104 THE ALABAMA OPPORTUNITY. 



I had the experience of a night spent at the ranch. In the 

 late afternoon of the warmest day of the hot spell. I made the 

 ten mile trip with Tom Murphy, the younger, who is displaying 

 great zeal and energy in making the Hale county ranch a com- 

 plete success. We made the journey in a four-wheeled buck- 

 board, a Western institution, whose advantages for rough work 

 Mr. Murphy knew, and because of which he had the buckboard 

 imported from Texas'. 



The motive power was a pair of gray Texas ponies, loosely 

 hitched up. They were remarkable travelers. They struck a 

 trot in the business portion of Greensboro, and the trot, not- 

 withstanding the heat of the evening, was not broken until we 

 pulled up in front of the ranch house, ten miles away. The 

 journey both going and returning was made in less than an hour 

 over roads that were rather rough. 



At the ranch we met the riders, they would be called cowboys 

 cut West, Gervin, Duggar and Miller, all mounted on Texas 

 ponies, with big saddles, quirts and lassoes. The two of us 

 from Greensboro saddled mustangs and galloped over the ranch 

 for a look at the pastures and the big herd. 



The 2,000 acres embrace what was really three old planta- 

 tions, the Hill, the Moore and the Robinson places. The land 

 came into Mr. Murphy's possession three years ago. Last Feb- 

 ruarv two years' ago he broke up the old cotton fields and sowed 

 them in mellilotus, Johnson grass, hairy vetch and Bermuda 

 grass. 



THE LUXURIANT GRASS. 



The way grass thrives on this place is, to say the least, re- 

 markable. In one of the pastures we visited the mellilotus and 

 the Johnson were so high that the fat and handsome Herefords 

 grazing in it were all but hid. The herd was in magnificent 

 condition. 



"We have in all, including calves, about 1,100 head," said 

 Murphy. "Some of them are registered Herefords and Short 

 Horns of the purest breed. As we have some Polled Angus, 

 but we believe that the best beef cattle are the Herefords, with 

 the Short Horns next. The Herefords use better, they stand 

 the hardships better and they are better shippers than cows of 

 other breeds. All of our cattle of course are not of pure blood. 

 We bought a number of scrub cattle and many of our herd are 

 of graded stock. 



