THE BED ROBE OP COXJBAGE 757 



this way sufficiently to take care of 150,000 head of 

 cattle. The water in the bored wells was "free- 

 stone" of good quality. 



Character of the XIT Cattle.— The ranch was first 

 stocked with cattle during the years of 1885, 1886 

 and 1887. These were cattle of very indifferent 

 quality — some from near the Gulf of Mexico and 

 some from the country lying tributary to and south 

 of the Texas & Pacific Railway. The herd at its 

 maximum size numbered about 150,000 head. There 

 were seven divisions of the ranch and each of the 

 seven divisions had its territory cut into a number 

 of pastures by barbed wire fences. After the ranch 

 had been separated into divisions, which in turn 

 were divided into several pastures, the work of im- 

 proving the herd was undertaken — some time about 

 1889. The sorting of the cattle with a view to fol- 

 lowing out different lines of breeding was a matter 

 of several years. With such large numbers and such 

 great distances this sorting necessarily took consid- 

 erable time. But by degrees the cattle which in the 

 judgment of the management seemed most suitable 

 for mating with Hereford bulls were put in certain 

 pastures, others which it was thought promised good 

 results from Aberdeen-Angus crossing were placed 

 in certain other pastures, and those that seemed 

 most in need of the Shorthorn blood were quartered 

 in still other pastures, so that an effort could be 

 made to experiment and improve along the lines of 

 these three distinct breeds. 



The scarcity and high price of purebred bulls in 



