California Horticulturist and Live Stock Journal. 



Of all this territory there remains unsold, 

 the property of the United States and Texas, 

 about 1, 000,000, UOO acres. If we make a liberal 

 allowance for laud suitable for tillage, which 

 is mainly found in the eastern halves of the 

 four tirst-named divisions, and in portions of 

 Oregon and California, and also for water and 

 rock surfaces, and such forests as are dense 

 enough to preclude pasturage — say an aggre- 

 gate of 500,000,000— there would remain 

 about 700,000,000 of acres suitable for pastur- 

 age, aud scarcely valuable for anything else, 

 furnishing both summer and winter grazing 

 of the most nutritious gi-asses of greater or 

 less abundance in the different sections. Here 

 then is a pasture twenty times as large as Illi- 

 nois, twenty-eight times as large as Ohio, and 

 equal to 120 States like Vermont. Aud on 

 the area of more than 100 such States the an- 

 nual crop of herbage is utterly wasted, while 

 the laboring people of Europe are cryiug for 

 meat, and millions in our own cities are crav- 

 ing earnestly the boon of a single cent reduc- 

 tion per pound in their beef supjilies. If we 

 allow ten acres of this unutilized pasturage 

 for a term of five years to produce a steer 

 weighing net 500 jiounds, the annual gain in 

 beef at five cents per pound would equal the 

 value of the cotton crop, or nearly §300,000,- 

 000. This is but $25 per head, and I have 

 known a sale of 1,000 fat bullocks upon those 

 western plains at $50 per head. These fig- 

 ures are merely suppositious as to the grazing 

 capacity of this area, aud can be modified to 

 suit the most conservative views without 

 gi-eatly reducing the magnificent saving which 

 would result from complete utilization of our 

 grasses. A very handsome sum might be 

 added from similar savings throughout the 

 Southern States. 



The numbers of cattle on this area were 

 placed at nearly 5,000,000 in 1800 iu the cen- 

 sus, aud in 1870 at nearly 5,500,000. There 

 were at least a million that escaped registry by 

 census officers, as they have a record by local 

 assessors, aud the present numbers are not 

 less than 7,000,000. In official estimates they 

 have never been placed above 0,000,000, but 

 constantly accumulating testimony sufficiently 

 proves the existence of fully 7,000,000. 



The Texas State returns of 1870 reported 

 3,051,310 from 118 counties, "ll other coun- 

 ties being mmked in the tabulation "unor- 

 ganized," "no return," or as attached to 

 other counties, and the table itself labelled, 

 "returus incomplete." Most of the 41 are 

 new counties, yet they coutaiu a considerable 

 number of unreported cattle. A greater de- 

 ficiency still comes from the fact that the most 

 conscientious cattle-raisers return the number 

 which they feel quite sure of finding easily 

 upon the range, and that the less conscien- 

 tious report the smallest number for taxation 

 that the internal contest between their cupid- 

 ity and caution and their conscientiousness 

 will allow. Since 1870 the heavy trade in 

 stock driven to Kansas, shipped to New Or- 

 leans, or packed, or otherwise prepared, has 

 reduced the actual numbers of 1870, as is 

 claimed by local authorities. In some co\in- 

 ties, in which immigration is active, in the 

 eastern and northern parts of the State, this 

 is undoubtedly the case, the large herds being 

 all in the western section. But one county 

 east of the Brazos has 50,000 cattle; there are 

 eighteen west of that river, as follows: 



AtaBcoBa l(;B,7fi4 



AuKlin ri8,-J(ir. 



Bue («,.in 



Bell 64,il4li 



Bi-xar 02.044 



Dc Witt till,l)l',l 



Flirt Bond riii.K;i:i 



Goliad (14. 7.11) 



Gouzalos 75,'27l) 



HarriB 77,117 



.Tai'tson 



I.jivaca 



.Matafiunla . ... 

 Muilina . 



fir,,.'-i42 

 65,:j:i.") 

 78,311 

 51.971 



Nuet-eB isa.oiw 



RefURiii S'I.4(IS 



San Saba 51,:i'2.5 



llvalilo 67.172 



WilliajiiKuu 50,144 



Tutal 1,445,141 



The increase of population in Texas, the 

 encroachments of soil culture upon pasturage, 

 and the extension of cattle-driving and ship- 

 ment, are rapidly diminishing the proportion 

 of numbers of stock to population. In 1800 

 there were 485 stock cattle and 'Ji) cows to 

 each 100 of population; in 1870, though herds 

 increased during the war, there were but 374 



and 52 respectively, by census computation. 

 The order of precedence, at the former date, 

 of States having more "oxen and other cattle" 

 than people, are: Texas, California, Florida, 

 Oregon, Washington Territory and Nebraska; 

 in 1870 there were only Texas, Florida, and 

 Washington Territory. 



* Virginia in 1860 is restricted to its present boun- 

 daries for the purpose of comparison, and West Vir- 

 ginia in 1870 is compared with the same area as in 1860. 



Texas thus had nine times as many cows as 

 Massachusetts in 18G0 iu proportion to popu- 

 lation, aud forty-four times as many other 

 cattle; aud in 1870, seven to one and fifty- 

 three to one respectively, the disproportion 

 becoming less as to cows aud greater as to 

 other cattle. These States represent extremes 

 iu cattle supply. The table will furnish at a 

 glance any comparison of sections desired. 

