892 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



efforts against the ever-advancing tide of settlers. Their long 

 lines of wire fence are being continually cut by the incoming 

 pioneers, and men just as determined and cool, and just as ex- 

 pert in the use of the ready revolver (and with law on their 

 side), are constantly pre-empting or homesteading the best quar- 

 ter sections all over their ranges, and it is only a question of 

 time who will be the victor, for the actual settler will take 

 the land. 



Many ranches are offered for sale because of this trouble, 

 while others are on the market because the grass within reason- 

 able reach of water has been almost completely tramped out by 

 over-stocking, or by careless, lazy herding, the cattle being per- 

 mitted to graze all the time, just as near to the water as possible, 

 when each day should have seen them driven out just as far as 

 the good of the herd would admit. Who wants a range where 

 the stock must make a round trip of twenty or twenty-five 

 miles for grass and water, or who would expect to realize sat- 

 isfactory results in such a case ? Persons selecting a ranch 

 must be wide awake and wary, or they will make mistakes in 

 this matter. 



The area required to give the best results in the pasturing 

 of cattle varies very much in different localities, and so much so 

 that one can only approximate when he says four acres to the 

 animal. 



The new-comer will be most agreeably surprised to see how 

 his herd will thrive, grow, and fatten, during a single season. 

 In many situations your cattle will not see a fly after getting 

 from the corral or bed-ground until their return to it at night, 

 and during the whole day you will scarcely see a brush in mo- 

 tion, while the grass is of such a nature that your stock never 

 scour, but lay on fat like corn-fed animals and make a truly 

 wonderful growth. 



New Beginners. Those who have followed me thus far, 

 in my attempt to say a helpful word for the new beginner, 

 doubtless see that I am not in very hearty sympathy with the 

 great cattle ranches of the West. There are thousands of loca- 

 tions, however, where a man may settle and begin with a few 



