THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[January, 



more marketable, take their place. As a re- 

 sult, there is an increasing demand for the 

 plains cattle. The Texas herders see this, 

 and out of last season's " drives" from the 

 Red Elver country, numbering: about 350,000 

 head of cattle, about one-third, instead of 

 being marketed, were driven westward to 

 feed until another season, and then to be 

 shipped east as Colorado or Laramie plains 

 beef. 



While five or six 3'ears ago cattle in this 

 section were herded in sufficient quantities 

 only for the limited local demand, such as 

 comes from the scattering settlements and 

 military posts, and the business did not at- 

 tract much attention, it is now grown to such 

 importance that it seems likely in a few years 

 to be more extensive and profitable than gold 

 or silver mining. The returns are large, and 

 it is noticeable that a greater share of the cap- 

 ital that has come this way during the last 

 year has been put into stock as the safest 

 and best investment. There are large num- 

 bers of moneyed men, out of health, who have 

 their cattle ranch on the plains or in the parks 

 and are getting the double returns of restored 

 health and multiplied ducats. 



The tendency to go into the cattle business 

 in a large way seems to be growing. The 

 amount of capital represented in some of the 

 herds is sufficient to run a national bank. 

 Five hundred or a thousand cattle are looked 

 upon as of verv small account, although from 

 $10,000 to $-20^000 is represented. The aver- 

 age herds run from 1,000 to 3,000 head. 

 There are manv having from 8,000 to 10,000, 

 and several from 20,000 to 40,000. At only 

 SIO through and through here is from .$200,"- 

 000 to S400,000 in a single herd, to say noth- 

 ing of the corrals, the hundreds of ponies, the 

 hired "cow-boys," the grain and feed in store, 

 and the reserve fund necessary in handling 

 such a "bunch" of cattle. While most of the 

 herds are owned by individuals and firms, the 

 capital invested is larger than that actually 

 employed bv companies in working some of 

 the most extensive gold and silver mines of 

 the Rocky mountains. 



It is estimated that there are 40,000 square 

 miles of grazing lands, fit for herding and 

 nothing else, west of the Kansas borders, be- 

 tween the Union Pacific and Atchison, To- 

 peka and Santa Fe railfoads. Owing to the 

 rapid increase of cattle, many of the best 

 ranges have been eaten off, so that new 

 ranches, bandy to water, are at all times 

 sought for. The sheep men have baen grad- 

 ually invading this field. Grazing as they 

 both do upon the public domain, the only 

 right one has over the other is priority of 

 settlement. The states and territories cannot 

 legislate upon the matter. Quarrels have at 

 times come up, and at one time, two years 

 ago, there was such a bitter feeling that con- 

 siderable numbers of sheep were killed by the 

 cattle men, followed by retaliation in kind. 

 The two interests seem to be antagonistic, 

 and, as if by common consent, the sheepmen, 

 at least those doing business on the largest 

 scale, are operating south of the Arkansas 

 and in the San Luis valley. Northern New 

 Mexico is a kind of paradise for them, though 

 there is occasionally trouble from the fact 

 that cattle men are also carrying on a large 

 business in some parts of tliat territory. It 

 may not be generally known that stock rais- 

 ing is an extensive and profitable business in 

 the slow territory of New Mexico. The 

 largest herds are to be found there. One 

 man owns forty-two townships, which he has 

 stocked with 60,000 head of cattle. New 

 Mexico cattle are of an inferior grade, as no 

 attention has been paid to breeding up. This 

 is also the case with sheep, wliich in some 

 districts seem to cover the country for miles. 

 A limited number of families, mostly pure 

 Castilians, have absorbed and own nearly all 

 the flocks, prominent among whom may be 

 named the Armijo family, who have 2.50.000 

 sheep. They drive to Denver every spring 

 from 10,000 to 20,000 for market. 



To return, however, to our subject — a talk 

 about cattle. It seems as if the next few 



years were to lai'gely change the beef supply 

 of the East. Instead of coming from Texas, 

 as novf, the best and most will come from the 

 old buffalo ranges in Western Kansas, Color- 

 ado and Wyoming. 



There are now more cattle on the plains 

 than ever before. Large numbers from the 

 Texas "drives" instead of being marketed at 

 once are driven westerly over the ranges to 

 feed a few months before being sold. Generally 

 cattle winter well, without shelter or much if 

 any feed beyond what they get by grazing. 

 Last winter was open and mild, without any 

 hard storms or severe weather. But the 

 winter before that was unprecedentedly cold 

 and thousands of cattle perished. On the 

 average the stockmen take chances and come 

 out without much loss from exposure ; but it 

 is found best to be prepared for storms and 

 extreme weather, and it is now customary 

 among tho most experienced herders to have 

 shelter and feed for their flocks during the 

 winter. 



The plains cattle men are not wholly de- 

 pendent upon the ups and downs of eastern 

 markets. Some of them have a regular de- 

 mand for their beeves from the markets of 

 Denver, Cheyenne and the large towns of 

 Colorado and Wyoming, and large numbers 

 are driven into the mountains to supply the 

 miners' camps. The sales to butchers in 

 Denver last season amounted to $15.(J00, and 

 to the mountain trade $165,000. During the 

 past summer there has been a brisk demand 

 from the San Juan country and from the new 

 towns in the Black Hills. There has been a 

 good deal of risk and much loss in trying to 

 drive cattle into the latter region, owing to 

 the frequent Indian raids and stampeding ; 

 but where a man could get through safely he 

 had no trouble in disposing of his beeves at a 

 high price. Fat cattle are worth 8. cents per 

 pound on the hoof at Deadwood. At the 

 older settled towns along the line of the rail- 

 ways in Colorado and Wyoming the price of 

 beef is moderate, but high enough to give a 

 good profit to the drover. At Denver the 

 price is from 2^ to 3 cents. It retails in the 

 butcher-shops at 10 cents for round steaks, 

 and 15 for sirloin. The market is easily af- 

 fected, in an upward direction, by an over- 

 shipment to the East, leaving a supply of 

 marketable beeves short, or by a stampede in 

 the winter. Very often a cold, windy snow 

 storm will be followed by an advance, as for 

 instance, last spring, when beeves advanced 

 to 5 cents per pound on the hoof, and for 

 some weeks retailed at the butcher-shops at 

 20 to 25 cents jier pound. 



