HISTORY OF THE FIRST YEAR’S WORK. 15 
310 acres. The work of the subsequent three years, as planned, was as 
follows: 
Pasture No. 1 (60acres): No treatment exceptto keep all stock off until June of each 
year, pasturing the balance of the season. 
Pasture No. 2 (60 acres): To be cut with a disk harrow and stock to be kept off 
until June 1 of each year, pasturing the balance of the season. 
Pastures Nos. 3 and 4 (40 acres each): To be grazed alternately, the stock to be 
changed from one pasture to the other every two weeks, thus allowing the grasses a 
short period for recovery after each grazing. 
Pasture No. 5 (60 acres): No treatment except pasturing until June 1 and keeping 
stock off the balance of the season. 
Pasture No. 6 (60 acres): No treatment, except to keep stock off during the first 
season. 
Pasture No. 7: To be harrowed with an ordinary straight-toothed harrow and 
stock kept off during the first season. 
Pasture No. 8 (60 acres): To be disked and stock kept off during the first season. 
Pasture No. 9 (70 acres): Reserved for special experiments, viz, to determine— 
(1) Whether or not seeds of a number of wild and cultivated varieties of grasses, 
and forage plants exclusive of the grasses, could be sown directly in the sod with 
satisfactory results. 
(2) Whether the roots of certain sod and pasture grasses could be transplanted to 
the bare spots and a good stand secured in that way. 
(3) Whether the stand of grass could be improved by opening furrows across the 
pastures, in which the grass seeds blown over the ground by the winds could be 
arrested and the stand of grass be improved. 
The results of these several experiments, with the necessary details, will be stated 
hereafter. 
CARRYING CAPACITY OF THE PASTURES. 
In order to determine from year to year the extent of the improve- 
ment, if any, in the range conditions, it was necessary to ascertain the 
capacity of the section for sustaining stock at the very start of the 
work. To that end, three well-known stockmen of central Texas 
were invited to make a full and painstaking inspection of practically 
every part of the section. They were C. W. Middleton, J. W. Par- 
ramore, and W. J. Bryan, all of Taylor County and all old settlers 
in that part of the State, each a large owner of cattle, and, there- 
fore, specially interested in the results to be secured. That each 
one of them could accurately estimate the capacity of a range to sus- 
tain stock no one in the Southwest, where they are extensively known, 
could for a moment doubt. It was believed, therefore, that an 
expression of opinion by them on the subject would be accepted as 
definitely determining the capacity of the particular section under 
consideration. They made a personal and minute inspection of every 
acre of the section on March 23, 1898, and unanimously reported that 
its utmost capacity at that time was the support of mixed stock at the 
rate of 1 head to every 16 acres, or 40 head to the section, in the pro- 
portion of 10 cows with calves, 15 yearlings, and 15 two-year-olds. 
Mr. Middleton, who during several years prior to 1898 had held his 
