HISTORY OF THE SECOND YEAR’S WORK. 2° 
it was frequently remarked by visitors to the station that even more 
than 80 head of stock could with safety be held on them. 
At the end of the second twelve months’ work, in March, 1900, the 
same three stockmen who had inspected the station pastures in 1898 
and 1899 were again invited to make a close examination of them 
with the view to determine their capacity for sustaining cattle as 
compared with that of former years. Col. J. W. Parramore was not 
able to visit the station in company with Messrs. Middleton and 
Bryan, but about two weeks later he went over practically every acre 
of the section, and was impressed with the value of the treatment the 
pastures had received to the extent that be announced his intention of 
adopting similar methods in the handling of his own extensive hold- 
ings. Messrs. Middleton and Bryan also made very full and careful 
examinations of the station pastures, and agreed in the main in their 
conclusions that the harrowing and disking treatment had greatly 
improved the areas, though they did not quite agree in their estimates 
of the percentage of gain secured since their last inspection, in March, 
1899. Mr. Middleton thought the gain had been fully 50 per cent in 
the twelve months, but Mr. Bryan thought from 30 to 35 per cent a 
more conservative, hence a safer, estimate. 
CATCHING WIND-BLOWN SEEDS. 
During this period an experiment was made that deserves more than 
passing notice. It is a fact well known to and recognized by cen- 
tral Texas stockmen that every year a large proportion of the grass 
seeds are lost to the ground on which they are grown and matured by 
reason of the fact that they are carried onto other lands by the strong 
winds that blow steadily during the summer months. The prevailing 
direction of these winds is from south to north. In order to save the 
seeds maturing on the station pastures, it was thought that perhaps if 
furrows were plowed across them about every 12 feet, say from east 
to west, this much-desired result might be secured. The idea was (1) 
that the seeds, if blown at all by the winds, would be caught in these 
furrows, and (2) that the storm waters that would fall in the pastures 
would be caught in the furrows, and instead of being allowed to waste 
by running into the creeks and bottoms would go to the roots of the 
young grass. : 
In May, 1899, this work was done, covering 10 acres of subdivision 
No. 9, next to the grass garden. By the end of June excellent results 
were plainly in evidence, as anticipated. The furrows had caught a 
great many seeds, which had gotten the benefit of surface irrigation 
incident to rain, also caught in the furrows. These seeds had quickly 
germinated and were growing vigorously, and all the grasses next to 
such furrows were greener and more vigorous than those farther away. 
The difference noted was so pronounced that in approaching that part 
