176 THE BEEF BONANZA. 



against all storms of winter. We have never lost any 

 sheep from severe weather in Montana. 



" The only disease which sheep are subject to in this 

 country is scab, and I do not consider that indigenous 

 to the climate. When once cured they remain so, unless 

 they come in contact with diseased animals. The 

 remedies I use for curing scab are lime, sulphur, car- 

 bolic and hemlock dip with tobaceo, as it is perfectly 

 harmless to the sheep and the fleece, and a sure cure for 

 the disease if rightly applied. 



" I consider Montana one of the best wool-growing 

 sections of the United States. Our ranges are extensive, 

 our grasses nutritious and abundant, while pure water 

 is found on every hillside and in every valley. Califor- 

 nia has its floods, droughts, and famines; Oregon its 

 leeches and scab ; Nevada and Utah their alkali plains 

 and brackish waters, which affect the wool of sheep as 

 well as their health. The soft alluvial deposits of 

 many parts of the West produce foot-rot. We in 

 Montana alone are free from all these, and I see no 

 reason why this« should not become the greatest stock- 

 and wool-growing region in the world. 



"Chas. W. Cook." 



It is, however, as a blooded-stock region Montana 

 takes the lead. Notwithstanding its remoteness, it 

 already has a larger number and better quality of 

 blooded horses and cattle than any State or Territory 

 in the Northwest. Of its blooded ranches I shall have 

 to speak in another chapter. 



A visit to the blooded-stock farms of Montana will 



