224 STOCK RAISING IN UNITED STATES. 


According to an interesting article by Mr. Clay, of Chicago, 
published in the Year Book of the United States Department 
of Agriculture for 1899, much of the apparent diminution in 
the production of beef consequent upon the decline in the 
numbers of cattle has been made up by what is known as the 
system of early maturity. A shorter period than was former- 
ly the case is now occupied in preparing a beast for the 
butcher, and the two-year-old has taken the place of the three- 
year-old on the block. It is practically impossible to estimate — 
the precise effects of this change in practice on the production 
of meat, but itis generally recognised that the loss in numbers 
has been largely compensated by finishing the animals at an 
earlier age. 
As regards the composition of the existing herds in the 
United States, it appears that while there is a fair number of 
medium cattle there is a lack of prime bullocks. After the 
boom in cattle prices from 1882 to 1884, there followed a 
period of depression which drove the average breeder of 
fine stock almost out of the market. There was a serious 
depletion of the pure-bred herds, and in some years numbers 
of well-bred bulls had to be steered. Formerly cattle were 
largely reared on the open ranges of Texas, Colorado, 
Wyoming, Montana, and other Western States, but gradually 
the days of cattle grazing on free grass are being numbered. 
The present position is thus described : ‘‘ When the ranch- 
man found out the value of the grass on the arid regions, 
and was not overstocked, he raised a steer for a compara- 
tive trifle, and the men on the high-priced lands of the 
Eastern and Central States found a new competitor, who 
cut into their profits. But that era is coming to a close. 
The free grazing lands, or at least the watered portions, are 
being pre-empted in one way and another, so that the cost 
of producing a steer in the West varies but little from that 
of growing one in the East, when the cost of transportation 
to market and other incidentals are considered. The breed- 
ing of cattle on free grass is practically a thing of the past. 
A few large herds remain, but in another decade they will 
have gone. The free grass of the West will be cropped 
by cattle that are fed in fields in the winter, by steers 
