NO* \7 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
755 
be reared. Again, the Summer proved to be 
the coldest, and wettest of any ever known by 
the writer, so that the bees did not get even a 
living from White Clover which blossomed in 
greater profusion than usual, and had it not 
been for Basswood our honey crop for 1888 
would have been a 'Complete failure. The 
flowers of the White Clover and most other 
honey-producing blossoms stand upright so as 
to catch the rain, which dilutes the nectar or 
washes it away entirely. Thus it becomes a 
necessity that, weather partially dry at least 
should exist during the time such flowers are 
in blossom if the bees are to secure honey from 
them. On the contrary, the flowers of the 
Basswood hang down, or are like an inverted 
cup, so that a slight, rain lines not affect the 
honey in them. Hence bees will go out after 
honey during Basswood bloom immediately 
after a shower, while in case of clover it will 
lie a half day or more before any honey will 
lie gathered after it has rained From the 
above reasons it is plai ly to be seen why 
Basswood was the only flower which yielded 
honey during the past cold, wet Summer. 
One thing was in the bees’ favor, however, 
which was that the cool weather prolonged 
the time during which Basswood was in blos- 
om, so a larger yield was obtained from that 
source than usual, which made up in part the 
deilciency fro n White Clover and other flowers. 
One year ago 1 went into winter-quarters with 
80 stocks of bees, but by sales and loss in win¬ 
tering they were reduced to 55, 40 of which 
were fairly good swarm.;, and the remainder 
from weak to very weak. The 40 good 
swarms were worked for honey, \ud the 15 
weak ones devoted to queen rearing. At 
writing I have 80 swarms for Winter in .is 
good condition as were the 80 a year ago. 
The result of the season’s work is as follows: 
From the 40 worked for honey I obtained 
4,810 pounds, the larger part of which was 
comb homy, which sold at our nearest rail¬ 
road station at 16 cents a pound This gives 
an average yield of \[Yt% pounds of honey 
from each colony, which, at 1(> cents per pound, 
would give the product of each colony, in dol¬ 
lars and cents, at $17.24 After adding the 
sale of bees and queens to the amount obtained 
for honey, and then deducting all expenses 
except my own time. I find 1 have 411,021.30 
as a salary for taking care of 80 swarms of 
bees for a year, during which Basswood was 
the only' tree or plant which yielded honey'. 
Sorely bee-keeping will compare favorably' 
with almost any other pursuit in life. 
Borodino, N. Y. G. M. Doolittle. 
Ul)C 
NOTES FROM COLORADO. 
L. J. TEMPLIN. 
LIVE STOCK. 
Next to mining, the raising of live stock is 
the most important industry' in this young 
State. The surface of the State, both plains 
and mountains, is covered with short but very 
nutritious grasses that make excellent pas¬ 
turage during the Summer and early Fall as 
green grazing, and then dry up into natural 
hay that, is as nutritious as the best Timothy 
or clover hay in the Eastern farmer’s barn. 
Stock fanning is carried on here inau entirely 
different way from that in vogue in the East¬ 
ern States. Here, as a rule, the stock-raiser 
does not furnish either foot! or shelter for his 
herd or flock. His stock is expected to forage 
on the plains or ruountaius for a living, and, 
as for shelter, they must seek the lee side of a 
bluff or a grove if any is within reach; if not, 
they must turn their backs to the wind aud 
take it. In the mountains where stock has 
free range there is no trouble about shelter, 
but on the pi.tins long and severe storms, 
especially if attended with heavy suowfalls, 
are frequently attended by severe losses. 
During the vVinter of 1880-81 a very exten¬ 
sive loss of stock was experienced in this 
State. The previous year had been an unusu¬ 
ally'dry'one, only seven inches of rain—half 
the usual quantity—having fallen. The grass 
was unusually short and scarce. The Winter 
set in very early aud with extreme rigor. 
Snow fell quite early and lay with hard incrus¬ 
tation all over the range. The result was that 
thousands of cuttle, being short, both of grass 
and water, succumbed to these unfavorable 
conditions. Ill many places along the rail¬ 
roads the half-starved animals crowded into 
the cuts till they were tilled with a mass of 
struggling, dying beasts. A literal meat 
blockade ensued, as the trains were compelled 
to suspend till teams could lie procured anil 
the thousands of dead ca trasses of cattle were 
dragged from the track. During t he w hole of 
the next seusou the traveler could see the de¬ 
caying carcasses or the blouehing skeletons of 
the victims of that disastrous Winter. Ac¬ 
cording to the asso-ws’ returns the decrease 
of cattle in the State, as a result of that severe 
Winter, amounted to over 22 per cent, of all 
the herds in Colorado. 
