for want of food; drought, as in 1864, sometimes destroys thousands; while in the win 

 ter excessive wet destroys the grasses, favors diarrhoea, and unless the cattle can get in 

 the woods and eat some swamp moss, wild onions, or other products of the river bottoms, 

 they must occasionally succumb. 



The close of 1868 and beginning of 1869 have been remarkable for an excessive 

 amount of rain. Cattle have suffered greatly, and on all the sedge grass lands along the 

 Brazos starvation has not been uncommon. Further west, on the mesquit, not far from 

 Corpus Christi, cattle have been in fair condition ; but some idea of the scarcity of really 

 fat cattle during the winter months may be obtained from the fact that, at Indianola, 

 cattle for New Orleans market could not be had under twenty dollars in gold. We hear 

 so much of cattle being worth only a few dollars a head in summer, and people killing them 

 by the thousand for their hides and tallow, that the only reason to be given for heavy win 

 ter prices is the scarcity of really fat stock, and the great distance it has to be driven, even 

 to such a port as Indianola. 



I have seen many large herds of Texan cattle that had been wintered in Illinois, 

 Indiana, or Missouri, and have made myself acquainted with the average weight of cattle 

 in Texas, and one most important fact appears, viz., that a Texan steer will increase in 

 twelve months on the grasses of a more northern latitude than that of his native State, 

 by one, two, or three hundred pounds over and above the highest weight he will ever 

 attain in Texas. Let us take the cattle fed on the mesquit, said to be fat all the year 

 round and where, therefore, an animal has not to make up for lost condition and age 

 for age, it will take three of them to weigh down the Illinois steer, and probably four. I 

 take the best and the average, and it will be found, on careful examination, that the cattle 

 on the noted grasses of Texas, whether from the soil, heat, water, or other cause, do not 

 attain the weight and condition that the same cattle do if removed to the north, nor that 

 northern or western cattle do on their native prairies. 



Texans are finding this out, and, much to their credit, they are introducing a system 

 of corn-feeding that gives them cattle that can compete in western markets with other 

 corn-fed cattle. They can, it is true, show us some prodigies from mesquit grounds, but the 

 average run of grass-fed cattle in Texas might be greatly .improved by attention to the 

 subjects of breeding, shelter, artificial feeding, &c. 



What are the active causes in operation which tend to influence prejudicially the 

 stamina of southern herds? Traveling over the prairies, no one can fail to be struck by 

 the large number of dead animals to be met with. The dissection of these, or the slaughter 

 and dissection of the first animal met with, reveals three distinct and unfavorable mani- 



