ITS ADVANTAQES! ITS CONDITIONS 1 ITS PROSPECTS I 



with proper care and attention, tlie finest 

 and largest can be grown liere, but only 

 in a few instances has mule raising been 

 pursued as a profession or special occu- 

 pation. The question of packing facto- 

 ries is now being discussed all over the 

 state, and the city of Monroe has talsen 

 the initiative by organizing the first cor- 

 porate body proposing to establish such a 

 foctory. Assurances are given that this 

 factorV will be in succes.sful operation by 

 another vear, and with its establishment 

 new life" will be given to the farmers of 

 north ryouisiana. whuse experiouce m 

 stoclv raising justify the belief that under 

 proper management, they <'an grow hogs 

 -•ind <'attle as cheaply as anywhere else 

 in the world. Packing factories are 

 needed also at Shreveport. Alexandria, 

 Lake Charles. Opelousas. Hatou Rouge 

 and New Orleans and elsewhere, and cap- 

 italists will tind this field an inviting 

 and profitable one for the investment of 

 surplus capital. Farmers will grow the 

 hogs and cattle as soon as they are as- 

 sured that near markets can be obtained 

 ■for them. 



CATTLE RAISING 



•on the ranch system was once largely 

 practiced in the prairies of southwest 

 Louisiana and the profits were large. 

 This industry has been destroyed bv the 

 private entry and occupancy of all these 

 prairie lands by sturdy settlers from the 

 northwest, who have transformed them 

 into beautiful hemes and prosperous 

 farms. The raising of cattle, improved 

 (•attle, by farmers is now the iiuestion 

 for solution. Many are essaying it with 

 success. Improved breeds have been in- 

 troduced and tried. The Jersey has so 

 far been the most popular breed. Many 

 -excellent cows of this breed are to be 

 found all o\er the state, and the tables 

 of many a farmer is daily supplied with 

 gilt-edged butter made on his own farm. 

 The Devons have also been successfully 

 tried, and the opirion is fast growing 

 that "for all-round purposes" it is the 

 best breed for the small farmer to grow. 

 The Guernseys have been tried to a 

 limited extent and are quite popular. 

 The Holsteins, short-horns and Here- 

 fords have also been experimented with, 

 and upon rich alluvial lands, where "long 

 croppings" of grass can be obtained, 

 they do well. Upon uplands, prairies 

 and pine woods the smaller breeds are to 

 be jireferred. There is one serious draw- 

 back to southern cattle raising, which 

 will be overcome by the establishment 

 of packing factories in the south, i. e., 

 the .southern cattle fever, known also as 

 the "Texas fever," "Spanish fever," 

 and, locally, as "murrain." "red water," 

 etc. There is an imaginary line running 

 ■down the Atlantic coast south of Rich- 

 mond, Va., through North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mis- 

 sissippi, Arkansas and Texas, which 

 marks the limit of the infected district. 

 Louisiana and Florida are wholly in this 

 district. All cattle brought frcm above 

 this line into this district are subject to 

 this disease, which is alarmingly fatal. 

 Native cattle, raised below this line, 

 while really healthy, carry along with 

 them the seed of the disease and convey 

 them to the cattle with which they come 

 in contact. Hence, a national quaran- 

 tine is established by the United States 

 government against ail cattle going from 

 this section to northern markets during 

 ■I'ertain months of the year. It has been 



definitely determined that the velii -I -s 

 of transmission of this disease is the 

 southern tick — boophilus (iNodos) bovis- 

 and our southern eallle carry them on 

 their bodies when transporled elsewhere. 

 The.se ticks droii from tlieui in the cars, 

 on the pastures, or in the si able yards, 

 and afterwards, reaching other ca.tle. 

 inoculate them with the virus of the 

 southern fever. The bureau of animal 

 industry at Washington has iiublished 

 many interesting investigations upon this 

 line in their reports, to which the reader 

 is referred for details. This <iuai-antine 

 has seriously militated against general 

 cattle raising in the south, since all our 

 markets and packing-hotises are no.-th 

 of us. Could packiug-hoi-ses be estab- 

 lished in the south, this embargo would 

 be virtually removed, and a great im 

 petus would be given to cattle raising. 



Conversely, it is found that nearly 

 every head of cattle imported from the 

 north to the south suffers the first sum- 

 mer afterwards from an attack of this 

 fever. Of the number attacked a large 

 number die. The amount of money spent 

 in the south since the war by the loss of 

 imported cattle from this disease, would 

 endow liberally a bureau of veterinary 

 science for the special study of cattle 

 diseases. It is, therefore, in order here 

 to caution all persons against the reck- 

 less importation of high-priced cattle 

 from the north into the south. If cattle 

 must be imported it would be best to do 

 it when they are calves or yearlings, 

 since at this age the dise;ise is not near 

 so virulent. 



FATTENING CATTLE FOR MARKET. 



Immense numbers of cattle are now 

 annually fattened throughout the south 

 at the numerous cotton seed oil mills. It 

 has been found that a mixture of cotton 

 seed hulls and cotton seed meal will 

 rapidly fatten cattle for market. This 

 knowledge has enabled the oil mills to 

 utilize their hulls, which were formerly 

 used as fuel under their boilers, as a 

 supplement, in feeding, to cotton seed 

 meal, and a much higher value is thus 

 obtained from them. Most of the mills 

 which feed these cattle utterly neglect 

 one of the chief profits of feeding, viz: 

 the proper saving of the manure or 

 drippings of the cattle, which, to the 

 small farmer, would be of great value. 

 Hence the expediency of the small 

 farmer, particularly the cotton farmer, 

 who can easily exchange his cotton seed 

 for hulls and meal, buying annually 

 from ten to twenty head of cattle and 

 feeding them systematically through the 

 winter, carefully husbanding the manure 

 and applying to his soil, and selling the 

 cattle as fat beeves in early spring. 

 This practice, if skillfully manipulated, 

 would furnish profitable employment to 

 the farmer during winter, when he 

 would otherwise be comparatively Idle, 

 and at the same time furnish an abund- 

 ance of manure for his fields and save 

 the amount now expended in the annual 

 purchase of commercial fertilizers. An- 

 other benefit would be the utilization of 

 the "roughness" of the farm, which 

 would Improve the above ration and in- 

 crease the value of the manure. That 

 this can be profitably done and that stock- 

 raising of all kinds can be successfully 

 carried on, the following letter from 

 Mr. F. L. Maxwell will prove. Mr. 

 Maxwell is a native of Indiana, 

 has been living south since ISOT, 



