384 BARBOUK COUNTY, KANSAS. 



rano-e from one to three per cent. One source of loss is the black- 

 le"-, the only disease causing very serious results. The cause 

 of tliis disease is said to be too much nutriment. In skinning 

 the dead animals we find patches resembling bruises, or appear- 

 ing, as Ave frontiermen say, blood-shot. A preventive for this 

 is to pen early and turn out late, twice a week. 



INCOME. 



Not having managed this ranch for a very long time, I am 

 hardly prepared to state the yearly income. Thus far the steers 

 which have been sold the Summer or Fall after they were two 

 years old, have paid all expenses and m^de the improvements 

 on the ranch, leaving all the heifers for clear profit. Others, 

 who have been longer in the business, have done better than 

 this, putting back some of the money into more young stock. 



We raise no grain ; hay is our only crop, corn never having 

 been a success in this county. Corn is hauled in wagons from 

 the bottom lands of the Arkansas river, one hundred miles 

 away, and is worth here fifty cents per bushel. 



AMUSEMENTS. 



Reading is the favorite pastime ; we keep well supplied 

 with papers and market reports, so that we know what is going 

 on in the world of business and politics. Books appear as public 

 property — passing from ranch to ranch — and are read by all. 

 History is a favorite subject, though travels and novels are not 

 neglected. 



Croquet is the game best liked ; men and women, old and 

 young, join in the sport with a relish. Our grounds are thickly 

 shaded, so that it is pleasant out of doors, in the warmest days. 



The house games are dominoes, checkers, author-cards and 

 cards. 



The ladies enjoy horseback riding ; they always have their 

 ponies, and often gallop off in the morning five or ten miles to 

 see friends, returning at night. 



The evening, if we have no company, is passed, after the 

 lamp is lit, one hour in reading, one hour in games, half an 

 hour in conversation, then to bed. If we have company, and 



