Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

T ' tiE FLOWERS COLLECTION .'.Vy*/; iiXS;.: ■ '/y- t ■ ■ 1 A,-/ l / ( e.xr:»urg^xnBK>ffCK330( 1 %, rcfj^iMaMaauuPiXiiJuaeaat A . - 28S?5w ^2$TS ilOOBKM3BKOORgBWOPB83PBPPR j srsaas voluj>: a i, ^NUMBER THIRTY-FOUR. Atlanta, Ga., Week Ending November 3, 1906, 50c FER YEAR ilKGLE CCPY 5c. TEXAS^The Worlds Greatest Live Stock Pasture Written for The SUNNY SOUTH. By HILTON CASTLE. t ! I rL { A Long Horn—Picturesque but Nearly Extinct. or tlie ' attle produced m the state finds a market elsewhere. The representa tives of the big packing houses fix the price absolutely for the shipper. With tire establishment of more independent plants change in conditions may be expected.” to** T-EILE In point of quality Texas in the live stock world easily holds her own with other live stock states of the union, in point of quantity she undisputably stands at. the head. Ac cording to the federal cen sus of 1900, almost twice as many cattle alone are rii-ed in the big state an nually, as in any other state in the union. The area of Texas com prises 170.099.200 a^res, the greater part of which, 120,000,000 acres, : s given to cattle raising and stock farming. The last federal report shows the number of cattle, horses, mules, sheep, goats, anti nogs in the United Statea to aggregate 220.000. 000, having a. valuation of $3,- 200.000. 000. Cattie, hog,; and sheep are respectively numbered at 67 800,000- 62.- 876.000, and 61,605,000. Of these num bers, Texas claims In cattle, beef anti dairy. 9,088.180, with a valuation of 5163.228.000. Ranking next to her is Iowa, with -1,803.339 head, valued at 577.395.000: Kansas and Nebraska com ing third and fourth with, respectively, 3,353.575 and 3.048,812 head, valued at $ I 17.640.000 and £82.469,000. The esti mated figures of ,..■• world's cattle, sheep and hogs is 310,000,000 head of cattle, 600.000. 000 head of sheep and ! 00.000.- 000 head of hogs. In the matter of mules and horses com bined. Texas again heads the list, tbs twelfth census accrediting her with I ,- 269,482 horses and 507.281 mules, hav ing a combined value of $59,618,702. She stands first on the list in number of mules, and third in number of horses. In yet another branch of the live stock industry Texas tops ’lie list, having to her credit in I9C0, 627.333 Angora goals valued at $923,777, New Mexico coming second,, followed by Oregon an-, Oaf • ornia. In tne ns»tter of mohair pro duction, she also exceeds other states, showing in the same year 961.328 pounds of fleece, rated at $267,864. In sheep and hog production the state is making enviable headway, especially in the latter industry, which has received great Impetus through tho growth of the packing house business. Texas’ reputation as a live stock coun try is of long duration. The first cattle that she possessed were of tho long-liorn type, and came from Spain. They were not ox superior order, and are now al most extinct. These cattle interbred with the buffalo, of which great numbers were to be found In the Panhandle corner of the state, ns well as In the western and southwestern parte. Even today speci mens of the cross between the old long horn and the buffalo are recognized. The only herd of buffalo outside of the herd at Yellowstone Park, in America, belongs to Mr. Charles Goodnight., whose big ranch of many thousands of acres is in the northwestern part of the state. •Specimens of animals have been exhib ited at many expositions. There are about 200 in the herd now. Some of them have been sold to menageries, zoo logical gardens, and parks. It is believed that tho colonists from Louisiana, Arkansas, and other states brought a- goodly number of cattle with them into file eastern part of the state, while the western part received acces sions from Mexico. New Orleans was the first beef mar ket of the state, .As early as 1832 Texas began to show signs of an active cattle industry, numbering among her populn tlon then as now many energetic cattle men. There are yet living trail drivers of the picturesque earlier days who un der the most difficult circumstances drove herds of cattle into western and other southern states. The "Jay-hawkers” war was a hindrance to them at the time it was in progress. Getting- the cattle across tiie waterway was a stupendous task, and many thou sands were sometimes lost in crossing the great father of streams. Some of the trails in those days were three miles broad. In 1849 cattle were