Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-09-04

States. OF the native Missourians, let
me say this While they have their pc
culiarities, for which they are not to
blame, and get at things in their way,
they form an element which could
not be dispensed with. IT their preJu-
dices are strong, their hospitality are
unbounded; and many of them show a
worthy zeal in taking advantage of all
modern appliances for prosecuting their
work. So please don't laugh too much
at our ''natives" till you have tried them.
Caldwell county is perhaps an exception
to other counties. Many counties IN the
State, previous to the war, were very
thinly settled-others, like this, more
Unbelievable some river counties were
| nearly or quite as populous as now. Emil
grafton spread itself over the vacant
lands, thus tending to an equalization OF
population; hence some counties are
| all Republican, others Democratic.
Caldwell is about equally bal
anced, | believe, without a large ma
iority on either side; therefore, do not
say that the figures | may give are the
result alone of eastern energy or enter
prise. North Missouri is not, like some
other sections of the West, grain cOun-
try, although all kinds of grain do well
here in ordinary seasons. Stock is the
natural adaptation to the peculiarities of
our State, and in this, believe, there is
untold wealth, to be amassed in the flu
ture. AS a partial description of the
method of stcck-raising may not be
without some interest to your readers,
will give an outline of it. ''Stock'
means, mainly, horned cattle, hogs and
mules. Horned stock is Of two kinds
ssTexas" and ''Natiyes"-the 'Texas'
being driven from the prairies of that
State to southern Kansas, and wiGtered
there, and then shipped in here and
grazed or fed then sent to market, gen
orally when four years old. In the sum-
mer the stock runs on the prairie, and
generally gets quite fat on the Itch
grasses.
in the winter aside from grove, straw
stacks. or the sheltered slopes of the
prarics: nor from the first up to the
time when it is three years old, is stock
fed much corn, unless it g summers
poorly. or the winter Is unusually hard.
Hogs and cattle are fattencd together,
generally. The corn is fed in trOughs,
generally with the husBs on, and what
is dropped or " wasted, is picked up by
the hogs which run with the cattle. In
this way little or nothing is wasted by
iudicious feeding, and hogs and cattle
are prepared for market in fine condition.
As the labor of picking or Swapping
corn is comparatively small and the
husk furnishing =" roughness' enough
with the grain, but little else is given.
| wish to give a few items of the bust
ness done in the stock line, which may
fairly represent this corner of our Coun-
try, but by no means GU of it. / will
use the figures of Messrs. Rial & Muir
phey, two farmers who live near here,
! who are in the stock business. During
the last twelve months they have fed and
shipped some two thousand cattle and
ten thousand hogs. Over six hundred
cattle and one thousand hogs of this
number were fed through the past win
ter and sold in the spring, being replaced
by other stock, now feeding and nearly
ready for market About half the horn
ed stock were Texans" shipped in and
fed. These men feed about 100, 600
bushels of corn annually, a good deal of
it being bought, and a fair average OF
the cost may be considered at eighteen
cents per bushel. A calf, when eight or
nine months old, brings from 81 to $40
when four wears old, and fat, will bring
from $50 to S55. - Texans" cost less
and bring q little less. Some feeding is
done on tame or blue grass fields, with
corn, which brings the creature on
rapidly. This system of buying-feed-
ing one season and selling-keeps a man S
capital rolling often three or four times
a year. Ten years ago there were not
three hundred cattle, full or stall fed,
in the whole county; now, they num-
Der by thousands. Mules are not so
much of an item as hogs and cattle, vet
the trade in them is good. The river
counties are better for this branch of
trade We have few sheep here; one
man in this county has 5000, others have
fiocks of different sizes Wool averaged
about So so per head this year, | am in
formed | presume there are 10000
sheep in this county. If these figures
seem large, remember we do things on
big scale here. In sight of my table,
where | sit writing. is one field Of 200
acres of corn. Think of this, We who
can hardly find room in Vermont for
your acre. or, possibly, two. Did | not
know that many have no idea of the
amount of business or resources of this
great West, | should not write as | do.
| have taken pains to get figures from
responsible parties, which are accurate,
and [ can assure your readers that the
business done by Messrs Rial d Muir
phcY is only part of even our coun-
TVS productions, Conner, Hamilton and
Kidder, each having a share of the ship
ments. Nor does it require a fortune in
money, nor ''all out doors" in land, to
handle stock. Mr. Rial owns about 400
acres of land, about one half under pillow.
Mr. Murphey a little more land, and,
perhaps, about the same amount cult
waited. That there is money to be made
in Missouri by the shrewd farmer, is be-
yond a doubt. 1t is a good place for
intelligent and industrious people, but a
very poor one for the shiftless and idle.
In another letter | will try to give you
an idea of the mercantile business,
population, churches and schools of our
town, and your readers may draw their
own conclusions. At present, it is very
dry, and corn is suffering. Grains and
grasses are quite good. Fruit will be
rather short and small. G. II.
Interesting correspondence.