 An increase iu both milch cows and othei- cat- 

 tle, iu proportion to advance in population, is 

 made only in Iowa, Dakota, and Kansas, but 

 the proportion of cows has also increased in 

 New York, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. This 

 advance is due to the growth of the dairy in- 

 terest in New York, and mainly iu the other 

 States to the comparative assumption by stock 

 growing of its proper position in farm econ- 

 omy of the more recently-settled jjrairie 

 States. 



There is a wide variation in prices in differ- 

 ent sections of this pastoral area. In the 

 mining territories the demand for working 

 oxen, beef, and milk, not to mention butter 

 aud cheese, has generally exceeded the sujiply, 

 aud kept prices well advanced. Texas, with 

 immense herds, without railroads or near 

 markets, is content with the lowest rales 

 known in the United States, and able to sup- 

 ply hundreds of thousands annually, three- 

 year-okls and upward, to the feeders aud 

 packers of the States, aud younger stock to 

 the stock rauches aud ranges of the territories. 

 The following averages, from official returus, 

 represent very faii-ly these dill'ereucOB iu prices 

 of uilch cows: 



The variation in prices in different counties 

 in Texas is large, depending mainly upon the 

 comparative prominence of stock-growiug and 

 general agriculture. Galveston is an extreme 

 case, the prices of stock of one, two, three, 

 and four or more years old, ranging from $9 

 to $36. The next highest prices are in Collin, 

 a northern wheat-growing county, claimed to 

 be one of the most fertile in the State, rang- 

 ing from $5 50 for yearhngs to $20 for full- 

 grown cattle. Titus returns $5 50 to $18. 

 In Comanche, a thinly-settled stock-raising 

 county, with a name properly suggestive of 

 Indians, the figures run from $1 to $10. The 

 averages for the State of these four classes 

 are, respectively, $3 18, $5 28, $8 10, and 

 $11 82. The highest price returned iu Janu- 

 ary for cows was $30 iu Harris, and $20 in 

 Collin, Ellis aud Marion. The lowest figures 

 are $6 iu Mason, $8 in Cherokee and Fayette, 

 and $9 iu Live Oak. The State assessment 

 of stock cattle is usually about $4, scarcely 

 ever reaching $5. My estimate of present 

 real value is $7 50. 



The profit of well-directed stock-growing 

 enterprise in Texas has been large, even 

 princely. It is claimed that it costs less to 

 raise an ox there than a chicken on the At- 

 lantic coast. While money is essential to 

 large and immediate returns, it is, perhaps, 

 true that in no other section of the country 

 can an industrious poor man arrive at compe- 

 tency with so little effort, especially if en- 

 gaged in stock-growiug. I have an account 

 of an old lady iu Mason county, who started 

 with several chickens, a pig, a cow, an old 

 pony, aud a boy of twelve years to assist her, 

 and who, in five years, attained an annual 

 income ol $2,000 in gold. 



Cattle do well in nearly all parts of Texas, 

 from the salt fliits on the coast to the moun- 

 tains, !md from the Kio Grande to the cane 

 bottoms of lied River. The pine woods re- 

 gion of the east is less desii-able than other 

 sections, having less nutritious grasses, though 

 they are quite sufficient for local requirements. 

 The black-wheat lands of the northern central 

 counties, at least twenty in number, are more 

 valuable for general culture than mere graz- 

 ing. Western Texas is the chosen home of 

 the grazier, from the mouth of the Rio Grande 

 to the northern limit of "the Panhandle," 

 near the southern hue of Colorado — a pasture 

 eight degrees of latitude in length, without 

 fencing or rental, now, as heretofore, full of 

 cattle, having literally "millions in it." Yet 

 all sections are not equally full, immense 

 tracts hiiving comparatively few. The cattle 

 region is west of the Brazos, mostly west of 

 the Colorado, aud the favorite locations are in 

 the country drained by the Nueces and Atas- 

 cosa. The largest herds are iu the southern 

 half of this western belt, the more northern 

 counties being subject to incursions from In- 

 dians, as well as the more distant and almost 

 nukuowu divisions, Presidio, El Paso, aud the 

 "Panhandle," through which runs the Cana- 

 dian Itiver. In all this region summer aud 

 winter pa.sture is free to all, the owners of the 

 cattle owning little or none of the land, which 

 belongs to the State of Texas. The cost of 

 raising stock is practically expressed in full in 

 the expense of branding, watching, and gath- 

 ering for Side. Drovers are accustomed to 

 gather up droves of 500 to 1,000 cattle, three 

 or four years old for brief feeding for beef, 

 aud two years old for stock-ranches in Kan- 

 sas or the Territories. He takes a power of 

 attorney from the owners, authorizing him to 

 drive and sell their cattle, and the hide and 

 cattle inspector takes notice of every brand 

 aud ear mark, aud classifies them as to age 

 and value, aud the ins])ection is recorded iu 

 the County Clerk's office, coustituting a legal 

 indebteduess of the drover for every animal 

 thus taken. 



The trade of drovers has been very brisk 

 since 1870. On the Old Chisholm trail, from 

 May 1 to November 11, 1872, 202 drovers 

 passed Ciddwell, Kansas, with 349,275 cattle, 

 making tho avi>rage per drove very nearly 

 1,200, tho largest droves being, 1,500 by Lit 

 tie i!c Perryuian, 3,000 by Brooks & Miiliig;iii, 