driven as i':u" as the Pacific coast. Fences were un known. About in the seventies, barbed wire fencing came into vogue, causing great ill-feeling between the setllevs and ranchmen. Previous to the inauguration of the wire fence, some few ranches oil?d boast enclosure. On one of the largo ranches *there was, as they say. "a -siring of fence” over 150 miles in length, which ran a dross three coun ties. The year 1883 was a banner year for tiie cattlemen. Luring that year two million head went to Chicago, besides numbers to other markets. Tho exces sive demand for cattle resulted in quan tity instead of quality being uppermost with the ranchmen, and this, together with overproduction, caused a decline in the business. About 250,000 head of Texas cattle, valued at $7,000,000 were pastured in the Indian Territory in !895, when President Clevelands order was issued for cattle to be removed from these ranges, which order resulted in a tremendous loss to the cattlemen. Some i ivi ni) odd year..- ago saw the beginning ■if greatly improved stock. The first -train introduced wag the Durham. Iti the early eighties a shipment of Hoi- -vein cattle reached Galveston from Scot land. and a little later Devons and Hero- fords wore introduced. Texas today stands well a? a breeder of high-class cattle, her stockmen with in the last two decades having expended large sums for the upbuilding of theii herds. Climatic conditions are favorable, and the state grows a largo variety of null'll'on* grasses. It is o'aimed that Texa 1 can raise more hay per acre than p •- «5jfber stat- •he ntiiqp is be coming an alfalfa state, and alreaoy ?h- excels in corn production. The manager of tho International Live Stock expos; lion, which is held every December at Chicago, is of the opinion that the aver age run of cattle in Texas is better than In any other state. Texas' improved bloods are frequent winners of prizes ul these expositions. The three portions of Texas most large ly engaged in the cattle industry are i he Panhandle, or northwestern part; the western, and southwestern parts. Of her !70 099.200 acres, it is estimated that 30.000.000 belong- to cattlemen, and that 90,000.000 acre are theirs by lease. Kentucky was the first state to make a move in : he direction of a better grade of cattle. In 1816 importing shorthorns from England. Of the states of the un ion. Georgia is said to take les* interest in the upbuilding of her stock ! ian any other. Fort Worth is the center of the pack ing house industry of Texas, there has - ing within the last few years been estab lished there two immense plants with large stock yards valued together at. S5.000.000 Great numbers of cattle and hogs are slaughtered at these yards. It is said , that they are tiie most mod- ernly equipped plants in the world. Packing houses are said to have origi nated in Texas, and it teas the demon strated success of tiie pseking houses at San Antonio, Fort Worth, Dallas, Hous ton and Waco that caused the great Chi cago concerns to establish branch houses in Texas. There were packing houses on the coast that slipped meat, hides and tallow to many tarts of the world. Several counties in south Texas were called boneyards because of the num ber of cuttle killed. The packing houses have greatly con duced to th<> upbuilding of tho live stock business, and another factor which should not go unnoticed is tho establish meut of cotton seed oil mills, cotton seed cake making a prime finishing food for the cattle. Nearly u th'ld of a mil lion of people follow the cattle finishirx. business in Texas. buying the cattle from the rangers and fatening them up for the market. Thousands of Texas eat- tle are sent every year to the “finishing states” of the west. Illinois, Missouri. Iowa. etc., to he fattened on corn. One of the most Interesting experiments re cently made at the agricultural" and me- chanicai college of Texas was the use of molasses as a cattle food. So/e of the steers fed on molasses were prize winners at the last Fort Worth stock show. San Antonio was formerly the live stock center of Texas. in the past the Alamo City was tiie rendezvous of the catle barons, and headquarters of the ranchers. She controlled the wool trade of the world, handling annually some thing like twenty million pounds of wool, taking precedence oven over Aus traiia in the industry. The low tariff and growth of the railroads lost het ibis prestige. She was also the distrib uting point for Angora goats, doing