Omaha daily bee., 1883-03-27
THE EMPIRE OF TEXAS.
A New system OF Cattle Raising that
Involves Vest Pastures--The
Profit in Wool Growing.

Profit in Wool Growing.
A letter from Eagle Pass, Texas, In
the New York Sun, says; The typi-
cal cowboy Is with us almost a thing
of the past, net simply because the
number of cattle has 30 decreased OF
late, but because the manner OF hand.
ling them has undergone q radical
change. Time was when an owner OF
fifteen hundred or two thousand head
of cattle woaid find employment for
fifteen or twenty vuaqueros. Under
the present system three men can now
perform the functions of which five
times that number were requisite o
few years ago. 1t was formerly the
custom upon our ranches to %"looae-
herd" the cattle during the day and to
round them up on the background"
or pen them In corrals for the night.
Now we have pastures, inclosed by
many miles of barbed- wire fencing, In
which cattle roam at will by day or
night. The pasture fences r ex-
ahmed and kept In repair by men de-
tailed upon ranches for that p1rpose.
Ten years ago the cattle were driven
north from this state without regard
to sex, age or condition. The result
wal that Texas was almost drained Of
breeding as we'll az Of beef cattle.
Nov there Is some discretion exercised
and It Ia the exception, not the rule,
for COWS and calves to be driven Cup
the trail" or to the shipping centers.
Many OF our stookmen have introduc-
cd fine cattle of the Durham and
other breeds on their ranches with a
view to improve their stock. Full.
blooded cattle, however, are not easily
acclimated, nor do they do we'll unless
we'll fed. The half. bred cattle seem
to thrive, and In time the long horned
native cattle will be supplanted by q
mixed breed of finer quality. Two
species of the ''musca," known here
as the 'heel fly" and ''screw fly" are
the bsne of the cattle men. The
former look very like the ordinary
honey bee, and deposit a nit upon the
leg of the animal below the knee. The
nit In time develops Into q worm and
eats Its way into the flesh. The ''screw
fly" Is much like the lue.bottle, and
attacks the animal wherever the flesh
Is laid bare either by branding or
marking the ears; 1t leaves q nit from
which the worm is Matched by animal
heat. Some time since o valuable calf
got screw worms In n Of its ears. II
vas doctored, and, 1t was thought,
cured. 1t died recently, and upon
opening the skull 1t was found that the
screw worms had eaten their way to
the brain. The present system OF
branding and marking the cara not
only disfgures the cattle and destroys
the hide, but, as may be seen from the
above statement, Is dangerous.
Wool-growing is q remunerative
pursuit here. There are men within
fifty miles of Eagle Pass who count
their sheep by the thousands, and who
came from the north q few years since
almost penniless. Some of them
started by taking care of other peoples
sheep on shareu; that Is, taking charge
of q herd and becoming responsible
for It for one.half of the wool and Of
the increase; and as many of our herds
breed and are sheared twice Q year,
these persons soon become large
owners. Others coming here with
small capital, have invested In Mexi.
can ewes, which can be bought at from
70 cents to 81 per head; then they
Put q few hundred In seine good
rams. In . few years time, by this
process, they have been enabled
to dispose /, of The original
stock, retaining q surplus of Inn.
proved sheep, valued all the way from
% to IS per head. But there Is con-
siderable labor connected with suc.
cessful sheep raising, and 1t Ia by no
means of the easiest or most desirable
kind. The lands upon which these
sheep feed are, as q rule, either school
lands rented from the state at q small
consideration annually, or land rented
of the railroad corporations. Only
the most successful wool.growers own
land In this county. The estate of
Mr.. Jones Griner, who died some time
ago at San Felipe, about seventy miles
up the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass,
comprised over forty thousand head
of sheep, with a considerable herd OF
cattle and q number of horses. Mr..
Griner, fifteen years ago, started out
In the world with a capital not OK.
ceeding $1,000.