The number of cattle in the State at differ¬ 
ent periods, as shown by oflicia) returns, is as 
follows for the years given: 
1871 ......mam 
1870.299,515 
1S7S .198 279 
1879. ...323.585 
18S0.541,583 
l SSI.411,9711 
19H2 .423.918 
Such are the numbers reported, but it should 
be remembered that in all this Western coun¬ 
try there are thousands of cattle that, when 
branded and turned out as calves, are not 
seen again by their owners till they are three 
about 20,000 head of Colorado cattle; the 
Union Pacific about 27,000, and the 
Burlington arid Chicago Railway about 
50,000 head. Besides these, there were sev¬ 
eral thousand head of Colorado cattle shipped 
from points outside of the State, making the 
aggregate uumber of beef cattle sold out of 
the State during that year, probably not less 
than 110,000 head. When we take into the 
account the number kept for milk, breeding 
and work, and the number slaughtered in the 
State, we are probably sate in assuming that 
not more than ten j»er cent, of the cattle are 
shipped out of tiie State in any oue year. If 
this is an approximation of the truth, then we 
may safely assume that the cattle now in this 
is for each man or firm to keep their cattle to¬ 
gether, aud employ a sufficient number of 
“Cowboys,’’ known here as “punchers,” to 
keep them from straying or mingling with 
other herds. These “ boys,” from their free 
and roving life sometimes become quite reck¬ 
less, and when they visit some Western town 
where liquor saloons constitute a majority of 
the business buildings, under the influence of 
the stock in trade they sometimes engage in 
deeds of deviltry that bring the whole frater¬ 
nity into disrepute. The stockmen of this 
region are generally organized into associa¬ 
tions for the mutual furtherance of business. 
Fremont Co., Col. 
WESTERN LIVE-STOCK AF¬ 
FAIRS 
F. D. COBURN 
Wonderful strides forward have 
been made in the live-stock inter¬ 
ests of Kansas during the five years 
just passed, as is shown by the as- 
sessors’ returns. Within that period 
the increase in horses has been 148,- 
|§|§!p , 796, and in the last year there was 
an increase of 24 , 748 , or over six 
P® rcent * mules aud asses the 
increase was 18,690, and in the last 
• year 2,608, or about five per cent. 
P Milch cows have gained 185,307 
in numbers, and in the year 38,185, 
or about nine per cent., and in 
other cattle the gain has been 547,- 
150, and in the year 162,036, or over 
16 per cent. In 1878 there were 
243,760 sheep, and now there are 
1,154,196, an increase of 910,4736, and 
during the past year the increase 
was 176,119, or more than 18 per 
cent. Five years’ increase in swine numbers 
198,124 head, and in the past year the gain 
was over IS per cent. In numbers the State's 
live-stock at the last assessment stood as fol¬ 
lows: horses, 423,426; mules and asses, 59,262: 
milch cows, 471,548; other cattle, 1,133.152: 
sheep, 1,154,196, and swine, 1,393,968. 
Y0XK£/{ 
RURAL 
home, averaged uot less than 
•900 pounds apiece, making a 
telK toal of 157,500,000 pounds of 
beef. This, at the average price 
ll Jay of $4,20 per 100 pounds which 
prevailed, gave the people of 
the State $6,615,000. The mau- 
ner in which the business is 
carried on in the West make's 
nn this nearly all clear profit. As 
stated above, out few go to the 
'■«P\ trouble or expense of either 
lP.:5 feed 05 shelter for their stock. 
The usual method is to brand 
the calves before weaning time, 
while they still run wita their 
dams, as this is the only way 
. : their ownership can be known, 
aud turn them out to run with 
the herd till the females lie' 
E R1GINATOK come mothers and the males be' 
come fit for the market. Ottce 
a year, generally in June or July, there is 
general “round-up.” lhe cattle-men of a 
large tract of country unite, aud, sending out 
riders, they surround as large a space as pos¬ 
sible, and theu all march towards a common 
center, driving all the cattle before them. 
