88 THE BEEF BONANZA. 



Speaking of the advantages of cattle- and sheep-grow- 

 ing in Colorado, General McCook writes : " The grasses 

 throughout the whole Territory are so abundant and so 

 nutritious that stock-raising is destined to be one of the 

 most essential elements of our permanent prosperity. 

 The natural increase of sheep in the Territory is 100 

 and of cattle 80 per cent, per annum. And as there is 

 almost no limit to the pastoral capabilities of the country, 

 so there should be no limit to the increase of stock. 

 The natural grasses of our hills or valleys are equal in 

 nutritious qualities to the Hungarian or other culti- 

 vated grasses of the East, and their abundance is such 

 that the herds of a dozen States could here find pastur- 

 age ; and the winters are so mild that shelter or hay is 

 unnecess'ary." 



Governor Campbell, of Wyoming, in a message to 

 the Legislature of that Territory, said : " In the chosen 

 home of the buffalo and the other graminivorous ani- 

 mals, which have for unnumbered years roamed over 

 our Plains and subsisted upon their succulent and nutri- 

 tious grasses, it would seem superfluous to say anything 

 in relation to our advantages as a stock-growing country, 

 or the wisdom or propriety of passing such laws as will 

 give protection to herds and flocks, and thus encourage 

 our people to engage in pastoral pursuits. In a climate 

 so mild that horses, cattle, and sheep and goats can live 

 in the open air through all the winter months, and fat- 

 ten on the dry and apparently withered grasses of the 

 soil, there would appear to be scarcely a limit to the 

 number that could be raised. There is an old Spanish 

 proverb that ' wherever the foot of the sheep touches 