a large business in that line At the ex positions of the San Antonio Fair Asso ciation. held annually, many of the ex hibits of live stock arc equal to thos*- shown at the exhibition at Chicago and St. Louis. It is i matter for congratulation that the bureau of animal industry at Wash ington has discovered that a parasite is :ic cause of tlu* so-called "Texas fever,” which sometimes attacks the cattle of the state, and lias given assurance that a certain cl emioal dip will destroy th* Yei\ interesting at the present time ■ * the subject of sheep husbandry in the United states, the growing demand for wool and mutton giving a decidedly hap py turn to this erstwhile languishing in- i if.trj rh • Cedei I ee n of fSOCu placed the number of sheep in the states and territories at 61.837. M2, with a val uation of £170.337.002, and tin additional valuation for the wool clip of $45,723.- 739. Montana heading the list with 4.- 192,608 animals, followed by Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah. Texas’ rank was lcu 1 h with 2 416,721 sheep, valued at $4.- 634.063. Her bunne: year was 1884, when she numbered 3,000.000. a higher number than any stale has ever reached i i ■ sheen industry of the United States began at Jamestown, Ya., in 1609. 1 '' A irgmians as well as the colonists I hat came later encouraging the indue. II y. A\ ashington himself took substan tial nterest in the building of a good breed. South Carolina, in 1785. offered HF'dal to the first importer of merino keep. While Texas has declined in the sheep raising business, so also have all 1 lie states :n the union, and at the pres ent time she is striding upward. One man in the state owns a herd of over i qu itter of a million of these animals. The New England states played an ac- ivc part in furthering the Industry. The government for tho past ten years has been doing what it could to encourage sheep raising, and the outlook today is fair and flattering. Food. like, other things, sometimes has Its fashions, and mutton is one of the favorite edibles of the day. The raising of Angora goats (there are only fifty thousand of the common goats in the country), like sheep-raising, began in the southern states. The first were brought to this country by Dr. Janies It. Davis, of Columbia, S. the sultan oi Turkey having presented him with nine of nis choicest animals. In 1853 Col. Richard Peters, of \t_ latitu. Ga.. became the purchaser of all Dr. Davis' flock, save two or three, one of wmen was bought by Col. Wade Hampton. There were flocks in Atlan- •a numbering as many as twelve hun dred before the civil war, when the «• ; industry in the southern states was on a successful basis. Colonel Peters is conceded to be the founder of tho in dustry in the United States. Two of his . k were sold In 1861 to Mr, Wm. M. a0tS-.2« no i • San dnaquii: r»’in f y,\ Cali' forn1:., who is tiie founder of tiie Angora goat industry of the Pacific coast, and the oldest living goat breeder in the states-. Mr. l^andruin now lives in valde county. Texas, and is still rais ing goats. He believes them to he among the most desirable farm animals to have. One of the two sent out to uini in California became famous as Billy Atlanta." “Biliy Atlanta" won all the sweepstake prizes In every Cali fornia state fair urF.V his death at the ago of ten years. As Mr. Landrum says (referring to the Pacific coast), “his blood courses in the veins of over one- l.alf the Angora flocks in that part of the union, estimated to approximate 70.- 000." “Billy Atlanta” met his death through his too aggressive inquiring mind. In number of goats and mohair pro duction Texas leads. The number of goats in the world Is supposed to be 70,- 000.000. The Asiatics aud the Africans use for food purposes about 40.000.000 of the animals annually. it was the Boer war that brought Tex as to the front in the mule, and horse industries. Before that time she had been sending these animals to Missouri and Kansas City, etc., where they had 'been selling as natives. T pward oij fifty-odd thousand of the some 85,000 mules purchased by England in the United States at that time came from Texas. Texas does a retumerative business in raising polo ponies for the northern and eastern states. Tho best of the polo ponies hail from Texas. Some of them are of the stock of wild horses that roamed the plains in early times. No authentic account can be given of the history of these animals. One story runs that the first Spaniards lost some of their fine horses, among them Ara bian steeds, and that they are the de generate descendants of these. A valuable branch of the live stock industry in Texas is the raising of hogs. Apropos of these animals, the best hams in the world are made at Smithfield, Va., being cured by a secret process, it is said. Some of the great packers in the west sought to learn this secret. After it became known to then: they declared they would not go to all that trouble to produce hams, which is the reason why Smithfield hams have never been surpassed. The demand for them is far and away greater than tho supply. The ..