S72 Transactions of the American Institute. 



in the existence of a Texas steer — to he dropped, to he branded, to 

 be sold at the age of four years for beef. A range with us means a 

 strip or body of land of indefinite extent, generally from 10,000 to 

 100,000 acres, between two streams. It makes no difference who may 

 hold the patents to it or parts of it, as long as it is unfenced. In the 

 spring the ranchero or herdsman goes out into his herd and brands 

 his calves, sometimes by throwing a rope around them, but more fre- 

 quently by driving them into a pen. .Nobody is particular to know 

 or inquire what cow's calf it may be. We call an unclaimed and 

 unbranded calf on the range a " Maverick," from the name of a wor- 

 thy citizen of San Antonio, whose possessions are so immense that 

 he cannot identify his stock. It is no harm for anybody to brand a 

 " Maverick." 



After a calf or yearling is branded, it may not come within half a 

 mile of a man for three years, and then it is sold in the herd, gener- 

 ally at so much per hundred head, and driven to the north-west, or to 

 the seaports. All the animals, big and little, on a range, or in a 

 specified brand, go, when a rancheman sells out, at so much a head. Four 

 dollars and a half, in gold, is a common price. If a man has 1,000, we 

 do not call him a rancheman, he only has a few cattle ; 5,000 ranks 

 him as a stock-raiser. When he owns that many, he can afford to 

 hire a Mexican, and most of his time he can spend in town, or with 

 his family. But with the stock-farmer, who owns less than 5,000, the 

 case is different. He must pass most of his time in the saddle, with 

 his stock, watching them, keeping tnem from getting mixed, and pro- 

 tecting them from Indian raids. 



Such a life is not wholly festive or luxurious. But if a brave, hardy 

 young man will take hold of stock with energy, he can turn $1,000 

 into $10,000 quicker and surer than by any other sort of industry. 

 One may spend 300 out of the 365 days of the year out in the open air, 

 night and day, with ordinary clothing, and a blanket or two, not only 

 with impunity, but with increased robustness. During nearly the 

 whole year beef is stripped from the carcass of a freshly-killed ox, 

 hung up and dried in the open air, and kept until consumed for weeks 

 afterward. We could feed three times as many cattle as we now do 

 in western Texas. Instead of 300,000 four-year-olds annually,we 

 could drive out a million a year, if it were not for Indians and 

 sparseness of population. 



Late Rose Potato. 

 Mr. B. K. Bliss, the seedsman, sent half a bushel of this new variety. 

 The Chairman — I will give them out, one by one, to such members 



