AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
FOR THE 
Farm, GrarcLen, and. JEtonseliold. 
“AGHICULTUKE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, MOST US Hi’CL. AM) MOST N01ILE EMPLOYMENT OF M AN.”— Washington. 
TERMS : Sfl .50 PER ANNUM IN ADVANCE ; 
■4 Copies for S5; 10 for S13 ; 20 or more, SI each ; 
10 Cents additional must be sent with eacli Sub¬ 
scription for postage. — Single Humber, 15 Cents. 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in September, 1S~6, by the Orange Judd Company, at the Office of the Librarian cf Congress, at Washington. 
VOLUME XXXV.—No. 10. NEW YORK, OCTOBER, 1876. NEW SERIES—No. 357. 
OffiANGE J3J1M) COMPANY, 
PUBLISHERS AND PROPRIETORS. 
Cilice, 245 IS ISO AO WAX. 
ESTABLISHED IN 1842. 
Published also in German at same rates as in Enniisll. 
The stock business upon the Western plains is 
an exciting and busy occupation. As the cattle 
run at large upon the range, the herds of many 
proprietors necessarily become mixed together. It 
is therefore requisite for the owners to be constant¬ 
ly on the watch that the cattle may not stray too 
far, and that their general safety be looked after. 
A sort of co-operative mutual care is exercised over 
the combined herds; a sufficient number of bulls 
are kept on the range by each owner, in proportion 
to the number of cows he owns, and at certain sea¬ 
sons the cattle are gathered together at a stated 
place, that the stock of different owners may be 
separated, and the calves marked or branded. 
Every year there is what is known as a “ Round-up.” 
The owners of any one county or district are asso¬ 
ciated together, with a captain and subordinate 
officers, who make regulations and arrangements 
for the “ Round-up.” The time and place selected is 
advertised or published, or the parties interested 
are notified, and on the day appointed a large num¬ 
ber of mounted men scour the country, and gather 
to the selected place all the scattered droves they 
can find in the neighborhood. These are driven 
and kept together in a close mass, as shown in the 
engraving. From out of this general herd the 
cattle are sorted according to the brands upon 
them, by which their owners can recognize them. 
Or as they are driven up, each man and his herders 
“ cut out ” or separate the stock owned by him, and 
drive them to a place by themselves. Here they 
are kept together by some herders, who, on their 
trained horses, and with long whips, prevent them 
from straying off. This is the “Round-up.” The 
cattle are counted, those not marked are branded, 
those ready for market are driven off for sale, and 
the remainder are left to wander over the range 
until the next occasion. The branding or marking 
of the cattle is done by heated irons, made in the 
form of the inital letters of the owner’s name, or a 
monogram which includes these letters. The ani¬ 
mal to he branded being caught with a lasso, is held 
or thrown, and the brand, heated so as to mark the 
skin, is held upon the flank or shoulder, until a 
permanent scar is made. The brands are registered 
in the county clerk’s office, and the mark is held to 
be an undisputed title to the ownership of the 
cattle. Cattle without brands are public property. 
