SKETCH OF MODERN AGRICULTURE ioi 



for the husking of corn. Fortunately, however, there is no 

 such need of haste in the harvesting of the corn crop as in 

 the harvesting of the wheat crop. 



Cattle ranching. During the period now under discussion 

 the cattle industry in the Far West underwent a most interesting 

 and spectacular development. Cattle ranching has always been 

 asscciated with our frontier life, particularly in Virginia and the 

 Carolinas. After the acquisition of Texas the American cattle- 

 men who had already penetrated that territory took over the 

 ranching business and reorganized it. The descendants of the 

 Spanish cattle brought over by Cortes and his followers had mul- 

 tipl]ed rapidly in the mild climate of Mexico, which then included 

 Texas, where they had run wild for more than two hundred years. 

 Thdr Mexican owners found no satisfactory market for anything 

 except hides and tallow, which bore transportation well. There- 

 fore their chief interest in these herds of cattle was shown by 

 their periodic harvests of these two products. Under American 

 dominion, however, American cattlemen made various attempts 

 to open up a market for Texas beef. As early as 1857 a few 

 Texas cattle were driven to the cornfields of Illinois, but they did 

 not become popular. During the Civil War the outlet for Texas 

 cattle was cut off and yet the cattle continued to multiply. Con- 

 sequently the ranges were ready to swarm in the late sixties. 



1 1 had been discovered that the grasses of the northern plains 

 were very nutritious and would support cattle even during the 

 winter season. From several sources 1 the story is told that this 

 discovery was made by accident by a teamster who was hauling 

 supplies to a United States fort in Utah. Being overtaken by a 

 snowstorm while on the Laramie plains in the winter of 1864- 

 1865, his supply of feed was soon exhausted and he turned his 

 ox( n out to shift for themselves, or, as he thought, to perish. 



1 Cf. J. H. Patton, The Natural Resources of the United States, pp. 387-388. 

 Also Joseph Nimmo, Report on Range Cattle, Washington, 1885. 



