Brenham weekly banner. [volume] (Brenham, Tex.) 1877-1907, 1878-03-01
anestl rms SHEEP ro y

one. Finding that most, if no
all of The Mexican sheep oiferet
for sale around this city were
of an inferior quality, | ard {
friend engaged a hack and star
ted south in search Of few
thousand good sheep, where We
we're fold, we could get then
low. Taking down the lnea.
ton and number Of some Il ocks
that ne thought wonld suit us,
wa went forth to puschase-
sheep; q drive of eleven mile:
| hronrha level mosquito bru>ii.s
,ountry, covered with shos
mosquito grass, brought us to
he Medina rivera very fins
| reani of clcar water now, but
.ne that is dry in times OF lon.
notwithstanding it cur route
vas overia more rolling country.
rh,cklv set with pricklv pear.
| for some four miles; then for
miles we found plenty of post
oak and black jack timber and
| deep saud, then .,liansi - .'s
20 prairie and mosqnite bru,I;
and prickly pear. Thirty 6yc
nilcs over The, same road tina
Santa Anna Travelled over, when
he advanced : ons his. city, IN
1899. lr,u h u % Plea anton,
thecounty site Of Attaseosa coup-
| ty; there are but few settlements
on Ills road Ne found Pleas
anton a town OF abopt tour Inns
dred inhabitants, and it is loca-'
ted on the south bank of the
Astascosa riyeI, aaftr9am ths5i
eeases,to run, sooa alter the
aims, cease to TAIL. Tue town
IS located in a, beautiful live oak
grove; the soil is. a light sandy
loan. This WAS formerly the
home Of the cattle, king" got
tllis section, .hutswhep the cas
tie were driven of, many aet
hem followed, bnts some men
OF great wealth still reside here,
one of whom, has now about
$50, 900 in bank There is pub
'ished here, in, the s'Texas Stock
Jonrna! aud Farmer and
good, paper it is too. We met
Sir, Wheeler, late. OF Denton
county, and he at once took us
to his house, where, assisted by
his most excellent wife (who by
tlle way is q cousin of President
Pnlk ando his twea beautiful
daughters, ne were entertained
in, princeIy style Before leave..
ing here, We. also met with Mr.
-Jawhon, one of. the, editors of
the 'Stock Journal,'' who talk
ed "shecp" TO US about three
hours, much to our edification.l
The following morning We bid
adieu to cur host, but not without
his having extorted from US
promise to stay on our return.
I Our route this day was over
rolling prairie country, thicklg
set with prickly pear aud low
brushy underground, the soil
generally very thin, the grass
very poor, IN fact, neither sheep
nor cattle counld live here six
months in the the prickly pear.
When the. droaflf of summer
cuts off the grass, turn to the
fruit OF the pear; in the winter
they eat. the plant itself, the
shepherds carrying a long knife
with which they. cut !, off one
edge of the plant, SO that the,
sheep- can cat it, as the thorns
on the edge are much thicker
and sharper. From Pleasanton
to the San Mingnel, a distance
OF thirty miles, there are. but
two settlements. My compan-
,panion proposed to sell me his
interest IN this section very low,
but as I was hooking for sheep,
and not land, Iimade him no
offer. To-day we examined a
flock of 1850 sheep Ii 100 ewes /
and some muttons, lambs, &c.
This was once q good flock OF
sheep, but bad management has
run it down. We found bucks.
ews, lambs, westhers, all TO-
gerber. Theowher was asi,alri-
ed Of it, and | think Justly, too. |
He wanted 50 so per head for
the entire flock. We offered
him 81 so per head for one
thousand ewes, il he would let
us pick them, but he said he
would sellyall on. none. : Anoth-
err flock OF fourteen, hundred 1
ewes that were in the hands of a
stock broker at San Antonio, |
whohad offered them to ms at
50 per head, had been sold at
50 SO the day before our arrival. |
They were grade sheep. about |
three fourths Aerino and one, |
fourth Mexican, andhad Just |
began to lamb. Good manage |
ment will perhaps save eleven |
hundred lambs out of the flock. |
The lambs will be seven-eights |
Merino.s |
Finding the sheep we had |
rode seventy miles to purchase |
sold, we turned our faces again
to this lovely city, and that
evening.again crossed -stl,e San
leaving McMuller
comfy and its county site, Dog
town, behind US. (What a namely
About shutdown. this evening
had a fair shot of a wolf of