cxxxiv INTRODUCTION. 



who, perhaps, keep them a year, and then they pass into other hands, who, in turn, keep them another 

 year, when the stock in large numbers passes into the hands of the feeders. This cannot be said to 

 be the universal custom, but its practice is sufficiently prevalent to be designated as general. A 

 very limited proportion of this stock is housed or sheltered during the winter, at least south of forty- 

 one degrees of north latitude, unless it be the calves the first winter to some extent ; nor is it the custom 

 to house any cattle even while preparing for market. They are generally fed in open lots, though 

 positions sheltered from wind and storms by timber or other natural obstructions are taken advantage of. 

 In communicating his experience with Texas cattle, Mr. Renick writes as follows : 

 &quot; In the winter of 1853- 54 I had purchased for use about 1,200 head of cattle in the northern 

 part of Texas, which section of country had been to a considerable extent settled by immigrants from 

 Illinois and Missouri, and who had brought their stock with them; and this stock had not yet been suffi 

 ciently intermixed with the Spanish or Opelousas cattle further south to materially deteriorate their 

 original qualities ; consequently they were a much better and larger stock than I expected to see, though 

 they had in some measure acquired the wild nature of the more southern stock. These cattle were 

 brought to Illinois in the spring and summer of 1854 the first, I believe, that ever came from Texas, 

 at least in large numbers. This enterprise created quite an excitement in the northern part of Texas, 

 and all my correspondents there manifested a strong desire to have this new trade continued and ex 

 tended, freely offering their best efforts to encourage it, as they believed it would result advantageously 

 to all concerned, and promising, if successful, to send north for a better breed of cattle, as they said, 

 and with truth, that they could raise cattle and deliver them in Illinois, with satisfactory profits to 

 themselves, for less, by one-half, than they could be raised in that State. In anticipation of this 

 trade being continued the following season, quite a large number of cattle were brought up from points 

 further south, and, as was expected, the trade opened lively; but an unforeseen difficulty exploded the 

 whole business within the next two years. It was found that the southern or Spanish cattle were 

 subject to an epidemic or contagious disease somewhat resembling the yellow fever in the human race, 

 and so contagious did it prove that all along the track those cattle were driven the farmers lost large 

 numbers of their cattle from that disease, many losing almost their entire stock within a few days. So 

 serious was the loss occasioned by each drove of Texas cattle passing through, that the inhabitants of 

 southwestern Missouri held conventions in divers places, and resolved that no more Texas cattle should 

 pass through the country, and, by order of these conventions, armed bands or patrols were appointed, 

 whose duty it was to turn back all Texas droves that might attempt to pass, which they did effectually. 

 Thus ended what at one time seemed a promising trade. From the short trial, however, it became 

 evident that, from the inferiority of the Texas stock as beef cattle, the trade would not have resulted 

 as satisfactorily as was anticipated ; the cattle were very light weighers for their size of frame, with but 

 little room for improvement, and so wild as to be almost unmanageable. For oxen for the Santa Fe 

 trade, or long drives over flinty roads, their hardness of hoof, their agility and endurance render them 

 unrivalled ; and, though they never lose entirely their wild nature, yet, when judiciously trained, they 

 become quite tractable.&quot; 



THE PORK TEADE. 



The first general violations of the levitical law prohibiting the use of swine flesh must have 

 occurred in comparatively modern times, inasmuch as that article has only recently become sufficiently 

 well esteemed to be introduced largely into commerce. Since, however, it has been discovered to be 

 one of the most easily produced, and about the most easily preserved of all meats, but few articles of 

 food have come into more general use among civilized nations. 



The raising of the hog has proved to be so well adapted to the varied systems or phases of agri 

 culture in the United States, that in nearly all parts of the country it is carried on, and the animal 

 made to serve as a popular and cheap article of food. The preparation of the meat, however, for com 

 merce on a large scale, is confined mainly to those districts where Indian corn is most profitably raised, 

 and where the winters admit of the process of cure with least expense and greatest certainty. This 

 trade can only flourish where the extremes of heat or cold do not prevail, and is comprised principally 