•■ading houses by New York are th<- .argest purchaser?, while many 'go u London. It may not be avtdss hero to say some thing regarding the status of another farm product of Texas. Some one has been saying that the turkey should be the national bird instead of flic eagle. Texas outranks all other states in the production of the Thanksgiving bird, tine mistress of a ranch, a short while ago, possessed a brood numbering more than a thousand. A picturesque time on a Texas ranch is when the cattle “round-up” for branding. There are many notable young women who are as skilful at roping catle as are the men. A distinct Texas production is the far-famed “cow boy.” An English woman's opinion of this human species is worth while giv ing: “Let me pay my tribute fro the inva riable gentle behavior and courtesy one meets with," she says, speaking of ranch life. “Tho cowboys are chivalrous to all women, and are assuredly nature’s gentlemen, displaying an ease of man ner, an independence of mind, and a politeness which, il' not in complete ac cordance with the usages of English so ciety, is exhibited both at home and abroad, and being due to Innate kindli ness, Is not thrown aside and resumed to suit a passing whim.” Being the biggest state in the union, it is only natural that we should expect big things of Texas. As the state grows in population it will lead in other tilings besides cotton, live stock and railroad mileage, etc. One writer gives a fair idea of the size of the State when lie says, “It is equal to thirty-four states each the size of Massachusetts. Speaking of the beef trust. Editor Brown, of Stockman and Farmer, pub lished in San Antonio, says: “Texas suf fers more by the beef trust than any ■attle producing state In the union, due largely because of her remoteness from the leading markets. Fully 75 per cent AUTUMN. ' ” " r * (From Harpei s Weekly.) Spring is the season of fresh endeavor t :0 y- ling bn pi I^e s”—i-wr the time ■ or the ripening, enlarging, maturing of all projects; and then, lest man should I'oi an instant fancy himself stable upon the earth, should picture this earthly iife ns ultimate, autumn, the "metaphor of everything that dies,” comes in, count ing the falling petals on her rosary, watching the clouds of birds in flight, seeing her earth wither or ever sho shrouds her, siting the sent of tha pass ing of all mortal things upon the face of lifi . Then we realize that we, too, ar; ebbing out with the dying year. If man forces action in youth it Is in the high hearted hope of seeing tiie results, but in our autumn years we force action knowing that the little we do must be swiftly done; our years are few, our hopes brittle; we have learnea to expect little o» no return; we have come to the age when we are Not panting after growing beauties; sj We shall ebb out with those who home ward go. If we- have lived naturally, taking the joys and lighting the sorrows of th? years as they rolled, there is a genial tamper in tne autumn weather. Silence and peace and dreams draw over Us un awares, and we start up to wonder where all the tumults of yesterday are llcwn. Grief and suffering leave little f n tin memory, but joy stays there. '"Joy is the name of a passion in which th? mind passes to a greater perfection anti ■rower,” said one. anticipating Spinoza, and grief we see to be but the material of joy in process of slow transforma tion. There is another crown upon the au tumnal years: the detachment of v.-hich we have thought for which we have striven all through the spring and sum mer of our lives. We are ready, with out urging, to fold opr hands a little ar.d lcok on. We are glad to take up md lay aside the vestment of the persona! life, with all its desires and hopes and ambitions, and; to drift, even as nature herself is drifting into the ultimate cold and quiet, which precede* new birth.