The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1871-03-17
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
The Era Of Cheap Beef ever.


We thought to escape the severity O
a Northern winter by spending a por
ton of the season in the sunny South
but we have been disappointed. Tn,
week ending Christmas was severe for
northern climate, and left us detained
for two days by the ice on the bank O
Red River. fs Es-iEss 81 ~
And here now within 20 miles O.
Austin, the ground is covered will
snow aud ice, the ponds are frozen over
and we sit enveloped in our coats and
blankets, shivering around a roaring
fire. Three days ago men with theil
coats off were very comfortable picking
cotton IN the fields. Such is the
fiekleness OF Texas climate. The win
ter is unusually severe, and stock are
doing very poorly. In trip through
the state from Preston to Austin and
Galveston, through Collin, Dallas,
Ellis, McLennan, Bell, and Williamson
Counties, we hare seen larger per ct
of poor cattle and horses than ever be-
fore. Texas is not the stock country it
has been. Through the center and
southern portion the amount of cattle,
in years past, has been SO great that
the original native grasses have been
nearly destroyed, and the range is COM
paratively worthless.
The stock business of Texas is drift
ing westward, and immense herds of
cattle are ranging on the frontier In
semi-wild state. They seldom see the
face of civilized man except in the
branding season, when men in gangs
of dozen or more, hunt the country
over, and lasso and brand every un-
marked cattle they can find. Hence
the man who has the best horses and
most men, and is most persevering,
brands the most cattle, and his stock
from very small beginning soon be-
comes immense. This is feature of
the stock business, as now conducted in
Texas, which renders it almost impossi
BILE for an honest man to make it profit
able The only remedy is to keep
stocb constantly under hand, and the
only part where this would be practi-
cable, on account of the range, is
wholly impracticable on account Of the
Indian raids. fAt
Through the central, and eastern, and
southern portions most stock men are |
of their cattle as fast as they |
can collect them Many propose to |
drive their stock to Kansas, others pro- |
pose to sell to dealers at home. We
think the amount of stock which will |
reach the Kansas market IN June and |
July will be much larger than in any
years, and more of it will be
leld by stock growers themselves, as
Itock buyers will hardly be willing to
pay the advanced prices which the stock
yrowers are anticipating-an advance
If so to 75 per cent. on last springs
prices.
The supply of Texas cattle in the
quantity brought forward IN the last
ew years cannot continue, and the pri-
es must necessarily advance. The era
# cheap beef is over, and the price in
he near future must be governed by
he status of the vexed Indian question,
which just now is assuming an import
nee which demands a speedy solution.
The question of cheap beef interests
very citizen, and in order to obtain it !.
be rich grazing lands of Western Texas
nd Kansas, the valleys of New Mexico
nd Colorado, must be freed from the
aids of wild Indians, which now rem
er the largest part of that region un-
by the stock-grower.
1t matters very little to the people or
be government if the Indians in their
1onthly raids steal few horses, shoot
few men whom they can overpower
nd carry of, or murder few women
r children, but so soon as they begin
D realize the fact that it Is causing al
teady increase in the price of beef,
-e shall expect that efectual measures
Ill be taken to render the valleys and
he eastern slope of the Rocky Noun !
,ins, the grazing fields of America, as
as any portion of our vast
omain. Until this is the case, we may /
,ok for steady increase in the price
{ beef as compared with the other
ecessaries of life.
SHORT Horn
Wrrrr.Hfeox 10 Taxaa Ion Il