17 
absorb and retain the moisture in the same proportion, not more than one-fifth of the 
water flowing off into gulches and arroyas. They point with confidence, in illustra- 
tion of this idea, to the fact that as the plowshare has advanced westward in the 
States of Kansas and Nebraska the " desert " of the old geographies has disappeared. 
LOSSES OF CATTLE UNDER THE RANCH SYSTEM. 
The losses of stock on ranches, from starvation and exposure, varies 
greatly in different seasons and in different localities, being seldom less 
than five per cent. 
Mr. J. N. Bradley, an inspector of the Bureau of Animal Industry, says 
in his Eeport for 1885, page 427 : 
The ranchmen calculate to lose about 3 to 5 per cent, from exposure, and consider 
it less expensive than providing shelter and winter food. 
But these losses during some winters are greatly exceeded, in South- 
ern Kansas the past winter amounting in many instances to the loss of 
the larger portion of the herds. A similar condition existed in Eastern 
Colorado, as will be seen from the following item from a Colorado paper: 
A correspondent writing under date of July 23 from Apache to the Walsenburg 
Cactus says : For the past two days the round-up has been in the Apache Valley. 
The report of the 100 cowboys who comprise the force is anything but encouraging as 
to the losses of the past winter. Many put the estimate of losses of acclimated stock 
as high as 75 per cent. ; the most hopeful say 50 per cent. Among the dogies shipped 
in last fall scarcely a remnant remains. One cattle company that turned loose 1,800 
head of through Texas stock have found out, at a cost of 10 per cent, of their in- 
vestment, that they have less than 100 head left. A cattleman of this neighbor- 
hood who went into the winter with 1,000 head has so far been able to find less than 
a dozen. 
But the actual loss of life from starvation and exposure is not the 
only consideration. Even among those cattle which survive the winter 
there is always a great reduction of flesh and condition. Mr. S. H. 
Standart, agent of the Bureau of Animal Industry, says: 
The loss of flesh during the winter from want of shelter is 12 per cent. In Dakota 
the loss of flesh during the winter is 17£ per cent. (Report for 1885, p. 327.) 
We would therefore hail with satisfaction such a change in the cattle 
industry as would obviate these risks and losses and bring it into the 
hands of land-owners, who, by better care and management, will make 
it possible to raise twice as many cattle, besides extending the dairy 
and sheep interests. 
CHANGES ARE COMING. 
Rapid changes are coming over our neighboring county of Bent. Though hereto- 
fore recognized as a leading and almost exclusive stock-raising region, large ditch 
enterprises have been projected there within a couple of years, and attention is di- 
rected quite generally to farming. With the ditches, new people, that know nothing 
of the range-stock business, have come in. Old-time ranchmen are considering how 
they can bring their herds to the limits of a pasture, and how to provide feed to sup- 
plement their abridged ranges. The town-boomers of Western Kansas have invaded 
the eastern borders of the county this year, and are booming no less than three new 
6078— Bull 1 2 
