THE ALABAMA OPPORTUNITY. 105 



"We have had no, trouble whatever with Texas fever, for 

 our registered cattle were shipped from below the inferi-ion line. 

 They came in from the neighborhood of Corpus Christi, Texas, 

 and were not therefore subject to Texas fever. Of the 500 we 

 had shipped in, notwithstanding a severe winter, I am satisfied 

 v:e did not lose 2 per cent 



"Most of our cattle will be sold in the Northern markets. 

 The Northern markets' afford a larger demand and a better 

 price than the Southern markets. Some of them, the pure blood 

 stock, will go for breeding purposes. The graded stock will 

 be sold for beef cattle. We figure that a graded yearling from 

 our place here can be put on the market weighing 1,200 pounds 

 and sold at 6 cents a pound on the hoof. We shipped last win- 

 ter a large number of graded cattle to the New Orleans market. 

 We will next January make our first big shipment to the Chi- 

 cago market." 



In our rounds we made a call upon the aristocratic and dig- 

 nified head of the heard, Royal Choice. Royal Choice a mag- 

 nificent Hereford bull is champion of the south. Before Mr. 

 Murphy bought him he won the sweepstakes prizes for all 

 classes at Fort Worth, Purcell and at other cattle fairs where 

 he was exhibited. 



A BOVINE ARISTOCRAT. 



Royal (^noice, as a yearling weighed 1,500 pounds when 

 he was bought by Mr. Murphy. From the top of its' withers 

 to the ground is only four feet, two inches, but he is seven feet, 

 four inches long and has a chest measurement of seven feet, 

 one inch. From his breast to the ground is only seven inches. 

 In s'pite of his long ancestry and his many claims to distinction 

 Royal Choice is quite amiable. 



The question of a sufficient water supply sometimes a serious 

 one in the prairies is by no means serious on the ranch. Mr. 

 Murphy has eight bored wells, all of them overflowing. Not-' 

 withs'tanding that he has a supply of water adequate for all 

 the needs of his 1,100 heard of cattle he is having three addi- 

 tional wells bored. 



On the Greene county place which is fifteen miles away there 

 are only 200 head of cattle at present but during the winter the 

 big heard of cattle from "The Ranch," will be driven down 

 there for winter pasturage in the cane. This place was formerly 