But at the low prices for beef cattle now 

 prevailing the plains drovers have no very 

 discouraging outlook. What deiiresses the 

 Texas drover and entails upon him heavy 

 losses has very little effect upon the Colorado 

 drover. The cost of raising beeves, and the 

 losses by stampede, thieving and Indians, are 

 not nearly so great as in the Red River 

 country. The Colorado drover can at any 

 time get his beef, fat and sleek, into the 

 Kansas City market, right off the range, in 

 flye days' time, and thus take advantage of a 

 rise. On the other hand the method of 

 marketing Texas cattle is to drive them 

 across the country, north, to the Kansas 

 Pacific and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 

 railroads, taking generally two months' time, 

 and then holding them at considerable ex- 

 pense for feed, at the shipping points until 

 prices are favorable. A hurried glance at 

 how the Texas drover has fared in this way 

 ma^' be taken. He is always more or less at 

 the mercy of the si)eculators, wlio every 

 spring go down early into the cattle districts 

 and spread the most doleful accoiuits of the 

 prosi)ects for the coming season's ti'ade. If 

 the times are dull and the drover hard up 

 they have all the better chance to frighten 

 and sipieeze him. The result is< large 

 contracts for beeves, to be delivered at 

 such a time to certain shipping points. 

 :: Whole herds have, during the past few sea- 

 sons, often been bought up at $3 per head, or 

 culled out at $5 per head. This is from 25 to 



.30 cents per 100 pounds gross. From the year 

 I860, when what is known as the annual 

 Texas cattle "drives" began, until this year, 

 the business has been a series of ups and downs, 

 more particularly the latter. Take, for in- 

 stance, the experience of 1866, when the 

 Southwest was undergoing the pinch of hard 

 times. Everybody was anxious to sell. Money 

 was scarce. Some who could count their long 

 horns by the tens of thousands could hardly 

 raise cash enough for their ordinary wants. In 

 fact, a man's poverty was almost according to 

 the size of his herd. The " drive" of 1866 into 

 western Kansas numbered 260,000 head. 

 The drover went forward with visions of betr 

 ber times and big pay for his beef but was des- 

 tined to meet with unlocked for difficulties. 

 Bands of outlaws infested the "trail," and if 

 they could not by some nieans make away 

 with the drover and steal the whole herd, 

 would at night time stampede the cattle in 

 every direction, and seize the opportunity to 

 gather up and hniiy off what they could. 

 His lo.sses were fearful, and many of the ris- 

 ing cattle kings were " .snuffed out." In later 

 years the Texas drover has been put to great 

 annoyance and loss by the laws of Kansas 

 legislature establishing "dead lines, "and com- 

 pelling shipments each year to be made at 

 points much further west, lengthening the 

 drives and turning them into sections where 

 food is short and dear. 



During the past eight years about 3,000,000 

 Texas beeves were put upon the mai'ket. In 

 1874 450,000 head were handled, the cost value 

 of which at the shipping points in Kansas was 

 only §5,000,000 ; and when finally sold to 

 butchers and packers, $2,000,000. This was a 

 poor year for the business. The grasshopper 

 plague depressed everything. There was no 

 feed, and so the drovers hurried to market, 

 the supply being so great and the quality so 

 poor that prices were down, down. 



The cattle-men of the plains sutler none of 

 these drawbacks. Stock is easily raised, mul- 

 tiplies fiist, and is of better quality and gen- 

 eralty in better condition for market than the 

 Texans; the drovers and old hands at the 

 trade give a good deal of attention to impro- 

 ving the breeds and are carrying on their 

 business in a methodical, business-like way, 

 and have good markets at their command, all 

 of which seems to point to the "Great Ameri- 

 can Desert" as the Texas of tlie future. 



BLACKBERRIES. 



Price of Berries. 



Blackberries have sold readily for several 

 years past at from 12} to 15 cents per quart. 

 They will be likely to sell well for many years 

 to come, as they can be used in so many ways, 

 and the demand will increase with the supply. 

 Some patches will be planted on unsuitable 

 soil, and will not pay cost ; others, in the 

 most favorable locations, will be suffered to 

 grow at random, becoming large and rank 

 and producing but little fruit. 



How to Raise Bountiful Crops. 



To insure good crops requires close atten- 

 tion ; the canes should be kept thin and well 

 headed back ; and on jioor land an occasional 

 dressing of manure, muck, or fertilizer of 

 some kind, adds to the quantity and quality of 

 the fruit. 



There is no necessity for the market to be 

 overstocked with the fruit, as it pays well to 

 make it into wine. Three quarts of black- 

 berries and three pounds of sugar, with the 

 addition of a little water, will make a gallon 

 of excellent wine, highly recouunended for its 

 medicinal properties, and worth $2.00 per 

 gallon, while new ; and its value increases 

 with age. All the poorer berries, those that 

 are too ripe to ship to market, may be pro- 

 perly converted into wine at home ; and only 

 the finest and most perfect fruit sent to mar- 

 ket, which will always command a fair price. 

 What Kinds to Plant. 



Having tested over thirty varieties of black- 

 berries, besides many seedlings of our own 

 growing, we would name as those which axe 



