120 THE BEEF BONANZA. 



will come when we will have both shepherds and 

 shepherdesses on the Plains, and when the patriarch, as 

 of old, with his sons, daughters, and sons' wives and 

 daughters, will follow the herds, crook in hand. Any- 

 large family can become rich by following the herds, — 

 the mother caring for the home, and the children, as 

 soon as they are able to ride, being set to mind the 

 flocks. With $500 or $1000 in hand a suitable herd 

 can be started and ranch provided. Of course he would 

 have to build his own house for the winter, with stables 

 and corrals for animals, but this any one can do. In 

 sheep-shearing time, unless an expert at the business, 

 he would have to hire a shearer at eight cents per 

 fleece; but now, since the bands of shearers from New 

 Mexico and Colorado come North, a fleece can be cut 

 for five cents, and, in some instances, three cents. The 

 shearers are a strange set, and every year are becoming 

 more numerous. They cut a fleece with marvellous 

 rapidity, and want little else than their food and cloth- 

 ing, with sometimes a pipe and glass of beverage after 

 supper. They stroll in bands, hunting sheep to shear, 

 and there appears to be a strange fascination about such 

 a nomadic life. Sheep-shearing is now a regular busi- 

 ness in the Southwest, and there are now men who do 

 little else for a living. The young sheep-grower would 

 have to lay out of his money about eight months from 

 the time of buying his herd ; then the wool-clip would 

 provide him with sufficient funds for all his wants 

 until another clip came in. He need not, unless he 

 desires it, sell any of his sheep, but live off the proceeds 

 of his wool, and allow the herd to increase. 