When arrived at the place agreed upou, the 
brauding is done, each calf receiving the 
brand of the cow that it follows. Breeders 
from long distances attend thi s*' “ round-ups” 
to reclaim any cattle that may have strayed 
from them und been gathered in the ” round¬ 
up.” When the branding is completed, if 
the cattle are in the range where it is de¬ 
sired they shall remain, they are simply 
turned out to bike care of themselves: but 
if not, they are driven to the region where it 
is desired they shall range, li often hap¬ 
pens that calves fail to be brauded liefoie 
leaviug their dams, when it is uupcNadble 
to determine their ownership. In such cases 
the rule is for the first man who gets them 
in his power to put his brand ou them, and 
theybecome his. Those ownerless cattle are 
known as “mavericks,” ami when looked 
up with some diligence they sometimes add 
materially to a stockman's possession. 
Another method of running the stock busi¬ 
ness, and one that is coming more into vogue. 
A pretty stroke of advertising for the 
Herefords as a desirable breed to use on the 
half-wild cattle of the Southwest was done by 
a ranchman of Sumner County, Kansas, when 
he took to his State Fair a yearling heifer 
from a Texas cow and a thoroughbred Here¬ 
ford bull. She was properly placarded \as all 
stock on exhibition should be), and being in 
appearance virtually a Hereford of good 
quality aud large size, wa.-> viewed by thou¬ 
sands of stockmen wita wonder and admira¬ 
tion. A common mistake made by ranchmen 
on the Western ranges, and oue which they 
are now beginning to comprehend, is in not 
having bulls enough, a consequence of wnich 
is a much smaller number of calves than had 
been counted ou at the time big profits were 
tigured out and the money invested in the 
business. They lose sight of the fact that a 
bull runniug at large and serving one cow 20 
times, and getting but one calf, is used up 
much faster than one that serves 20 cows but 
one time aud at proper intervals, and begets 
20 calves. It is conceded, other thiugs being 
equal, that the more bulls there are in the herd 
the larger the calf crop, and the attempts at 
economizing in the matter of a few vigorous 
bulls are nearly always found very unsatis¬ 
factory. 
Here and there in the VV esteru States are 
indications that the almost total ignoring of 
the white breeds of swine, which for some 
years past has been apparent, is likely to ex¬ 
perience a reaction, lhe scarcity ot white 
hogs has been so great that for yearsj out of 
the hundreds of auimals annually shown at 
the Kansus State Fair prior to 1883, but one 
or two were to be seeu not almost wholly 
black, and that, too, when classes aud pre¬ 
miums were piovided for the whites. 1 his 
year the association provided uo class for 
white hogs, aud offered no prizes for them 
separately; but, in spite of these adverse 
conditions, there were 40 head of Chesters 
shown, owned by five or six different breed- 
era. There were also several head of Small 
Yorkshires (these being provided tor in a class 
of small breeds, including Essex, Suffolks, 
etc. , and they attracted much favorable 
attention. 
or four years old, and some of them, never. 
When the cattle man makes his return to the 
assessor of the number of cattle he owns, he 
very considerately aud very honestly, too, 
takes these facts into account and makes 
proper deductions for the uumber be may 
never see agaiu. It is believed by those who 
are well acquainted with the stock business 
that oflidul returns do uot represent more 
than one-half of the actual uumber of cattle 
iu the State. 
The number of cattle exported and imported 
varies constantly, but it is next to impossible 
to get any reliable figures on this subject. 
For some reason that I am unable to account 
for, the cattle men manifest a great reluc¬ 
tance to giving any information ou these sub¬ 
jects. As to the number of cattle brought 
into the State* uo reliable data can be obtained. 
That it is considerable is rendered quite 
probable h\ the fact that the prices of stock 
cattle rouge considerably higher here than in 
either Kansas or Missouri, and importations 
from those Mates are quite frequent. 
As to the number of animals shipped from 
the State we may glean some information 
from the shippiug books of the railroad com¬ 
panies. During the year 1882 the Atchison. 
Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad shipped 
Westekn men w r ho last year, for the first 
time, used polled bulls in their herds, are now' 
coming forward with statements ol the rapid 
grow th made by their hornless grade calves. 
J. F. True, of Jcffersou County, Kansas, tells 
of four grade Short-horn calves that aver¬ 
aged five months aud 19 days in age, and 
510 pounds in weight. One of them, five 
months and 23 days old, weighed 525 pounds, 
and another, a day older, 535 pounds. When 
t wo days under seveu mouths, each weighed 
e.actly 000 pounds A Nebraska man re- 
